As a Manchester United supporter, I’ve never been too keen on Thierry Henry. Back in the days just before the billionaires starting buying up clubs, United and Arsenal were the two top dogs, and Henry was so ridiculously good that Arsenal were the top club in English football for a time.
The thing was, as much as I didn’t like the fact that Henry was scoring for Arsenal every week and winning them trophies, I had nothing but respect for the guy. He didn’t come across as too cocky (perhaps a little, but nowhere near Ronaldo levels), he wasn’t your typical ‘at the end of the day, it’s a game of two halves and the boys done well’ character in the interviews and his ‘Va Va Voom’ adverts were terrifically self-aggrandising in a jokey way.
Once he left London French and joined Barcelona, I was delighted. It wasn’t okay to like Henry per se, but pretending to hate him to everyone was something I no longer had to do, and I could admire his football. His continued devotion to Arsenal, even after he had left, was also great to see. He spoke about how he will one day return to Arsenal because it feels like home to him. As everybody is saying these days, that kind of loyalty is becoming rarer and rarer (some players don’t even want to play for their own country – gasp – Stephen who?).
All of this makes Thierry Henry’s cheating, yes cheating it could only have been intentional, in the World Cup Playoff last night all the more painful and difficult to take.
If we were going to be cheated out of qualification, why could it not have been one of the villains of the French team? William Gallas, the scorer of the goal, is not so much the villain in this case. Why could he not have been the guilty culprit? I haven’t had much respect for him since his temper tantrum after Arsenal conceded a last-minute penalty, and he proceeded to kick the advertising boards in a fit of bratishness – what a captain.
Being robbed by somebody seemingly so nice is, well, it feels even worse than being robbed by someone you would suspect or dislike. After Neil Back cheated Munster in the Heineken Cup, there was anger, but it wasn’t as if Irish fans had much respect for Back anyway. It’s the fact that ‘nice-guy’ Henry has robbed us that really irks the most.
Us – Ireland, The Republic, The Boys in Green. Another generation of kids will now never feel the magic and national cohesion that a World Cup brings. I remember 1994 (too young for 1990) - the flags, the shouting, the shameless self-promotion of Eamonn Dunphy, Ray Houghton scoring a cracker against Italy. It was brilliant. I will always hold cherished childhood memories that I’ll never forget (France didn’t qualify for 1994 World Cup, incidentally). I remember 2002 – Getting up early to travel to Stillorgan and watch the games with a few hundred other Irish fans, the flags, the chants, the shameless self-promotion of Eamonn Dunphy, arguing over Roy Keane and Mattie Holland scoring a cracker against the Cameroon.
How many French kids are as passionate as we are about our sport? When have travelling French supporters been a highlight of a tournament? Irish fans have done it all over the world; Italy, the USA, Japan and South Korea, the Caribbean (Cricket World Cup). Not having us in South Africa is going to greatly diminish the tournament, in my biased eyes.
Recently, it feels like it’s always the French though doesn’t it?
Croke Park 2007. In the first ever game of rugby to be played on the GAA’s hallowed turf, we play the French. They score a last-minute try, and we lose by three points. That was painful. We bounced back by destroying England 43-13 in Croker a few weeks later, but that try cost us the Grand Slam that year.
The whole Rugby World Cup later that year was worse. Seen as France’s main rivals in the early stages, the French media went after Eddie O’Sullivan and Ronan O’Gara. The result was us playing worse than we did in the 90’s and an easy French victory.
Yet still, last night was the most painful blow of all. In both of the rugby instances, we had the players and the talent to do something about it, but we were caught sleeping, or just played awfully for a whole tournament. This is completely unjust, completely unfair.
We were the better team against them across the 210 minutes of football. It may have gone to penalties, maybe they would have scored anyway, but we will never know. It is the most painful of all the French defeats because we were cheated out of the biggest tournament in the world, our fragile national mood was shattered once again and the man responsible is the seemingly lovely bloke, Thierry Henry.
I don’t think he will be visiting Ireland anytime soon.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Why does the UK hate the EU so much?
Something in UK politics has really started to bother me. Not that it’s any of my business being Irish and all that, but why do they hate being in the EU so much?
It all started for me when I watched their European election coverage on the BBC. I was shocked that the people of the UK have turned so Euro-sceptic - and they even voted the BNP in, two seats in the north-west of England went to Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons. Racists in the European parliament? Well, okay, open racists in the European Parliament? What is the once Great British Empire becoming?
But really, looking back over their history in the EU and their history over the last few hundred years, it really shouldn’t come as a shock that Great Britain acts as if it is above the European Union. They are a nation that has become accustomed to being a world power. With their power dwindling over the last hundred years, and becoming the Watson to the USA’s Sherlock Holmes, bless them, the Brits need to feel big to feel good.
Where else can they go to get that sense of power back apart from the EU? Iraq? Afghanistan? I don’t think so. That was Tony Blair’s ever so clever Thatcher-esque move to insert them into an easily winnable conflict to drum up some national pride and get the people behind him. It didn’t quite work out that way for him, with the WMDs never existing and the dossiers being sexed up and the soldiers dying but shove that to the side, he got that historic third term did he not? (Rory Bremner as Michael Howard – gold)
So now, what to do? Yes, yes, pick on the EU. Sure, that’s just full of countries that they have beaten lots of times in wars of the years, of course they can throw their weight around. The Germans and the French won’t do anything. Rule Britannia!
Labour has remained pro-Europe through the stream of nationalistic Europe bashing, to their credit, but the Tories and a host of far-right nobodies have jumped on the bandwagon with fervour. David Cameron, the Prime Minister until Brown’s time runs out, has called Margaret Thatcher Britain’s “best ever peacetime Prime Minister”. Let’s hope he doesn’t adopt similar ignorant and petulant policies for Europe when his time comes next year.
The fact is, the people of the UK, mostly England, need to feel superior to other countries to feel good about themselves. This is not a knock on British people, I am very fond of British people, but it is true. When was the last time that they won a proper war that meant something by themselves? If you say the Falklands, you have earned a slap.
You would have to go about a century back to find their last personal triumph. They needed the help of the US in World War I, the US and the Soviets in World War II and since then it’s been mostly trying to legitimize US foreign policy or fighting for small islands off Argentina that they have no right in owning.
So if you can’t do it with guns and bullets, do it with mouths and whines. They refused the euro, they loved us here in Ireland when we said ‘no’ to Lisbon, then put us on their list of enemies when we voted ‘yes’ a year later. All the while, the key word has been sovereignty.
Sovereignty. ‘The people of the EU need to respect Great Britain’s sovereignty.’ It’s extremely irritating when this is used. They don’t want to adopt the euro because of their sovereignty. So, you don’t want the ECB controlling your financial interests? Fair enough, but say that, don’t keep saying sovereignty like a broken record.
I am from Ireland. Since we joined the EU, our country has benefited more than any from the schemes of the EU and the development it has brought. Granted, we ballsed it up ourselves recently and we’re sliding back to where we were, but being in the EU has solidified us more than being on our own ever could. The UK is different. They are about a dozen times the size of Ireland in terms of people, and are a true world power. But, they need to realize that the British Empire no longer exists and it is the 21st century.
Wake up ye Brits and embrace Europe! We’re all in this together. It’s our continent after all.
Unfortunately, I can see Mr. Cameron trying to emulate his iron idol for the betterment of his polling figures, and to the overall detriment of his country and his continent in the next few years.
It all started for me when I watched their European election coverage on the BBC. I was shocked that the people of the UK have turned so Euro-sceptic - and they even voted the BNP in, two seats in the north-west of England went to Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons. Racists in the European parliament? Well, okay, open racists in the European Parliament? What is the once Great British Empire becoming?
But really, looking back over their history in the EU and their history over the last few hundred years, it really shouldn’t come as a shock that Great Britain acts as if it is above the European Union. They are a nation that has become accustomed to being a world power. With their power dwindling over the last hundred years, and becoming the Watson to the USA’s Sherlock Holmes, bless them, the Brits need to feel big to feel good.
Where else can they go to get that sense of power back apart from the EU? Iraq? Afghanistan? I don’t think so. That was Tony Blair’s ever so clever Thatcher-esque move to insert them into an easily winnable conflict to drum up some national pride and get the people behind him. It didn’t quite work out that way for him, with the WMDs never existing and the dossiers being sexed up and the soldiers dying but shove that to the side, he got that historic third term did he not? (Rory Bremner as Michael Howard – gold)
So now, what to do? Yes, yes, pick on the EU. Sure, that’s just full of countries that they have beaten lots of times in wars of the years, of course they can throw their weight around. The Germans and the French won’t do anything. Rule Britannia!
Labour has remained pro-Europe through the stream of nationalistic Europe bashing, to their credit, but the Tories and a host of far-right nobodies have jumped on the bandwagon with fervour. David Cameron, the Prime Minister until Brown’s time runs out, has called Margaret Thatcher Britain’s “best ever peacetime Prime Minister”. Let’s hope he doesn’t adopt similar ignorant and petulant policies for Europe when his time comes next year.
The fact is, the people of the UK, mostly England, need to feel superior to other countries to feel good about themselves. This is not a knock on British people, I am very fond of British people, but it is true. When was the last time that they won a proper war that meant something by themselves? If you say the Falklands, you have earned a slap.
You would have to go about a century back to find their last personal triumph. They needed the help of the US in World War I, the US and the Soviets in World War II and since then it’s been mostly trying to legitimize US foreign policy or fighting for small islands off Argentina that they have no right in owning.
So if you can’t do it with guns and bullets, do it with mouths and whines. They refused the euro, they loved us here in Ireland when we said ‘no’ to Lisbon, then put us on their list of enemies when we voted ‘yes’ a year later. All the while, the key word has been sovereignty.
Sovereignty. ‘The people of the EU need to respect Great Britain’s sovereignty.’ It’s extremely irritating when this is used. They don’t want to adopt the euro because of their sovereignty. So, you don’t want the ECB controlling your financial interests? Fair enough, but say that, don’t keep saying sovereignty like a broken record.
I am from Ireland. Since we joined the EU, our country has benefited more than any from the schemes of the EU and the development it has brought. Granted, we ballsed it up ourselves recently and we’re sliding back to where we were, but being in the EU has solidified us more than being on our own ever could. The UK is different. They are about a dozen times the size of Ireland in terms of people, and are a true world power. But, they need to realize that the British Empire no longer exists and it is the 21st century.
Wake up ye Brits and embrace Europe! We’re all in this together. It’s our continent after all.
Unfortunately, I can see Mr. Cameron trying to emulate his iron idol for the betterment of his polling figures, and to the overall detriment of his country and his continent in the next few years.
Arranged Marriage in India
One of the most misunderstood facets of Indian culture is the arranged marriage. At home, most of the people that I have discussed it with seem to have resorted to dismissing the practice as naïvely daft or worse still, tastelessly alluded to the men marrying as virgins.
At the mention of it, people of western persuasion envisage women dragged down the aisle to marry shady opportunists, or weak-hearted “mammy’s boys” being forced to spend the rest of their days with someone that they don't even like. Up until recently, my own interpretation of arranged marriage wouldn’t have diverged too far from the normal western view. I would have categorized it in the distant past; a relic of stuffy class-based society that died out with the Victorian era. I would not have looked too far from home to draw examples of what it is truly like in 2009.
However, since I have come to India, and experienced how the people around me treat arranged marriage, my attitude has changed immeasurably. The actuality is far removed from what we in the west perceive it to be.
But, make no mistake about it; arranged marriages are far from perfect. Class comes into play and acts as a primary condition from the outset for many families, with parents from the same caste seeking each other out to see if their children would be interested in marrying. Wealth is vital. A man with a degree and a good job has a much better chance at getting a beautiful wife from a respectable family than someone with less material wealth. This is what is most discerning. For some, arranged marriages can seemingly be no more than an auction or business transaction above all else. Farcically, a difference in annual income of a few thousand rupees per year (roughly 65 rupees is equivalent to 1 euro) can be the decider when a much sought after daughter comes to choose a man.
The surrounding extended families of those involved can also be quite a factor. Many ascertain what their brothers, sisters and other family members will make of a potential husband or wife, and act accordingly. It is almost comical to some in the west, but an elder brother or sister's opinion can really affect who marries who in India. The interference and influence of the family does not end there. During the wedding celebrations, the family of the bride’s side are expected to give lavish gifts to the groom’s side in bundles. The reaction to the quality of the gifts is vital, and a disgruntled auntie or two could see relations between the two sides of the family crumble. Sometimes, the agreement for marriage comes when the parents are promised certain things, such as cars, by the father of the bride as a dowry.
I have seen people that speak in favour of arranged marriage use the low divorce rate when compared to love marriages as an indicator to their success. While an interesting angle, it is also a misleading statement to make.
India is a wonderful, beautiful and diverse country with so much to love that you can spend your life learning yet still know little of its immense history and future potential. Nobody would argue though, that women in India are even close to the level of empowerment as their western counterparts. This is clearly what reduces the divorce rate. With the women in a society less liberated, and families more conservative, the prospect of divorce could lead to a woman being disowned or shunned. In general, arranged marriages are more common for traditionally conservative families than love marriages, although this is not always the case. It is only common sense that the more traditional and conservative of society, those that practice arranged marriage, would have lower divorce rates than the liberal people that marry out of passion rather than through their family.
This leads on to a major problem with arranged marriage; the fact that you are agreeing to spend the rest of your life with someone that you do not know particularly well yet. If divorce is frowned upon, and the couple do not get along, or if the man beats his wife and is cruel, what is there to do? It is a huge pitfall of arranged marriage that makes an initial decision all the more crucial in the long run.
India is changing at a furious pace. There is a new metropolitan culture in many places. Western television programmes and western technology are common, as are increasingly liberal views on how to lead lives. Is arranged marriage going to fall by the wayside and die out along with the fading caste system? The attitude of the current young culture in India is certainly going to play an important role in deciding the outcome.
I recently read a couple of excellent novels by Chetan Bhagat, an Indian English language novelist, entitled '2 States' and ‘One Night @ the Call Center’. ‘2 States’ tells the story of a Punjabi (North Indian) man and Tamilian Brahmin (South Indian) woman. They meet in college, fall in love, graduate and get good jobs. However, their families flatly refuse to entertain the idea of them marrying each other due to prejudice, and the male protagonist's father seeing him as his “lottery ticket” to make a lot of money in a potential marriage. ‘One Night @ the Call Center’ has a more complex plotline, but in it the main protagonist, Shyam, loves his ex-girlfriend, Priyanka, who has just become engaged. What is interesting in these books, are Bhagat’s characters’ attitudes towards arranged marriage. Although both deal with the main characters wanting to marry in the form of a love marriage, the possibility of arranged marriage is not looked down upon or resented.
Bhagat is known as “the voice of India’s youth”. It is therefore important to note how arranged marriage is treated in his books, as it acts as a mirror to wider Indian society. The message coming from Bhagat seems to be: love marriage is the dream, but arranged marriage is okay.
This is all well and good, but my real life experience of arranged marriage has really been the eye-opener. I’ve spent the best part of three months in Tamil Nadu, south India, and I’ve witnessed an arranged marriage pan out first-hand. A 27-year-old man that I work with got engaged to a nurse from his home town one week before I arrived. He had met with five other women, with his family, before her and refused to pursue the prospect of marriage because he did not like any of them. Once he agreed that he was happy to marry her (and she him), the families negotiated with each other, and having agreed the terms of the marriage, began to plan the big day. The wedding day took place less than two months after the engagement was announced.
Since the wedding one month ago, the man I work with is completely happy. On the day of the wedding, himself and his wife were barely able to hide their excitement and joy. His wife works in a different town, but is moving up to Madurai city to live with him next month. When he was asked when they planned on starting a family, he replied “next month,” with a grin.
I find his arranged marriage experience heart-warming, as it shows the positives of the arranged marriage in Indian society today. The man I know may not have found someone to marry had it not been for his family to help him, as courting in India is much more difficult than the west, and he is extremely grateful that they helped find a wife for him. He is looking forward to a lifetime of happiness with her. He is an incredibly nice guy too, so I expect her to be nothing but delighted as well.
Of course, this is a case where two people who were fond of each other have been lucky. There are those that are unmarried, are looking for a wife, but have kept their options open. Another colleague of mine, 28-years-old and unmarried, is under pressure from his parents to find a wife, have kids and settle down. The problem is that he hasn’t found someone to marry for a love marriage, and any girl that his parents have shown him has not been satisfactory. Indeed, I was in his parent’s house with him one day when they showed him pictures of a potential wife that he handed back, disgusted, because she was “far too ugly”. There is a balance with arranged marriages between the family and the man and woman involved. The families want what is best for their kids, with one eye on their future welfare and wealth. The man and woman want someone that (let’s be honest) they are attracted to, that they get on well with and can provide what the parents want on top of that.
This is where things can sometimes go awry. If pressure sometimes means that people give up love in the name of family, resentment is inevitably going to be prevalent in the marriage. Yet still, if the current generation continues to look at arranged marriages with an open-mind, and the generation before can allow them some leeway, arranged marriages can still play a relevant role in Indian society for many more generations to come.
Let’s hope that they can find love in their marriages too
At the mention of it, people of western persuasion envisage women dragged down the aisle to marry shady opportunists, or weak-hearted “mammy’s boys” being forced to spend the rest of their days with someone that they don't even like. Up until recently, my own interpretation of arranged marriage wouldn’t have diverged too far from the normal western view. I would have categorized it in the distant past; a relic of stuffy class-based society that died out with the Victorian era. I would not have looked too far from home to draw examples of what it is truly like in 2009.
However, since I have come to India, and experienced how the people around me treat arranged marriage, my attitude has changed immeasurably. The actuality is far removed from what we in the west perceive it to be.
But, make no mistake about it; arranged marriages are far from perfect. Class comes into play and acts as a primary condition from the outset for many families, with parents from the same caste seeking each other out to see if their children would be interested in marrying. Wealth is vital. A man with a degree and a good job has a much better chance at getting a beautiful wife from a respectable family than someone with less material wealth. This is what is most discerning. For some, arranged marriages can seemingly be no more than an auction or business transaction above all else. Farcically, a difference in annual income of a few thousand rupees per year (roughly 65 rupees is equivalent to 1 euro) can be the decider when a much sought after daughter comes to choose a man.
The surrounding extended families of those involved can also be quite a factor. Many ascertain what their brothers, sisters and other family members will make of a potential husband or wife, and act accordingly. It is almost comical to some in the west, but an elder brother or sister's opinion can really affect who marries who in India. The interference and influence of the family does not end there. During the wedding celebrations, the family of the bride’s side are expected to give lavish gifts to the groom’s side in bundles. The reaction to the quality of the gifts is vital, and a disgruntled auntie or two could see relations between the two sides of the family crumble. Sometimes, the agreement for marriage comes when the parents are promised certain things, such as cars, by the father of the bride as a dowry.
I have seen people that speak in favour of arranged marriage use the low divorce rate when compared to love marriages as an indicator to their success. While an interesting angle, it is also a misleading statement to make.
India is a wonderful, beautiful and diverse country with so much to love that you can spend your life learning yet still know little of its immense history and future potential. Nobody would argue though, that women in India are even close to the level of empowerment as their western counterparts. This is clearly what reduces the divorce rate. With the women in a society less liberated, and families more conservative, the prospect of divorce could lead to a woman being disowned or shunned. In general, arranged marriages are more common for traditionally conservative families than love marriages, although this is not always the case. It is only common sense that the more traditional and conservative of society, those that practice arranged marriage, would have lower divorce rates than the liberal people that marry out of passion rather than through their family.
This leads on to a major problem with arranged marriage; the fact that you are agreeing to spend the rest of your life with someone that you do not know particularly well yet. If divorce is frowned upon, and the couple do not get along, or if the man beats his wife and is cruel, what is there to do? It is a huge pitfall of arranged marriage that makes an initial decision all the more crucial in the long run.
India is changing at a furious pace. There is a new metropolitan culture in many places. Western television programmes and western technology are common, as are increasingly liberal views on how to lead lives. Is arranged marriage going to fall by the wayside and die out along with the fading caste system? The attitude of the current young culture in India is certainly going to play an important role in deciding the outcome.
I recently read a couple of excellent novels by Chetan Bhagat, an Indian English language novelist, entitled '2 States' and ‘One Night @ the Call Center’. ‘2 States’ tells the story of a Punjabi (North Indian) man and Tamilian Brahmin (South Indian) woman. They meet in college, fall in love, graduate and get good jobs. However, their families flatly refuse to entertain the idea of them marrying each other due to prejudice, and the male protagonist's father seeing him as his “lottery ticket” to make a lot of money in a potential marriage. ‘One Night @ the Call Center’ has a more complex plotline, but in it the main protagonist, Shyam, loves his ex-girlfriend, Priyanka, who has just become engaged. What is interesting in these books, are Bhagat’s characters’ attitudes towards arranged marriage. Although both deal with the main characters wanting to marry in the form of a love marriage, the possibility of arranged marriage is not looked down upon or resented.
Bhagat is known as “the voice of India’s youth”. It is therefore important to note how arranged marriage is treated in his books, as it acts as a mirror to wider Indian society. The message coming from Bhagat seems to be: love marriage is the dream, but arranged marriage is okay.
This is all well and good, but my real life experience of arranged marriage has really been the eye-opener. I’ve spent the best part of three months in Tamil Nadu, south India, and I’ve witnessed an arranged marriage pan out first-hand. A 27-year-old man that I work with got engaged to a nurse from his home town one week before I arrived. He had met with five other women, with his family, before her and refused to pursue the prospect of marriage because he did not like any of them. Once he agreed that he was happy to marry her (and she him), the families negotiated with each other, and having agreed the terms of the marriage, began to plan the big day. The wedding day took place less than two months after the engagement was announced.
Since the wedding one month ago, the man I work with is completely happy. On the day of the wedding, himself and his wife were barely able to hide their excitement and joy. His wife works in a different town, but is moving up to Madurai city to live with him next month. When he was asked when they planned on starting a family, he replied “next month,” with a grin.
I find his arranged marriage experience heart-warming, as it shows the positives of the arranged marriage in Indian society today. The man I know may not have found someone to marry had it not been for his family to help him, as courting in India is much more difficult than the west, and he is extremely grateful that they helped find a wife for him. He is looking forward to a lifetime of happiness with her. He is an incredibly nice guy too, so I expect her to be nothing but delighted as well.
Of course, this is a case where two people who were fond of each other have been lucky. There are those that are unmarried, are looking for a wife, but have kept their options open. Another colleague of mine, 28-years-old and unmarried, is under pressure from his parents to find a wife, have kids and settle down. The problem is that he hasn’t found someone to marry for a love marriage, and any girl that his parents have shown him has not been satisfactory. Indeed, I was in his parent’s house with him one day when they showed him pictures of a potential wife that he handed back, disgusted, because she was “far too ugly”. There is a balance with arranged marriages between the family and the man and woman involved. The families want what is best for their kids, with one eye on their future welfare and wealth. The man and woman want someone that (let’s be honest) they are attracted to, that they get on well with and can provide what the parents want on top of that.
This is where things can sometimes go awry. If pressure sometimes means that people give up love in the name of family, resentment is inevitably going to be prevalent in the marriage. Yet still, if the current generation continues to look at arranged marriages with an open-mind, and the generation before can allow them some leeway, arranged marriages can still play a relevant role in Indian society for many more generations to come.
Let’s hope that they can find love in their marriages too
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