Monaghan's Dick Clerkin has addressed the plethora of controversies which have dogged Gaelic football over the last few weeks, by discussing Joe Brolly, Katie Hopkins and Perez Hilton in his column with the Irish Examiner.
First off, I had to Google who Perez Hilton is, so I'm not sure if that says more about me or Dick. But anyhow, Clerkin argues that we all love a bit of controversy really; hence 'controversialists' are becoming more and more popular.
Clerkin says:
Whether it is Katie Hopkins, Perez Hilton or our own Joe Brolly, the same principles apply. Being controversial is unquestionably the quickest route to notoriety these days.
Before adding:
I’ve no doubt that when Katie Hopkins claimed she wouldn’t employ fat people because it gave an impression of being lazy, underneath it all she was genuinely just trying to address the current obesity crisis facing society. Similarly when Joe Brolly ridicules Pádraig Hughes, Seán Cavanagh or whoever else is deemed fair game of a Sunday afternoon, he is simply trying to maintain the dignity of our games.
He rightly points out the different issues at play in a society which loves a bit of ri ra agus ruaille buaille but at the same time quickly get frustrated by nonsense.
With regard to the diving issue for instance, Clerkin points out that in one breath we give a cheeky nod to the cute hoor who buys a free while in another we cry outrage when a player blatantly dives. Speaking about a free he 'won' in the closing stage of this year's Ulster final, Clerkin jokes:
Did I dive? Well I put it to you like this, I was definitely fouled, so I just made sure that David Coldrick was left in no doubt.
You can read his full column here if you want some thoughts to chew on throughout the day.
