Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

By itwassammymcnallywhatdoneit As we know well in Northern Ireland, predicting someone’s views on a range of issues doesn't require a crystal ball, just a clue as to their background - their name, the school they attended or their address. Once you have sniffed out those details, you can identify their tribe and you can then have a fair stab at working out what they think. Of course, tribalism is not just confined to Ulster and tribal loyalties are not always that straightforward. Take Monsieur Alain Rolland for example, born and raised in Ireland but with a French father. For many Welsh rugby fans such continental lineage was proof positive of his preference for the land of his father, Wales's opponents in the rugby world cup semi-final and of course explains his 'outrageous' decision to send off the Welsh captain Sam Warburton. When England were knocked out of the world cup, by perhaps the bitterest of their many 'old enemies' France, Wales found the...

The following is a guest post from itwassammymcnallywhatdoneit , who well be well known among Slugger readers.  Thanks to Sammy for a great pre competition analysis.   Coincidentally I'm off to Dublin on Saturday to see the Irish team prepare for the competition with another match against France.   On the 9 th  September the Rugby football world cup kicks off and for a sizeable minority on the island of Ireland this will be the major sporting event of this year – if not the last four. Ireland, share group C with Australia, Italy, Russia and the USA and if the form book proves reliable, we will qualify as runner-ups to Australia and exit at the quarter final stage to South Africa. Rugby, doesn’t tend to do surprises and the winners, on home soil, are likely to be New Zealand, the strong bookies favourites at 8/15. Four years ago in France, Ireland were tipped as the dark horses (and with some encouragement from the Irish camp) and then immediately set abou...

Given that this blog has in the past celebrated the achievements of Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell, the European Ryder Cup team and Padraig Harrington it’s shockingly remiss that I’ve not yet managed a post about Darren Clarke.   The big Dungannon man’s Open triumph was the pick of the bunch when it came to defying the odds.   At 42 most experts had written off his prospects of picking up a major title. Last night, though, the BBC got to screen its now traditional documentary, charting the home-coming of yet another major champion.   It was a bit of a tear-jerker, capturing emotional scenes as Darren brought the claret jug back to his family in Portrush and to his two sons. Now Clarke is a nice guy, but he’s not one of the generation of non-descript, clean-cut, identikit sports stars.   The documentary captured an awful lot of drinking, alongside the formal celebrations and (let’s be honest) a little on screen inebriation.   Some pompous asses h...

Rory McIlroy – what can you say?  Northern Irish golf has been in great shape in recent years and he is its David Healy .  It’s not just the record of astonishing, trail-blazing achievement: although Rory spent the week demolishing practically every US Open record (Sir David did much the same during the 2008 European Championship qualifying group).  It’s also in the way the two players conduct themselves. McIlroy has self-confidence - he buried any notion to the contrary this weekend, with a relentless march towards his first major golf championship – but he’s also pleasingly grounded.  What’s not to like? He plays a great sport and he’s mastered it at a young age.  He shows sportsmanship and poise on and off the course – even in the teeth of a supposed “melt-down” at the US Masters earlier this year. He’s a proud and enthusiastic ambassador for Northern Ireland.  No-one’s keener than Rory to fly the colours in the wake of a victory and he backs all of ...

Kenny Dalglish made the first big signing of the close season last week by bringing ex Sunderland midfielder Jordan Henderson to Anfield.  Now, I’ve got to be honest, I know very little about this player.  I don’t even know, for instance, whether he is principally a defensive or attacking midfielder.  The Liverpool team which last made a serious attempt at the title had two members who have never been adequately replaced.  There was silk – the peerless passing ability of Xabi Alonse – and steel - from the rugged Argentinian Javier Mascherano. I suppose it’s too much to hope that a 20 year old could immediately fill the shoes of either man.  But although critics will imply that £20 million is too high a price for an unproven player, Liverpool’s new owners, the FSG group, have made it clear that they are prepared to spend big wherever they see potential.  Damien Comolli, the director of football, has been charged with overseeing recruitment.   T...

Ken Doherty - like a Duke without dreadlocks. A bit of a curious story this morning.  The Belfast based singer, Duke Special , is to forsake his piano for the green baize.  The forty year old, whose real name is Peter Wilson, has joined the professional snooker circuit. "I've long been an enthusiast for the game", said Wilson, "and over the past few months music has become less and less fun.  It's time to try something new". The performer, best known for his album Songs From the Deep Forest and his energetic stage shows, is not new to snooker.  He was crowned Northern Ireland junior champion in 1988 and is still a dab hand with the cue. "My top break in competitive matches is 135", confirmed the star from Dundonald, "and I regularly get 147s in practice".  The Duke hasn't ruled out a return to music however, "this is a change in direction, and I'm giving up music for a while, but not necessarily for good". Wat...

The Assembly is set to consider the Justice Bill again today , once Edwin Poots is done thrilling members with the latest instalment on High Hedges.  Previously, when David Ford’s draft went before the Committee for Culture, Arts and Leisure, it became apparent that Part 4 of the Bill , which covers sport, is unfit for purpose. I previously pointed out that David McNarry, while he couched it in typically inflated, sectarian terms, had a valid point when he argued that football should not be the sole focus of sections on ticket touts and banning orders. GAA, football and rugby clubs around the country have also been alarmed by the sections on alcohol at sporting events.  It’s been pointed out that the legislation would not simply cover the pesky aggressive louts whom the authorities want to stop drinking - it would also put an end to ANY corporate hospitality at sports venues and punch a massive hole in many clubs’ business models. Ulster Rugby has been particularly v...

A sniper keeps watch as Terek play Dynamo Moscow. The Independent asks whether it might be  ’the worst football transfer in the world’ .  On his blog, ‘I - Kadyrov’, the President of Chechnya has already announced that he expects a top five finish .  Ruud Gullit is certainly taking on a different type of pressure by accepting the manager’s post at Terek Grozny. Ramzan Kadyrov , whose authority in Chechnya is total, is the president of Terek, as well as the autonomous Russian republic.  There's plenty of back material on the blog dealing with the unpalatable compromise which Moscow reached with this thug, in order to achieve a little stability in the Caucasus. Gullit will answer to him and, in any clash of egos, the gangster and former guerrilla fighter could be substantially more formidable than Ken Bates. Terek currently play in the Russian Premier League, bankrolled by Kadyrov.  The club’s most famous achievement was an unlikely victory in 2004 , when...

There’s really no excuse. I should be delighted that ’AP’ McCoy (it’s apparently mandatory to use the initials) won Sunday’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. He’s the only Northern Ireland born competitor ever to achieve that feat and the first Ulsterman to do so since Barry McGuigan. The thing is, try as I might to fight the bias, I simply hate horse-racing. Every now and again I feign an interest in the Grand National, or even Cheltenham at a stretch, but if the truth be told I loathe the sport. It seems to me to have more to do with gambling than competition. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that jockeys are fearless, skilled, highly conditioned athletes. But then Celine Dion’s a good singer. It’s what you do with your abilities that counts. Eating less food than a famine stricken tribesman in order to beat a horse with a stick, to me, is a fairly poor use of one’s talents. Particularly when no-one has the faintest interest in your endeavours, unless they have...

I very rarely agree with David McNarry, but he does have legitimate concerns about football supporters being singled out under the proposed Justice Bill .  He asks why sections of the legislation dealing with ticket touts and banning orders apply only to football matches. Of course fans of Gaelic games and rugby, the other sports affected by the Bill, point to the comparatively few incidents of disorder (off the pitch at least) which take place at their matches.  That’s hardly the point.  If an offence is committed which justifies a ban, or if touting takes place, surely it’s best to have the requisite legislation in place, whether it’s needed very frequently or not? The specific provisions dealing with football are designed to bring Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the United Kingdom, in terms of crowd safety, but common sense would suggest that there is no reason to restrict useful law to one sport only. McNarry being McNarry, though, a valid ...

The cream of local football.  They may have less to celebrate tonight. Setting aside the Ulster Unionist party‘s leadership election, for the time being, another incorrigible organisation is meeting tonight to make an equally fateful decision. The Irish Football Association is on the cusp of receiving public money to redevelop Windsor Park, which hosts the international team.  However a set of controversial proposals about the body’s internal structures could derail that process and leave Northern Ireland effectively without a home. At tonight’s Extraordinary General Meeting delegates from member clubs and associations will vote on the ’Dunloy Proposals’ to reorganise the IFA.  Put forward by a junior team from the Ballymena and District League, this document represents an attempt by amateur clubs to rebalance the Association’s governance in their favour.        Dunloy needs a 75% vote to go its way if the proposals are to be ratified, ...

Irish rugby unveiled its new home on Saturday.  The Aviva Stadium, situated on the site of the old Lansdowne Road ground, is a gleaming glass and steel structure which, despite reservations about its capacity for Six Nations matches, instantly becomes Ireland's most impressive sports' venue. In Northern Ireland the chances of a multi-sports arena being built in the foreseeable future died with plans for a stadium at the Maze.   In today's Belfast Telegraph I anticipate the complaints that we too could've had a world class facility and I argue that the middle of nowhere was never a plausible location. a city centre arena, like the one unveiled in Dublin, was never on offer in Northern Ireland. The Government, backed by Sinn Fein and the DUP's former Culture Minister, Edwin Poots, repeatedly stressed that it was the Maze or nothing. The prevailing wisdom of town-planners, developers and academics was against an out-of-town development. Examples of similar project...

An unedited version of an opinion piece from yesterday's Belfast Telegraph (articles published on a Saturday rarely make it online). In Northern Ireland we can celebrate Graeme McDowell’s heroics at Pebble Beach without  ambivalence.  However, his achievements have been accompanied elsewhere by a degree of confusion as to whether the Portrush golfer should be considered British or Irish. Indeed the Belfast Telegraph’s southern sister paper, the Irish Independent, rather ungraciously accused the UK media of claiming the new US Open champion, under false pretences.  McDowell’s coach, it pointed out, like the man himself, says that he is Irish.  So that, it would seem, is that.   Except, of course, that it isn‘t. National identities are not so impermeable or easily reducible. Possession of one does not exclude holding another.  In this part of the world we have a head start in understanding how complex a concept nationality can be.  McDowell, like ma...

What an extraordinary achievement ! Last night,  Portrush golfer Graeme McDowell became the first European to lift a US Open Championship since Tony Jacklin in 1970, finishing just a shot ahead in a nail biting finish at Pebble Beach. He's now also the first Brit to win a major since Paul Lawrie claimed the Claret Jug at Carnoustie in 1999.  And a Northern Irishman hasn't won one of golf's top prizes since Fred Daly's Open in 1947! Most fans probably suspected that Rory McIlroy was the best local hope for a major, but, at thirty, McDowell is at the top of his game.  He has significant experience in the US, where he went to college and his form leading up to the tournament was good.  A couple of weeks ago he won the Wales Open. So it was that Graeme McDowell became the right man, at the right time.  He has catapulted himself straight into the pantheon of Northern Irish sporting achievement and provided British, not to mention European golf a timely shot in ...

View Larger Map An image from Google Street View. It's taken on Ballymena's scenic William Street with the inviting 'Sportsman's Bar' clearly visible. But, who's that in the foreground? Could it possibly be BBC Northern Ireland sports' commentator Jackie Fullerton? H/T Coleman

Liverpool's prospects of claiming some silverware this season could end at Anfield tonight. If Rafa Benitez' side cannot overturn a one goal deficit against Lille the Europa Cup will have gone the same way as the League Cup, the F.A. Cup and the Premier League. Fernando Torres has indicated that he might have to look elsewhere to pursue trophies, Albert Riera has highlighted the manager's lack of communication with players and Steven Gerrard's recent conduct suggests that he is feeling the strain. On the pitch, a comfortable win against Portsmouth not withstanding, Liverpool's form has gone from bad to worse. Lille are a plodding, mediocre team and the 1-0 victory they were handed in France came courtesy of a deplorably negative display by the Anfield men. Liverpool couldn't muster a goal either at Wigan Athletic. Even a team as gutless as Tottenham Hotspur was able to run in nine goals against the Latics. Torres is conservative when he suggests that five ...

As Liverpool have lurched and stumbled their way out of the major cup competitions of England and Europe and into the predicament of scrabbling to sustain fragile belief in their ability to finish as high as fourth in the Premier League (and thus guarantee entry to the Champions League), isolated hints of recovered effectiveness have been swiftly exposed as illusory. Remembering how the 2-0 defeat of Manchester United in October was immediately followed by submissions to Arsenal and Fulham and then a run of three laboured draws, and how the tentative hopes of improved fortunes encouraged by an away victory over persuasively aspiring Aston Villa at the end of December humiliatingly foundered in last week’s expulsion from the FA Cup by Reading at Anfield, it is difficult to imagine we’ll soon be witnessing a genuine restoration of formidability to the club who once ruled British football imperiously. Ok, breathe deeply. I appreciate that you'll need a drink of water and possibly a l...

Having disposed of both last year's finalists, young St Helens' darter Dave Chisnall faces Martin "Wolfie" Adams in the climax of the BDO World Darts. Following an epic 5-4 victory against Ted "The Count" Hankey, Chisnall repeated the trick, demolishing Tony "The Silverback" O'Shea 6-3 in yesterday's semi-final. It will not have escaped your attention that darts is not a sport dependent upon the weather. Whilst football, rugby fixtures etc. have been decimated over the past number of weeks, the arrows have flown straight and true. I trust that all 'Three Thousand Versts' readers will be glued to their TV screens from 17.45 this evening. In the interim I will repost the piece which I wrote on the equivalent Sunday last year, 'Portrait of the Dartists' . I’ve spent a significant portion of my weekend explaining, justifying, defending my predilection for watching a cadre of men, disproportionately overweight, uniformly unde...

The organisers of London 2012 are keen to encourage a sense of ownership and participation throughout the United Kingdom. Although the games themselves will be based in the capital, the bid was prepared on the basis that benefits would accrue nationally. Given the quantity of tax payers’ money required to stage a successful Olympics it is necessary that people across the country feel that they are being included in the festivities. Such is the spirit behind a series of ‘Open Weekends’ which will take place each year, in the run up to the London games, in an attempt to spread an ethos of involvement throughout Britain’s regions. Last month Northern Ireland’s goal-scoring hero, David Healy MBE, launched the local event which will take place in a variety of venues from the 24 – 26 July. The programme seems varied enough to interest most people. And although it is unclear whether any British Olympic symbols will be displayed, surely this is a weekend with UK wide benefits which eve...

Hungarian is a notoriously difficult language, but I have enough faith in my readers to post this link , in the faint hope that someone might decipher it. From these photos it would certainly appear that flying Northern Ireland winger Keith Gillespie has found himself a new club. Ferencváros, or Fradi as they are popularly known, are a Budapest team with the biggest support in Hungary. I also gather that they will be playing in the country’s top flight next season after a sojourn in the lower leagues. Good luck to Keith if he has found himself a new club. Perhaps he might yet don the green shirt of Northern Ireland again, if his performances in this new shade of green are adequate. The talent is still there if the temperament and fitness can be maintained as well. (H/T Tubby Morton OWC) Update: Yourcousin has kindly provided this synopsis of the article courtesy of his (Hungarian I assume?) wife: A little late with this one (as per usual) but my wife read it to me and the arti...