I know bonfire night is well and truly over for this year but Mary O’Leary who is chairperson of the Willow Park Residents Fun Night contacted me about their alternative bonfire night and the fun everyone had. The residents didn’t want a repeat of the fracas that was the previous years bonfire so with the help of City Council, Community Gardaí and Douglas Community Association, the ball started to roll for this years Fun Night.

Games were organised by Eddie O’Donovan and his team, sports equipment was supplied by Tramore Athletics Der O’Callaghan who also surprised everyone with hot food while bouncy castles and face painting were the order of the evening for the kids. Mary would like to thank all those involved, for their support and for making this event a huge success.

National Crisis

The country has been in crisis for the last few years as the Celtic Tiger disappeared into the sunset and instead of all political parties coming together to come up with a viable plan to move our economy forward, all of these politicians, whose large salaries we pay, continue to pull in opposite directions. Last week, the biggest debate in Irish politics was whether the Dáil summer recess should be reduced from 12 to 10 weeks. The handling of the banking scandals alone has made us the laughing stock of Europe with ‘Ordinary Joe Soap’ having to pay through the nose for this continuous and disgraceful political mismanagement of our country. Political rivalry and point scoring should and must be put aside while a cross party task force government should be formed to get this wonderful country out of this crisis and only then, once the economy is back on an even keel and our citizens no longer have to face hardship and financial sacrifice, should there be political divide and competition.

The ‘Beautiful Game’

The ‘Beautiful Game’ has become probably the most boring soap opera, acted out by the biggest and overpaid drama queens on the planet. From domestic football to the world cup, it’s no longer about football but all about money and cheating. Cork City’s demise earlier this year is a prime example with players, who aren’t worth it, earning thousands of euro every week while games attract attendances of hundreds or at most a couple of thousand fans. The other extreme was seen over the past month in the so called ultimate football competition, the World Cup – Spain without doubt were the best team in the competition and deserved winners while Holland should hang their heads in shame for the tactics they adopted for all they did was turn most people like myself, off football and to honest I don’t think I would even bother watching the next World Cup.

I can remember watching football on television when games were flowing and hard tackles were shrugged off while players got on with the game and the passion on the pitch was purely football. Today it’s all about cheating, about how to beat the referee by diving or handling the ball or seriously injuring an opponent and getting away with it while earning millions to act out this boring scenario. I’m sick of watching the ‘Beautiful Game’ being spoiled by these overpaid drama queens – now let me see, Corrie or Eastenders this evening?

Sympathies

My sincerest sympathies go to the Quinn, Hurley and Harris families at this time.

Best of luck to Cork in the Munster Hurling Final replay this Saturday.

Slán

George Thompso