Friday's Rave

[Ruckedtobits]

For any over 50's golfers who dream about hitting those "all-time greatest" shots, check out Padraig Harrington's back nine in the 3rd round of the US Seniors Open last night. Absolutely mind blowing 5 wood from 270 yes to 4 feet followed by eagle putt and lots more like it.

Dream on!

[Ruckedtobits]

Harrington was magnificent and proved he is one of the great Irish competitive sportspersons. He won the US Senior Open tonight by one shot, beating the US Ryder Cup captain, Steve Stricker, who led the US team to heavily beat Harrington's European team last year.

Well done Padraig, at the top of the world game again.

[IanD]

I love the fact that BBC News has given the three and a half hour block of air time up till 10pm the title

"Johnson Leadership Crisis ...... Latest developments from Downing Street"

Great fun to watch all the same.

[Twist]

Hitting 1690 posts in July

Yeeooo! Feel the heat! FGAU! Traditional route! etc.

[Twist]

Hitting 1690 posts in July

Yeeooo! Feel the heat! FGAU! Traditional route! etc.

Aw I ruined it by posting that.

The pope tricked me into it.

[ronk]

https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/15 ... a8MOQ&s=19

[Xanthippe]

https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/15 ... a8MOQ&s=19

Someone needs to show that video to the 2019 losing England team who refused to put on their medals - and to every player (in whatever sport) who turns their nose up at a second place award.

[ronk]

https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/15 ... a8MOQ&s=19

Someone needs to show that video to the 2019 losing England team who refused to put on their medals - and to every player (in whatever sport) who turns their nose up at a second place award.

I was all set to be opposed to replacing a medal for that tosser. Teach him a lesson. Even after he said he regretted it.

But I'm glad they did it after I saw his reaction.

[Ruckedtobits]

Great to see the "new" Irish produce their best performances on the biggest stages. Well done Israel Olatunde and Rhasidat Adeleke who joined Mack Hansen in producing the goods when it matters. Fantastic performances and great for Irish sport.

[heno]

Great to see the "new" Irish produce their best performances on the biggest stages. Well done Israel Olatunde and Rhasidat Adeleke who joined Mack Hansen in producing the goods when it matters. Fantastic performances and great for Irish sport.

I appreciate the sentiment, but I wouldn't label someone who was born here and lived their life here as 'new' Irish, or any other qualifier. They are just Irish.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

[paddyor]

He used scare quotes for a reason.

[Logorrhea]

Great to see the "new" Irish produce their best performances on the biggest stages. Well done Israel Olatunde and Rhasidat Adeleke who joined Mack Hansen in producing the goods when it matters. Fantastic performances and great for Irish sport.

I appreciate the sentiment, but I wouldn't label someone who was born here and lived their life here as 'new' Irish, or any other qualifier. They are just Irish.

Some people use that term as a celebration of how the people referenced (and their extended families) add to and enhance Irish culture.

Having said that, it could be perceived as marking them as less Irish that the rest of us so I get your point completely.

[Ruckedtobits]

Women's FIFA World Cup Qualification 2023
Was it just journalistic laziness or was there some underlying reason that I could not find the precise outline of how Ireland's team would qualify for the World Cup, since their invaluable win against Finland last Thursday? Certainly the media were quick to confirm that the defeat of Austria by England yesterday was an important factor in our qualification process, but nowhere could I find an explanation as to why, or indeed, what were the other factors.

Reviewing the Tables of the nine qualification Groups, didn't really assist because six of the Groups have six teams whilst the remaining three (which include Ireland's Group A) have only five teams. So revert to basics and look up the UEFA qualification Rules.

https://documents.uefa.com/r/Regulation ... ffs-Online

The Rules are certainly comprehensive, dense and all encompassing. But they're also an education as to how complex it is to outline briefly how Ireland qualify, and in what position, for the Women's World Cup. So, firstly my apologies to football journalists for assuming that it was merely laziness which caused their avoidance of any clear description as to what precisely is Ireland's route through the qualifiers, from this point onwards.

In summary my analysis is that (to borrow an oft-used Leo Cullen expression) it's a week too soon to say precisely". The certainty is that Ireland must beat Slovenia next week in Slovenia to take one of the top three qualification slots. The three points from a win will mathematically ensure that we join Holland (already assured of top qualification) and probably Switzerland in the top three places.

The key element in this analysis is a factor that gets mentioned in only one line of the 40 page UEFA document. The results against the 6th Place finishers in each Group are disgarded.

Now I must admit that I have not trawled the results in each of the nine qualifying Groups to confirm the facts, but I have assumed that each second-placed finisher has already taken maximum points from their two games against the bottom team in the six Groups from D to I. This is the key decider, because Groups A, B & C only have five teams and thus no 6th Place finisher.

Ireland have done well to be placed second in Group A. A win against Slovenia will confirm this place and move Ireland up the FIFA rankings, which will influence their future selection in UEFA & FIFA Pools for competitions.

Based on my analysis and presuming no shock results, my predictions of the qualifying positions for these qualifiers with each team still to play their final game, but assumed to get a victory, is as follows:

1. Holland (confirmed);
2. Switzerland;
3. Ireland;
4. Belgium*;
5. Austria*;
6. Wales**;
7. Portugal**;
8. Scotland;
9. Bosnia Hertz.

Teams with * or ** could switch positions based on match goal difference

A fascinating diversion into another sport's administration complexities. Certainly not sure that URC backroom could handle this without hiccups.

[Schumi]

It's actually explained pretty well on Wikipedia, with the second place teams' standings as well.

It's still in the ha'penny place compared to Heineken Cup permutations with bonus points in play too!

[Oldschool]

The Queen or her Royal Highness has to be the biggest charismatic tourist attraction in the world right up there with or surpassing even the Tour de Force that is St. Patrick's Day.

Sadly Queen Elizabeth has died.

[IanD]

The Queen or her Royal Highness has to be the biggest charismatic tourist attraction in the world right up there with or surpassing even the Tour de Force that is St. Patrick's Day.

Sadly Queen Elizabeth has died.

Edited

[Oldschoolsocks]

The Queen or her Royal Highness has to be the biggest charismatic tourist attraction in the world right up there with or surpassing even the Tour de Force that is St. Patrick's Day.

Sadly Queen Elizabeth has died.

Why is your comment in the RAVE Thread?

Bit heartless.

Response edited in the interest of charity…

[FLIP]

Sadly Queen Elizabeth has died.

Why is your comment in the RAVE Thread?

Bit heartless.

Theres no real reason for this to be in the Rave thread, its just inappropriate…

To be fair, he is responding to a previous post he made defending her, as opposed to a fresh post making it a rave. Call it a mistake rather than maliciousness.

[Oldschoolsocks]

Why is your comment in the RAVE Thread?

Bit heartless.

Theres no real reason for this to be in the Rave thread, its just inappropriate…

To be fair, he is responding to a previous post he made defending her, as opposed to a fresh post making it a rave. Call it a mistake rather than maliciousness.

Fair enough, happy to edit my response…

[Oldschool]

It's amazing the amount of footage the Queen's death is getting worldwide.
Fitting accolades for someone who did her job so well for so long.