Bertie on Setanta Sports

Diorraing

I just saw our Taoiseach giving his expert opinions on the year in Sport. I don't mean to be cynical but is this degradation of the office of An Taoiseach. He can't be taken seriously if her persists with this kind of behaviour. I recall him being on The Premiership a few years ago with Dunphy and Giles. Maybe I'm being too critical but it seems like another attempt by Bertie to portray himself as "one of the lads"

dbnavan

Personnally, I am in no way a Bertie fan, but.......he is human, he does like sports, once he doesnt miss political engagements to appear as a pundit why not, however liking sports and being good at it is another thing, I have been told he couldnt kick snow off a rope, by someone who played with him, but was a good runner

ditpoker

bertie is a sport man, thats how he started in politics as far as i know, working with local sports teams etc then became a local councellor with sport facilities etc etc on his agenda and has worked his way from there. Personally while not being bertie biggest fan, i'd prefer to see him as one of the lads, someone who is genuinely up to date with what the majority of people want, not a dull faceless politician. fair play to him...

flogen

I don't see any problem with it, it is a way of looking like one of the lads, but I also think he does have some interest too.
Do you think the President and Taoiseach shouldn't turn up to matches too? You could look at it this way, he's showing support for Irish sport by promoting it so he's doing a good thing with his job title.
Blair was on Match of the Day recently (or the Saturday morning Soccer show on BBC), and I never felt he was doing damage to his office.

Maskhadov

i dont have any problem with it. He knows his stuff when it comes to sport and he has always enjoyed sport and attends any sporting games in his local area. Its not like tony blair coming on the telly and not having the faintess notion about football.

Fair play Bert !

murphaph

That brown jumper was naff but to be honest, he brings the office of Taoiseach into more disrepute by turning up, scissors in hand to open every new Tescos or village relief road, or sewage pumping station or....you get the picture.

BuffyBot

Could be much worse, he could be doing stupid cringe inducing appearances on Ant and Dec and Richard and Judy like another (what some might consider slightly more important) Prime Minister does...

ronbyrne2005

you have to give it to him he's great at using the media, he made a xmas speech on xmas eve which was just stating the bleeding obvious about a few run of the mill topics and because there was nothing else newsworthy he got the headlines on all news on radio and tv. i think people are coping on to his omnipresence and he's cutting down on the appearances at the openings of envelopes etc.

Diorraing

Granted he does have a genuine interest in sport but surely that doesn't entitle him to give analysis on it. The only reason he was on the show was because he was Taoiseach and therefore he was on the show in his capacity as Taoiseach which is an abuse of that role. Yes this is harmless but at the same time it looked like a cynical attempt to get votes.
You're dead right about that jumper, Murphaph, it was hideous. That did more to bring the office into disrepute than his appearance did

simu

Diorraing wrote:

You're dead right about that jumper, Murphaph, it was hideous. That did more to bring the office into disrepute than his appearance did

That yellow suit he had on at the G8 summit topped the lot in terms of cringe-worthiness tbh. There were some great photos of all the other leaders conversing in their sobre outfits and Bertie standing on the margins with a disappointed child's look on his face. I don't suppose anyone has any links?

But, back to the original topic - I don't see a problem with Bertie being on a sports show. He wouldn't be the first to waffle on such a show and in fairness, he does seem to have a genuine passion for sport. Many politicians have done far sillier things for a bit of publicity.

Zebra3

Diorraing wrote:

Granted he does have a genuine interest in sport but surely that doesn't entitle him to give analysis on it. The only reason he was on the show was because he was Taoiseach and therefore he was on the show in his capacity as Taoiseach which is an abuse of that role. Yes this is harmless but at the same time it looked like a cynical attempt to get votes.

Naill on head.

I think it was a lot more serious when he was opening a kitchen showroom last year when Dáil Éireann was meeting to discuss Garda corruption.

Man of the poeple, what?! :mad:

Dave!

He was wearing a Lacoste jumper, I thought that was hilarious

MrPudding

Presumably it was a well thought out appearance planned and executed by his PR people designed to endear him to the average Joe and make him look like one of the lads.

Of course there is always the chance that had nothing to do with it. Either way I think it is OK for him to do stuff like this. To me it is OK for a polititian to do stuff like this as long as it does not interfere with his actual duties. Given they are on a 6 month Christmas Break (OK maybe slight exageration) and there don't seem to be any crisis on the go I think it was probably OK.

It seems that he has always had an interest in sport so this is a natural extension of that.

MrP

mike65

Did anyone see Tony Blair on Football Focus a while back? Ugh!

Mike.

Freelancer

mike65 wrote:

Did anyone see Tony Blair on Football Focus a while back? Ugh!

Mike.

Hell thats nothing, Nixon use to ring the locker room of the Washington Redskins, and offered his opinion on play tactics...........

Blair never struck me a geniune sports fan so I'd agree it was cringe worthy. But Bertie? C'mon saturday night heres a man with his feet up watching match of the day with a bass in his hand, while Cecila exfoliates in the other chair. And looking forward to heading down to croker in the morning.

I'd not describe this as a cyncial move, I'd see it as Bertie enjoying, what for him, is a perk of the job.

While I find myself defending Bertie here on most issues, on this one I think he is open to criticism. Not so much for following sports, but for the whole ManU thing. Would he ever go out and support his local eL club - as Taoiseach he would be a better example if he put a few bob the way of the club game here in Ireland rather than adding to the coffers of an English club or Vodaphone or Nike or whatever. I believe he has been to the odd Shels game, but that whole ****e about ManU that he goes on with is just stupid. Bertie, get off yer barstool in Fagans watching Sky TV and walk a few hundred yards down the road to Tolka and at least PRETEND you support your local team...

LostinBlanch

BuffyBot wrote:

Could be much worse, he could be doing stupid cringe inducing appearances on Ant and Dec and Richard and Judy like another (what some might consider slightly more important) Prime Minister does...

They're both Bushes poodles anyway! According to Noam Chomsky anyway, and lots of other people I know. That fella down the pub for instance. He knows his dogs, he runs some at Shelbourne Park

A Dub in Glasgo

Deleted User wrote:

While I find myself defending Bertie here on most issues, on this one I think he is open to criticism. Not so much for following sports, but for the whole ManU thing. Would he ever go out and support his local eL club - as Taoiseach he would be a better example if he put a few bob the way of the club game here in Ireland rather than adding to the coffers of an English club or Vodaphone or Nike or whatever. I believe he has been to the odd Shels game, but that whole ****e about ManU that he goes on with is just stupid. Bertie, get off yer barstool in Fagans watching Sky TV and walk a few hundred yards down the road to Tolka and at least PRETEND you support your local team...

That is the only issue I would have. Bertie seems to get rolled out everytime there is a controvery/important win at Man United. Can you imagine Blair spouting on about Shelbourne or Lyon or Real Madrid? Nah, he would be absolutely slaughtered in the media and by the voters for ignoring his own football teams

simu

A Dub in Glasgo wrote:

Nah, he would be absolutely slaughtered in the media and by the voters for ignoring his own football teams

Yeah, but that would never cause controversy here because it's the same with so many Irish soccer fans.

Diorraing

Deleted User wrote:

While I find myself defending Bertie here on most issues, on this one I think he is open to criticism. Not so much for following sports, but for the whole ManU thing. Would he ever go out and support his local eL club - as Taoiseach he would be a better example if he put a few bob the way of the club game here in Ireland rather than adding to the coffers of an English club or Vodaphone or Nike or whatever. I believe he has been to the odd Shels game, but that whole ****e about ManU that he goes on with is just stupid. Bertie, get off yer barstool in Fagans watching Sky TV and walk a few hundred yards down the road to Tolka and at least PRETEND you support your local team...

Good point. Didn't really think about it like that before. In fairness to Bertie though he attends all the Dublin GAA matches which is probably more important to the voters.

Guy:Incognito

Diorraing wrote:

Granted he does have a genuine interest in sport but surely that doesn't entitle him to give analysis on it

Obviosly hthe people who make tha programs disagree. He is as entitled as any other football fan.

Diorraing

Stekelly wrote:

Obviosly hthe people who make tha programs disagree. He is as entitled as any other football fan.

But not every football fan is entitled. Only people with a real knowledge of the game (i.e former players, managers, journalists) analyse it. The only reason he was on setanta was coz he is taoiseach.

John_C

Drumcondra had their biggest game in 33 years last season. We were all expecting to see Bertie in Belfield but we were disappointed.

ronbyrne2005

at least drumcondra are gettin a clubhouse at last ,i dont remember bertie doing much when i played there for a few years in 90's

Diorraing

Diorraing wrote:

Only people with a real knowledge of the game (i.e former players, managers, journalists) analyse it.

What about Dion Fanning? He followed Liverpool, his daddy ran a newspaper, hey presto he anchors the football coverage...yet there are vegetables that have more insight...