‘sup?
The launch of the UBLs, the domestic club rugby awards sponsored by Ulster Bank.
It’s not all about steroids cash and scantily-clad models hipster bistros you know?
They play for love.
From top: Ian Burke, Lansdowne RFC, Jurgen Steinbech, Old Wesley RFC and Mick McGrath, Clontarf RFC (app feature image)
FIGHT!
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Did you leave out a picture? Mick McGrath, Leinster Rugby is not there.
Those viewing on the app will see McGrath as a feature image.
The android app explodes on certain movie posts, so I steer clear.
the android app fails on the animation posts for me
Aaron, I’ve asked before but why is the Cave of Three Bridges constantly in the most popular list?
..because it’s popular.
Karl!
What is going on with jurgens trousers?
The unfortunate framing of the window behind him makes it look like he’s got a nappy on underneath, or out the way they’re stretched, that he put them on back to front.
Sometimes he gets a little too excited about the rugby
Is it my imagination or is there a serious amount of silence in the Irish sports media regarding Paul Kimmage’s recent articles about the issue of drugs in rugby?
Probably because it’s bollocks. Look at Dan Biggar over the weekend. Competing at the highest level of the game at a very normal size.
No offence but I think I’ll take Paul Kimmage’s opinion on the matter a fair bit more seriously than yours given his work in relation to doping in cycling.
http://thecity.ie/2014/12/02/kimmage-chasing-expose-on-drugs-in-rugby/
Paul Kimmage does admirable work in the field of PED’s alright. The only issue is that he leans towards McCarthyism on the issue and will never admit when he might have got it wrong. As far as he is concerned, if someone tests negative, it’s because they are cheating the system, not because they’re clean. In fairness, there’s been a lot of that in sprts but its not always the case.
Rugby seems to have a better record than soccer when it comes to trying to deal with the problem, although thats not saying a whole lot.
“leans towards McCartyism”.
Harsh.
He really does though. As far as he is concerned, EVERYONE dopes bar none. One of the highlights of Rough RIder was him giving the absolute daggers to Chris Froome whilst saying nothing at all.
Now the jury is out on Froome but it seems that he’s clean, Kimmage is having none of that though.
Heh. Tis true.
Kimmage is more into the drugs than William Burroughs.
Re the article: Hahaha, Kimmage having a right go at Second Captains and OTB:
“There’s a lot of guys that I would have said were very good, young journalists coming through the ranks now at the moment here. And they’re in radio shows and they’ve got TV shows and you would have thought, ‘well these guys will be on it straight away’.
“Have I had one call from any of these people [regarding Benezech’s book]? Not one.
“We want to be fucking cheerleaders. That’s the default position of the sports writer. He wants to be a cheerleader. And there are very, very few who won’t do that. And that’s kind of depressing isn’t it?”
If we were to believe Kimmage then we would have to believe that the majority of the Irish rugby team are on some sort of steroid program. These are some of the top players in the world so it should follow that they use steroids. Alas, they are not. Rugby is not like cycling were a mediocre doped cyclist will outperform everyone else.
Paul Kimmage retweeted this British journalist
Paul Kelso @pkelso · 7h 7 hours ago
Late to this but another drugs ban in rugby union announced yesterday. Almost half – 10/22 – of all athletes banned this year from union
UKAD are the UK anti drug agency and test across 40 sports – the fact that 1 sport out of 40 has almost half the bans lead me to believe that rugby definitely has a drugs problem.
These are nearly all low level / young players that are tied up with the weight lifting scene. There is no problem at the pro level.
Do UKAD look after soccer? I’d be very surprised if they do. That’s the sport I’d be having the hardest look at. It’s the biggest sport in the world and the rewards are bigger than any other sport (outside of the US and motorsports which don’t really count) by a large factor.
Couldn’t give a toss about Kimmage or that other fella who shall remain nameless. They fueled the Saipan fire. These journos just love a good car crash and don’t really care about sport itself.