British and Irish Lions Tour 2013

[johnneycool]

The Lions yesterday.

Christ, what you wouldn't do to have a machine gun handy when they were lining up that picture.

[Dinny Breen]

Ah the Lions aren't all bad won't fancy playing full back against this lad

[passedit]

The Lions yesterday.

Christ, what you wouldn't do to have a machine gun handy when they were lining up that picture.

Even as an ex player and still fan of the code I'm with deiseach on this. Funny enough I googled a famous quote about rugby and fascism and came up with the article below. every day's a schoolday.

How I enraged xenophobes, Christians and devotees of both rugby codes
Brian Viner Author Biography

Saturday 26 March 2005

It is not an easy trick to write a newspaper column and simultaneously open a can of worms, but I appear to have pulled it off with my reflections a week ago on Peter Howard, captain of the England rugby union team in 1931, who was engaged by Oswald Mosley to crack heads, when it was deemed necessary, as leader of a bunch known as Mosley's Biff Boys.

It is not an easy trick to write a newspaper column and simultaneously open a can of worms, but I appear to have pulled it off with my reflections a week ago on Peter Howard, captain of the England rugby union team in 1931, who was engaged by Oswald Mosley to crack heads, when it was deemed necessary, as leader of a bunch known as Mosley's Biff Boys.

A barrage of e-mails compels me to return to the subject; after all, I can't think of any previous occasion when in fewer than 800 words I have provoked raging xenophobes (how odd that they read The Independent), committed Christians (who took issue with my description of Howard's beloved Oxford Group, which became Moral Rearmament), fans of rugby union and devotees of rugby league, into writing letters to me ranging from the calmly informative to the offensively irate.

A Mr Bond went at me hammer and tongs for criticising Howard without setting his support for Mosley in some historical context. When he'd stopped condemning me as "disgraceful" and "contemptible", and wondering why I hadn't similarly exposed some Irish rugby star who perchance supported the IRA, he more temperately explained that "right-wing ideas were very popular among many members of the Establishment as a way to defend the country against Socialist revolution." Which is true, but still it seemed worthy of comment, I replied, that an England rugby union captain led Mosley's Biff Boys. And presumably it was possible to swing to the right without swinging with the right.

Most interesting of all were those letters from rugby league fundamentalists who said it did not surprise them in the least that an England rugby union captain should have joined Mosley. Several of them quoted George Orwell, although it is also said to have been Philip Toynbee, who wryly observed that a bomb placed under the West Stand at Twickenham would set back the cause of British fascism by 50 years. A larger number cited South African rugby union in the age of apartheid, and French rugby union during the Vichy regime, as further examples of the sport's tainted record in what might rather provocatively be termed human rights.

I was told that, to further acquaint myself with the history of rugby in Vichy France, I should read a book called The Forbidden Game, by Mike Rylance. I contacted Rylance himself. He told me about the campaign known as Refaire l'Unité du Rugby Français, which in 1940 resulted in the Vichy minister for sport, the former Wimbledon singles champion Jean Borotra, effectively signing rugby league's death warrant for the duration of the Second World War. To this day it has not recovered its pre-war popularity, which eclipsed that of rugby union.

The professionalism of rugby à treize was considered ethically unsound by the Vichy French, although of more significance, Rylance explained, was simply that many collaborationists in positions of power were union men, not least Colonel Pascot, Borotra's deputy and later his successor, who had been an international in the 15-man game and resented the fact that it was on its uppers while rugby league was thriving. So rugby à treize was declared illegal, and its assets, including its Paris headquarters, were seized. It recovered sufficiently to win a Test series against the mighty Australians, in Australia, in 1951. But the revival was short-lived, and efforts continue to force the French rugby union to make reparations.

To return to the late Peter Howard, I was mildly troubled, having rather questioned his character and implied that he fought for Franco (which he did not), to discover that his son is the eminent Times columnist Philip Howard, himself the father of a guy I was friendly with at university. I duly talked to Philip, who was the soul of kindness and clearly feels deep ambivalence about Peter and his convictions. He did tell me, however, his father had been born with a disability, a withered left leg, which in his international rugby career he used to conceal with copious bandaging. But once, when he was running in an English try at Cardiff Arms Park, the bandaging came undone and, according to Philip, "was flying behind him like a Jack Russell chasing him", much to the crowd's delight.

It was good to get a more rounded portrait of a somewhat flawed hero of English rugby union. I hope the worms can now be considered back in the can.

b.viner@independent.co.uk

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/how-i-enraged-xenophobes-christians-and-devotees-of-both-rugby-codes-6149726.html

[GalwayBayBoy]

More agricultural hurling.

[J OGorman]

The Lions yesterday.

Christ, what you wouldn't do to have a machine gun handy when they were lining up that picture.

surely you'd weigh in with your fists? you wouldnt need a machine gun 

[muppet]

Jaysus I could imagine some of the lads here if they were around at the beginning of any sport.

WTF are you kicking that pigs belly for?
Sticks and a ball, in a field, are ye mad?
30 fat fools and only 1 ball, waste of time boys.
What the hell are ye doing with a net in a field?

My personal interest in the Lions is to watch how the Irish get on. If there were no Irish, as there often was in the past, my only problem would be with the state of the game here not the Lions. Sure it is contrived, but so is every single ball sport. Sky hype it to death but we then use Sky as a stick to beat RTE and the GAA when they don't promote our own games enough.

[Hardy]

There's no need to be complicating a debate about emotions with logic.

[Count 10]

Team picked is probably as strong as is available.....but I feel that if any key players get injured then they could be in big trouble. Key players being Halfpenny, BOD, Sexton and O'Connell....also think the replacements should have included O'Brien and Kearney. O'Brien was brilliant when Ireland beat them in WC.

[bennydorano]

No green blinkers on there then count?

Been interesting to see who would have made way if Roberts was fit, and Bowe for that matter.

[Count 10]

Green...yes .....if Sexton gets injured(carrying a hamstring injury) and they have to rely on Farrell then it could spell trouble, BOD and POC for their leadership qualities alone, Halfpenny for his kicking alone. I would still expect the Lions to win but it will be tight.

[ludermor]

Ah the Lions aren't all bad won't fancy playing full back against this lad

He has the auldest head ever seen on a 22 yr old!

[GalwayBayBoy]

Jamie must have exchanged his belt for the jersey.

[deiseach]

So what is the source of the confidence for the Lions in the first test? Is it that Australia are not the force they were?

[screenexile]

So what is the source of the confidence for the Lions in the first test? Is it that Australia are not the force they were?

Yeah, also their injuries.

As well as that the Lions look to be a strong team. They had good outings against the Reds and the Waratah's and have lads playing in the team who are clearly on form.

[Walter Cronc]

So what is the source of the confidence for the Lions in the first test? Is it that Australia are not the force they were?

Yeah, also their injuries.

As well as that the Lions look to be a strong team. They had good outings against the Reds and the Waratah's and have lads playing in the team who are clearly on form.

I have serious doubts about the front row and the lineout. Tom Youngs is not international quality. In saying that neither is Hibbert or Best. Madness having Lydiate on the bench ahead of O'Brien. Lydiate is an unreal tackler, not a game changer!!

Be interesting to see how they deal with Genia around the base of rucks.