Tag Archives: rugby

Caron Lindsay

Do you agree with Kirsty and Tim about banning Delilah?

By Caron Lindsay | Mon 8th February 2016 - 6:00 pm

Kirsty Williams and Tim Farron have wandered into the controversy over the singing of the Tom Jones song Delilah by Welsh rugby fans.

Labour MP Chris Bryant thinks it shouldn’t be sung on account of its account of the murder of its eponymous heroine.

I had never really paid too much attention to the lyrics before but they are certainly pretty chilling. Having said that, if you banned every reference in literature or music to violence, and particularly violence against women, there wouldn’t be much left. You certainly wouldn’t be able to study Othello for your GCSEs or A Level, for example.

It does seem strange to have a song that’s basically about a man hunting down and murdering a woman as a rugby anthem, especially when it’s sung with such ceremony by choirs and Tom Jones himself. I’d love to know how that happened. I’m told that it’s been used since at least the early 1970s.

Kirsty and Tim took a more pragmatic approach to the issue than Chris Bryant. Kirsty said, according to Wales Online that a ban wasn’t realistic, but that more could and should be done to tackle the correlation between domestic violence and certain sports:

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 42 Comments
George Smid

How sad it is to see England out

By George Smid | Mon 12th October 2015 - 4:30 pm

Despite the brilliant performance against Uruguay, England is out of the World Rugby Cup.

I watched the matches, I urged them on, I wished for victory. It did not help. England is out with the rest of the home counties in:

Ireland Scotland Wales IN Rugby Cup England OUT 7Oct15

How sad it is to see England out. How frustrated I was … and I started thinking about England and her position in the rugby world and her position in the world at large.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 34 Comments
The Voice

Lib Dem MP Greg Mulholland becomes first MP to play rugby for GB

By The Voice | Sun 20th July 2014 - 3:47 pm

Greg GB 3Greg Mulholland, Lib Dem MP for Leeds North, made a little bit of history last week:

On Saturday 12th July I had the huge honour of becoming the first MP to pull on the famous Great Britain white shirt with the red and blue ‘V’, and play for his country at rugby league. I was selected as part of the 20 man GB side who defeated Australia in the over 35s international in Warrington.

How did he get on? Well, you can find out over at the party’s Ad Lib …

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
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