Friday's rant

[johng]

Funny how this has emerged as a thing this week when the lad was signed 6 months ago by a coach who has since moved on

[RoboProp]

Gawd, Kimmage is some tool.

Me? I'm heading south with a message for Garrett Fitzgerald, the Munster CEO, and three billboards for Thomond Park:
IRISH BY BIRTH, MUNSTER BY THE GRACE OF STEROIDS

IS WINNING ALL THAT COUNTS?

WHAT ABOUT THE KIDS?

Didn't Kimmage cheat with using some PCP or some such? What about the kids Paul? What about the kids.
Sssssh quiet. Highlighting his hypocrisy doesn't suit his narrative.
Oh, explain to me standing by Humphries as long as you did if you're so concerned about the kids? c**t

From Kimmage's Sunday Independent column
"Tom Humphries was wearing a hospital gown and was bandaged where he had cut himself. I had brought him a manuscript of a book I had just completed about Matt Hampson, a young rugby player who was paralysed from the neck down and ventilator-dependent. "You're a good man Tom. You can come back from this," I said. He looked shattered and remorseful but not broken.

I didn't ask about the girl.

I saw him several times in the months that followed. He was out of hospital and I helped move his belongings - mostly books - from an apartment he was renting in Balgriffin to another in Sutton. His finances were in chaos. The Irish Times were still paying him but he'd never been good with money and the scandal had cost him a book contract. But he still insisted on paying whenever we ate at a local restaurant.

The girl had a name. They had met when his relationship crashed and his spirits were low. She was almost 17. He had made a terrible mistake and inflicted unbearable pain on their families but the girl was fine. She hadn't wanted to speak to the guards. She didn't want to see him jailed. It was a consensual act."

[Oldschoolsocks]

Gawd, Kimmage is some tool.

Me? I'm heading south with a message for Garrett Fitzgerald, the Munster CEO, and three billboards for Thomond Park:
IRISH BY BIRTH, MUNSTER BY THE GRACE OF STEROIDS

IS WINNING ALL THAT COUNTS?

WHAT ABOUT THE KIDS?

Didn't Kimmage cheat with using some PCP or some such? What about the kids Paul? What about the kids.
Sssssh quiet. Highlighting his hypocrisy doesn't suit his narrative.
Oh, explain to me standing by Humphries as long as you did if you're so concerned about the kids? c**t

From Kimmage's Sunday Independent column
"Tom Humphries was wearing a hospital gown and was bandaged where he had cut himself. I had brought him a manuscript of a book I had just completed about Matt Hampson, a young rugby player who was paralysed from the neck down and ventilator-dependent. "You're a good man Tom. You can come back from this," I said. He looked shattered and remorseful but not broken.

I didn't ask about the girl.

I saw him several times in the months that followed. He was out of hospital and I helped move his belongings - mostly books - from an apartment he was renting in Balgriffin to another in Sutton. His finances were in chaos. The Irish Times were still paying him but he'd never been good with money and the scandal had cost him a book contract. But he still insisted on paying whenever we ate at a local restaurant.

The girl had a name. They had met when his relationship crashed and his spirits were low. She was almost 17. He had made a terrible mistake and inflicted unbearable pain on their families but the girl was fine. She hadn't wanted to speak to the guards. She didn't want to see him jailed. It was a consensual act."

never saw this before (don't read the Sindo)... that is almost fvkin criminal - Kimmage clearly knows how to choose what he get's self-righteous about

[jimbobjoe]

Openly justifying that sh!t?? How on earth is he still in employment?

What a scumbag.

[blockhead]

Wow, didn't see that until now. The age of consent is there for a reason. Norris was spouting similar stuff during the last presidential election, did him no harm IIRC until some dodgy financial stuff emerged.
Kimmage from Balls.ie

Kimmage was joined by Neil Francis and they both called on Grobler to reveal who advised him on his steroid use and helped him administer it. Kimmage also called on the Munster fraternity to speak out on the decision to sign the South African, asking 'where's Jamie Heaslip, Joe Schmidt all the boys mentioned in that previous stuff we did, Ronan O'Gara?'

Poor oul Jamie.

[Oldschoolsocks]

Wow, didn't see that until now. The age of consent is there for a reason. Norris was spouting similar stuff during the last presidential election, did him no harm IIRC until some dodgy financial stuff emerged.
Kimmage from Balls.ie

Kimmage was joined by Neil Francis and they both called on Grobler to reveal who advised him on his steroid use and helped him administer it. Kimmage also called on the Munster fraternity to speak out on the decision to sign the South African, asking 'where's Jamie Heaslip, Joe Schmidt all the boys mentioned in that previous stuff we did, Ronan O'Gara?'

Poor oul Jamie.

honey lamb o' divine Jaysis - that's either the worst piece of writing or editorial i have seen.

[RoboProp]

He's got some f%~king neck, calling Jamie a fraud regarding his injury. Has Paul "Helen Lovejoy" Kimmage apologised?

Why is the onus on Jamie to speak up about a South African player now signed to Munster being on the gas?
From what I understand Heaslip has little to do with rugby outside of playing it. Why should he speak up about a player from another club. Heaslip is rehabbing his mind is on other matters

Should Munster have signed him? Probably not.
They are turning into JoShannonsburg, but that is another topic for another day.

[johng]

I prefer Munstermaritzburg

[Laighin Break]

He's got some f%~king neck, calling Jamie a fraud regarding his injury. Has Paul "Helen Lovejoy" Kimmage apologised?

Why is the onus on Jamie to speak up about a South African player now signed to Munster being on the gas?
From what I understand Heaslip has little to do with rugby outside of playing it. Why should he speak up about a player from another club. Heaslip is rehabbing his mind is on other matters

Should Munster have signed him? Probably not.
They are turning into JoShannonsburg, but that is another topic for another day.

I can only assume that maybe Jamie Heaslip has defended rugby when Kimmage has made claims about drugs in the past?

[IanD]

Regarding the comments about Jamie don't get caught up in a tiny quote.

Kimmage pointed out alot of quotes and photos from the IRFU and employees about doping. It included JH in a photo holding signs and wearing t-shirts about anti doping. His point was JH and others were happy to come out against doping then why not now.

Personally after listening to the Last Word podcast I agree with him on this one. Players should be talking out about doping especially if they have done so in the past and even more so if they were paid for say a photo shoot.

I would suggest people listen to the podcast.

[Oldschool]

Quick frankly trying to drag Heaslip into this little Munster created contraversy is a pile of shyte.
And while I'm at it, assume => ass you me.

[johng]

I would suggest people listen to the podcast.

And yet you provide no link.

[Oldschoolsocks]

I would suggest people listen to the podcast.

And yet you provide no link.

you're welcome - https://www.todayfm.com/podcasts/82353/ ... ig-Problem


took me Aaaaaages to find

[johng]

I took the maaaad step of looking for a podcast with a podcast app.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I am one of the most anti-Kimmage people out there but I have to defend him on the Humphries article. He was talking about what Humphries had said to him, not defending it himself. Around the time of the verdict he was on the radio saying how Humphries had spun him a story that turned out to be a complete lie, and I can't remember if Kimmage said this himself or if people just put two and two together but the upshot of it was that people assumed that that was the story that David Walsh believed, and continued to do so, hence acting as a character witness. Kimmage has said that he doesn't have contact with Humphries anymore.

To be honest that article still makes me uncomfortable even when you add that context, but it definitey wasn't a defence of him in the way it seems when you just read that part.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Why is the onus on Jamie to speak up about a South African player now signed to Munster being on the gas?

This is one of the things that annoys me most about Kimmage. Once he has an issue with something he expects everyone involved with the sport in question to be as invested as he is, and to be ready and willing to answer his questions whenever he asks them. He constantly calls people out on twitter and can't handle it when they don't agree with him, and if they ignore him completely then he just goes on about the "omerta". To call out famous sports people like that just seems desperate to me and removes all credibility to his argument, just comes across as bitter and fame hungry to me.

[hugonaut]

Why is the onus on Jamie to speak up about a South African player now signed to Munster being on the gas?

This is one of the things that annoys me most about Kimmage. Once he has an issue with something he expects everyone involved with the sport in question to be as invested as he is, and to be ready and willing to answer his questions whenever he asks them. He constantly calls people out on twitter and can't handle it when they don't agree with him, and if they ignore him completely then he just goes on about the "omerta". To call out famous sports people like that just seems desperate to me and removes all credibility to his argument, just comes across as bitter and fame hungry to me.

Completely agree with LRIP. To be fair to Kimmage, the quoted piece from the article about Humphreys is 'reported speech' or 'indirect speech', i.e. a paraphrased version of what Humpreys related to him without direct quotation. He omits the 'he told me' or 'he claimed' to imply that he was taken in and believed what was said, or at least believed it was credible.

With regards to the other stuff, it's a completely exhausted shtick: the last angry man, the cynical journalist who has seen it all but still holds true to one last belief, the redemptive power of sport and the purity of competition. Pull the other one you poison dwarf, it's got bells on.

He has been harping on about drugs in rugby for three and a half years – first on the back of Benezech's book, then moving the goal-posts to 'over-medicalisation', then doing that ludicrous, grandstanding podcast with Fitzgerald with his 'dossier' [a briefcase full of cut-up RTE Guides] and 'you don't know what I know' ... and then when a convicted South African doper is hired by Munster [and announced in the national media], he doesn't realise for six months what has turned up on his doorstep. Whoops.

There probably are people in Irish rugby taking PEDs. But I don't think it's a systemised occurrence, and the testing regime seems legitimate and pretty strict [for further information: http://www.irishrugby.ie/playingthegame/anti_doping.php ]. If it's not systemised and you have one guy in a squad of forty deciding to go out on a limb and acquire PEDs from a dodgy source, either locally or via the internet, then its embarrassing for the club but it's not really their responsibility at all, as long as they are in compliance with national and international testing norms. Obviously if they try to hide it, that's a story ... and if there is a story, a journalist should investigate and break it.

With regards to whether Munster should have hired Grobler, I don't think they should. The drugs ban should have acted as a red flag. But then again, I don't think that Munster should be bringing South African teenagers into their academy. It's just an opinion.

[Dave Cahill]

One of the complaints Munster supporters are making is why did it take so long for the Irish rugby Media to write about this. Well the Irish rugby Media, in the main, were 20000 km away when he signed, it was announced in the run up to the third, deciding, test (no coincidence I believe) and Munster signing a South African is very much a case of 'dog bites man'. The signing was announced on the 7th of July. The third test was on the 8th.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

He has been harping on about drugs in rugby for three and a half years – first on the back of Benezech's book, then moving the goal-posts to 'over-medicalisation',

He 100% did this but has somehow gotten away with it, and when he was talking to Luke Fitz he mentioned Benezech as if he had inside knowledge because of him, which sort of ignored the fact that Luke would have had more info on the inner workings of a modern rugby team than either of them.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

One of the complaints Munster supporters are making is why did it take so long for the Irish rugby Media to write about this. Well the Irish rugby Media, in the main, were 20000 km away when he signed, it was announced in the run up to the third, deciding, test (no coincidence I believe) and Munster signing a South African is very much a case of 'dog bites man'. The signing was announced on the 7th of July. The third test was on the 8th.

I don't get this argument either. It raises important questions about how we treat drug cheats in the future, it's a debate worth having regardless of the timing.