Come Here To Me!

In recent weeks, an art installation in Temple Bar at Exchange Street made a re-appearance. Where once pages of the Ryan Report were pasted onto the hoardings, it was pages from the Cloyne Report which were pasted up recently, with the haunting words ‘CHILD RAPE’ pasted above the report.

Unsurprisingly, someone took a disliking to the piece, and it appears many of the pages have been scraped from the hoardings. On more than one occasion I have seen individuals scraping pages from the piece. It’s been interesting to watch visitors stop to read from the report, or to see native Dubliners breakdown to tears reading it as I have passing by. It’s powerful stuff.

….the Cloyne Report excavates the dysfunction, disconnection, elitism….the narcissism that dominate the culture of the Vatican to this day.
The rape and torture of children were downplayed or ‘managed’ to uphold instead, the primacy of the institution, its power, standing and ‘reputation’

– Enda Kenny.

The Irish Independent report on the naming of the referees for the 2011 All-Ireland Senior and Minor Football Championship finals at Croker makes for interesting reading to say the least. Paradigm Hughes of Ramah, any relation of Pádraig Hughes from Armagh? Who knows.

We've come a long way.....

There’s a great report over on The Irish Times website about a Crumlin school which has ditched books for iPads.

According to Blake Hodkinson, principal at St Kevin’s College in Crumlin, this system is 40 per cent cheaper than buying books. Until now the school has provided all books at a cost of €20,000 per year, with €4,000 of that contributed by families.

The report can be read here. It’s hard not to be jealous, when all you could do for fun is class was draw facial hair on people in your history books.

There’s been great controversy around Shelbourne’s defeat to Sheriff Y.C on Friday night in the F.A.I Cup, with some claiming the match was fixed. Certainly, discussions on some betting forums and the ‘tip’ which seems to have been passed on to many in the LOI community give some credibility to the claim, but did Sheriff just play their hearts out? Who knows. Reports from people at the match suggest a very lackluster effort from Shels in the second half. More questions than answers…

This footage comes from ShelsTV. Give it a look.

The latest copy of Blue and Navy, the Dublin GAA fanzine, will be on sale around Croker this Sunday before the All Ireland semi which sees the capital take on Donegal.

As a League of Ireland fan, there was a period when picking up fanzines was a part of my match experience, from Inchicore to awaydays too. Sadly, that culture has more or less passed on from the domestic soccer league, and fanzines aren’t so common-place.

Blue and Navy is something I pick up on occasion from Easons. Its mix of history, opinion and humour make it a good read. The latest issue has plenty of history, with pieces on the GAA career of Harry Boland, a classic 1984 Evening Press piece on ‘How To Survive On Hill 16’, a look at the ever-changing jersey of the capital and more besides.

Below are the sales locations. Be sure to pick up a copy, we need more independent media like this produced by dedicated followers of the games we love.

Sales locations
(sellers around Croke Park)
Luke Kelly Bridge @ Clonliffe Road East entrance
Foster Terrace for Cusack entrance
Clonliffe Road/St.James Avenue for Cusack/Hill 16 entrance
Jones Road (@ Gills Pub) for Hogan entrance
Across from Quinns pub @ Clonliffe Road West entrance
On the Hill at bar at half time
(Pub sales)
The fanzine will also be on sale (behind the bar) in the following renowned establishments;
The Bridge Tavern, Summerhill Parade, Gaffneys, Fairview and Quinns, Drumcondra Road.

This Must Be The Place

While Dublin rapper Lecs Luther has found himself doing rather well in recent days in cyberspace, I’ve been very taken with this effort from Dublin rapper CuCullen. I know Dublin hip hop is the Marmite of Come Here To Me, with some of you loving it and others the very opposite, but give ’em a play.