Morning everyone,
Of the 35 Olympic medals Ireland has won down the years, 18 have come from boxing and three from lightweight rowing. So, the news that neither will appear in the schedule for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles is, to put it mildly, less than welcome.
Johnny Watterson takes us through the development, and the reasons behind it, while looking at the danger of boxing also being excluded from Paris 2024 due to the ongoing dispute between its governing body and the International Olympic Committee.
Fifteen-a-side rugby hasn’t featured at the Olympics since 1924, so this Irish team won’t be challenging for a spot on the podium in Paris next time around. They do, though, have the small matter of a Six Nations title (and possible Grand Slam) to aim for, and Gordon D’Arcy is feeling confident they can secure that title at Murrayfield next Sunday.
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Johnny expects it to be a lively affair too, based on the “spiky relationship” – on and off the pitch – between the Celtic neighbours in recent times. He recalls some of the spikier moments, including ‘busgate’ in 2017 when they were 15 minutes late arriving at Murrayfield due to their police escort mysteriously taking a longer route. “How the policemen got lost will forever be a bit of a mystery for us,” as Joe Schmidt said later, with a grin.
In GAA, Gordon Manning talks to Dublin footballer Dean Rock about a range of issues, including the ever-increasing scourge of diving in the game, as well as how he’s coping with fatherhood. Rock also discusses Dublin’s league form and Championship prospects.
And Seán Moran previews Thursday’s edition of TG4′s brilliant Laochra Gael series which features Donegal’s first All-Ireland winning captain, Anthony Molloy. It’s been a tough battle for Molloy since that famous win over Dublin, the 60-year-old having struggled with a number of issues, to the point where he began to view that triumph as a curse. “This was a cup that I had dreamed about from a young age and now I’m sick of looking at it,” he says.
Telly choice: There’s yet more Champions League fare on offer tonight, with Spurs hosting AC Milan, having lost the first leg 1-0 (BT Sport 1, kick-off 8.0). The pick of the games, though, looks to be Bayern Munich v Paris Saint-Germain (Virgin Media Two, BT Sport 2, kick-off 8.0). Bayern won the first leg 1-0 in Paris, and PSG will be without the injured Neymar, but with an attack still featuring Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé, you’d hardly call them depleted.
Keep an eye on: Gary Lineker’s day. Since suggesting in a tweet on Tuesday that the British government’s asylum policy was “not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s”, there’ve been no shortage of calls for him to be sacked by the BBC. The corporation have said they will speak to him and remind him of his “responsibilities”, but you suspect that won’t be enough for his critics. One of them is Conservative Party deputy chairman Lee Anderson. “Mr Lineker should stick to reading out the football scores and flogging crisps,” he bellowed.
