State Of The Union Address

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Railway Union RFC  (above) has issued a reply to an article yesterday by Niamh Horan of the Sunday Independent on women’s rugby (top).

“Railway Union RFC were requested by the IRFU to facilitate a journalist from the Sunday Independent who wanted to do a training session and a feature on women’s rugby in light of Ireland’s world cup heroics.
We are disappointed that what could have been a hugely positive article promoting women’s rugby in Ireland at time of such achievement internationally has been reduced to stereotyping. The article in no way reflects our sport, its values and the values of our club and our members. Our club’s primary goal is always the promotion of rugby, regardless of gender, and we support all teams in the club equally. “

*applies more fake tan*

Railway Union RFC

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75 thoughts on “State Of The Union Address

          1. Sidewinder

            Well spotted. I mean who the f**k leaves their hair down when playing rugby?

            Apart from Chabal of course…

    1. Mister Mister

      The Sindo and Niamh Horan, a perfect recipe for awfulness.

      (No point in saying what I really think as I’d break the swear filter)

    1. 15 cents

      “I can’t meet any group of people and not ask if they all like f***ing each other” … so funny

    2. Rob

      That is hilarious.

      The only problem is that it makes me want to read the article to see if it really is that bad and I know if I read the article I will get annoyed with myself for reading the article.

  1. Buzz

    Clearly no one in the IRFU reads the Sindo or they would never have agreed to let Niamh Horan anywhere near their game. Who is Horan related to because she has no discernible talent.

    1. isintheair

      … As I lay flat on my back after being wrestled to the ground for the umpteenth time.

      50 Shades of Niamh, that was shade 9. Stay tuned for more.

  2. Bonzor

    Without a shadow of a doubt, this is exactly the reception the newspaper wanted. You don’t get on to the editorial board by being an idiot, and they knew full well that the internet brigade would be up in arms about this tripe. As poster above said, don’t feed the clickbait troll. Job done as far as the Sindo are concerned.

    1. Mr. T.

      And you don’t have to be smart to get onto the board either. You just need to have no principles and no conscience.

      The higher one rises in the Indo, the less likely it is I’d have any respect for them.

      1. Sidewinder

        The indo is slowly turning into buzzfeed. The business model has been the same for a long time now.

        1. 15 cents

          dont lump buzzfeed in the same category as the indo. buzzfeed is a far more credible news source, and actually has far more truth on show.

    2. Boris

      Completely agreed, that article will be generating massive amounts of traffic and therefore online ad revenue for the paper. Bets thing people can do is boycott the paper and/or start a petition to stop her from ever writing more tripe again.

      1. isintheair

        Aisling, my point is Colette Browne is very quiet now. Is it because Niamh works for the same newspaper as her. You spanner. Colette Browne is the kind of person who would really hate that article and the silence says it all really.

          1. isintheair

            Mick, I thought Colette was some, telling it as it is, independent thinking, feminist freedom fighter.

            On her Twitter the only mention is this:
            .RFCRailwayUnion has now criticised the Sindo article about women’s rugby but lauded it earlier.

            She doesn’t attack the article at all, she showed how they changed their mind.

            Colette is the kind of person who would normally go after this kind of thinking. She would be one of the first to rip this kind of thinking to shreds.

            Is it because Niamh works for the same newspaper as her? Is she not as brave and as outspoken now?

            Something tells me that if Niamh worked for a different newspaper Colette would be out to get her now. I could be so wrong now, or a spanner, or a spooner, or a mixture of all those things.

          2. Medium Sized C

            That is the sound of ranks closing.

            Also, I never heard about Beccy Adlington having a nose job.
            Pretty sure most people in her own country know her for being a swimmer.

            I wonder how many womens rugby matches Collette goes to?

        1. isintheair

          @ Caroline
          I was waiting for her to do this…….
          If she didn’t do this, I would have ran away on her. I would have found somebody else.
          Now I know, she’s the one.
          (I’m kidding, don’t mind me)

      1. Mister Mister

        Why yes, yes I am. The two have morphed into the one incomprehensible fake tan baked entity.

    1. D

      Exactly. The appear to hate the article that they loved yesterday morning until it all kicked off on Twitter. As an aside, women’s rugby has a great future if even a small percentage of all the people outraged at this article bother to go to games in the future.

      1. Sidewinder

        Or the one twit with access to the facebook account was rapidly assaulted with pi**ed off texts from club members.

        1. Medium Sized C

          Or they just changed their tune.
          Changing their point of view is allowed.
          In fact it should really be encouraged in enlightened society.

    2. Clampers Outside!

      That link doesn’t work.

      But… from what I can see from their FB posts since yesterday morning they don’t change their tune. They become less tolerant of the negative stereotypes in the article as those being stereotyped, the members, reacted.

      Which in my mind is fair enough.

      1. D

        Their first tweet/facebook post was along the lines of check out the Sindo today. Great article on the club,

        1. Clampers Outside!

          Which is a pretty normal reaction…. if you read down through their facebook, you can see why there was a change of heart.

          I don’t think that their initial reaction and later post should be viewed as a complete swing in their attitude.

          Did you ever read something exciting that you were a part of, only to read it again and realise it wasn’t so glowing? I have, and I know many others who have done similar, it’s a common mistake.
          And picking up on an unpaid volunteer run small club for making such a mistake is somewhat sad and pathetic really.

  3. 15 cents

    it was like the cheery, jokey cat story at the end of the news. however … what was she supposed to do? she was obviously sent out there to lampoon womens rugby as a silly notion by her editor, who is probably a sexist fool who thought this is how to cover the subject. she was just a puppet, carrying out his command. the paper and the editor are to blame. she’s an entertainment journalist, who usually writes about what celeb kissed what celeb, if they had any intention on covering the topic of womens rugby in ireland professionally, they would have sent someone else out (although slim pickings with the sindo)

      1. Sidewinder

        Given the content of the female “journalist’s” article I think it’s quite obvious women are capable of being sexist.

  4. Tom

    The girl clearly has no understanding of rugby. This is the sindo fault and not Niamh’s fault. She wrote it as she saw it. The comments were were made by players from railway union. Railway union were initially happy with the article until the backlash came!

    1. Buzz

      Part of the problem seems to be Horan’s inability to communicate sarcasm, humour etc. and her general lack of intelligence. How hard can it be to write a fun, interesting piece that doesn’t denigrate women athletes? I used to think Aengus Fanning hated women but now he’s gone, I’m wondering if the misogyny came from Anne Harris all along.

      1. Tom Tucker Bunny

        I think you’re ascribing more power to the Sindo editor than they actually have – as illustrated by Anne Harris’ recent attempt at rebellion.

      2. sam

        They promote their journalists by making them the main focus of articles, serves as a distraction from all that badly written drivel.

    2. Luny Loo

      Tom in the media that always how it happens.

      A good journo encourages people to express themselves and forget the microphone, and when they do, they dont like what they see in print. If it is quoted accurately that’s tough luck for them.

      A good example is Gay Byrnes interview with P Flynn years ago. Bet he didn’t mean to say everything he did, and when he did say it, Gay skillfully got him to keep talking. Gay knew what he was doing, and P Flynn was blissfully unaware.

      However in this case, the story is all about Niamh Horan, and is a reflection on her, and no one else.

      1. Jay

        When Niamh Horan writes a story it’s going to be fairly safe to assume it’s about Niamh Horan.

        1. Luny Loo

          Case in point J.

          She could have been writing about the new Lion cub in the zoo, and somehow got in that she hasn’t got laid in three weeks, and she is partial to a threesome. The context is relevant.

  5. Buzz

    If I was an editor, I’d send someone like Alison O’Connor to do this. Maybe they can’t afford her, but she has a bit of wit and I imagine she’d be good in a scrum.

  6. Haroo von Haroo

    Maybe Ms Horan should consider her position. She will get a post on another paper. There is a class of editor that loves the dolly birds.

  7. Mr. T.

    Collette Brown (who the f*ck she is) has now written the planned retort.

    All planned, all pre scripted, all cheap nasty Indo bollocks.

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