30 SPORT CLUB SPOTLIGHT:
NUI Galway Athletics Club By Darren Casserly
The NUI Galway Athletic Club is one of NUI Galway’s most successful clubs, with former Olympians having represented the club and college for over 20 years. The club also has well over a hundred members, with athletes from all over the world. A lot of people would assume that the Athletics Club is only for top-class athletes, but that is very much not the case. While previously the club was aimed towards top-class athletes, this is changing, with the club trying to encourage more people to join, even if they have never trained in athletics before. One of the problems that students face is that they stop participating in sport when they get to university. This a problem that Athletics captain Bridget McDyer is trying to combat. She says that beginners were being put off by the high standard, so they have introduced more groups to accommodate beginners, so that they’ll be ready to join the main group and won’t be put off by the standard. With beginner sessions in Dangan on Thursdays for free, there are not to try it out for people who want to join a club or just do something different. The Athletics Club isn’t just about running, even though there are a lot of options in that area, but also throwing and jumping. With disciplines such as javelin and shotput, there are a huge number of areas that people can get involved in. Getting fit is not the only benefit to joining the Athletics Club, with opportunities to travel to places you never have before, to take part in warm weather training, for example. On top of this, like all clubs and societies, you make friends you would never have the chance of making anywhere else, with a bond that can only come from sport. For people with a more competitive side, there are opportunities to compete in the Athletic Club’s own competitions. With trials to decide who is able to compete, it could be an opportunity for people with more of an athletic background to get back into the sport. On the competitive side of things, the club is looking to have its most successful year, with athletes medalling in events such as road relays, which has never previously happened before. They’re also aiming to be in the top two top performing universities in indoor and outdoor events, which is, again, a first for the University. Club captain Bridget McDyer says that while the high performance aspect of the club is doing well, it is a real goal of the club to get as many people involved with the club and to try and make it as widely available as possible to all NUI Galway students. So, why not give it a go, you might just enjoy it?
SIN Vol. 21 Issue 09
Is the French rugby team a sleeping giant? By Jonny Browne The first round of this year’s Six Nations brought up a good few talking points, like how Ireland didn’t really impress as much as what was anticipated before the tournament. Also, how competitive will this Italian team be after being spanked by Wales 42-0? None, however, are as interesting as the magnificent French performance against England to wrap up the first weekend. A French team that has been stereotyped as a poor defensive team came out with true brutality against an English team who have become known for their hard-hitting frantic pace and a team who Eddie Jones said would show the French “absolute brutality”. Jones’ pre-match antics made for an easy pep talk for the French and was probably a reason why they played as well as they did. This French team is littered with talent across the squad, from enigmatic, try-scoring winger Teddy Thomas, the hard-working number 8 Gregory Alldritt, the skilful, calm 10 in Romain Ntamack to possibly the best player in the Six Nations and the most important player in the French squad Antoine Dupont. This squad is built on youth now, after a very successful Under 20’s side that has won the last two World Cups in a row, with Ntamack and Dupont starring in these triumphs. With new head coach Fabien Galthié and assistant coach Shaun Edwards, France perfectly blended the French “Jouer” and Edwards’ tough rugby leaguestyle defence based on quick line speed and big hits in that magnificent first half at the Stade de France.
Edwards was debatably the star of last year’s Six Nations, as the Welsh squad he coached won the Grand Slam off of their defence, not conceding more than 20 points in any match and keeping defending champions Ireland to 7 points in the decisive fixture. Him joining the French backroom staff is a big coup for the side that has underachieved in the 2010’s, despite reaching a World Cup final in 2011. Poor Six Nations performances and conflicts in the squad were a regular occurrence, along with the constant indecision at 10, from Freddie Michalak to Lionel Beauxis to François Trinh-Duc, but with Romain Ntamack starring now at only 20 years old, it looks like they finally have their out-half for the next decade at least. So, the first match. The England game plan is based on getting an early try and managing the game from there, but most importantly, they don’t have the play catch up early. They draw up strike plays from lineouts which they hope to play in the first few minutes, but when they tried to use these strike plays, the French were just getting off the line and smashing the English backs from whence they came. As they attacked, ‘Les Bleus’ were crashing the English line hard and fast, with Dupont dictating the pace and he ended up creating the break for Teddy Thomas to make ground. Then, after some more phases, Ntamack drew in Kyle Sinckler and popped the ball inside for Vincent Rattez to score his first try for his country. The English continued to knock on the door and had several opportunities in their opponent’s 22 but France found a way to cause an error and cleared their lines, including a beautiful 85 metre spiral kick from Montpellier fullback Anthony Bouthier. One of
these errors was a knock-on from debutant George Furbank, which led to a turnover and a pinpoint box kick from Dupont, which was gathered by Rattez and he executed a 2 on 1 to put new captain Charles Ollivon in for another try. After a penalty from Ntamack, the French went in 17-0 up at the break. The French continued to play well in the second half but the English began to take advantage of the poor set-pieces that the French had. This was especially evident in the lineout, which could be a worry for potential Grand Slam hopes for the French, as the Irish and Welsh both have strong set-pieces. Another issue for the French is Teddy Thomas. On his day, he is the best winger on the planet, scoring tries for fun and causing opposing wingers to worry, but sometimes, like in the second half against England, Teddy gets lazy and cocky and decides not to defend. When you’re already a poor defender, like him, you should at least make a full effort. For example, for Johnny May’s first try, May kicks the ball through and Thomas casually jogs towards the ball as May is running at full pace, and even though Thomas had a head start, May beats him to the ball and scores. Then, for May’s second try, he makes a break and easily weaves past Thomas, as Thomas acts very casual again and makes a lazy attempt of a tackle and England got the game back to a 10 point difference, which gave the French a nervy final 20 minutes. But they still won and, after defeating Italy comprehensively in the second game, they should celebrate and ride on this momentum for as long as they can if they hope to win their first Grand Slam since 2010.
How will the new Gaelic Football rules work? By Oisín Bradley The inter-county Gaelic football calendar has kicked off once again for 2020, and yet again, all managers, players and referees have been forced to contend with a host of new rules and regulations. Here, we cast our *expert* opinion on the new rules and how they will potentially affect the game from the grassroots up.
The Advanced Mark: Possibly the most contentious of the new rules. Many supporters in the opening exchanges of the Allianz Leagues were quick to criticise the stopstart nature which inevitably slows the game and changes the dynamic of the game in a negative manner, pointing to the almost farcical nature of the Michael Murphy mark in the Donegal-Mayo Ballybofey clash, and rightly so. The mark was implemented to increase high-fielding in the fullforward line, and a punt pass into the chest being rewarded doesn’t sit right. The rule has potential if it is tweaked to a notion previously suggested by Colm Parkinson, where the ball is kicked from outside the 45-metre line to inside the 21-metre line. The distance may be slightly too long between the kicker and receiver, however, this is the only
way to make the rule feasible, bar some new line on the pitch.
The Sin-Bin: Another rule that has caused controversy in recent times. There have been minor teething issues with the sin-bin rule, such as the Cillian McDaid issue in Galway vs Kerry in Round 2. However, this rule is one which has the potential to function at intercounty level once it gets fleshed out. Ultimately, the issue will rear its head lower down the food chain in club football. Even at the highest level of club football, referees are on their own, sometimes without a second neutral official to keep track. As someone who is involved in Ladies Football at club level, I have seen the issues when there is more than one player on the side-line. The referee, on occasion not of a high standard, becomes muddled, creating frustration from both players, supporters and managers. Due to issues in club games alone, I expect this rule to be binned soon enough.
Advanced kick out rules. This is a rule I can get behind. There seems to be no flaw or complaint thus far. Moving the kick outs out to the 21-metre line leads to the goalkeeper kicking the ball further down the pitch, thus leading
to more attacks and thus a slightly more offensive spectacle. It greatly affects the dynamic of underage football as well, making for a game more similar to senior football at Under-14 and Under-16 level.
Tier-Two Championship There is a lot riding on the marketing and media coverage of a tier-two championship, in order to make the thought of a ‘B’ Championship appealing and encouraging to the supporters of the Division 3 and 4 clubs and casual watchers from other counties. A serious social media campaign from the top brass of the GAA will be crucial, as well as media coverage. Many television outlets (such as Virgin Media and TG4) should see this as a prime opportunity to make a case to the GAA to dislodge RTÉ from their monopoly on all coverage of the Senior Championship. Should this be marketed properly, then supporters will buy in, and with that comes a boost for players. In essence, while these rules have some potential, they have been rushed in without much thought at Congress, bringing pressure to referees who are known to be unsure of the rules and the ins and outs of their functionality, even at the highest level. Expect much confusion come the heat of championship.
