Sir, – Fintan O’Toole lacks balance and perspective (“It took a working-class lad from Wigan to make me like rugby”, Opinion & Analysis, March 21st).
Some Catholic religious people preached and practised intolerance towards Protestants, gay people and other minority groups in his youth. Many more religious people, notwithstanding steadfast belief, advocated tolerance and acceptance.
Attitudes to racism and apartheid changed considerably within Irish rugby. Protests against the Springboks playing at Lansdowne Road in April 1965 and January 1970 were widespread. Many club members and supporters stayed away and in 1970 joined protest outside the ground.
Many players declined the summer 1981 tour to South Africa. Some who travelled later expressed regret for their decision. Ireland did not play South Africa again until the post-apartheid era in 1998. – Yours, etc,
New Irish citizens: ‘I hear the racist and xenophobic slurs on the streets. Everything is blamed on immigrants’
Jack Reynor: ‘We were in two minds between eloping or going the whole hog but we got married in Wicklow with about 220 people’
‘I could have gone to California. At this rate, I probably would have raised about half a billion dollars’
Ballsbridge mews formerly home to Irish musician for €1.95m
DENIS CAHALANE,
Blackrock,
Co Louth.