Own goal for Jimmy Barry Murphy?

Dear Editor, I admire the great sporting achievements of Jimmy Barry Murphy, as a hurler and footballer and tireless advocate of Gaelic Game. His place in the GAA’s eternal Hall of Fame is assured. On the pitch he was a talent to be reckoned with, as our mighty Kilkenny team discovered once or twice to its cost.

But I can’t speak as approvingly of Jimmy Barry’s recent public defence of the embattled greyhound industry.

He repeated the industry’s official line that most greyhound owners are fine people, with just a few bad apples giving the game a negative image.

But it isn’t a handful of shady individuals causing problems: It’s over-breeding. This leads to abandonment and killing of unwanted dogs. The missing 6,000 greyhounds referred to in the RTE Primetime Investigates report two years ago didn’t just disappear into the Irish version of the Bermuda Triangle.

The industry also encompasses hare coursing. The hare does occasionally find itself being propelled skyward like a sliotar on a hurling field, but any comparison with real sport ends there. It’s an unfortunate animal, not a ball; that gets whacked.

Jimmy Barry also highlighted how sponsors of greyhound racing have withdrawn support owing to “intimidation.” This is an unfair depiction of the campaigns focusing on animal cruelty and malpractice within the industry.

I am familiar with the various animal protection groups and I’ve heard or seen nothing that would lend credence to this allegation that industry reps have been touting in recent days. People are entitled to contact commercial sponsors of any activity they disapprove of. Whether they do so by email or phone it’s perfectly legitimate, provided no threatening, violent, or otherwise inappropriate language is used.

P ressu re groups exist specifically to exert pressure. Nobody of course likes to be on the receiving end of pressure; whether a company backing an unpopular cause or enterprise, or a sportsperson fending off a big challenge on the pitch.

Jimmy Barry’s decision to draw attention to the impact of campaigning on sponsorship of greyhound racing was tactically not a very wise one, as it surely must encourage anyone who wondered if his or her pressure tactics were working.

For possibly the first time in his life, the great sportsman may have scored an own goal.

Sincerely, John Fitzgerald, Lower Coyne Street, Callan, Co Kilkenny.