Ulster Rugby trial -continued

I cannot believe the evidence of the semen was discounted, and the airbrushing of blood..is that a first? I don't understand why that was done and I think paddys reaction to it makes me think that maybe some other poor girl had 'consensual' sex with him the night before, or earlier in the night and left bleeding and distressed.

Willie John McBride's interview doesn't surprise me. The only reason the man is given a voice in the media is because he was a Lions captain over 40 years ago and therefore the most successful player UR have even had. He's certainly not progressive, even in the 70's he was a dinosaur.

My dad worked with him before I was born. IIRC his daughter did charity work in Africa and he had some "interesting" views on people of colour as a result. Thought he was a knob when I was told that anecdote when I was twelve, and I still think he's a knob now.

Willie John McBride does indeed have a daughter, although I expect she is probably middle aged and therefore he is able to separate her in his mind from young girls out causing trouble for decent lads

I heard the interview when it was aired. I was effing and blinding at the radio. How RTE gave that man a platform I do not know! He sounded like something from the dark ages and was completely and utterly ignorant of the whole situation. Kept going on about how we do 'silly' things and referring to them as 'the guys' and aren't they great the way they went to court every day, how respectable they all are. I was full of rage!

He also said how sorry they are (PJ apology a week later??) and that they deserve to be brought back to play for Ulster. When Sean O'Rourke asked him did he know them personally he said no he didn't!!! ARGH

Where do you even begin with this shit?

Bank of Ireland is now run by a woman, the first woman to run a bank in Ireland. Let’s hope she reviews this sponsorship and decides to back away from this misogynistic time warp. I’ve just read the interview with Willie Joe McBride, a former Ireland player and head of Ulster Rubgy supporter’s club where he fully supported the boys and asked for them to be reinstated. WTF???? Does he have a wife??? Did he love his mother? How can anyone not be disguised by these men?

I was just coming on to mention the Bank of Ireland.

Money talks. This carefully worded statement will have more effect on Ulster Rugby than anything else so far.

It's an interesting development...

Don’t know if anyone has posted the Bank Of Ireland (sponsors) statement to the Irish Indo?

m.independent.ie/sport/rugby/ulster-rugby/ulster-rugby-sponsors-highly-concerned-and-reviewing-partnership-following-belfast-rape-trial-36800070.html

Interesting.

I haven't got any vibes of sectarianism from this case. Just pure misogyny.

This can't be sectarian. Really no, it's not. It's simply about misogyny.

Gerry Adams attended to Ulster European Cup final with Ronnie Flannagan. Rugby is played as an all Ireland team at international level. Rugby crosses the divide.

So much for his "apology" then. What an entitled little shit he is continuing to show himself as. He needs to get some decent PR because surely even he should be able to see that being found not guilty is not the same as being proved innocent.

I hope that he's actually terrified that he won't be playing professional rugby ever again and is envisioning a future of unemployment and infamy.

I can't see that Ulster and the IRFU can be happy about this as it's just keeping the spotlight on this case, and Irish rugby, for even longer.

They wouldn't be able to help at a women's DV shelter. They don't let men in! For good reason.

Also there was a PR expert on Radio Ulster yesterday who suggested that the pair of them could go and volunteer with a domestic violence refuge or a women's charity to show that they are sorry

Although another guest quite rightly said that that suggestion was not in any way about helping victims of violence, it was about making themselves look better.

God, what an arse.

Anyone know if there's any legal precedent for this? I've never heard of the CPS being made to pick up the defence bill.

My husband made a very interesting comment to me about the blood on the bedsheets. I believe that PJ said in court that he thought she had her period. My husband said that men of a misogynist outlook, and even many who aren't, are fairly repulsed by periods, so on that basis he was surprised that it wouldn't have been commented on in their derogatory messages. Unless of course he didn't really think she had her period.

What an absolute fucking arse. Who is giving him advice?

It's not as though he doesn't have the money (if he didn't he would have got legal aid).

Does he want to stay in the headlines?

You are probably right Zibbidoo. I also suspect they are trying to deflect from having to look at the issue critically by falling back on the well worn sectarian "banter"

Me too onlylivingboyinnewcross

It terrifies me that this could be the way rugby is going - overpaid, over-hyped, trumped up farty little shitheads with no sense, no morals and no regard for anyone or anything.

Rugby is not anything like as well paid as football - eventually even a top level professional will have to earn a living and any future employer is going to (hopefully) take one look at any of these men and decide that they aren't employable.

Yep, sectarianism is habitual in some. So these guys are perceived as rich Protestants. Therefore working class Catholics are more likely to criticise them, meaning some (not all) Protestants want to defend them (sort of on the principle that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend).

Some of the more, erm, assertive FB and twitter crap makes me wonder if the girl is Catholic, and therefore seen as somehow "lesser" by a proportion (and thankfully an ever-decreasing proportion) of the population

The sectarian issue in the north is a little like a race issue in other countries - so if this had been, say, rich white frat boys in the US vs a poor black girl similar lines might be drawn by some onlookers