Sacking the two rugby players was a wrong call
THE decision by Ulster Rugby and the IRFU to sack Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding was understandable, but was it the correct one? I have my doubts.
While their behaviour and text messages were abhorrent, I still find it difficult to reconcile that ridding them of their jobs was fair treatment. They were found not guilty of rape, after all.
If the private messages of ordinary employees were exposed in a similar way, many people would be sacked, I suspect.
Clearly, given the thousands that signed a petition disagreeing with the decision to sack the pair, many Ulster fans feel the punishment meted out was too severe.
However, commercial pressures from sponsors clearly hold more sway in modern sport than the opinion of a section of fans, and in the end, it was the money men who made the decision.
Personally, I think a six-month suspension would have been sufficient for both players.
They will always have to live with their actions and that is a very heavy burden.
DAVID MALONE, by email.
Syria conspiracy
SIX weeks after a small amount of a noxious substance was released in Salisbury, we continue to see parts of that city cordoned off and investigators moving about dressed in spacesuit-like protective garb. The UK, France and USA pulverised three sites in Syria that were supposed to be development and storage depots for chemical weapons, yet the following day we could watch TV footage of Syrian military people probing through the carnage with not as much as a dust mask for protection.
I can’t be the only lay person who would assume that the bombing of a huge stockpile of chemical substances would poison the atmosphere for miles around, thereby endangering the lives of the citizens of Damascus and Homs? Personally, having observed the casual attire of the Syrian military, I suspect they were nothing more than olive factories or something similar.
On the other hand, the allies could have staged the whole event to test fire their latest weaponry under battlefield conditions.
DECLAN MOORE, by email.
Protect women’s sport
IF sporting bodies continue to allow the farce of letting men compete as women, then women’s competitive sport is dead.
A girl does her best, trains hard, is drug-free, makes years of sacrifice to excel in her sport – only to be beaten by a man.
It leaves female athletes with two choices – give up, or start taking male hormones and stop being a woman.
Women are being completely disadvantaged here, but where’s the feminist outrage?
The farce will continue for as long as female athletes are prepared to put up with it.
It’s time for the silliness to stop. Girls, make a stand and say no to gender cheating in sport – or for you there will be no more sport. PETER KEATING, Charleville, Co. Cork.
Keyless codology
I’M not surprised thieves are targeting keyless cars and hacking into them (Mail, Monday). Criminals will always look for a weakness, and keyless cars seem like a very obvious one to me.
Is it so much easier to have a keyless car? Was it so inconvenient to have a regular key to your car? Technology is making us incredibly lazy and this is the kind of supposed ‘advancement’ we are told improves our lives, but really it just does nothing of the sort.
I have a car, which has a regular key, like most cars have, and this is a system that has worked pretty well since cars were invented.
Now we are told, keyless is the future, and doors that open as we stroll up to them is more beneficial than using an old-fashioned key. Well, sorry, but if that means thieves have an easier route into my car, then I’ll pass. S. CAREY, Westport, Co. Mayo.
Escaping your phone
BEL Mooney hit the nail on the head about getting sucked into spending our lives on our smartphones and sending texts rather than talking to people, or even, God forbid, paying a visit to them (Mail, Monday).
We were never more connected than we are in today’s digital world, but we were also never more apart, either. You can instantly message friends near and far but you end up with a relationship that is based solely on this method of communication.
Young people these days have trouble with verbal communication as they are so used to texting and instant messaging. Saying hello in person rather than staring at your phone is a simple gesture that means more than a long stream of text.
DAVID McINERNEY, by email.
No joy of text
IN addition to the usual alerts about flashing images, nudity, violence and strong language, a new warning is needed at the start of TV shows: ‘This programme contains images of text messages essential to the understanding of the plot.’
That will alert me to be ready at a moment’s notice to spring up, dash across the room, peer at the screen and try to decipher some tiny letters on a mobile phone. KEITH ELLEL,
Lancashire.