The Shamday Independent.

In today's Sunday Independent (Dec 10th 2006) on Page ten of the Life magazine, one of their writers a Pat Fitzpatrick does a Top Five piece as a guide to rugby

Their No.1, is "Limerick : The myth states that only the common man plays rugby on Shannon-side, so Limerick's middle class need to take working class lessons if they want to go to Thomond Park. In any other place, this would involve lessons in how to behave on the buses, what to say at greyhound racing and the best way to fold your tabloid under your arm. However, in Limerick, these are the signs of an aristocrat. There, you need to study top tips for driving a getaway motorbike, the beginners guide to walking free from court and the dos and don't's of showing your guns to Pat Kenny."

Now, I'm as much in favour of free speech as the next person but this sounds quite out there even to me. Firstly, and as if to prove the person writing the piece made minimal effort to ground their humour in reality, the real myth about Limerick and rugby is that everyone plays it and everyone is a fan indeed that even disaffected teenge goths are aficionados of the game unrivalled throughout the world. There is no suggestion that only the common man plays it. Seriously, what game is Pat Fitzpatrick suggesting middle class kids in Limerick play, ice hockey?

And Pat then moves on to make comments about working class people being the sort to use buses, frequent greyhound racing and read tabloids. Hmmm, we're really going to sort out traffic problems by implying that the better class of person doesn't need to take the public transport unless its on rails. While I'm not much of a fan of greyhound racing I recognise that the folks driving into most greyhound racing stadiums around ireland could buy and sell the rest of us. And isn't the home of greyhound racing in D4? Ok, it might be the Ringsend part of D4 but it's less than 10 minutes from Lansdowne rd. Lastly, isn't the Irish Independent a tabloid these days?

Then to finish up by claiming that all of Limerick's working class are criminals displays a lack of concern for personal safety that would make one certain that Pat Fitzpatrick has to be a pseudonym. Fact is that few criminals would choice to use a moterbike in this weather, far easier to steal a car and burn it out. walking free from the courts is usually assisted by the judicacry and showing your gun to Pat Kenny is such a primary school thing to do. Perhaps, that is where Pat heard about it during sos.