to View - Griffith College Dublin
to View - Griffith College Dublin
to View - Griffith College Dublin
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
THE<br />
March 2007<br />
CIRCULAR<br />
news<br />
news<br />
news<br />
sport<br />
sport<br />
sport<br />
culture<br />
culture<br />
culture<br />
media<br />
media<br />
media<br />
ia<br />
health<br />
health<br />
health<br />
lifestyle<br />
lifestyle<br />
lifestyle
2<br />
NEWS<br />
APOLOGISE FOR THE SLAVE TRADE<br />
– NOT ME!<br />
A monument <strong>to</strong> the slaves sold at the old slave market in<br />
S<strong>to</strong>ne Town, on Zanzibar.<br />
By Helen Morrogh<br />
In February, Virginia became the<br />
first American state <strong>to</strong> make a formal<br />
apology for its involvement in<br />
the slave trade that ended approximately<br />
two hundred years ago. The<br />
JOBS GLOOM FOR PHYSIO GRADUATES<br />
By Enid O’Dowd<br />
Figures for 2007 CAO applications<br />
released this week show a 30%<br />
drop in applications for the high<br />
points physiotherapy degree after<br />
complaints from 2006 graduates of<br />
poor job prospects.<br />
This does not surprise 22 year<br />
old physiotherapy student Petra<br />
Grehan who is in her final year.<br />
“Most of my class are planning <strong>to</strong><br />
go <strong>to</strong> New Zealand. There are no<br />
jobs for us here.” Petra is one of<br />
two UCD student representatives<br />
<strong>to</strong> the Irish Society of Chartered<br />
Physiotherapists (ISCP).<br />
Petra and her fellow students<br />
only became aware of their limited<br />
prospects in the past few months.<br />
Over their four-year B.Sc degree<br />
programme, they spend 1000 hours<br />
working on clinical placements in<br />
hospitals for no pay and normally<br />
not even a free or subsidised lunch.<br />
Nursing students on placements<br />
are paid. Physiotherapy students<br />
had assumed there was a job for<br />
them at the end of their free stint<br />
in Irish hospitals.<br />
Figures released by ISCP late last<br />
year revealed that the majority of<br />
the 150 physiotherapists who graduated<br />
in 2006 are unemployed,<br />
under employed or on part-time or<br />
temporary contracts.<br />
The situation is exacerbated by<br />
the return of young Irish physiotherapists<br />
who trained in the UK<br />
state’s legisla<strong>to</strong>rs expressed ‘profound<br />
regret’ over the use of<br />
natives as slaves by the colonisers<br />
and described the slave trade as<br />
‘the most horrendous of all depredations<br />
of human rights and violations<br />
of our founding ideals in our<br />
nation’s his<strong>to</strong>ry’.<br />
because they could not get the 530<br />
plus points needed here.<br />
Following pressure from ISCP,<br />
the Minister for Health and<br />
Children, Ms Mary Harney, admitted<br />
in an RTE radio interview in<br />
December 2006 that there was<br />
unemployment among young physiotherapists.<br />
A meeting between ISCP and<br />
the Health Service Executive<br />
(HSE) resulted in an advertisement<br />
in January 2007 for physiotherapists<br />
but with no indication as <strong>to</strong><br />
the numbers <strong>to</strong> be employed.<br />
Finola Doran, National projects<br />
Office, HSE, refused <strong>to</strong> tell this<br />
reporter how many jobs were on<br />
offer. She referred me <strong>to</strong> the press<br />
office who said it was “not really<br />
within their remit”.<br />
It <strong>to</strong>ok a parliamentary question<br />
from Green Party Health<br />
spokesman John Gormley TD <strong>to</strong><br />
find out the answer. Deputy<br />
Gormley said, “the reply says the<br />
number is ‘of the order of 30’,<br />
which in my opinion only represents<br />
some of the long sanctioned<br />
posts left unfilled <strong>to</strong> save money.<br />
This number is quite inadequate <strong>to</strong><br />
meet the needs of patients.”<br />
The advertisement makes it clear<br />
that any further recruitment in<br />
2007 is unlikely as panels will be<br />
formed from the unsuccessful<br />
applicants.<br />
A staggering 370 applications<br />
have been received from unemployed<br />
or underemployed physiotherapists<br />
for these 30 posts.<br />
This apology leads us in<strong>to</strong> the<br />
debate that existed long before<br />
Virginia issued its apology; should<br />
anybody be apologising for the<br />
slave trade<br />
No state should have <strong>to</strong> apologise<br />
for something that ceased<br />
some two hundred years ago. To<br />
do so, is <strong>to</strong> admit responsibility for<br />
a time when none of us were alive.<br />
The British Prime Minister,<br />
Tony Blair, following the bi-centenary<br />
of Britain’s involvement in<br />
the slave trade, refused <strong>to</strong> submit<br />
an apology and instead expressed<br />
a ‘deep sorrow’ for Britain’s primary<br />
role in the exploitation of<br />
natives by white settlers. This is<br />
sufficient. While Blair recognised<br />
Britain’s role in the slave trade, he<br />
did not admit responsibility. The<br />
time for apologising was when<br />
those who were directly involved<br />
were still alive.<br />
Who is actually being<br />
apologised <strong>to</strong> The slaves are now<br />
long dead. They do not need a feeble<br />
apology from statesmen wishing<br />
<strong>to</strong> secure votes who had<br />
absolutely nothing <strong>to</strong> do with the<br />
tyrannical regimes run by the<br />
colonisers.<br />
Yet, many feel that the descendants<br />
of the millions of slaves<br />
Interview panels throughout the<br />
country are currently interviewing<br />
350 of these applicants.<br />
In July 2001, the then Minister<br />
for Health and Children, Micheal<br />
Martin, launched a report by Dr<br />
Peter Bacon on the ‘current and<br />
future supply and demand conditions<br />
in the Labour Market for certain<br />
professional therapists.’<br />
The report concluded that a<br />
major expansion in the number of<br />
therapists (physiotherapists, speech<br />
therapists and occupational therapists)<br />
was essential <strong>to</strong> pre-empt the<br />
emergence of a persistent and<br />
growing deficit in service provision.<br />
In response <strong>to</strong> the report, the<br />
government opened a new training<br />
school with 25 places in the<br />
University of Limerick in 2002.<br />
The first students graduated in<br />
2006.<br />
A more recent report from the<br />
Expert Group on Future Skills<br />
Needs in Oc<strong>to</strong>ber 2005 endorsed<br />
Bacon’s findings and predicted<br />
shortages of physiotherapists in<br />
the future.<br />
In the context of these reports it<br />
seems strange that young graduates<br />
are unemployed.<br />
According <strong>to</strong> Ruaidhri<br />
O’Connor, ISCP Chief Executive<br />
Officer, “there is a shortage of<br />
approved posts within the Irish<br />
who were so horrifically treated by<br />
their owners are owed an apology.<br />
They have had <strong>to</strong> live with the<br />
knowledge that their ances<strong>to</strong>rs’<br />
existence was as mere commodities<br />
<strong>to</strong> the white settlers. Their<br />
ances<strong>to</strong>rs were beaten regularly<br />
and many died through disease or<br />
maltreatment. They neither<br />
received an apology nor saw justice<br />
carried out. While slavery was<br />
finally abolished worldwide by the<br />
early nineteenth century, nobody<br />
was ever forced <strong>to</strong> pay for what<br />
happened. Nobody was ever<br />
obliged <strong>to</strong> face up <strong>to</strong> what they<br />
had done.<br />
As a woman, I do not feel the<br />
need <strong>to</strong> be apologised <strong>to</strong> for the<br />
way in which women were treated<br />
centuries ago. Neither do I feel I<br />
should be apologised <strong>to</strong> by the<br />
British for the way in which the<br />
Irish were treated in the nineteenth<br />
century and before. It may<br />
sadden me, but I certainly do not<br />
feel that anybody owes me an<br />
apology.<br />
Rightly, Tony Blair has refrained<br />
from apologising as this could lead<br />
<strong>to</strong> compensation claims. If he<br />
admits <strong>to</strong> guilt, then somebody<br />
else who wasn’t alive at the time, is<br />
going <strong>to</strong> gain. As far as the present<br />
health service. The recruitment<br />
cap has meant the non-filling of<br />
vacant posts and targeted new<br />
development posts failing <strong>to</strong> materialise.”<br />
A recent caller <strong>to</strong> the Joe Duffy<br />
Liveline show <strong>to</strong>ld listeners of a letter<br />
from the HSE – western area.<br />
His son, recovering from a broken<br />
bone in his foot, had been taken off<br />
the list for an outpatient physiotherapy<br />
appointment due <strong>to</strong> ‘staff<br />
shortages.’<br />
According <strong>to</strong> the HSE, there has<br />
been a 129% increase in the<br />
employment of all grades of physiotherapists<br />
in the ten years from<br />
1996 <strong>to</strong> 2006, and 190 new development<br />
posts are “anticipated” in<br />
the next two years.<br />
However, closer examination<br />
of the figures show that the<br />
increase in the employment of<br />
physiotherapists (graduate entry<br />
level) since the Bacon report was<br />
19.6% or just 83 posts.<br />
There was no increase in<br />
employment – not one single job –<br />
in 2006, the year which saw the first<br />
Limerick graduates and increased<br />
overall numbers of graduates.<br />
Petra Grehan and the rest of the<br />
class of 2007 are facing their finals<br />
knowing their professional future is<br />
uncertain.<br />
It costs up <strong>to</strong> 100,000 of taxpayer’s<br />
money <strong>to</strong> train each physiotherapist.<br />
The public interest is not<br />
served by their involuntary emigration.<br />
Even allowing for retirements,<br />
“promised” new posts in community<br />
care and some opportunities in<br />
the private sec<strong>to</strong>r, the situation is<br />
bleak.<br />
is concerned, the slave trade<br />
should remain a <strong>to</strong>pic in books,<br />
and one that is taught in schools<br />
and universities, not something<br />
that is turned in<strong>to</strong> a wrong-doing<br />
of contemporary society.<br />
His<strong>to</strong>ry is something that must be<br />
respected. No matter how<br />
appalling, the pages of his<strong>to</strong>ry<br />
cannot be changed. Rather than<br />
apologising for what happened, we<br />
should be analysing what each<br />
event in his<strong>to</strong>ry means, how and<br />
why it happened and what the outcome<br />
has been. If this means that<br />
we discover the plight of certain<br />
his<strong>to</strong>rical peoples’ has shaped the<br />
way many live their lives now, very<br />
well, but this does not mean that<br />
we should apologise.<br />
The slave trade should never<br />
have started, but it did. Most of us<br />
cannot even begin <strong>to</strong> understand<br />
how anybody could treat a fellow<br />
human being in such a manner.<br />
Slavery is something that should<br />
never be forgotten and it most<br />
likely never will be. The time for<br />
apologies has passed. Now, all we<br />
can do is document the lives and<br />
hardships of these slaves and<br />
remember them with the respect<br />
and dignity that they were robbed<br />
of all those years ago.<br />
Petra Grehan<br />
THE CIRCULAR<br />
When the 30 posts on offer are<br />
filled, there will be 340 qualified<br />
physiotherapists out of work. The<br />
class of 2007 joins them in May,<br />
bringing the number of unemployed<br />
young Irish physiotherapists<br />
<strong>to</strong> 490.<br />
Martin McDonald, National<br />
Direc<strong>to</strong>r of Human Resources,<br />
HSE, says in a letter dated February<br />
28, 2007 <strong>to</strong> Deputy Gormley, “I am<br />
aware that an issue has arisen<br />
around the availability of employment<br />
for recently qualified physiotherapists.”<br />
ISCP is seeking an urgent meeting<br />
with the HSE. “This year’s<br />
graduates must not face the same<br />
situation as the 2006 graduates<br />
did,” insists Ruaidhri O’Connor.
THE CIRCULAR<br />
NEWS<br />
3<br />
Think before rushing on<strong>to</strong> the<br />
property ladder<br />
It’s not surprising that most people, who don’t own a house, want <strong>to</strong> do<br />
so as soon as possible, <strong>to</strong> the point of obsession.They are bombarded<br />
with propaganda, and the pressure <strong>to</strong> buy just about anything, is huge<br />
By Enid O’Dowd<br />
It’s not surprising that most people,<br />
who don’t own a house, want <strong>to</strong> do<br />
so as soon as possible, <strong>to</strong> the point<br />
of obsession. They are bombarded<br />
with propaganda, and the pressure<br />
<strong>to</strong> buy just about anything, is huge.<br />
Last year, RTE gave us I’m an<br />
Adult – Get Me Out of Here in<br />
which twenty somethings were<br />
given advice on how <strong>to</strong> leave the<br />
family home for the mortgage<br />
minefield.<br />
One programme featured two<br />
sisters aged 22 and 27 living at<br />
home somewhere in south <strong>Dublin</strong>.<br />
Daddy gave them ‘pocket money’<br />
of €500 per month <strong>to</strong> supplement<br />
their salaries which was apparently<br />
needed <strong>to</strong> support their then mortgage-free<br />
lifestyle.<br />
There’s nothing wrong with living<br />
with your family – especially if<br />
the family home is convenient for<br />
your work and lifestyle.<br />
Housing is a basic human need,<br />
and the state policies should ensure<br />
that citizens can provide themselves<br />
with a roof over their head,<br />
at a price they can afford.<br />
But there is no absolute right <strong>to</strong><br />
own a house. The state has no obligation<br />
<strong>to</strong> subsidise home ownership<br />
for young people barely out of<br />
college.<br />
“I’m an adult<br />
- get me out<br />
of here”<br />
Young people face peer pressure<br />
from friends who are in the mortgage<br />
trap, and sometimes pressure<br />
from parents who may want them<br />
out so they can downsize.<br />
Then there’s the pressure from<br />
auctioneers and the property supplements.<br />
They make big money<br />
out of the Irish obsession with<br />
property and naturally want <strong>to</strong> keep<br />
things that way.<br />
Auctioneers get paid a percentage<br />
of the selling price, so the higher<br />
the price, the bigger their bank<br />
balances. And property supplements<br />
make much needed advertising<br />
revenue for their newspapers.<br />
Politicians add <strong>to</strong> the pressure.<br />
With a general election imminent,<br />
the parties are falling over themselves<br />
<strong>to</strong> offer goodies <strong>to</strong> the home<br />
ownership lobby because it always<br />
votes. For example, various versions<br />
of stamp duty cuts are currently<br />
on offer.<br />
It’s doubtful whether stamp duty<br />
cuts would really help first time<br />
buyers because demand exceeds<br />
supply.<br />
A little bit of honesty wouldn’t<br />
go amiss, but that would lose the<br />
politicians votes.<br />
Land is a finite quantity and as<br />
population increases so does the<br />
price of houses. That’s basic economics.<br />
According <strong>to</strong> the Central<br />
Statistics Office, Census 2006<br />
showed a population increase of<br />
317,722 in the four years since the<br />
last census.<br />
Young people complain they<br />
cannot afford houses in the areas<br />
where they grew up. That’s<br />
inevitable if they grew up in a<br />
mature area convenient <strong>to</strong> the city<br />
centre where developers have now<br />
built on every little bit of land.<br />
In such areas – unless you<br />
increase supply by building on<br />
school playgrounds and the little<br />
green space – prices can only go<br />
up. Even if price growth is restricted<br />
a little by increasing mortgage<br />
rates, there simply isn’t enough<br />
property <strong>to</strong> go round.<br />
The possibility of ‘negative equity’<br />
is now very real for Irish buyers.<br />
Once upon a time, the lending<br />
institutions insisted that house buyers<br />
saved a significant deposit. Now<br />
they compete <strong>to</strong> offer mortgages<br />
up <strong>to</strong> 100%, loans <strong>to</strong> meet the<br />
deposit, deferred payment mortgages,<br />
and just about anything that<br />
might get potential house buyers <strong>to</strong><br />
sign on the dotted line.<br />
People say rent is dead money –<br />
which is true. Tenants will always<br />
have <strong>to</strong> pay for their housing.<br />
However, mortgages used <strong>to</strong> be<br />
given for 20 years. Most lending<br />
institutions now lend for up <strong>to</strong> 35<br />
years. A survey by the Sunday<br />
Business Post this month revealed<br />
that the Ulster Bank would lend a<br />
couple seven times their income<br />
over 40 years providing they agreed<br />
<strong>to</strong> rent out a room. The normal<br />
loan <strong>to</strong> income ratio is 5 <strong>to</strong> 1.<br />
The Revenue Commissioners'<br />
website reveals a big difference<br />
between the tax concessions given<br />
<strong>to</strong> home buyers as opposed <strong>to</strong> tenants.<br />
The maximum tax credit available<br />
<strong>to</strong> a single person renting is<br />
€360 in a tax year, but a single person<br />
buying for the first time can get<br />
a tax credit of up <strong>to</strong> €1,600 in a tax<br />
year.<br />
These tax credits are doubled for<br />
a married couple. The home buyer<br />
can also rent out space in his home<br />
under the ‘rent a room’ scheme and<br />
not be liable for tax on the rental<br />
income providing it’s less than<br />
€7,620 per year.<br />
The difference in tax treatment<br />
appears illogical and unfair.<br />
One could argue that it’s not<br />
unrelated <strong>to</strong> the close association<br />
between the government and the<br />
building industry. Ask yourself<br />
which party’s councillors were most<br />
in demand as witnesses in the various<br />
tribunals in<strong>to</strong> planning corruption.<br />
Tenants could and should be<br />
given the same tax treatment as<br />
homebuyers.<br />
The plus side of renting is that<br />
you’re mobile, especially relevant<br />
when changing your job. You don’t<br />
have <strong>to</strong> worry about repairs, maintenance<br />
and insurance. You don’t<br />
have <strong>to</strong> worry about the six interest<br />
rate rises since December 2005,<br />
and those <strong>to</strong> come.<br />
You live where you want <strong>to</strong> live<br />
so you don’t have <strong>to</strong> run a car<br />
because your estate has inadequate<br />
public transport in<strong>to</strong> the city.<br />
Research by auctioneers Hooke<br />
and McDonald released this month<br />
shows that one in five of first time<br />
buyers are now under 25, and twothirds<br />
are under 30.<br />
I’m an Adult – Get Me Out of Here<br />
is coming back later this year.<br />
Apparently seven out of the eight<br />
young people featured in the first<br />
series are now buying their own<br />
homes.<br />
These young people may have a
4<br />
NEWS<br />
THE CIRCULAR<br />
Poles apart...<br />
But not that different<br />
Jennifer O’Shea looks at the vibrant and<br />
expanding Polish community in Ireland<br />
Polonia: local Polish shop on South Circular Road.<br />
Ireland is facing a phenomenon<br />
that it has never faced before.<br />
Multiculturalism is fast becoming a<br />
reality that Ireland. Since May 1 st<br />
2004 with the enlargement of the<br />
European Union, Hungarians,<br />
Baltic nationals but most noticeably<br />
Polish nationals have been coming<br />
<strong>to</strong> Ireland in large numbers in<br />
search of work and the hope of a<br />
better future.<br />
According <strong>to</strong> the Polish<br />
Embassy, about “200,000 Poles live<br />
in Ireland.” The Polish community<br />
“is the fastest growing immigrant<br />
group in Ireland”, says networkeurope.cz.<br />
There is talk of Ireland<br />
developing a ‘‘Polish <strong>to</strong>wn’’ akin <strong>to</strong><br />
the ‘‘China<strong>to</strong>wns’’ many other capital<br />
cities in the world have.<br />
According <strong>to</strong> the Ireland-Poland<br />
cultural foundation “Polish is now<br />
spoken by more people in Ireland<br />
then the Irish language.”<br />
The similarities between Poland<br />
and pre-Celtic Tiger Ireland are<br />
quite as<strong>to</strong>nishing. It is no wonder<br />
that Poles have settled here with<br />
relative ease.<br />
Before this current cultural<br />
explosion, Irish society was made<br />
up predominantly of Irish citizens<br />
with little domestic experience of<br />
foreign nationals or immigrants.<br />
Although, Ireland is gradually<br />
becoming more culturally diverse,<br />
we continue <strong>to</strong> be a relatively cohesive<br />
people. Poland and the Polish<br />
people have much the same level of<br />
cohesion with a population of 98%<br />
ethnic Poles. Religion also binds us<br />
with the vast majority of Poles.<br />
“Up <strong>to</strong> 90%” according <strong>to</strong> the<br />
Polish Embassy’s website, claim <strong>to</strong><br />
be Roman Catholic.<br />
It is perhaps our mutual his<strong>to</strong>rical<br />
experience that connects us<br />
most. Both Poland and Ireland<br />
“I’ve found<br />
something<br />
that I didn’t<br />
have in<br />
Poland”<br />
have been on the receiving end of<br />
colonial imperialism that has dominated<br />
our his<strong>to</strong>ry and has had a<br />
lasting impact on our mindset.<br />
But how is this growing community<br />
expressing their culture in this<br />
‘new’ land and are they being made<br />
welcome<br />
More then any other nonnational<br />
community, the Polish<br />
community has attracted media,<br />
business and societal attention.<br />
Polish community websites like<br />
dublinek.net have been set up <strong>to</strong><br />
help provide Polish people with<br />
information on anything from<br />
accommodation and jobs <strong>to</strong> buying<br />
and selling furniture.<br />
Polish cultural societies have<br />
been established <strong>to</strong> help promote<br />
and strengthen Polish traditions<br />
and culture in Ireland. The Ireland-<br />
Poland Cultural Foundation was set<br />
up <strong>to</strong> “promote and strengthen cultural<br />
exchange between Ireland and<br />
Poland.” With Seamus Heaney as<br />
their patron, the Foundation strives<br />
<strong>to</strong> bridge the gap between the two<br />
communities along cultural lines.<br />
They plan <strong>to</strong> establish an annual<br />
cultural promotions programme <strong>to</strong><br />
“provide a platform for the celebration<br />
and promotion of artistic<br />
achievement”.<br />
Other aspects of Poland’s rich<br />
culture have also been recreated.<br />
Polish bars such as, Zagloba on<br />
Parnell Street and Chaplains Bar on<br />
Hawkins Street, are popping up<br />
and provide an opportunity for<br />
Poles <strong>to</strong> meet each other and<br />
exchange their experiences here.<br />
The first annual Polish Film<br />
Festival was held in <strong>Dublin</strong> last<br />
November <strong>to</strong> show case the best of<br />
Polish film. Barbara Boldys,<br />
Culture Officer with the Polish<br />
Embassy, said the festival has been<br />
run this year in response <strong>to</strong> the<br />
“growing interest in Poland”.<br />
The media has also responded <strong>to</strong><br />
the influx of Poles. The Evening<br />
Herald was the first national publication<br />
<strong>to</strong> cater <strong>to</strong> immigrants in<br />
their own language. ‘Polski Herald’<br />
is a free Polish supplement with the<br />
newspaper on a Friday. Head of<br />
Marketing for ‘Polski Herald’<br />
Bridget McCaul, acknowledged the<br />
benefits of appealing <strong>to</strong> this growing<br />
community in Ireland. “We<br />
have noticed a significant increase<br />
in sales on a Friday which we attribute<br />
<strong>to</strong> Polski Herald.” Other publications<br />
set up <strong>to</strong> appeal directly <strong>to</strong><br />
the Polish community include<br />
SOFA magazine, Polski Express<br />
and Gazeta Polska, which was set<br />
up two years ago and sells 10,000<br />
copies weekly. The TV station City<br />
Channel has also responded the<br />
growing number of Poles in<br />
Ireland by developing a programme<br />
called ‘O<strong>to</strong> Polska’ presented by<br />
“I didn’t<br />
come here<br />
<strong>to</strong> have a<br />
second<br />
Poland”<br />
Polish national Izabela Chudzicka.<br />
The main reasons for coming <strong>to</strong><br />
Ireland appear <strong>to</strong> be education,<br />
improving their English or finding<br />
employment.<br />
According <strong>to</strong> the Department of<br />
Social and Family Affairs it has<br />
issued 195,740 PPS numbers <strong>to</strong><br />
Polish citizens since the enlargement<br />
of the EU, a far greater number<br />
than for any other immigrant<br />
group. Poles with little English<br />
find it very difficult <strong>to</strong> get work.<br />
Brian McCormack Economist with<br />
the Planning and Research<br />
Department of FAS, says that the<br />
numbers of Poles taking up FAS<br />
courses is “quite low”.<br />
Justine Pieprz from Pozman, a<br />
city in West Poland, came here<br />
alone and knowing no-one, almost<br />
a year ago. She has turned her hand<br />
<strong>to</strong> a number of jobs in Ireland and<br />
is currently very happy, working in<br />
the Food Room on Clontarf Road.<br />
She faced a number of problems<br />
when she first came but found the<br />
Irish supportive. “Mostly, Irish<br />
people helped me when I had<br />
problems when I first got here in<br />
finding jobs and accommodation….”.<br />
Justine faced other problems<br />
when she first moved in<strong>to</strong> her<br />
home in <strong>Dublin</strong> 5. “When I started<br />
living here, teenagers from around<br />
the area threw s<strong>to</strong>nes at my<br />
house...and broke my window”.<br />
However, once their parents were<br />
notified, the harassment s<strong>to</strong>pped.<br />
It did not dampen Justine’s<br />
enthusiasm for Ireland. “I’ve found<br />
something that I didn’t have in<br />
Poland…I have found peace<br />
here…I’m a new person, more<br />
happy”. She welcomes Ireland’s<br />
ever growing multicultural society<br />
and feels her fellow Poles should<br />
welcome this opportunity <strong>to</strong> learn<br />
and experience new things. “I’m<br />
feeling good with the multi-cultural<br />
community… I didn’t come here <strong>to</strong><br />
have a second Poland…open your<br />
eyes”.
THE CIRCULAR LIFESTYLE AND CULTURE<br />
5<br />
Understanding attraction: a<br />
man’s view<br />
By PJ O’Shea<br />
I used <strong>to</strong> be a very shy guy. My<br />
first kiss was a <strong>to</strong>tal fluke. It<br />
always seemed <strong>to</strong> be the girl who<br />
made the first move. I just didn’t<br />
know what <strong>to</strong> say. “Girls like boys<br />
who are nice <strong>to</strong> them,” my mom<br />
would say; but that was the thing -<br />
I didn’t want them <strong>to</strong> like me, I<br />
wanted them <strong>to</strong> want me!<br />
No matter how nice I was <strong>to</strong> a<br />
girl, it only ever seemed <strong>to</strong> push<br />
her further away. This taught me<br />
my first lesson in attraction; don’t<br />
ever come across as either clingy<br />
or needy. It was only after I started<br />
ignoring girls that they began <strong>to</strong><br />
show any interest in me. This<br />
taught me my second lesson in<br />
attraction; women make absolutely<br />
no sense - at all.<br />
Now, guys are easy <strong>to</strong> understand.<br />
Most of us enjoy looking at<br />
pictures of naked women, watching<br />
football on TV and some of<br />
us even read the paper. If a guy<br />
says he hates something or somebody,<br />
ninety-nine point nine percent<br />
of the time he actually means<br />
it.<br />
Most women never say how<br />
they feel – ever. My understanding<br />
is that when a woman says she<br />
likes something she probably hates<br />
it and if she says she hates it, she<br />
probably loathes it. When a guy<br />
sees a footballer score a great goal<br />
on TV he wants <strong>to</strong> see it over and<br />
over again, but most women fail <strong>to</strong><br />
see the point; likewise, most guys<br />
can’t understand a woman’s attraction<br />
<strong>to</strong> romance novels.<br />
Not only do we think differently,<br />
we want different things <strong>to</strong>o.<br />
Consider sexual attraction. When<br />
most guys see a beautiful woman<br />
in a bar, they are immediately<br />
attracted <strong>to</strong> her, but when a<br />
woman sees a beautiful guy in a<br />
bar, she tries <strong>to</strong> figure him out.<br />
When an ugly woman is in a<br />
bar, there is very little she can do<br />
<strong>to</strong> make guys feel attracted <strong>to</strong> her.<br />
But an ugly guy in a bar, (luckily<br />
for most guys) is not necessarily<br />
ruled out.<br />
For women, personality counts<br />
and there are lots of acceptable<br />
types out there.<br />
Probably the most magnetic<br />
personality is the Bad Boy personality<br />
– the Sawyer figure, the<br />
Tommy Lee. There’s something<br />
magnetic about a guy who is dangerous<br />
and unpredictable. Most<br />
likely thing <strong>to</strong> hear after a breakup:<br />
“He made a mistake, but I still<br />
love him…”<br />
Another highly addictive personality<br />
for women is the thrillseeker.<br />
The sort of guy that lights<br />
up every party, practices extreme<br />
sports and is a <strong>to</strong>tal risk- taker.<br />
Most likely thing <strong>to</strong> hear a woman<br />
say: “Damn fun! I wish I could’ve<br />
tamed him…”<br />
The seducer is innately sensual,<br />
a natural flirt and devotes their<br />
time <strong>to</strong> fulfilling their lovers’ every<br />
need. Watch Don Juan De Marco<br />
with Johnny Depp and you’ll<br />
understand what I’m talking about.<br />
Most likely thing <strong>to</strong> hear afterwards:<br />
“The sex was great…but<br />
why didn’t he stick around”<br />
The artist is <strong>to</strong>tally complex,<br />
and when he looks <strong>to</strong> a lover, it is<br />
for support and understanding,<br />
because most of the time he doesn’t<br />
understand himself. Women,<br />
sense that sensitivity and latch<br />
on<strong>to</strong> it – Most likely thing <strong>to</strong> hear<br />
in a relationship: “Don’t worry<br />
baby… I get you…”<br />
Finally, probably the most obvious<br />
personality is that of the successful<br />
guy. This could be a rich<br />
businessman, a doc<strong>to</strong>r, a lawyer –<br />
basically anyone who has a decent<br />
paid job. These are the kind of<br />
guys women are brought up <strong>to</strong><br />
seek out and marry – a “keeper”.<br />
Most likely thing <strong>to</strong> hear after a<br />
break up: “I’m just glad I didn’t<br />
sleep with him…”<br />
PC WORLD<br />
Barbra Statham questions whether political<br />
correctness has gone <strong>to</strong>o far<br />
Punch and Judy banned in Blackpool<br />
of offence, particularly <strong>to</strong> racial,<br />
By Barbra Statham<br />
cultural or other identity groups.”<br />
Political Correctness (PC),<br />
according <strong>to</strong> Wikipedia, is “used <strong>to</strong><br />
describe language or behaviour<br />
which is intended, or said <strong>to</strong> be<br />
intended, <strong>to</strong> provide a minimum<br />
As such, political correctness per se<br />
is a cultural phenomenon which is<br />
<strong>to</strong> be welcomed. It is only when<br />
the PC phenomenon gets in<strong>to</strong> the<br />
hands of ideological zealots that<br />
the whole concept is in danger of<br />
being negated. Most thinking people<br />
object <strong>to</strong> the consensus culture<br />
which is a direct result of PC and<br />
fear that open honest expression is<br />
being replaced by humourless diktats<br />
which are handed down <strong>to</strong> us<br />
by the thought police.<br />
The more highly educated people<br />
are, the more they seem <strong>to</strong> be in<br />
fear of saying or doing the wrong<br />
thing. There is also confusion<br />
about how <strong>to</strong> behave. If a man<br />
holds a door open for a woman,<br />
or offers her his seat on the bus, is<br />
he offending her feminist aspirations<br />
But most confusing of all is the<br />
change brought about in ordinary<br />
everyday language by political correctness.<br />
There is a whole new lexicon<br />
of acceptable words used <strong>to</strong><br />
describe minorities such as homosexuals,<br />
non-whites, women, the<br />
mentally and physically handicapped.<br />
Essentially, the PC brigade<br />
are patronising these people. The<br />
inherent implication is that all<br />
these people are inferior and need<br />
protection.<br />
Some attempts <strong>to</strong> influence children<br />
<strong>to</strong> think in a PC way are for<br />
the better. For example, Jane in<br />
the Peter and Jane series of primary-school<br />
books is no longer<br />
only <strong>to</strong> be found helping mum in<br />
the kitchen. She now thoroughly<br />
enjoys rolling up her sleeves and<br />
helping dad repair the car. But<br />
God help Jane if anyone is foolish<br />
enough <strong>to</strong> give her a present of a<br />
golliwog ... not the done thing <strong>to</strong><br />
play with that! Yet no one has<br />
explained why it is perfectly ok <strong>to</strong><br />
play with white dolls.<br />
Although nothing <strong>to</strong> do with PC is<br />
a laughing matter, some of the following<br />
examples are hilarious:<br />
A grand-mother in<br />
Southhamp<strong>to</strong>n was asked not <strong>to</strong><br />
take pho<strong>to</strong>s of her grandchildren<br />
in the park in case it encouraged<br />
paedophiles <strong>to</strong> do likewise.<br />
Teachers in a London crche were<br />
advised <strong>to</strong> replace the word black<br />
in the nursery rhyme baa baa black<br />
sheep.<br />
Punch and Judy shows have<br />
been banned from Blackpool.<br />
Jacobs Biscuits were put under<br />
pressure <strong>to</strong> rename their Gypsy<br />
Cream biscuit. It is now known as<br />
a Romany Queen”<br />
And finally... how would this go<br />
down in Ireland Police in<br />
Cornwall refused <strong>to</strong> accept the<br />
description “gypsy skirt” (the term<br />
everyone used <strong>to</strong> describe flowing<br />
cot<strong>to</strong>n skirts) and asked for it <strong>to</strong><br />
be called a traveller skirt instead.<br />
On the plus side and indicative of<br />
how far we have come in Ireland,<br />
partly as a result of PC, the recent<br />
homophobic ranting of visiting<br />
Polish president Lech Kaczynski<br />
was greeted with a genuine sense<br />
of shock and outrage. Yet 20 years<br />
or so ago we listened <strong>to</strong> similar<br />
nonsense from the clergy without<br />
question. Maybe, just maybe, we<br />
have grown up and can decide for<br />
ourselves how <strong>to</strong> think.
6<br />
LIFESTYLE AND CULTURE<br />
THE CIRCULAR<br />
Out-foxed<br />
By Gillian Wallace<br />
“Is fox hunting cruel The answer,<br />
of course, is that it is. How can it<br />
be justified The answer is that it<br />
cannot.” said Nicholas O’Hare,<br />
columnist with The Irish Field.<br />
“No matter how traditional or<br />
how highly eulogised by its supporters,<br />
it is a minority sport with<br />
the damning spectre of cruelty<br />
hanging over it.”<br />
In civilised society there is no<br />
place for the savaging of a<br />
defenceless creature in the name<br />
of a so-called sport. The Irish<br />
Council Against Blood Sports has<br />
displayed video evidence of the<br />
sickening cruelty of fox hunting<br />
on their website. One clip shows a<br />
hunt terrier gripping a fox’s head<br />
between its teeth and ripping off<br />
part of its scalp. The fox’s eyes are<br />
bulging, and clearly terrified it is<br />
held down by a hunter, with blood<br />
leaking from the gaping wound in<br />
its head. For the fox, the <strong>to</strong>rture<br />
has just begun; it has yet <strong>to</strong> endure<br />
the hounds being called in <strong>to</strong> rip it<br />
<strong>to</strong> shreds. How can this be called<br />
sport<br />
It is not just animal rights<br />
activists who campaign against this<br />
The myths surrounding foxhunting<br />
debunked<br />
sport. Philip Lynch, Chairman of<br />
Farmers against Fox Hunting and<br />
Trespass (FAFT) says, “we<br />
demand action now <strong>to</strong> rid the<br />
countryside of foxhunts.” FAFT<br />
outline the rights of farmers not<br />
<strong>to</strong> have their lands poached, their<br />
fences knocked down or<br />
destroyed, or their crops trampled<br />
in<strong>to</strong> the ground.<br />
“the nearest<br />
thing you<br />
can get <strong>to</strong><br />
natural<br />
selection”<br />
Thomas Hardiman from<br />
Craughwell Co. Galway, was once<br />
a supporter of fox hunting, but<br />
became disgusted at the cruelty he<br />
witnessed and has campaigned<br />
against fox hunting since 1998. He<br />
recalls observing the hounds mauling<br />
a farmer’s sheepdog.<br />
According <strong>to</strong> Mr.Hardiman, “The<br />
hunters wanted <strong>to</strong> put the dog<br />
down but the farmer said no. Of<br />
course, the reason the hunters<br />
wanted <strong>to</strong> shoot the sheepdog was<br />
so that they could cover up the<br />
cruel attack by the hounds.” He<br />
pickets the Dail every Wednesday<br />
and has done so for 105 days.<br />
Fox hunting provides no measurable<br />
benefit <strong>to</strong> the environment<br />
and there is no evidence <strong>to</strong> suggest<br />
that fox numbers would soar<br />
and become problematic. A<br />
Ministry of Agriculture report<br />
states that, “A study of lambing in<br />
upland areas showed that lamb<br />
losses were unaffected by the presence<br />
of foxes”. In reality, the hunt<br />
is much more likely <strong>to</strong> cause damage<br />
than the fox.<br />
Although the season usually<br />
begins in November, the Irish<br />
Council Against Blood Sports<br />
explain that prior <strong>to</strong> this, the<br />
hunters meet for what is<br />
euphemistically termed autumn<br />
hunting. This cub hunting is so<br />
despicable that the hunt attempts<br />
<strong>to</strong> hide it from the public. Hunters<br />
attend only by invitation of The<br />
Master of Foxhounds. A caller <strong>to</strong><br />
Just another day for farmer Thomas Harding<br />
Mid West Radio, who identified<br />
himself only as Derek described<br />
how he had been hunting in the<br />
UK and Ireland for thirty years.<br />
When he was quizzed about cub<br />
hunting he <strong>to</strong>uted it as being ‘the<br />
nearest thing you can get <strong>to</strong> natural<br />
selection”.<br />
Obviously, this sadistic sport is<br />
a far cry from what nature intended.<br />
It is hard <strong>to</strong> believe such cruelty<br />
has yet <strong>to</strong> be banned in Ireland.<br />
Seeing that fox hunting has been<br />
banned in the country from where<br />
it originated, the argument that it<br />
should be preserved because it is<br />
traditional can immediately be dispelled.<br />
Claims by hunting enthusiasts<br />
that it is not the kill that<br />
inspires them hold no weight, as<br />
they shun the humane alternative<br />
of drag hunting. Only one element<br />
of the hunt is absent from drag<br />
hunting -the slaughter of a<br />
defenceless animal.<br />
Curtains Fall for TCD Ac<strong>to</strong>rs<br />
By Eimear Harte<br />
Trinity <strong>College</strong> announced in<br />
January that it is <strong>to</strong> axe its<br />
renowned three year undergraduate<br />
degree course in acting.<br />
The announcement has a come<br />
as a shock and has angered<br />
many in the Irish theatre community.<br />
In a public statement <strong>to</strong><br />
Trinity <strong>College</strong> <strong>Dublin</strong>, prominent<br />
direc<strong>to</strong>rs, ac<strong>to</strong>rs and a<br />
Trinity <strong>College</strong> professor signed<br />
their names in joint effort <strong>to</strong><br />
show their disappointment and<br />
dismay at the decision. The<br />
course, they <strong>to</strong>ld the Irish Times,<br />
“has been of enormous value<br />
not only <strong>to</strong> Trinity <strong>College</strong> but<br />
<strong>to</strong> Irish theatre as a whole”.<br />
The main reason for the decision<br />
<strong>to</strong> drop the course is that it<br />
“A country isn’t<br />
remembered for its<br />
accountants, it’s remembered<br />
for its artists”<br />
is not financially viable. Annual<br />
spending is said <strong>to</strong> be in the<br />
region of €250,000, according <strong>to</strong><br />
the college. This goes against<br />
statements made by Trinity<br />
<strong>College</strong> Provost, Dr John<br />
Hegarty in the Irish Times, that<br />
Trinity’s “academic staff could<br />
lead the world”. He went on <strong>to</strong><br />
say “there is a compelling case<br />
<strong>to</strong> be made for greater emphasis<br />
on the arts, humanities and<br />
social sciences at the national<br />
level, and for increased public<br />
investment at undergraduate and<br />
graduate levels.” This comes at a<br />
time when Ireland is still experiencing<br />
the financial bliss of the<br />
Celtic Tiger, yet there is no<br />
money <strong>to</strong> invest in this course<br />
and in turn, in the future of<br />
Ireland’s artists.<br />
On the Drama website of<br />
Trinity <strong>College</strong> <strong>Dublin</strong>, it states<br />
that the BA Acting course is the<br />
only one of its kind in Ireland<br />
with an aim <strong>to</strong> produce fine<br />
ac<strong>to</strong>rs. To date, examples<br />
include, Ruth Negga, Derbhle<br />
Crotty and Jason Byrne. Access<br />
<strong>to</strong> the course is non-CAO based<br />
and admission is through audition<br />
only. Plans by the college<br />
<strong>to</strong> introduce a new postgraduate<br />
course in acting will not replace<br />
like with like. Forementioned<br />
past pupil of the BA acting<br />
course and Artistic Direc<strong>to</strong>r of<br />
Loose Canon Theatre Company,<br />
Jason Byrne, is not in favour of<br />
the proposed post graduate<br />
course. Byrne claims he got<br />
accepted on<strong>to</strong> the acting course<br />
through his ability <strong>to</strong> act, as he<br />
had not done well in the Leaving<br />
Certificate. The new postgraduate<br />
course could potentially<br />
bypass people like him, as<br />
emphasis would shift <strong>to</strong> academic<br />
achievement. The course will<br />
also carry an entrance fee, for<br />
which the cost has not yet been<br />
disclosed. This Byrne feels, will<br />
again be an obstacle <strong>to</strong> those<br />
who cannot afford the fee.<br />
In the meantime, students<br />
who were planning <strong>to</strong> pursue the<br />
BA Acting course for 2007<br />
incurring no fees, now have <strong>to</strong><br />
decide what other options are<br />
available <strong>to</strong> them. Established in<br />
1995, the BA Acting course has<br />
always attracted great interest<br />
and currently has 35 students<br />
enrolled, with an average class<br />
size of 12 every year.<br />
Trinity additionally offer students<br />
an honours degree programme<br />
in Drama and Theatre<br />
Studies. Entry <strong>to</strong> this course is<br />
decided by audition and leaving<br />
certificate points obtained.<br />
Jason Byrne: former<br />
graduate<br />
There is also an option <strong>to</strong> take<br />
Drama Studies combined with<br />
another Arts subject. DIT also<br />
runs a three year undergraduate<br />
degree in Drama Studies which<br />
includes acting modules. Other<br />
options are postgraduate courses<br />
available in UCC and UCG in<br />
drama and theatre studies. These<br />
courses incur fees of over<br />
€6,000. The Gaiety School of<br />
Acting also runs a two year acting<br />
course costing €5,000 a year<br />
<strong>to</strong> the student.<br />
However, for a student <strong>to</strong> fulfil<br />
his or her desire <strong>to</strong> study acting,<br />
he or she may have <strong>to</strong> look<br />
<strong>to</strong>wards British drama schools.<br />
Competition for such is fierce,<br />
and fees are again very high.<br />
Instead of Ireland investing in<br />
our future artists, we are in danger<br />
of losing them.<br />
DCU are in discussions with<br />
the Gaiety School of Acting<br />
about the establishment of a<br />
new three year undergraduate<br />
degree course in acting, which<br />
they plan will be fee-free. This<br />
course is in early developmental<br />
stages so students will have <strong>to</strong><br />
hold out for this class format <strong>to</strong><br />
be made available <strong>to</strong> them.<br />
Taking a quote from Trinity<br />
News, January edition, the decision<br />
<strong>to</strong> cut the course on<br />
grounds of finances is shortsighted<br />
… “a country isn’t<br />
remembered for its accountants,<br />
it’s remembered for its artists”.3
THE CIRCULAR HEALTH<br />
7<br />
Psychiatric Care: Public or Private<br />
By Kim Warnock<br />
January 24 th , 2007 marked the first<br />
anniversary of the launch of “A<br />
Vision for Change”, Ireland’s new<br />
national policy on mental healthcare<br />
services. The report set out a<br />
new national policy framework for<br />
mental health services, replacing<br />
the 1984 policy “Planning for the<br />
Future”. The expert group’s report<br />
has recommended an overhaul of<br />
mental health services with a move<br />
<strong>to</strong>wards community mental health<br />
teams and a reduction in the number<br />
of in-patient beds for psychiatric<br />
patients.<br />
A key feature of this new report<br />
is greater emphasis on holistic healing.<br />
Broadly speaking, holistic<br />
means covering all aspects of mental<br />
health: biological (e.g., medication),<br />
psychological (e.g., “talking<br />
therapies”) and social (e.g., housing,<br />
employment, education/training).<br />
But Ireland still has a mix of institutional<br />
care and community and<br />
home-based services, and a high<br />
rate of repeat admissions. This is<br />
leading <strong>to</strong> a culture of maintenance<br />
rather than recovery.<br />
Mental health service users and<br />
providers are still struggling with<br />
an outdated, fragmented, and<br />
severely under-resourced system.<br />
We need <strong>to</strong> see meaningful<br />
progress <strong>to</strong>wards a more holistic<br />
approach <strong>to</strong> mental health, based<br />
on the principles of human rights<br />
and equality.<br />
One mother welcomes the<br />
change, and believes that recovery<br />
outside the hospital is crucial for<br />
her daughter, who suffers from<br />
schizophrenia. However, the problem<br />
may be that daycare is not<br />
immediately available for outpatients.<br />
“My daughter Kate has been in<br />
and out of St John of God’s hospital<br />
about sixteen times over the last<br />
“It is not uncommon that people are<br />
discharged and decline in health<br />
while they wait for appropriate housing.<br />
They end up back in the wards<br />
and so it’s just a vicious cycle”<br />
five years. She never once received<br />
aftercare or visitations from community<br />
nurses. Then before<br />
Christmas she was admitted <strong>to</strong> St<br />
John of Gods again. My husband<br />
had <strong>to</strong> sign her in after Gardai<br />
found her wandering around in<br />
Rathmines; she didn’t even know<br />
her name.”<br />
“She was rushed <strong>to</strong> St John of<br />
Gods who requested my husband<br />
fill out more forms. Then a couple<br />
of hours later they rang <strong>to</strong> say they<br />
needed <strong>to</strong> move her <strong>to</strong> St.James’s.”<br />
“A few weeks later we had a<br />
meeting with the District<br />
Community Nurse and the attending<br />
psychiatrist in James’s. They<br />
<strong>to</strong>ld us she needed at least three<br />
more months of treatment. They<br />
discharged her three weeks later<br />
and now she is on a waiting list for<br />
a day hospital.”<br />
According <strong>to</strong> Kate’s psychiatrist<br />
she is responding well <strong>to</strong> her medication.<br />
But Kate’s mother worries<br />
that her daughter isn’t ready <strong>to</strong> be<br />
discharged from hospital until she<br />
is actually admitted <strong>to</strong> the daycare.<br />
Kate’s community nurse said the<br />
system just don’t have the resources<br />
<strong>to</strong> provide aftercare for all patients<br />
who are ready <strong>to</strong> be discharged .We<br />
are equipped <strong>to</strong> provide housing<br />
for only a percentage of patients.<br />
Each area is assigned a certain<br />
amount of flats, not many, just a<br />
few.<br />
At any one time there are many<br />
people on the waiting list. It is not<br />
uncommon that people are discharged<br />
and decline in health while<br />
they wait for appropriate housing.<br />
They end up back in the wards and<br />
so it’s just a vicious cycle. Kate’s<br />
mother is hoping the daycare hospital<br />
will assess her daughter soon<br />
so that her daughter can finally<br />
seize the opportunity <strong>to</strong> make a<br />
long-term recovery.<br />
Each time her recovery has been<br />
short term because she feels alone<br />
after she gets discharged. To go<br />
from doc<strong>to</strong>rs visiting you every day,<br />
group therapy most days and the<br />
security of medicine <strong>to</strong> the very<br />
opposite is disconcerting and obviously<br />
not working.<br />
Although the system has its<br />
weaknesses, at least Kate can<br />
remain optimistic about receiving<br />
daycare and out-patient treatment.<br />
St John of Gods failed <strong>to</strong> provide<br />
the latter over the course of five<br />
years, the time Kate spent in and<br />
out of its care. In essence public<br />
hospitals like St James provide a<br />
better service for their patients<br />
than private hospitals like St John<br />
of Gods. A spokesperson for the<br />
Irish Mental Healthcare Coalition<br />
said that the latter illustrates there<br />
exists a paradox in the system.<br />
The “Vision for Change” policy<br />
will penetrate the Public Sec<strong>to</strong>r<br />
gradually and it is estimated this<br />
change could span over several<br />
years.<br />
Media Edi<strong>to</strong>r<br />
News Edi<strong>to</strong>r<br />
Culture & Lifestyle<br />
Sports Edi<strong>to</strong>rs<br />
Sub-edi<strong>to</strong>rs<br />
Design and Layout<br />
Deannna O’Connor<br />
Enid O’Dowd<br />
Angie Crowe<br />
Helen Morrogh<br />
rogh<br />
Ciara Hegarty<br />
Eamonn McGurk<br />
Enid O’Dowd<br />
Helen Morrogh<br />
rogh<br />
Kim Warnock<br />
Deanna O’Connor<br />
Angie Crowe<br />
Ciara Hegarty<br />
Iselin FotlandF<br />
Jen O’Shea<br />
Deanna O’Connor<br />
Ciara Hegarty<br />
Fiona Gunn<br />
Angie Crowe<br />
email: thecircularmagazine2007@hotmail.com<br />
The Circular is produced byb<br />
students of <strong>Griffith</strong> <strong>College</strong><br />
<strong>Dublin</strong>, SCR, <strong>Dublin</strong> 8.<br />
Tel.<br />
01 4150400
8<br />
LIFESTYLE AND CULTURE<br />
THE CIRCULAR<br />
SIZE ZERO: FASHIONABLE<br />
OR FATAL<br />
By Aine Cotter<br />
Having dinner recently with some<br />
of my girl friends, I was drawn<br />
in<strong>to</strong> a discussion about the phenomenon<br />
of size zero culture. As<br />
we munched on our bruschetta<br />
<strong>to</strong>pped with feta cheese, we deliberated.<br />
The general consensus was<br />
that it is a sick trend; a cancer in<br />
our society that the celebrity world<br />
is promoting. However, after five<br />
glasses of Merlot, Jane, whose<br />
chief life ambition is <strong>to</strong> be a<br />
WAG, spoke up. She (or maybe it<br />
was the wine, we couldn’t be sure)<br />
posed a question… given the<br />
chance would we opt <strong>to</strong> be skinnier<br />
Yes, of course we wanted<br />
smaller waists, but zeros are mere<br />
emaciated twigs. She then accused<br />
us of jealousy; deducing that we<br />
were envious of the will power of<br />
these women. Will power I was<br />
lost for a response.<br />
That night I began <strong>to</strong> think<br />
about what Jane had said, I couldn’t<br />
help but feel that my inebriated<br />
friend had a point. Being tiny in<br />
tinsel<strong>to</strong>wn does seem <strong>to</strong> reap benefits.<br />
Nicole Ritchie went from<br />
Paris’s podgy side-kick <strong>to</strong> tiny<br />
trend-setter after she lost weight.<br />
Sure, there are a few nasty side<br />
effects <strong>to</strong> being thin, but nothing<br />
in this life worth having comes<br />
without a cost. Increased body<br />
hair can be fixed by wax, fatigue<br />
can be banished with ginseng and<br />
who wants periods or sprogs anyway<br />
Being a zero is fashionable,<br />
it’s cheap (hell, you can shop in<br />
kid’s clothes sections) and you are<br />
certain <strong>to</strong> bag yourself a gorgeous<br />
guy (just look at Posh and Lindsay<br />
Lohan).<br />
I was almost converted. That<br />
was until I turned on the television<br />
and caught the final segment of a<br />
documentary by Louise Redknapp.<br />
She aimed <strong>to</strong> uncover who was<br />
responsible for this increasing<br />
trend, while simultaneously she<br />
sought <strong>to</strong> become a size zero herself<br />
over a three month period.<br />
She started a regime of over-exercising<br />
and under-eating. As her<br />
weight plummeted, she endured<br />
more and more horrendous side<br />
effects. She suffered skin problems,<br />
headaches, acute s<strong>to</strong>mach<br />
cramps, fatigue and diarrhoea<br />
(after taking laxatives in an attempt<br />
<strong>to</strong> drop a few extra pounds). The<br />
stark reality of being a lollipop<br />
had been revealed <strong>to</strong> me and it<br />
was not pretty. I was curious <strong>to</strong><br />
investigate what the long-term<br />
consequences of maintaining a<br />
low body weight were.<br />
I discovered that the incidences<br />
of eating disorders are growing at<br />
an exponential rate in our society.<br />
As the stars get smaller it seems<br />
the number of people becoming<br />
affected gets bigger. We look <strong>to</strong><br />
them <strong>to</strong> set trends, we want the<br />
clothes they wear, the cars they<br />
drive, the houses they own.<br />
Accompanying the rise of eating<br />
disorders is the sudden growth of<br />
pro-anorexic and bulimic web<br />
sites. Sufferers chat about their<br />
obsession and exchange tips on<br />
how <strong>to</strong> become thinner. The best<br />
strategies for avoiding meals without<br />
arising suspicion and methods<br />
for curbing hunger pains are common<br />
issues debated. Frequently<br />
they refer <strong>to</strong> hating themselves and<br />
having low self esteem. Some even<br />
mention suicidal thoughts and<br />
some have actually attempted <strong>to</strong><br />
take their own lives as they felt<br />
they could never attain the perfect<br />
body. It is not just mental issues<br />
sufferers deal with, being underweight<br />
for an extended period of<br />
time is detrimental <strong>to</strong> one’s physical<br />
health also. Anorexia is linked<br />
<strong>to</strong> kidney disease, heart failure,<br />
osteoporosis, cancer and infertility.<br />
In January this year two European<br />
size zero models died as a direct<br />
result of starving themselves. This<br />
has led <strong>to</strong> size zeros being banned<br />
from numerous catwalks around<br />
the world. However, some bosses<br />
within the industry will not conform<br />
and during London Fashion<br />
week skele<strong>to</strong>ns paraded up and<br />
down the runways.<br />
What I have just mentioned is<br />
just the beginning. Numerous academic<br />
journals as well as popular<br />
press articles have been written on<br />
size zeros and eating disorders.<br />
The material is as abundant as it<br />
shocking. What surprised me the<br />
most was my own personal ignorance.<br />
I didn’t realise the extent<br />
and diversity of eating disorders<br />
and I was blissfully unaware of the<br />
real contribu<strong>to</strong>rs and consequences<br />
of these conditions. I<br />
think we use the phrases anorexic<br />
and size zero so loosely in our culture<br />
that we neglect <strong>to</strong> s<strong>to</strong>p and<br />
think what they actually mean. But<br />
we should. My eyes weren’t<br />
opened they were pulled apart.<br />
The next time I see a picture of<br />
Posh on the red carpet I’ll think<br />
twice about being jealous and putting<br />
down the box of chocolates.<br />
Anorexia: The Facts<br />
By Violette Ouassa<br />
Anorexia is a behavioural problem<br />
that effects between 1 and 2% of<br />
women. This disease primarily<br />
affects girls from the ages of 12 <strong>to</strong><br />
20. However, it can appear in girls<br />
and boys as young as nine or ten<br />
years old.<br />
This obsession for thinness can<br />
involve other drastic measures,<br />
such as bulimia and the excessive<br />
use of laxatives and diuretics.<br />
Other psychological troubles can<br />
occur such as anxiety, depression,<br />
dependence on drugs and alcohol<br />
and even suicidal tendencies.<br />
Physically, this disease results in an<br />
extreme loss of weight that can<br />
reach up <strong>to</strong> 50% of the recommended<br />
weight for the sufferer’s<br />
height. Food deprivation obviously<br />
has consequences for the body:<br />
insomnia, hairs loss, loss of memory<br />
and the discontinuation of the<br />
menstrual cycle.<br />
The causes are still difficult <strong>to</strong><br />
identify, they are complex and<br />
controversial. Some people blame<br />
metabolic or genetic fac<strong>to</strong>rs; others<br />
think that the psychological<br />
and irrational causes are decisive.<br />
The starting point can be a simple<br />
diet, mourning a loss, a school<br />
phenomenon or simply a fashion<br />
trend. Anorexia, by defying<br />
nature, allows a teenager <strong>to</strong> prove<br />
that they hold control over their<br />
body. Moreover, it can mask a lack<br />
of self-confidence or a tendency<br />
<strong>to</strong>wards personal devaluation.<br />
External help is generally necessary.<br />
The main difficulty is then<br />
the refusal of a treatment. These<br />
teenagers do not admit <strong>to</strong> being<br />
sick and reject the specialised consultation<br />
or follow-up treatment in<br />
a rehabilitation programme.<br />
The treatment generally consists<br />
of psychotherapy which helps <strong>to</strong><br />
engage a dialogue with the teenager.<br />
Unfortunately, the various treatments<br />
for anorexia have a limited<br />
effectiveness. In one third of<br />
cases, the sufferers recover and<br />
can start <strong>to</strong> lead a normal life. For<br />
another third, the treatment is not<br />
completed and victims continue <strong>to</strong><br />
show an unhealthy weight and psychological<br />
disorders and therefore<br />
risk relapse. For the last third, the<br />
anorexia problem persists and<br />
patients require constant treatment<br />
for their disease. It should be<br />
known that 10% of anorexics die<br />
from the effects of the disease;<br />
either from malnutrition or suicide.<br />
Size zero - this is the new craze<br />
in our stars’ world. Size zero is<br />
now the desired size of a huge<br />
number of the Hollywood stars.<br />
What does “zero” mean For me,<br />
its mean “nil”, but I get lost in the<br />
maze of fashion, where, apparently<br />
my definition of zero and the<br />
fashion industry’s definition of<br />
zero do not have the same meaning.<br />
In the fashion industry, sizezero<br />
means very thin, and involves<br />
an extreme diet <strong>to</strong> squeeze in<strong>to</strong><br />
designers’ small clothes.<br />
In celebrity, size zero is a<br />
chance <strong>to</strong> be on the front page of<br />
magazines. But size zero also<br />
means putting your life in danger<br />
on behalf of fashion. Who are<br />
these designers who insist on creating<br />
clothes for these skeletal<br />
models How can the fashion<br />
industry condone the publicising<br />
of these models, especially after all<br />
the alarm signals given by the specialists<br />
When I think about all those<br />
tiny stars making the front pages<br />
of our favourite magazines or if I<br />
think about giving a good example<br />
<strong>to</strong> a teenager considering one of<br />
these diets, I just want <strong>to</strong> tell <strong>to</strong><br />
them, “s<strong>to</strong>p making your body<br />
in<strong>to</strong> an unnatural shape. You are<br />
sick and you need <strong>to</strong> get some<br />
help.” What is happening <strong>to</strong> our<br />
fashion women We are in the 21st<br />
century, what about all those<br />
women who worked so hard <strong>to</strong><br />
improve our civil rights It is like<br />
the age of women’s lib never happened.<br />
All of the <strong>Dublin</strong> fashion<br />
industry people I tried <strong>to</strong> talk <strong>to</strong><br />
about anorexia seemed <strong>to</strong> be<br />
unconcerned. One of them <strong>to</strong>ld<br />
me that all his models are naturally<br />
thin and nobody would like <strong>to</strong><br />
work with an overweight girl.<br />
I would like <strong>to</strong> tell every woman<br />
that the most important thing is<br />
<strong>to</strong> have a size that makes you feel<br />
good in your body, one that is not<br />
going <strong>to</strong> put your life in danger.<br />
The most important thing is <strong>to</strong> be<br />
yourself; <strong>to</strong> eat healthily and <strong>to</strong><br />
exercise sensibly. Girls, you are<br />
beautiful, whatever your size.
THE CIRCULAR LIFESTYLE AND CULTURE<br />
9<br />
Vegetarianism: a better deal all round<br />
By Barbara Shaw<br />
If you think vegetarianism is just<br />
about what you eat, well think<br />
again. Life is about making choices<br />
and for those of you who decide<br />
<strong>to</strong> avoid eating a meat-based diet,<br />
you are choosing a lifestyle. You<br />
are also entering a world that is<br />
healthier, more economical, and<br />
“If you think<br />
Vegetarianism is<br />
just about what<br />
you eat, well<br />
think again”<br />
environmentally friendlier.<br />
In essence, a vegetarian is<br />
someone who abstains from eating<br />
slaughtered animal products<br />
including by-products such as gelatine,<br />
rennet, and isinglass (a type of<br />
fish gelatine).<br />
When it comes <strong>to</strong> health, the<br />
benefits of a vegetarian diet are<br />
substantial. Studies show vegetarians<br />
live longer and healthier lives<br />
than carnivores. According <strong>to</strong> a<br />
study published in The Journal of the<br />
American Medical Association “a vegetarian<br />
diet may be just as effective<br />
as ‘statin’ drugs in lowering blood<br />
cholesterol”. Further research carried<br />
out over a twenty year period<br />
by Southamp<strong>to</strong>n University which<br />
included 8,000 volunteers lead <strong>to</strong><br />
the conclusion that “those who<br />
stick <strong>to</strong> a diet of fruit and vegetables<br />
are more likely <strong>to</strong> gain a degree<br />
and hold down a good job”.<br />
The environment can indirectly<br />
benefit from vegetanarism.<br />
Feeding animals <strong>to</strong> feed people is<br />
an inefficient use of our land<br />
resources. Roughly one acre of pasture<br />
that produces approximately<br />
165 lbs of beef (over 50% inedible)<br />
could produce 20,000 lbs of pota<strong>to</strong>es.<br />
PETA (People for the<br />
Ethical Treatment of Animals)<br />
have said that 44% of all grain in<br />
the world is used for animal feed.<br />
Thus if the US alone reduced their<br />
meat consumption by 10%, it<br />
would free 12 million <strong>to</strong>ns of grain<br />
annually that would adequately feed<br />
the 60 million people who die from<br />
starvation each year.<br />
Seventy-six percent of the<br />
world’s agricultural soil (70% of<br />
E.U. soil) is used for animal agriculture.<br />
Part of that is derived<br />
through deforestation in continents<br />
like Asia, Africa and in particular<br />
South America. According <strong>to</strong> Dr<br />
David Brubaker, of the Johns<br />
Hopkins University’s Centre for a<br />
Viable Future: “The way we breed<br />
animals for food is a threat <strong>to</strong> the<br />
planet. It pollutes our environment<br />
while consuming huge amounts of<br />
water, grain, petroleum, pesticides<br />
and drugs.<br />
It comes as no surprise that<br />
cruel practices abound on fac<strong>to</strong>ry<br />
farms. In his book Six Arguments<br />
for a Greener Diet, Michael Jacobson,<br />
Executive Direc<strong>to</strong>r of the Centre<br />
for Science in the Public Interest,<br />
describes how “cattle are castrated<br />
without painkillers, pregnant and<br />
nursing pigs are housed in crates<br />
<strong>to</strong>o small <strong>to</strong> even turn around and<br />
male chicks that hatch in the eggindustry’s<br />
breeder farms go right<br />
in<strong>to</strong> the disposal”.<br />
When it comes <strong>to</strong> the slaughterhouse,<br />
Mr Jacobson reports on a<br />
study commissioned by the US<br />
Department of Agriculture which<br />
outlines how 8% of pigs, 20% of<br />
cattle and 47% of sheep are not<br />
properly stunned prior <strong>to</strong> being<br />
killed.<br />
If these reasons are not enough<br />
for you <strong>to</strong> quit meat then perhaps<br />
nothing will convince you.<br />
Keeping Your Body Healthy<br />
Don’t let mono<strong>to</strong>ny ruin your motivation- keep it interesting<br />
“Studies show<br />
vegetarians live<br />
longer and<br />
healthier lives<br />
than carnivores”<br />
By Leila Mirza<br />
Looking slim doesn’t neccassarily<br />
mean you are healthy and fit. You<br />
should also take exercise so your<br />
body can maintain a lean body<br />
mass simultaneously reducing<br />
excess fat. But if you are trying <strong>to</strong><br />
lose weight you should remember<br />
one pound of fat roughly represents<br />
3500 calories.<br />
You should make reductions<br />
in your calorie intake over a week<br />
rather than trying <strong>to</strong> lose it <strong>to</strong>o<br />
quickly. A healthy target involves<br />
losing two pounds per week,<br />
which would mean a reduction of<br />
around 7000 calories weekly.<br />
You should keep track of what<br />
you eat and calculate the calories<br />
for each food item <strong>to</strong> see where<br />
you can cut some out over the<br />
week. Remember, include drinks<br />
and any other snacks consumed in<br />
your regular routine.<br />
Initially, when you reduce<br />
your calorie intake, your body will<br />
respond and you will feel hungry.<br />
Keep healthy snacks such as celery<br />
with you, this way you can snack<br />
healthily between meals. If you<br />
have a sweet <strong>to</strong>oth, try <strong>to</strong> replace<br />
chocolates and cakes with healthier<br />
options such as dried fruits or<br />
allow yourself a small treat for<br />
every week that you maintain your<br />
diet.<br />
The amount of exercise you<br />
require <strong>to</strong> burn a certain number<br />
of calories depends on your<br />
weight and the type of exercise<br />
that you do. Generally speaking,<br />
heavier people burn more calories<br />
while exercising than lighter people.<br />
Also, the more intense the<br />
exercise, the more calories are<br />
burnt. For example, running tends<br />
<strong>to</strong> burn more calories than walking.<br />
Make sure that you have all<br />
the equipment and facilities you<br />
need and create a schedule that<br />
you can follow. Try <strong>to</strong> stick <strong>to</strong> an<br />
exercise routine, avoid skipping<br />
any sessions and if you do- don’t<br />
beat yoursef up about it. Keep<br />
motivated and get back on track<br />
the next day.<br />
Once you have achieved your<br />
weight-loss target, it is very easy <strong>to</strong><br />
forget all about the healthy eating<br />
and exercise habits and slip back<br />
in<strong>to</strong> your old lifestyle which in all<br />
likeliness would result in all the<br />
weight coming back.<br />
Be conscious of how much<br />
you are eating and minimise fatty<br />
foods. Whilst you no longer need<br />
<strong>to</strong> count every calorie you intake,<br />
you should still be aware of what<br />
and how much you eat.<br />
It is encouraged that you<br />
exercise as much as you can but<br />
remember you don’t have <strong>to</strong> exercise<br />
every single day. Your body<br />
needs time <strong>to</strong> relax. Keep up the<br />
excercise though its one way <strong>to</strong><br />
ensure you don’t put the weight<br />
back on.<br />
Finally, feel good about yourself.<br />
You have succeeded and are<br />
now merely making sure the fabulous<br />
results are maintained!
10<br />
LIFESTYLE AND CULTURE<br />
THE CIRCULAR<br />
A Sixth Sense or Nonsense<br />
I ain’t afraid o’ no ghosts<br />
By Angie Crowe<br />
With mediums like Derek<br />
Ogilvie selling out venues<br />
worldwide, what is it that drives<br />
us <strong>to</strong> part with our money - and<br />
are we being conned<br />
It was with an open mind that I<br />
headed <strong>to</strong> the Helix <strong>to</strong> find out<br />
what exactly Ogilvie had <strong>to</strong> offer<br />
me and everyone else at his sell-out<br />
spiritual gig.<br />
When I say open, I mean as wide<br />
as my sceptical mind can get - a<br />
slight contradiction but I’m the<br />
kind of person who looks forward<br />
<strong>to</strong> reading my horoscope whilst<br />
simultaneously scoffing at the<br />
notion that destiny could possibly<br />
lead me and one-twelfth of the<br />
population anywhere, let alone <strong>to</strong><br />
the same place-<br />
.<br />
I was curious about this “Baby<br />
Whisperer” who claims <strong>to</strong> be able<br />
<strong>to</strong> talk <strong>to</strong> both babies and dead<br />
people, and even more curious<br />
about those who have paid <strong>to</strong> see<br />
him.<br />
Next <strong>to</strong> me sits Jacqui Gilborne.<br />
She lost a friend last week and is<br />
hoping he will give her a sign as she<br />
“never got <strong>to</strong> say goodbye”. She is<br />
not alone: “I’m hoping <strong>to</strong> speak <strong>to</strong><br />
those I’ve lost,” says Martina Byrne<br />
from Bray, who has no doubts that<br />
“I’m Billy<br />
Connolly on<br />
acid”<br />
spirits exist.<br />
Sitting behind me is Catherine<br />
McDonald from Tallaght who<br />
came with her mother. She is an<br />
angel card reader who firmly<br />
believes in the spirit world and is<br />
also hoping <strong>to</strong> speak <strong>to</strong> loved ones<br />
who have passed on. The more<br />
people I talk <strong>to</strong> the more I realise<br />
that there are very view sceptics<br />
here.<br />
The show gets off <strong>to</strong> a dramatic<br />
start and we are unexpectedly<br />
immersed in complete darkness. A<br />
booming, ghostly voice fills the<br />
theatre and cries, “Help me, HELP<br />
ME!” My scoffing nature is sent<br />
in<strong>to</strong> overdrive so fast that I haven’t<br />
even managed <strong>to</strong> laugh by the time<br />
the voice moans, “I’m stuck in the<br />
<strong>to</strong>ilet.”<br />
Okay, so clearly Ogilvie has a<br />
sense of humour about what he<br />
does and the ridicule it attracts.<br />
When he runs on stage he jokes<br />
with the audience pretending <strong>to</strong><br />
have the inside s<strong>to</strong>ry on their sex<br />
lives. This is followed by a painful<br />
<strong>to</strong> watch, but equally hard <strong>to</strong> look<br />
away from, pelvic-thrusting dance<br />
routine, <strong>to</strong> YMCA as he loudly<br />
declares “I’m Billy Connolly on<br />
acid.”<br />
Then down <strong>to</strong> business; Ogilvie<br />
states that the show is: “Not about<br />
me, not really about you, it’s about<br />
who’s coming through from the<br />
spirit world.” This need <strong>to</strong> respect<br />
the spirits is something he repeats<br />
throughout the show.<br />
He starts with a quick succession<br />
of questions. “Hands up a Debra<br />
whose grandmother has passed<br />
away Do you have a shoulder<br />
problem Or pain in the right arm<br />
A problem with teeth on the right<br />
side A front door that won’t close<br />
No-one” No takers.<br />
He moves on, “Anyone who’s<br />
got a son Patrick He has a problem<br />
with his right knee Recent<br />
throat infection Also a pain in his<br />
right leg eight years ago<br />
Everything has <strong>to</strong> fit. I’ve got a little<br />
boy here saying ‘Tell her I know<br />
about the ear infection.’” Catherine<br />
McDonald puts up her hand.<br />
Everything fits but her son’s name<br />
is Keith Patrick.<br />
Then another hand rises; this<br />
woman has a friend Debra who was<br />
supposed <strong>to</strong> come and couldn’t<br />
make it - but she assures, “everything<br />
else fits” regarding the first<br />
spirit.<br />
He goes with this and a rapid<br />
succession of ridiculous questions<br />
follow. He actually asks, “Has she a<br />
house with a front and back door”<br />
“Yes,” validates her friend and she<br />
adds, “The back door sticks.”<br />
“Excellent,” he enthuses. I look <strong>to</strong><br />
my notes. Didn’t he say front door<br />
“I am not a<br />
fake”<br />
This continues <strong>to</strong> the point that<br />
there are more inaccuracies than<br />
things that “fit”. His method seems<br />
very similar <strong>to</strong> what cynics call the<br />
cold-reading technique, whereby<br />
the medium asks lots of random<br />
questions and the person is so desperate<br />
<strong>to</strong> connect that they cling <strong>to</strong><br />
what fits. Ogilvie keeps repeating<br />
“It all has <strong>to</strong> fit,” but with the<br />
advantage of my notes, I can see<br />
that it does not.<br />
However, he comes back <strong>to</strong><br />
Catherine and gives her personal<br />
detail that it is amazingly accurate.<br />
He tells her he is speaking <strong>to</strong> her little<br />
boy who she miscarried. He<br />
gives incredible detail regarding her<br />
house and her habits, such as an<br />
intense picking of her <strong>to</strong>enails. We<br />
can see her mother weeping on the<br />
moni<strong>to</strong>r.<br />
The show continues on in much<br />
the same way moving from strained<br />
<strong>to</strong> more accurate readings. How<br />
does he explain this The messages<br />
from some spirits are weaker and<br />
harder <strong>to</strong> interpret. “I’m not perfect.<br />
I’m not a fortune teller” he<br />
tells us.<br />
A Child’s World<br />
After the show, many wait <strong>to</strong> talk<br />
<strong>to</strong> him. He walks <strong>to</strong>wards the emotional<br />
group of people clutching<br />
pictures of their dead children and<br />
loved ones, and they close in<br />
around him. The staff put pressure<br />
on him <strong>to</strong> leave as the show has<br />
gone way over time and they need<br />
<strong>to</strong> lock up. He apologises for not<br />
being able <strong>to</strong> speak <strong>to</strong> everyone and<br />
gives his details promising free individual<br />
readings next time he is in<br />
Ireland. He says “I am not a fake”<br />
and tells us he has agreed <strong>to</strong> do the<br />
famous sceptic James Randi’s million-dollar<br />
challenge this year,<br />
which no other psychic has ever<br />
won, <strong>to</strong> prove his authenticity.<br />
Amongst the crowd of people<br />
who refuse <strong>to</strong> disperse, I watch him<br />
reach for one woman and sympathise<br />
with her for the death of her<br />
baby, and I hope for his sake that if<br />
he is not genuine - he at least<br />
believes he is. Otherwise there is a<br />
lot of bad karma coming his way- if<br />
you believe in that sort of thing.<br />
By Caroline McGuire<br />
I was falling asleep on a bus last<br />
week, when a child’s excited <strong>to</strong>ne<br />
interrupted my slumber. The little<br />
girl <strong>to</strong>ld her mother she wanted <strong>to</strong><br />
be a princess like the character in<br />
her magazine. Her mother laughed<br />
and said “Yesterday you wanted <strong>to</strong><br />
be nurse; last week you <strong>to</strong>ld Granny<br />
you wanted <strong>to</strong> be a pop star!” The<br />
girl responded by saying, “Yes<br />
mum but I want <strong>to</strong> be a princess<br />
<strong>to</strong>o and a nurse and a pop star, and<br />
an animal doc<strong>to</strong>r.”<br />
I cast my memory back <strong>to</strong> when<br />
I thought like that wee girl.<br />
Everything was possible; I could be<br />
anything or anyone I wanted once I<br />
was a big grown up. But as soon as<br />
we reach a certain stage in our lives,<br />
this sense of absolute belief that<br />
we can become whatever we want<br />
disappears.<br />
When we are young, we believe<br />
that if we want <strong>to</strong> be a teacher it<br />
will magically happen. But when<br />
the time arrives <strong>to</strong> succeed in our<br />
chosen profession there is no<br />
magic wand <strong>to</strong> help us. In reality<br />
most of us go through immense<br />
stress, tears and sleepless nights in<br />
order <strong>to</strong> acquire that all important<br />
profession. And don’t even think<br />
about moaning that you are not<br />
content in your job- it’s your career<br />
now!<br />
Similarly as children we view our<br />
future relationships through rosetinted<br />
glasses. Every wee girl and,<br />
I’m sure, every wee boy (although<br />
maybe at a later stage of his development!)<br />
thinks that when they<br />
grow up they are going <strong>to</strong> marry<br />
prince charming or a beautiful<br />
princess.<br />
Well, maybe not exactly a prince<br />
charming riding on a horse, but<br />
someone fairly handsome who just<br />
happens <strong>to</strong> be the perfect gentleman.<br />
Little girls believe they will fall<br />
in love and live happily ever after<br />
like all the ladies in their childhood<br />
fairytales. However when we grow<br />
up, we soon learn relationships are<br />
complicated.<br />
Of course relationships are fun<br />
but they involve a lot of difficult<br />
and testing moments that as children<br />
we could never have imagined.<br />
As adults the idea of finding Mr.<br />
Perfect fades; we come <strong>to</strong> terms<br />
with the idea that no-one is perfect,<br />
and we have <strong>to</strong> accept the one we<br />
fall in love with- warts and all.<br />
Friendships are viewed differently<br />
when we are children also. Recall<br />
how quickly you changed best<br />
friends. One day Katie was your<br />
best friend just because she <strong>to</strong>ok<br />
her new <strong>to</strong>y <strong>to</strong> school. Friendships<br />
were about making friends with the<br />
popular people.<br />
Most of us probably thought<br />
our childhood friends would be<br />
part of our lives forever. After all<br />
they were the first people we<br />
became close <strong>to</strong> in our younger<br />
years. As adults we realise how<br />
important it is <strong>to</strong> have someone <strong>to</strong><br />
share things with and we hold on <strong>to</strong><br />
our treasured friends.<br />
Yes life changes greatly as we<br />
move from the child’s world <strong>to</strong> the<br />
adult world. But why should we<br />
abandon our inner-child, just<br />
because we are adults Being a child<br />
was fun; being an adult is fun <strong>to</strong>o,<br />
but only if we keep a sense of what<br />
we were like as a child with us<br />
always.
THE CIRCULAR MEDIA AND MUSIC<br />
11<br />
Get Back in Your Box Dolls!<br />
The images of women<br />
portrayed and glorified in the<br />
media make poor role models,writes<br />
Deanna O’Connor<br />
Role models certainly aren’t what<br />
they used <strong>to</strong> be. A mere decade ago,<br />
if you asked a young girl who she<br />
looked up <strong>to</strong> she might have<br />
answered that she admired the<br />
humanitarian work of Mother<br />
Theresa, or UN Ambassador<br />
Audrey Hepburn. Charity, inner<br />
strength and timeless elegance are<br />
not such widely sought after commodities<br />
in these pop cultureobsessed<br />
times.<br />
Who do the young girls of <strong>to</strong>day<br />
look up <strong>to</strong> The Pussycat Dolls (a<br />
troupe of former strippers), The<br />
Sugababes (a band famous for its<br />
easily replaced members and innuendo-loaded<br />
lyrics such as “Got<br />
such a pretty kitty, boy I know you<br />
want <strong>to</strong> pet it/The weather’s nice<br />
and wet just south of the border”),<br />
and various celebrities so riddled<br />
with eating disorders they belong<br />
on the pages of medical journals<br />
not gossip magazines.<br />
The ideals of womanhood of<br />
every age tend <strong>to</strong> filter down in<strong>to</strong><br />
the dolls children play with. When I<br />
was young the dream item on every<br />
girl’s Christmas list was a sugary<br />
pink Barbie house. Growing up<br />
lusting after anything as long as it<br />
was pink, plastic or marabou<br />
trimmed (preferably all three) may<br />
not be conducive <strong>to</strong> passing on the<br />
feminist flame, but it was mild in<br />
comparison <strong>to</strong> the car<strong>to</strong>on of<br />
modern femininity echoed by the<br />
dolls <strong>to</strong>day’s little girls play with.<br />
A couple of years ago my sixyear<br />
old niece requested a Bratz<br />
doll house for Christmas. The poor<br />
child couldn’t understand why<br />
everyone else found it so amusing,<br />
but the plastic palace looked like a<br />
fantasy brothel with furniture from<br />
several eras brought <strong>to</strong>gether by<br />
one overriding principle – it was all<br />
in the worst possible taste. She<br />
adored it. Presidential Barbie never<br />
s<strong>to</strong>od a chance.<br />
The dolls themselves are in the<br />
Lollipop Lady mould. The term<br />
that describes the body shape that<br />
is fashionable in celebrity circles,<br />
where the head is disproportionately<br />
gigantic in comparison <strong>to</strong> the<br />
tiny stick of a body it rests upon.<br />
“Insecurity is at<br />
the root of our<br />
vulnerability <strong>to</strong><br />
advertising and<br />
emulation of<br />
celebrities”<br />
And like so many of <strong>to</strong>day’s<br />
celebrities and pop princesses their<br />
outfits are hooker-chic.<br />
There seems <strong>to</strong> be a sinister<br />
undercurrent <strong>to</strong> the workings of<br />
media, advertising and the celebrity<br />
machine, which is quietly undermining<br />
feminine equality and repositioning<br />
women in the eyes of the<br />
world, as mere painted, vacuous,<br />
sex objects.<br />
Pussycat Dolls Pho<strong>to</strong>:Patrick Cummins<br />
Gloria Steinem famously said:<br />
“Feminism is a revolution, not a<br />
public relations movement.”<br />
Unfortunately, for feminists, the<br />
hard won liberation now gives<br />
young women the freedom <strong>to</strong> fulfil<br />
such lofty aspirations as appearing<br />
on the cover of a gossip magazine<br />
peddling some banal details about<br />
their sex life.<br />
The edi<strong>to</strong>rial decision <strong>to</strong> celebrate<br />
certain personalities is suspect<br />
indeed, but it must reflect an<br />
interest already there on the<br />
ground. It is difficult <strong>to</strong> decide<br />
whether we are unavoidably versed<br />
in the details of these people<br />
because we are fed a diet of them<br />
by the media, or whether the media<br />
is purely reflecting consumer<br />
demand and interests.<br />
The powerful influence of<br />
advertisers is often brought in<strong>to</strong><br />
this argument; the media promote a<br />
vision of womanhood that will play<br />
on women’s insecurities and<br />
encourage them <strong>to</strong> buy in<strong>to</strong> whatever<br />
can promise <strong>to</strong> make them<br />
better. Sexuality and attractiveness<br />
are at the root of much human<br />
insecurity, and insecurity is at the<br />
root of our vulnerability <strong>to</strong> advertising<br />
and emulation of celebrities.<br />
Nowadays young girls are sexualised<br />
in their dress and manner<br />
earlier than ever before, aping<br />
scantily clad pop stars.<br />
One hopes that humanity isn’t in<br />
such a sorry state that there are no<br />
young women worthy of being role<br />
models, and it is purely a case of<br />
misguided focus. Pity the poor<br />
media dolls that have brought upon<br />
themselves unnatural pressures and<br />
glaring attention.<br />
Singer Gwen Stefani, a former<br />
neighbour of Britney Spears, came<br />
<strong>to</strong> her defence as Spears recently<br />
broke down very publicly. Stefani<br />
noted that there were always large<br />
numbers of paparazzi outside<br />
Spears’ house. It can’t be easy <strong>to</strong><br />
live under such scrutiny, and<br />
frankly I don’t think anyone should.<br />
Celebrities who are suffering from<br />
nervous breakdowns, alcoholism,<br />
drug addiction, eating disorders<br />
and the inability <strong>to</strong> wear underwear<br />
under very short dresses should be<br />
given a wide berth, instead of being<br />
glamorised. Unfortunately when so<br />
many people are famous for being<br />
famous, rather than for any discernible<br />
talent, they cannot afford<br />
not <strong>to</strong> be in the spotlight.<br />
It was very telling that Scarlett<br />
Johansson, an actress of considerable<br />
talent, good looks, and ability<br />
(<strong>to</strong> wear clothes) recently skipped<br />
the publicity of the Oscar red carpet<br />
in favour of a trip <strong>to</strong> Sri Lanka<br />
and India <strong>to</strong> promote the work of<br />
Oxfam.<br />
Unfortunately it is the publicityhungry<br />
that will fight their way<br />
on<strong>to</strong> our front pages, our television<br />
screens and in<strong>to</strong> our minds, while<br />
those worthier of admiration are<br />
usually <strong>to</strong>o busy doing something<br />
worthwhile with their lives <strong>to</strong> look<br />
in <strong>to</strong> getting their own doll made.<br />
Loosely Speaking... Maura Ryan talks <strong>to</strong><br />
Republic of Loose Pho<strong>to</strong>:Patrick Cummins<br />
Republic of Loose almost don’t fit<br />
in<strong>to</strong> the Irish music scene, which<br />
James Brown <strong>to</strong> Timbaland.<br />
In 2001 the group formed from<br />
for years has been characterised by the remnants of <strong>Dublin</strong> band<br />
Eurovision winners and uniformboy-band-types.<br />
Johnny Pyro and the Rock Coma.<br />
Rock Coma’s founding members<br />
Their sound is distinctly Dave Pyro and Michael Pyro joined<br />
American, drawing influences from<br />
original blues, gospel, soul and contemporary<br />
R’n’B , everything from<br />
forces with four young musicians<br />
Coz, Benjamin, Brez and Declan.<br />
Over the last five years this eclectic<br />
mix of talent have<br />
s<strong>to</strong>rmed the Irish<br />
charts with five <strong>to</strong>p<br />
30 hits.<br />
They have<br />
recently returned<br />
from a third stint<br />
Stateside where<br />
they played New<br />
York, LA and<br />
Hollywood. They<br />
have developed a<br />
following, and the<br />
hit single Comeback<br />
Girl got generous<br />
airplay in LA.<br />
Declan Quinn,<br />
Loose musician, is excited about<br />
the group’s ambitions <strong>to</strong> break<br />
America. He says that the group<br />
hopes <strong>to</strong> become commercially<br />
successful in the States. “The market<br />
over there is so vast, there is a<br />
big enough niche for our Irish<br />
scruffy look and different sound.”<br />
In February of this year, their<br />
much acclaimed second album,<br />
Aaagh, was shortlisted<br />
for the prestigious<br />
Choice Music<br />
Award. They sat<br />
comfortably<br />
amongst fellow nominees Snow<br />
Patrol, Direc<strong>to</strong>r and Duke Special,<br />
eventually conceding defeat <strong>to</strong> veterans<br />
The Divine Comedy.<br />
Their popularity was confirmed<br />
in the February 2007 Hot Press<br />
Readers’ Poll, where they were<br />
picked as one of the <strong>to</strong>p four Irish<br />
live bands. Also among their accolades,<br />
they can count a number of<br />
nominations at the Meteor Music<br />
Awards, including a win in 2004.<br />
The band has played support <strong>to</strong> a<br />
number of big bands like Fun<br />
Lovin’ Criminals, The Zu<strong>to</strong>ns and t<br />
Scissor Sisters.<br />
A popular route for alternative<br />
Irish bands is <strong>to</strong> secure a record<br />
deal in the UK. Republic of Loose<br />
did this for their first album, This is<br />
the Tomb of the Juice, but dissatisfied<br />
with the outcome, they decided <strong>to</strong><br />
Declan Quinn from<br />
Republic of Loose<br />
go it alone. The result was two <strong>to</strong>p<br />
ten hits in 2005 with Comeback Girl<br />
and You Know It. Finally, the press<br />
got excited and airwaves and nightclubs<br />
across the country reverberated<br />
with catchy Loose rhythms.<br />
There is a clear transition from<br />
the first album, This is the Tomb of<br />
the Juice, <strong>to</strong> the much anticipated<br />
follow up, Aaagh, released in April<br />
2006. The lyrics are <strong>to</strong>ned down<br />
although Declan readily admits that<br />
some of the songs on Aaagh will<br />
never be played on radio. However,<br />
the sound is more commercial<br />
making the band more accessible<br />
<strong>to</strong> a mainstream audience. Yet<br />
Declan insists they are not selling<br />
out: “We knew we wanted <strong>to</strong> go<br />
down a more contemporary R’n’B<br />
route because that’s what we were<br />
listening <strong>to</strong> at the time.”
12<br />
MEDIA AND MUSIC<br />
THE CIRCULAR<br />
Are You a Bebo Bandit<br />
What makes Bebo the drug of<br />
the day Why is it the “must<br />
have” for 2007 and who is<br />
hooked on it<br />
By Fiona Gunn<br />
January 2005 saw the launch of<br />
what was <strong>to</strong> become a phenomenon<br />
among Irish teens and young<br />
adults - Bebo.com.<br />
The social network website has<br />
achieved staggering success in the<br />
mere two years it has been operational,<br />
despite stiff competition<br />
from similar web page providers,<br />
such as myspace.com and<br />
WAYN.com.<br />
Bebo seems <strong>to</strong> have the edge,<br />
something that we find irresistible…what<br />
is it<br />
When co-founders Michael<br />
Birch and his wife Xochi,<br />
embarked on Bebo.com after limited<br />
success on other websites,<br />
they wanted <strong>to</strong> create a place for<br />
people <strong>to</strong> “just hang out”.<br />
In an interview with realbusiness.co.uk<br />
in 2006, he is “not<br />
spending a lot of time thinking<br />
about revenue” and so the site is<br />
completely free for users, funded<br />
by income from other ventures<br />
such as BirthdayAlarm.com.<br />
Advertising is predominately<br />
through word of mouth.<br />
“We don’t want <strong>to</strong> compromise<br />
ourselves through short-term<br />
greed.”<br />
Maybe it is that laid-back, people-oriented<br />
ethos that initially<br />
seduces us... Many loitering students<br />
and teenagers are embracing<br />
this new space <strong>to</strong> “just hang out”.<br />
They can post quizzes and blogs ,<br />
share and copy pho<strong>to</strong>s, and the<br />
interlinking of pages make it even<br />
easier <strong>to</strong> contact fellow Beboers. A<br />
virtual community is being created-<br />
all for FREE! There is no<br />
charge whatsoever for downloading<br />
pho<strong>to</strong>s or videos, leaving messages<br />
on people’s pages.<br />
Where Are You Now<br />
(WAYN.com) users have <strong>to</strong> pay a<br />
subscription fee <strong>to</strong> send messages<br />
<strong>to</strong> other members around the<br />
world. MySpace allows members<br />
<strong>to</strong> leave messages and view pages<br />
for free but have considered introducing<br />
charges.<br />
With reports of 6,000 new<br />
recruits a day in Ireland, according<br />
<strong>to</strong> the Sunday Mail, we can safely<br />
assume that these are not all just<br />
teenagers and lazy students.<br />
Twenty-somethings are also<br />
becoming hooked and using it <strong>to</strong><br />
keep in <strong>to</strong>uch with friends abroad.<br />
In Ireland <strong>to</strong>day, Bebo has a<br />
quarter of a million members,<br />
with almost 27 million members<br />
worldwide.<br />
“It’s great craic <strong>to</strong> see what<br />
everyone is up <strong>to</strong>!” says Caroline<br />
(24), a student at <strong>Griffith</strong> <strong>College</strong><br />
<strong>Dublin</strong>.<br />
“I first joined because my friend<br />
was leaving for a year <strong>to</strong><br />
Australia”, explains Eimear (27) “I<br />
just found it really handy <strong>to</strong> see<br />
her pho<strong>to</strong>s and keep in contact.”<br />
Other students at <strong>Griffith</strong><br />
agreed that the most successful<br />
aspect <strong>to</strong> Bebo is being able <strong>to</strong><br />
upload and share pho<strong>to</strong>s from<br />
other users. This plays a huge role<br />
in what <strong>to</strong> talk about on Bebo and<br />
Julie (21) admits she only uses the<br />
site <strong>to</strong> look at people’s pho<strong>to</strong>s.<br />
“It’s just so much fun just looking<br />
at the comments left! We have<br />
the phrase “Bebostalker” but it’s<br />
up <strong>to</strong> you what you put up and<br />
you can delete your profile at any<br />
time.”<br />
“In Ireland<br />
<strong>to</strong>day, Bebo<br />
has a quarter<br />
of a million<br />
members”<br />
Michael Birch puts the success<br />
of Bebo down <strong>to</strong> two things: his<br />
learning experiences through mistakes<br />
from other websites and<br />
spending time working on it himself,<br />
despite having 12 employees.<br />
“If I don’t keep getting my<br />
hands dirty then I’d start <strong>to</strong> lose<br />
<strong>to</strong>uch with the product. All you<br />
need is a computer and a broadband<br />
connection,.”<br />
It seems <strong>to</strong> be the right attitude.<br />
In the UK and Ireland, his infectious<br />
creation is the <strong>to</strong>p social network<br />
site and was the most representative<br />
search term used on<br />
Google in 2006.<br />
However in the US, MySpace<br />
remains the most popular social<br />
network. Here it remains <strong>to</strong> be<br />
associated more with music lovers<br />
and upcoming bands, and fails <strong>to</strong><br />
show the same marketing potential<br />
as Bebo, as a medium for reaching<br />
a young audience.<br />
Rosanna Davis, (the former<br />
Miss World who is fast becoming<br />
a star of another kind on her<br />
raunchy and controversial Bebo<br />
page), comedian Tommy Tiernan<br />
and radio legend Ray D’Arcy are<br />
among the celebrities registering<br />
on Bebo <strong>to</strong> communicate with<br />
their fans. It continues <strong>to</strong> be the<br />
best, easiest and quickest route <strong>to</strong><br />
the teenage market and proves<br />
good business sense <strong>to</strong> use it for<br />
advertising. With new additions<br />
and gimmicks added by the crea<strong>to</strong>rs<br />
<strong>to</strong> the site each month, it<br />
looks set <strong>to</strong> be in poll position for<br />
the near future. Bebo–addicts are<br />
finding it harder <strong>to</strong> turn away.<br />
“It’s a great thing about the<br />
Internet,” says Birch, “you could<br />
start something massive from your<br />
living room.”<br />
Media Mirror<br />
Many people have a false body image with no bearing at all<br />
on their actual appearance. Iselin Fotland examines how the<br />
media influences our self-image<br />
Pick any TV station, newspaper or<br />
magazine and you will probably<br />
find one or more examples of the<br />
following: people with beautiful<br />
bodies, happy families, perfect<br />
boyfriends or girlfriends and succesful<br />
careers. In short, in the<br />
media we find the picture of what<br />
we see as the perfect world.<br />
Not many of us are trained <strong>to</strong><br />
look at the media with a critical<br />
view. Many sit back and take in<br />
everything without separating fact<br />
from fiction. The media is a huge<br />
source of information, and a channel<br />
we use <strong>to</strong> discover what’s going<br />
on in the world, and <strong>to</strong> better<br />
understand the things that happen<br />
around us. When the world is portrayed<br />
as a perfect place it becomes<br />
the reality that most people try <strong>to</strong><br />
achieve.<br />
But that perfection is impossible<br />
<strong>to</strong> reach. Not everybody has a size<br />
zero body or a million dollar job; in<br />
fact most of us don’t.<br />
The media also does something<br />
that can be worse than focusing on<br />
perfection; they turn the focus <strong>to</strong><br />
imperfection. Don’t we just love <strong>to</strong><br />
see fat people, ugly people and miserable<br />
people It makes us feel better<br />
about ourselves, more successful<br />
and pretty. We not only have<br />
magazines focusing on how wonderful<br />
all the celebrities are, we now<br />
have magazines that focus on how<br />
imperfect some can be. Those who<br />
are looked upon as imperfect can<br />
often be healthy, good at what they<br />
do, and look completely normal.<br />
But they might not be skinny<br />
enough or have the right job <strong>to</strong> fit<br />
the perfect image of our perfect<br />
world.<br />
It isn’t enough <strong>to</strong> look thin.<br />
Youth is an essential component of<br />
beauty. But don’t worry the answers<br />
are out there. There are thousands<br />
of articles on how <strong>to</strong> achieve the<br />
perfect weight and look, and<br />
numerous self-help gurus who can<br />
tell us how <strong>to</strong> live. Selling diets and<br />
cosmetics has become a milliondollar<br />
industry.<br />
When we find out that the perfect<br />
image is impossible <strong>to</strong> achieve<br />
we react in different ways.<br />
According <strong>to</strong> VHI Healthcare<br />
300,000 people in Ireland suffer<br />
from depression each year, and<br />
most of these are women. Another<br />
study done by the Canadian<br />
Women’s Health Network shows<br />
that almost 90 percent of women<br />
and girls are unhappy with the way<br />
they look, and some women can<br />
develop depression and other kinds<br />
of mental illness when they do not<br />
measure up <strong>to</strong> the media’s image of<br />
beauty. When women are dissatisfied<br />
with their own bodies, pictures<br />
of ultra-thin models in magazines<br />
and on television can reinforce<br />
those negative feelings, making<br />
them feel worse about their size,<br />
the colour of their skin, or other<br />
physical features.<br />
Is it possible that the depression<br />
many women in Ireland suffer<br />
from is a result of media influence<br />
Eating disorders are another<br />
result of the media pressure. One<br />
in ten girls and women develops an<br />
eating disorder such as anorexia, or<br />
bulimia. These diseases can have<br />
serious long-term consequences on<br />
women’s health, leading, in some<br />
cases <strong>to</strong> death.<br />
Why do we let the media affect<br />
us this way What we see in a magazine<br />
or on screen is a false picture<br />
of reality. The models have flaws<br />
like you and me, but computer<br />
re<strong>to</strong>uching hides these. The media<br />
play with reality <strong>to</strong> make consumers<br />
buy their advertisers’ products.<br />
Media images help create cultural<br />
definitions of beauty and attractiveness.<br />
It is in this context we<br />
learn <strong>to</strong> evaluate our size and<br />
shape. The media’s power over our<br />
development of self-esteem and<br />
body image can be strong and<br />
harmful..
THE CIRCULAR SPORT<br />
13<br />
Time <strong>to</strong> move on<br />
Julie Ryan talks <strong>to</strong> Cian O’Connor about<br />
rebuilding his life and what the future holds...<br />
Cian O’Connor competing at the World Equestrian Festival at CHIO Aachen 2006, with Echo Beach<br />
He sits with a welcoming smile.<br />
Three years ago that smile was<br />
taken from his face and along with<br />
it his Olympic medal.<br />
Throughout a number of turbulent<br />
months he faced doping<br />
charges that would potentially ruin<br />
his career. Cian O Connor was<br />
eventually cleared of any malicious<br />
wrong doing. Now here he is in a<br />
room decorated with rosettes and<br />
trophies. Pictures of his vic<strong>to</strong>ries<br />
line the walls. This is not the room<br />
of a tainted man.<br />
At 27 Cian has jumped on 52<br />
Nation Cup teams. He now has 40<br />
horses in his care. “I work hard<br />
buying, selling , teaching , dealing,<br />
putting syndicates <strong>to</strong>gether , on the<br />
phone and travelling worldwide”,<br />
he says. Cian has sponsorship with<br />
the Irish Independent, who have a<br />
prefix on his up-coming horse<br />
Echo Beach and also Gain<br />
Horsefeeds. PR is an essential part<br />
of the game. He acknowledges that<br />
he has had a wonderful leg up but a<br />
lot of hard grind was needed <strong>to</strong><br />
reach this level <strong>to</strong>o. “What I’ve<br />
learnt over the past few years is that<br />
it’s nearly 60/70 % business acumen<br />
and the rest is being able <strong>to</strong><br />
ride the horse.”<br />
Ireland has just been relegated<br />
from the Samsung league. The last<br />
leg <strong>to</strong>ok place in Barcelona in<br />
September knocking Ireland out of<br />
the league. There are eight shows in<br />
the world with Superleague status.<br />
“Super league is like the premier<br />
league of football” he says. One of<br />
the world’s leading riders Jessica<br />
Kuerten refused <strong>to</strong> ride on the<br />
same team as Cian after the<br />
Olympics leaving the team at a loss.<br />
The sport has been divided more<br />
publicly now than it has for years<br />
with a his<strong>to</strong>ry of turmoil when it<br />
come <strong>to</strong> Nations Cup teams. “If<br />
certain people take a stance, that’s a<br />
matter for them, I really don’t have<br />
“We’re simply a<br />
nation who has<br />
plenty of very<br />
good riders but a<br />
serious shortage<br />
of horse power”<br />
an issue with anyone,” he says. “I<br />
just like <strong>to</strong> do my own thing and get<br />
on with the job”. He holds no<br />
grudges. He adds, “We’re simply a<br />
nation who has plenty of very good<br />
riders but a serious shortage of<br />
horse power.”<br />
The ultimate goal for Cian was<br />
<strong>to</strong> win gold in the Olympics and he<br />
achieved that. His plan came<br />
<strong>to</strong>gether and he received the ultimate<br />
accolade. “After the Olympics<br />
the first six weeks were euphoric<br />
and then everything started <strong>to</strong> go<br />
pear shaped. The adrenaline of<br />
having <strong>to</strong> fight and read the papers<br />
and counter argue was tiring and<br />
also very expensive.” he says.<br />
“There is a zero <strong>to</strong>lerance level<br />
within the FEI and we were outside<br />
that, it was a fraction of a billionth<br />
of a gram. We were outside the<br />
rules unintentionally, not maliciously<br />
and so we had <strong>to</strong> put our<br />
hands up and say, ‘Yeah we were<br />
wrong’. I’m happy, my conscience<br />
is clear and the people who support<br />
me are happy with that as well.”<br />
Now Cian has got himself going<br />
again and has a new plan <strong>to</strong> bring<br />
on younger horses. He plans <strong>to</strong><br />
bring on five or six young horses a<br />
year. Beijing 2008 is a target.<br />
However London 2012 is where he<br />
would like <strong>to</strong> make his mark perhaps<br />
with his 8yr.old Marko Poulo,<br />
who he named after the equestrian<br />
centre in Athens. “He’s a really<br />
good horse. It’s important <strong>to</strong> look<br />
at the long term.”<br />
As I look around his office I<br />
notice a picture of Cian and his<br />
former girlfriend Hazel<br />
O’Callaghan who tragically died in<br />
2002 after a freak accident while<br />
attending <strong>to</strong> a horse. He keeps<br />
good contact with her family.<br />
“They’re obviously very sad, their<br />
life has <strong>to</strong>tally changed.” Poignantly<br />
Cian reminisces, “When you go<br />
“We were outside<br />
the rules<br />
unintentionally,<br />
not maliciously<br />
and so we had <strong>to</strong><br />
put our hands<br />
up”<br />
through something like that, bad<br />
press isn’t that bad, it’s not life<br />
threatening, you don’t really care,<br />
it’s not the end of the world.” He<br />
pauses and ponders, “Athens happened<br />
and I could have taken it<br />
either way, I could have become<br />
bitter and nasty or stronger and<br />
more mature. I’d say I’m a bit more<br />
hardened now and I take things in<br />
my stride.”<br />
Cian has recently moved his<br />
Karlswood Stables <strong>to</strong> the late Paul<br />
Darragh’s old yard, in Tara, Co.<br />
Meath. It is a beautiful location<br />
with 200 acres and 50 stables. This<br />
is his third yard since he finished<br />
school at 18. Essentially he would<br />
like <strong>to</strong> buy his own yard and build it<br />
up from scratch. “It’s hard <strong>to</strong> do<br />
that and ride so I’m trying <strong>to</strong> do<br />
everything in phases, establish<br />
myself with enough horses for the<br />
future, keep riding , build my place<br />
and set up a training centre.” If that<br />
wasn’t enough on his plate. “It is an<br />
aim of mine <strong>to</strong> go <strong>to</strong> the next few<br />
Olympics <strong>to</strong> win a medal and<br />
maybe then I’ll call it a day!” I get<br />
up <strong>to</strong> leave and catch a glimpse of a<br />
rather exquisite looking rosette on<br />
the wall. Cian smirks, “I gave them<br />
back the medal but as for the<br />
rosette, they didn’t ask and I didn’t<br />
offer.”<br />
It could have all gone so wrong<br />
for this man who sits before me. It<br />
didn’t.<br />
Something tells me it’s only getting<br />
better.<br />
Julie with Cian at his<br />
home in in Co. Meath.
14<br />
SPORT<br />
THE CIRCULAR<br />
Darren Clarke:<br />
A year of highs and lows<br />
By Regina Wall<br />
There are few golfers as popular as<br />
Darren Clarke. His great talent and<br />
warm personality have gained him<br />
many admirers and friends. On the<br />
eve of the US PGA championship<br />
last year when Clarke’s wife<br />
Heather lost her brave battle with<br />
cancer, they rallied <strong>to</strong> support him<br />
As a mark of respect, a number<br />
of players offered <strong>to</strong> pull out of the<br />
competition. His close friend Paul<br />
McGinley risked losing his place on<br />
the Ryder Cup team by pulling out<br />
of the ranking event <strong>to</strong> attend<br />
Heather’s funeral. “The support I<br />
got from Paul and everyone everywhere<br />
was unforgettable,” Clarke<br />
said at the time.<br />
It was his father who first introduced<br />
him <strong>to</strong> golf. “My father started<br />
playing golf when I was eleven,<br />
and I caddied for him and got the<br />
bug. I went from a thirty-six handicap<br />
<strong>to</strong> a thirteen the first year I<br />
played and from a thirteen <strong>to</strong> a<br />
“The support<br />
I got from<br />
everyone<br />
everywhere<br />
was unforgettable”<br />
three in the second. In the summer,<br />
I’d play seventy-two holes in a day.<br />
As soon as it got bright, I’d go out<br />
<strong>to</strong> practise.”<br />
Clarke is now recognised as one<br />
of the most talented golfers of his<br />
generation, winning 10 times on<br />
the European <strong>to</strong>ur and earning<br />
over 10 million euro in prize<br />
money. When he returned <strong>to</strong> his<br />
locker room after beating Tiger<br />
Woods for the $1m prize in the<br />
final of the WGC World Match<br />
play Championships in 2000, there<br />
was a surprise waiting for him - a<br />
note left in his locker from Tiger<br />
Woods: “Congratulations. Be<br />
proud. PS You’re still a fucker.”<br />
Before last year’s Ryder Cup, he<br />
had hardly played since his wife’s<br />
death in August. The raw emotion<br />
portrayed over the three-day event<br />
made it one of the most memorable<br />
Ryder Cups <strong>to</strong> date.<br />
The arrival of Clarke lit up the<br />
first tee at the K Club “Nothing<br />
can compare with what I went<br />
through on that first tee.”There will<br />
Darren Clarke at the Ryder Cup<br />
never be a harder shot or hole for<br />
me <strong>to</strong> play.”<br />
What followed was an inspired<br />
Clarke, playing some of his finest<br />
golf. After winning his singles<br />
match, Clarke shared an emotional<br />
moment with opponent Tiger<br />
Woods, who lost his father, Earl, <strong>to</strong><br />
cancer in May. The embrace<br />
offered the world a poignant<br />
glimpse in<strong>to</strong> Clarke’s personal grief.<br />
“I knew it was going <strong>to</strong> be an<br />
emotional experience not least<br />
because Heather loved the Ryder<br />
Cup and wearing all the glamorous<br />
outfits, but looking back I never<br />
realised quite how emotional it<br />
would become.”<br />
After the Ryder Cup, Clarke<br />
went home <strong>to</strong> his two sons, aged<br />
eight and five. “My boys are my<br />
number one priority. They’re the<br />
heartbeat of my life”<br />
The death of his wife has put<br />
increased spotlight on his family<br />
and he wants <strong>to</strong> spend as much<br />
time with his sons as possible. “I<br />
have been occupying my time with<br />
my sons, Tyrone and Conor, as we<br />
all readjust our lives.”<br />
Clarke <strong>to</strong>ok a break from the<br />
European <strong>to</strong>ur <strong>to</strong>wards the end of<br />
last year but has recently began<br />
“This year is<br />
a fresh start<br />
for me”<br />
playing again. He hopes <strong>to</strong> find a<br />
balance between being a single<br />
father and a professional sportsman.<br />
He still has ambitions <strong>to</strong> fulfil in<br />
2007. “The majors are very important<br />
<strong>to</strong> me. I’ve had a difficult time<br />
the past few years trying <strong>to</strong> concentrate<br />
fully on golf but this year is a<br />
fresh start .”<br />
Away from the course, he has his<br />
own foundation, which helps <strong>to</strong><br />
raise money <strong>to</strong> help fight the disease<br />
that killed his wife. The<br />
Darren Clarke Foundation was set<br />
up in 2002 <strong>to</strong> help Irish junior golf<br />
and discover the Irish stars of the<br />
future.<br />
“Through the foundation I can<br />
try and give back <strong>to</strong> all those people<br />
who supported Heather through<br />
her illness, and hopefully we can<br />
raise a tidy sum of money <strong>to</strong> help<br />
people who need it most.”<br />
Darren Clarke looks back on<br />
2006 as a year which had highs but<br />
will be remembered for his loss. He<br />
has shown courage and bravery<br />
throughout difficult times. The<br />
return of the ‘Big D’ <strong>to</strong> winning<br />
ways at the Masters in Augusta,<br />
would seal his comeback on the<br />
competitive circuit, which has<br />
missed his unique and flamboyant<br />
style.<br />
PROFILE:<br />
NAME: Darren<br />
Chris<strong>to</strong>pher Clarke<br />
BORN: 14-08-68,<br />
Dungannon, Northern<br />
Ireland<br />
VITAL STATS: 6ft 2in, 15<br />
s<strong>to</strong>ne<br />
PROFESSION:Turned pro<br />
in 1990<br />
TITLES: 15, including<br />
World Match Play 2000,<br />
European Open ‘01, NEC<br />
Invitational ‘03.<br />
RYDER CUP WINS:‘97,‘02,<br />
‘04,‘06<br />
WORLD RANKING: 38<br />
OBSCURE FACT: reported<br />
<strong>to</strong> spend 25,000 pounds<br />
sterling a year on cigars.
THE CIRCULAR SPORT<br />
15<br />
Golden Oldie<br />
Stephen O’Farrell spoke <strong>to</strong> Ronnie Delany about<br />
winning Olympic Gold and the state of athletics <strong>to</strong>day<br />
As Ronnie Delany walked along<br />
the north quays in <strong>Dublin</strong> he was<br />
confronted by a man asking him if<br />
he was Ronnie Delany, the famous<br />
runner. When he replied that he<br />
was, the man said <strong>to</strong> him: “You<br />
know what, I never saw anyone get<br />
so much bloody mileage out of<br />
winning a medal”.<br />
The man had a point <strong>to</strong><br />
“The press<br />
had written<br />
me off.<br />
Landy was<br />
the favourite”<br />
Before the Olympics,<br />
Delany wasn’t given much hope of<br />
any success by the Irish media.<br />
“Jumbo, my teamates and my<br />
father were probably the only ones<br />
everything I had. Within 10 yards I<br />
was in the lead and going away<br />
from the field. I knew nobody was<br />
going <strong>to</strong> pass me; my legs were<br />
pumping, tired but not going <strong>to</strong><br />
stable and respected career awaited<br />
him in an otherwise very poor<br />
1950’s Ireland. Delany realised<br />
soon after joining the army, however,<br />
that he would have <strong>to</strong> choose his<br />
America” he says. “I was convinced<br />
that I was destined <strong>to</strong> be a great<br />
athlete”.<br />
Delany still keeps a keen<br />
eye on what’s happening on the<br />
track <strong>to</strong>day and he is concerned.<br />
“Drugs is the big issue, it is a serious<br />
danger. With such money and<br />
sponsorship of course greed enters<br />
the equation. Greed, not only in the<br />
athlete with the talent; but the<br />
greedy manager, coach, and doc<strong>to</strong>r,<br />
who want <strong>to</strong> improve their reputation.<br />
When an athlete faces that<br />
much pressure and he’s not a moral<br />
person, he may take drugs.”<br />
“There is no simple solution<br />
either. If they don’t contain<br />
the drugs problem; it will spell the<br />
end of the Olympics. If it gets <strong>to</strong>o<br />
dirty the big sponsors will walk<br />
away.” His eyes glaze over. “There<br />
is something very special, his<strong>to</strong>ric,<br />
and significant in being sent by<br />
your country <strong>to</strong> an Olympic<br />
Games. And this realisation comes<br />
<strong>to</strong> you as you participate in the<br />
opening ceremony before the eyes<br />
“I was<br />
convinced<br />
that I was<br />
destined <strong>to</strong><br />
be a great<br />
athlete”<br />
“If they don’t<br />
contain the<br />
drugs<br />
problem; it<br />
will spell the<br />
end of the<br />
Olympics”<br />
an extent because 50 years after<br />
Delany won gold for Ireland in the<br />
Olympic 1,500 metres in<br />
Melbourne he is still being honoured.<br />
He recently received an honorary<br />
law degree from UCD and<br />
was awarded the freedom of the<br />
city in March alongside Bob<br />
Geldof.<br />
But such awards don’t<br />
just rest on a single medal. He is<br />
quick <strong>to</strong> point out that his gold in<br />
Melbourne is only one of his<br />
numerous achievements that he has<br />
had during a golden era for athletics.<br />
He was only the seventh man <strong>to</strong><br />
run the mile in under four minutes,<br />
he went 40 indoor races unbeaten,<br />
a record that still hasn’t been surpassed<br />
<strong>to</strong> this day, and he became<br />
the first Irish athlete <strong>to</strong> win a medal<br />
at the European Championships<br />
when he <strong>to</strong>ok bronze.<br />
Ronnie Delany, after winning a gold medal at the Olympics in 1956<br />
who gave me more than a snowball’s<br />
chance in hell. The press had<br />
written me off. Landy was the<br />
favourite.” Delany sits back in his<br />
chair getting comfortable before he<br />
continues. “It was difficult <strong>to</strong><br />
remain calm beforehand but I tried<br />
as best I could, I knew every<br />
moment of anxiety used up valuable<br />
energy.” And on winning the<br />
actual race itself “About 150 yards<br />
from the finish, I opened up with<br />
give in <strong>to</strong> anybody. My heart<br />
swelled with joy as I approached<br />
the tape and as I burst through, I<br />
threw my arms wide in exultation. I<br />
could hardly believe I had won.”<br />
After being written off<br />
before the race, Delany ended up<br />
winning it by 10 feet. This is testament<br />
<strong>to</strong> an extraordinary self belief<br />
that he’d had since he was a youngster.<br />
After school he had been<br />
offered a cadetship in the army; a<br />
running or his career. To the disgust<br />
of his father, he chose the former.<br />
He was then successful in<br />
gaining a scholarship <strong>to</strong> Villanova<br />
University in Philadelphia where he<br />
met his coach Jumbo Elliot. Delany<br />
views both the facilities at<br />
Villanova and his coach, Jumbo<br />
Elliot, as integral fac<strong>to</strong>rs in his success.<br />
“I wouldn’t have won the<br />
Olympics if I had not gone <strong>to</strong><br />
of the world.”<br />
In a time when Ireland<br />
was a debt ridden country and low<br />
on self-esteem, Delany’s belief that<br />
he could be the best, made the Irish<br />
public believe in themselves. As<br />
Tony O’Reilly remarked in the<br />
introduction <strong>to</strong> Delany’s au<strong>to</strong>biography<br />
Staying the Distance, “It<br />
made us all feel, as a country, that<br />
we had achieved something unique,<br />
that we could compete against the<br />
best in the world”. But perhaps<br />
Bob Geldof put it best at the ceremony<br />
for the freedom of the city:<br />
‘The Bus would go zipping past me<br />
and I’d dash after it and the conduc<strong>to</strong>r<br />
would lean out and say<br />
“Ronnie Delany, wha” How do<br />
you share a stage with someone<br />
who has become an expression’<br />
I never saw a nation get<br />
so much bloody mileage out of one<br />
medal.
16<br />
SPORT<br />
THE CIRCULAR<br />
Croke Park under lights: <strong>Dublin</strong> v Tyrone, 3 Feb, 2007<br />
GAA moves with modern Ireland<br />
By Eamonn Mc Gurk<br />
Ireland’s identity is changing.<br />
Roared on by the Celtic Tiger economy<br />
we have never had such prosperity,<br />
diversity and confidence.<br />
Rather than cut its ties with this<br />
new image, the GAA has embraced<br />
it and the future looks bright for<br />
both it and Ireland.<br />
“Croke Park is a true monument<br />
of our past and a manifestation of<br />
our vision for the future,” said<br />
GAA President Nickey Brennan<br />
after he illuminated the stadium<br />
before the <strong>Dublin</strong> V Tyrone match<br />
thus reflecting the organization’s<br />
forward thinking attitude.<br />
Saturday February 24 2007, was<br />
a standout occasion in Ireland’s<br />
recent his<strong>to</strong>ry. Croke Park formed<br />
the centerpiece. There it s<strong>to</strong>od for<br />
the entire world <strong>to</strong> view as a magnificent<br />
tribute <strong>to</strong> the GAA and<br />
Ireland as a whole. The edi<strong>to</strong>rial in<br />
Monday’s Irish Times eloquently<br />
described the occasion:<br />
“All in all, it was a very special<br />
night <strong>to</strong> remember in the his<strong>to</strong>ry,<br />
not just of sport, but of a modern<br />
Ireland full of self-confidence and<br />
comfortable with herself. Indeed,<br />
players and fans alike displayed this<br />
self-confidence and sense of<br />
pride.”<br />
If the match had been staged in<br />
Cardiff or Murrayfield, (viewed as<br />
alternatives if the GAA hadn’t<br />
opened up Croke Park) the occasion<br />
may not have been so significant.<br />
Since the plans were made<br />
available in 1992, the GAA has created<br />
a stadium fit <strong>to</strong> grace any international<br />
occasion. Brennan basked<br />
in the glory of these recent triumphs<br />
for the organisation but the<br />
contribution made by his predecessor<br />
Sean Kelly should not be forgotten.<br />
It was he and some grassroots<br />
members who had the foresight<br />
and courage <strong>to</strong> place Rule 42,<br />
which had banned ‘foreign games’,<br />
at the <strong>to</strong>p of the agenda.<br />
“Once again<br />
it seems sport<br />
has moved on<br />
quicker than<br />
politics”<br />
Although a massive statement,<br />
Croke Park is not the only way in<br />
which the GAA is engaging with<br />
and reflecting a changing society.<br />
An organisation of around 800,000<br />
members, it values the contribution<br />
of people <strong>to</strong> its continued growth.<br />
On the night the lights were<br />
switched on, children from 18<br />
nationalities formed the teams that<br />
<strong>to</strong>ok the field for the half time<br />
exhibition.<br />
Among the solo runs, turns and<br />
dummies these teams pointed <strong>to</strong><br />
signs of the future. Some of these<br />
players may adorn the light blue of<br />
<strong>Dublin</strong> one day. They don’t need <strong>to</strong><br />
look far for inspiration as Cork<br />
hurling star Sean og O’Halpin who<br />
captained the All-Ireland winning<br />
team in 2005 has Fijian roots.<br />
During a radio conversation with<br />
Eamonn Dunphy, O’Halpin commented<br />
that playing Ireland’s<br />
national games helped him integrate<br />
in<strong>to</strong> Irish society and curtailed<br />
the racist abuse he was subjected<br />
<strong>to</strong>.<br />
It is not only immigrants who<br />
are being welcomed <strong>to</strong> play Gaelic<br />
games. In the North of Ireland, the<br />
PSNI now field a team following<br />
the abolishment of Rule 21 in<br />
2001, which prevented members of<br />
the security forces playing Gaelic<br />
sports. It <strong>to</strong>ok the largest<br />
Nationalist party in the North Sinn<br />
Fein until recently <strong>to</strong> endorse policing.<br />
Once again it seems sport has<br />
moved on quicker than politics.<br />
Since its foundation in 1884 the<br />
GAA has played a central role in<br />
communities throughout Ireland.<br />
In modern society the faces and<br />
attitudes of these communities are<br />
much different than those of the<br />
past.Former President Sean Kelly<br />
points <strong>to</strong> inclusiveness as the key <strong>to</strong><br />
the future for the organisation.”In<br />
modern Ireland every organization<br />
has <strong>to</strong> be inclusive, and the GAA is<br />
no exception. It’s a form of maturity,<br />
of advancement, that you can<br />
see people not by their differences<br />
but by what you have in common.”<br />
Guided by the vision and<br />
courage of those like Kelly the<br />
GAA continues <strong>to</strong> move forward<br />
and it’s bringing many others along<br />
with it.<br />
Cheating must s<strong>to</strong>p<br />
Manchester City players show their frustration<br />
<strong>to</strong>wards Chelsea’s Didier Drogba<br />
By Ciara Hegarty<br />
The culture of diving has<br />
wormed its way in<strong>to</strong> the ‘beautiful<br />
game’ of soccer. Players fall <strong>to</strong> the<br />
ground without being dragged<br />
down, tripped or sometimes even<br />
<strong>to</strong>uched at all. They exaggerate<br />
their injuries and are miraculously<br />
healed if their theatrics fail <strong>to</strong><br />
impress the referee. This play-acting<br />
and blatant foul-play has gone<br />
unpunished and has become<br />
accepted as an element of the modern<br />
game. This must be s<strong>to</strong>pped.<br />
In both the English Premiership<br />
and particularly in the Champions’<br />
League, we see players rolling<br />
around in ‘agony’, encouraging the<br />
referee <strong>to</strong> brandish cards. The main<br />
objective of the act, and that’s what<br />
it is an act, is <strong>to</strong> fool the referee in<strong>to</strong><br />
thinking they are genuinely in pain.<br />
If these players were really in<br />
‘agony’ a booking for the opposition<br />
would be the last thing on their<br />
mind.<br />
Nowadays, people argue for free<br />
kicks and penalties based on contact.<br />
But contact is a fundamental<br />
part of soccer. If it wasn’t, the<br />
game would be called tip-soccer<br />
and would be stripped of all excitement.<br />
Soccer is a fast paced game<br />
of attack and defence in which<br />
players cannot possibly avoid colliding<br />
with each other. Players who<br />
exaggerate injuries from tackles<br />
seem <strong>to</strong> get the benefit of the<br />
doubt when really it is these divers<br />
that are cheating while defenders<br />
are just doing their job.<br />
There is an idea that diving is a<br />
foreign influence leaving Irish and<br />
English players no choice but <strong>to</strong><br />
follow in the footsteps of their<br />
Italian, Spanish and Portuguese<br />
counterparts. Wherever and whoever<br />
it came from, it is clear <strong>to</strong> see<br />
now that everyone is at it, from Joe<br />
Cole <strong>to</strong> Ronaldo <strong>to</strong> Damien Duff.<br />
Chelsea striker Drogba has even<br />
openly admitted <strong>to</strong> diving.<br />
“Sometimes I dive, sometimes I<br />
stand”. So <strong>to</strong>o has Bol<strong>to</strong>n striker<br />
El-Hadji Diouf, who describes it as<br />
being “clever”. It is a disgrace that<br />
these self confessed divers have<br />
gone unpunished. Just like throwing<br />
a game or fielding a suspended<br />
player is considered cheating, this<br />
issue of faking an injury must be<br />
treated with the same seriousness.<br />
Every week we hear aggrieved<br />
managers blaming referees for poor<br />
decisions. Penalties given for exaggerated<br />
injuries, genuine penalties<br />
denied, controversial yellow and<br />
red cards, the list goes on. It is<br />
“Somtimes I<br />
dive,<br />
sometimes I<br />
stand”<br />
Didier Drogba<br />
unfair <strong>to</strong> criticise referees considering<br />
the influence of diving on<br />
<strong>to</strong>day’s game. They get one look at<br />
it and have <strong>to</strong> make a call on their<br />
first impression. Sunderland manager<br />
Roy Keane recently admitted<br />
that there are a lot of players out<br />
there who are trying <strong>to</strong> pull one<br />
over on the referee by diving.<br />
“Players have got <strong>to</strong> look <strong>to</strong> treat<br />
the referees fairly”.<br />
It is hypocritical of managers <strong>to</strong><br />
give out about incidents of diving<br />
that go against them one week, but<br />
keep quiet about an easy penalty<br />
that wins them a game the next.<br />
Torquay United who are facing<br />
relegation at the bot<strong>to</strong>m of League<br />
Two have decided <strong>to</strong> take action<br />
against their own players if found<br />
cheating. The club has set up a<br />
‘three strikes and you’re out’ policy<br />
<strong>to</strong> clamp down on the increasing<br />
problem of diving. But if a player<br />
is awarded a penalty or free kick<br />
from a dive that wins them the<br />
game, how harsh would the punishment<br />
be<br />
Nevertheless this is a positive<br />
step taken by Torquay United and<br />
will hopefully encourage other<br />
clubs <strong>to</strong> follow.<br />
Until a video referee is introduced<br />
<strong>to</strong> the game, mistakes are<br />
going <strong>to</strong> be made and cheating will<br />
continue. Similar <strong>to</strong> the way dangerous<br />
and deliberate fouls are<br />
cited in rugby, something must be<br />
done about the issue of diving in<br />
soccer.<br />
These players are fit, professional<br />
athletes who train hard <strong>to</strong> better<br />
their skills in order <strong>to</strong> win matches<br />
and be successful.<br />
In the name of good sportsmanship,<br />
surely it is more satisfying <strong>to</strong><br />
win games as a result of these skills<br />
they worked hard <strong>to</strong> perfect, rather<br />
than fooling the referee with their<br />
acting talents