Scourge of dog theft a threat to all (including Lady Gaga) 

Our man Frank on Lady Gaga’s pet woes; how poor refereeing decisions can affect our enjoyment of sport…and on fielding complaints just before big match kick-off!

 

Back in the day when I was working in the insurance industry, a person’s occupation was taken into consideration when insurance premiums were being calculated, and certain jobs automatically led to higher costs. At the time, barmen, security guards, prison officers and builders were considered to be high-risk occupations when it came to motor insurance premiums, and as a result they were forced to pay more than people who worked in other jobs. When it came to life assurance, other factors came into play –including medical facts, hereditary conditions, weight and smoking habits, and loads of other stuff – but never in my experience was there any red flags against dog walkers.

  However, in every part of the civilised world today, there is arguably no job more dangerous than dog walking – a fact that is borne out by the recent robbery of Lady Gaga’s three dogs by two armed men. The said robbery resulted in dog walker Ryan Fischer being shot as he struggled with the men in an effort to save the dogs before the robbers made away with two of the three bulldogs. One of the dogs escaped during the robbery attempt, and in fact all three of them have been found in the meantime and been reunited with the superstar singer’s family.

  I suppose the fact that the dogs belonged to such a high profile person – who is wealthy enough to say she’d pay $500,000 for their safe return – would make you think that dognapping would be aimed solely at the rich and famous, but we know of course that nothing could be further from the truth. From big cities like Dublin and London, to little rural areas all over Ireland and England, dogs of all shapes, sizes and ages are being stolen. Though the criminals do not use violence most of the time, on many other occasions they will do whatever is deemed necessary.

  Only a couple of weeks ago, a woman in Sheffield was pulled clean out through her car window by the hair of her head by a thug who was attempting to steal her little pet dog. I know I have mentioned it before, but dognapping is still rife everywhere, so be on your guard, get your doggies microchipped, keep them in your sight, and don’t make it easy for the lowlife thieves to do their work. It is still not known if Lady Gaga handed over the half million to the woman who handed the dogs back, but whether she did or not, the hunt is still on for the armed robbers who shot the walker. Let’s hope the US police get them.

  Closer to home, the value of our pets has skyrocketed, and dogs are now worth huge amounts of money. So, because there is very little legislation to deal with the crime, unscrupulous thieves see it as an almost risk-free way of getting money. Our Government is supposed to be introducing stronger deterrents to such crimes in the near future, so let’s hope they get it sorted as soon as possible.

 

Ref justice: Technology not fully crying foul on officials’ errors

Human error and controversy have gone hand in hand with sport for as long as I can remember. There are those who would argue that such incidents only add to the excitement of the occasion and are really part and parcel of sporting events.

  Back in 1986 in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, Tunisian referee Ali Bennaceur failed to spot that Argentine legend Diego Maradona had used his hand to steer the ball into the English net, thereby giving rise to the famous ‘Hand of God’ goal which knocked England out of the World Cup – a goal, that to this day, has never been forgotten (or forgiven) by English supporters.

  In 2008, the Galway hurling referee Jimmy Cooney blew his whistle two minutes early at the end of the All-Ireland semi-final, with Clare leading Offaly by three points. The action led to Offaly supporters converging on the pitch, leading to the abandonment of the U-21 B final between Kerry and Kildare, which led to a replay the following Sunday. In the end, Offaly won the replay and went on to win the All-Ireland, and Jimmy Cooney retired from refereeing – but he will always be remembered for blowing the whistle two minutes early.

  Then two years later, we had Joe Sheridan’s last-minute goal in the Leinster football final, when he threw the ball into the net – an action referee Martin Sludden and his umpires failed to pick up on. The goal denied Louth their first Leinster title in 53 years, which led to court cases for alleged assault on the official, and also effectively ended Sludden’s career as an inter-county referee.

   However, in the meantime there have been huge advances in technology, and nowadays it is meant to be impossible for such errors to be made. The GAA have introduced Hawkeye in some of the major stadia, the football people have VAR, rugby has their TMOs, and there are so many cameras around pitches that every player’s slightest action is picked up on. You would think that everything should be almost foolproof – but that’s where you would be very wrong.

  This weekend alone, in the big international rugby matches, Wales got two tries that should not have been allowed, and Ireland had at least one perfect try disallowed by the TMO. In the world of football, VAR continues to be the dominant feature of every weekend.

  How so many mistakes can continue to be made beats me. Every decision is pored over by officials – peering at every possible angle for what seems like an interminable age – and at the end of it all they often come up with totally ridiculous decisions. Manchester United would argue that they should have got a penalty against Chelsea in Sunday’s game. Being a United supporter, I will not comment on that one. But overall, the weekend’s sport left a very unsatisfactory taste, and as in 1986, I would think that England supporters will never forget (or forgive) the decisions in Cardiff in 2021.

 

A complaint before kick-off…

It’s Saturday afternoon, the Ireland-Italy rugby match is just about to kick off, and I am settling into my comfortable armchair to enjoy the game when my phone rings. It is a lady whom I don’t know who wants me to highlight her anger, disillusionment and disgust at the way we as a nation are being treated by our Government, and the total disregard they are showing to citizens with the imposition of (in her words) a police state.

  Now I have to confess that at that particular time (2.15 pm on Saturday), I was more interested in the rugby than in the lady’s rant. Realising that giving her an opportunity to air her views isn’t really in my power, I told her to give the office a ring and see if the boss thinks she should get some ‘airtime’, and I settled down to watching Ireland’s expected victory.

  I suppose that would have been that until later that evening when I saw the horrific scenes in Dublin as anti-lockdown protesters rioted on Grafton Street and St. Stephen’s Green, assaulting Gardaí who were only doing their duty. Whether or not we agree with the actions of the protesters (which I don’t), it did show that there is an awful lot of resentment and anger out there at our performance in dealing with Covid-19.

  The lady who rang me will definitely feel that she has been proven right in her reaction to the whole thing, and the truth is that this time we do need to get it right, however long it takes. When we finally get out of this lockdown, we must never face another one.

 

And finally…

Finally for this week, and to end on a positive note…on Sunday afternoon I found myself sitting out in the beautiful February sunshine after a lovely walk in the countryside. For the first time in a long while, I felt that the good times are coming again, and we may have better things to look forward to.

  Roll out the vaccines, get everyone protected and we will (at long last) have a life!