“While many may be surprised at the outcome of this vote, it is an undeniable reflection of the will of the students of UCD. When we held our original referendum, which was inquorate, the result was exactly the same.

“We must now look to the future and prepare for the year ahead, with a focus on increasing access to education by improving the grants system, and capping the student contribution at its current level.

“This is a time of reflection for the Students’ Union, as we prepare to re-focus our national campaigning strategy.”

President-Elect Rachael Breslin expressed her thanks for student involvement in the decision.

“This is a significant change for UCDSU and the incoming sabbatical team will now develop a comprehensive policy detailing what students want from a contributory funding model and a thorough strategy for the achievement of this. The aim as always remains to improve both equity of access and quality of education.

“We are thankful to everyone (over 10% of our members) for actively engaging with this issue and taking the time to vote.”

The UCDSU delegation will now be mandated to vote in favour of the student contribution charge in the national funding preferendum at the USI Special Congress on Wednesday.

Results from the other universities have shown a similar outcome, with Trinity College Dublin announcing a narrow win for the Student contribution over a Student Loan Scheme.

The total results were as follows:

The total valid poll for UCD was 2226, reaching the quorum.

Count                       Option

2226                                 Total Valid Poll

1114                                  Quota

___________________________________________
Round 1

383  - Graduate tax

755 - One hundred percent Exchequer funded

49 - One hundred percent upfront fees

535 - Student contribution / Registration fee (Currently €2,250)

410 - Student loan scheme

94 - None of the above

“One hundred percent upfront fees” was eliminated.

____________________________________________

Round 2

389 - Graduate tax

760 - One hundred percent Exchequer funded

555 - Student contribution / Registration fee (Currently €2,250)

427 - Student loan scheme

95 - None of the above

“None of the above” was eliminated.

__________________________________________
Round 3

400 - Graduate tax

784 - One hundred percent Exchequer funded

589 - Student contribution / Registration fee (Currently €2,250)

449 - Student loan scheme

“Graduate tax” was eliminated.

_____________________________________________
Round 4

862 - One hundred percent Exchequer funded

677 - Student contribution / Registration fee (Currently €2,250)

667 - Student loan scheme

“Student loan scheme” was eliminated.

_____________________________________________
Round 5

1024 - One hundred percent Exchequer funded

1097 - Student contribution / Registration fee (Currently €2,250)

“One hundred percent Exchequer funded” was eliminated.

______________________________________________
Round 6

1941 - Student contribution / Registration fee (Currently €2,250)

“Student contribution / Registration fee (Currently €2,250)” has exceeded the quota and is declared the winner.

While hacking is not as glamorous or all-powerful as portrayed in fiction, it is still a problem faced by official institutions. Last month Donncha O’Cearbhaill, a first-year Trinity student, was arrested for allegedly hacking into and recording a conference call between the FBI and SOCA, the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency. The call was to discuss international plans for dealing with the hacking groups Anonymous and Lulzsec, of which O’Cearrbhaill is a member, and he duly put the contents of the exchange on Youtube. He has been charged in the US with one count of computer hacking conspiracy and one of ‘intentionally disclosing an unlawfully intercepted wire communication’, facing up to fifteen years in prison if found guilty. For context, the average time served for murder in Ireland is twelve years.

This was not O’Cearbhaill’s first offence. Last year he hacked into the Department of Foreign Affairs simply by guessing their passwords. Three of the passwords used by these government officials was ‘password’. The alleged hacking above stretched Mr. O’Cearbhaill’s supernatural hacking skills even further. The Gardaí have an email system designed specially by the foreign consultancy firm Accenture at a cost to taxpayers of sixty-one million euro, which is apparently so faulty that it is standard practice to forward emails to private unsecured Gmail accounts, which is what one hapless member of the Gardaí’s Computer Crime Investigation Unit did with the details of the conference call. O’Cearbhaill already had access to this Garda’s account because he had, once again, guessed the password.

A University Observer recreation of what hacking may or may not look like

The question is not whether it was illegal or even wrong; of course it was. It’s the digital equivalent of breaking into the Taoiseach’s office just to tip-ex “HA HA HA” on his desk. But if the person breaking in was a security expert and Enda Kenny didn’t know how a door worked, there might be a better use for the burglar than letting him rot.

This astonishing level of technical misunderstanding is endemic in world institutions. The generation in charge has very little understanding of computers, despite the huge number of social and criminal interactions that take place through them. This was not a dedicated terrorist organisation using the information to blackmail or destroy, it was a bored teenager doing it for a laugh. The CCIU not only couldn’t stop him, they couldn’t choose a more inventive password than ‘password’. The huge gaping flaws in the system have been exposed with no malice, and instead of making an effort to fix the system, they are throwing the people who revealed it in jail.

If this is the kind of lazy incompetence at the highest levels of our state, it’s hardly surprising that that same generation of people managed to destroy the country. We have seen the institutions of this country collapse around our ears in the last five years. They have mismanaged the government, the banks, the hospitals, and the police, and we are the ones who have to pay for their stupidity. We are the ones who face unemployment, fees, pay cuts, and tax increases to cover for the mistakes they have made. And when someone comes forward and reveals that the emperor has no clothes, they are punished. We are in a society that always shoots the messenger.

This isn’t corruption, it’s incompetence. Corruption isn’t good, but it implies that the corrupt are at least able to achieve something if given proper motivation. Incompetence is worse, because it can’t be either fixed or deterred. If we continue this tactic of shutting up whoever dares to show a flaw in the system, whether it is in law enforcement, government, or finance, we are doomed to repeat these mistakes over and over again. In the lead-up to the economic crisis many people cried out about what was going on, and how it couldn’t last, and they were silenced and scoffed at. Do we need a technological crisis before hackers are taken seriously?

Here’s a suggestion for any institution finding themselves hacked: Hire the hackers. Hire the people who find the loopholes; they clearly understand the system better than you do. Hacking is not as thrilling or mighty as it is often portrayed to be. It’s not a femme fatale in a catsuit fighting to recover her identity, it’s not a Hollywood nerd who’s only pretension to intellectualism or unattractiveness is a pair of glasses, nervously typing in an abandoned warehouse, ready to pull a gun out when the bad guys arrive, and it’s not a terrorist group trying to take down the indulgent bourgeoisie. Hacking is some teenager dicking around on a laptop while drinking Revamp, and if he can outwit a system purpose-built by highly paid officials, they are the ones who are at fault.

To many, the impending referendum on our ratification of the Fiscal Compact (with the catchy formal title being the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union) is the strongest case for wanting to dwell in some fantasy Carlsberg world, with an omnipresent Option C. To take the most cynical tone, as many will between now and May 31st, a yes vote is one to shackle us further to the domineering sway of the European Union, while a no is a death knell for our role in the global markets. Can’t we just have a ‘sometimes’ option on the ballot?

That said, the truth is that we should not approach this with the trepidation we did previous referenda. This treaty is a concise, accessible plan for economic stability in the Eurozone, which may give it the potential to engage voters in a way that the tome of jargon that was Lisbon failed to. In fact, the worst thing the yes side could do is patronise the electorate by shouting the word “Jobs!” at them again à la the first Lisbon referendum. Clearly explained as what it is and taken on that one criterion, as a plan for getting the continent out of the dire straits it is currently floating in, there is a lot to be said for the treaty.

The media spectacle that complemented our planet’s financial meltdown meant that we all know what went wrong and how it was allowed to happen. The treaty aims to respond to this by setting limits on public debt levels, as well as deficit levels, with mandated balanced budget legislation. The proposed debt ceiling of sixty per cent is one that Ireland held mostly throughout its boom years, only to be hoisted well over it by the need to socialise bad bank debt to keep the markets (and the EU) happy. For these extreme, unanticipated cases, the treaty establishes the European Stability Mechanism, a formalised bailout fund of €500 billion. A common criticism has been that this entrenches austerity over stimulus as the go-to policy in a downturn, but room is left for stimulus as long as it is tenable to do so within the existing target. High stimulus spending often only increases debt levels, making it difficult to access money markets due to high yields on what are now risky bonds, making the situation far worse than it started out. The adoption of the treaty itself is likely to send a strong signal to money markets about our commitment to stability, a step along the process of restoring our international standing.

The accumulation of public debt is a domestic problem, one that arises from a political willingness to keep the masses appeased with current high spending, putting the short term ahead of the long term. In as much as the policies here are relatively more technocratic and less pressured by the public, they’re more likely to be a fair judge of how our debt accumulation should go, particularly in comparison to the parochial vote-buyers that too often fall into power.

Yet that hits on the problem. The treaty, no matter how you put it, is a surrender of sovereignty. While that word alone will get the republican left foaming at the mouth, the sovereignty we lose is real policy power, not just symbolic identity. The common currency and earlier agreements removed our capacity for independent monetary policy; now we are constraining our fiscal policy, but it is a trade-off. To reap the gains that we get from our shared currency, capital markets, and powerful union, we have to accept that the risks of our policies no longer affect just us. While this time around, the centre was bailing out the periphery, we do not want to end up in a future situation where we are bailing out a country for their flippant behaviour.

At that point, the only question is whether or not you believe the European project is still something we want to be part of. Each referendum and each crisis we face is a functional spillover to a more centralised union. Many have made the interesting argument that we should use this referendum as a bargaining chip to get better terms on our bailout, especially given how stringently we have stuck to its terms so far. While there is a lot to be said for pursuing this for our long-term stability, we have much less bargaining power than we did with Lisbon and prior treaties. Although the former status quo was unanimous passage of treaties for implementation, that is no longer the case. The Fiscal Compact, approved by all EU countries bar the UK and Czech Republic, is to become a reality; our decision is whether or not we want in, and whether or not we are happy to be in the slower part of a two-speed Europe. In that sense, the yes option seems pertinent. What it will come down to is how we weigh our own sovereignty and independence against fiscal stability, and while a no vote is not the end of the world, it should warrant us to rethink our place in the future of the monetary union.

Despite the outcries against the rampant corruption seen in governments and corporations around the globe, it’s often those with the courage to speak out who suffer the most. Those who dare to speak out against abuses can lose their jobs, find themselves ostracised from their profession, or even put their lives at risk. There is very little in place to protect them, and their bravery often goes ignored by the public.

The Mahon Report is perhaps the most damning indictment of a culture that existed in Ireland over the last decade – as long as a profit was being made, it didn’t matter how. This was true of government, banking and business. “It continued because nobody was prepared to do enough to stop it. This is perhaps inevitable when corruption ceases to become an isolated event and becomes so entrenched that it is transformed into an acknowledged way of doing business,” Judge Mahon concluded in the report. The long, costly, but ultimately necessary process of tribunals began when James Gogarty, a former Garda and senior construction worker, revealed that his firm had bribed senior government minister, Ray Burke. Without whistle-blowers like Gogarty and dozens of others to give testimony about this state of affairs, we may never have discovered the degree to which corruption had become “endemic and systemic” in our political system.

The economic downturn, the failure of ‘light touch’ regulation, and revelations of corporate corruption have acted as a catalyst in the search for transparency. In America this has been characterised by the creation of Wikileaks and the release of the Pentagon Papers, which revealed the extent to which the American government had lied to its people and congress about the Vietnam War. In Britain, we have seen revelations of phone hacking by the News of the World, and the parliamentary expenses scandal.

However, the unfortunate truth is that there are thousands of abuses perpetrated at all levels of organisations, businesses, and governments that go unreported. This can be for a number of reasons; fear of reprisal, misplaced loyalty, or the belief that blowing the whistle is equivalent to being a snitch.

Most importantly, there exists a negative attitude to whistle-blowing. Sometimes exposing problems within a system can be rewarding, as was the case with Jesselyn Radack, who exposed the ethical violations in the interrogation of suspected terrorist, John Walker Lindh, by the FBI. Since then, Radack has been promoted to the position of national security and human rights director for the Government Accountability Project in Washington.

However not everyone is so lucky. Thomas Drake, a former senior official at the National Security Agency, spoke out against illegal surveillance of millions of Americans that had been implemented in the Bush era. Although the felony suit against him was later dropped, he lost his job, his retirement savings, and is seen by many as betraying his country. Many whistle-blowers report that there exists a widespread ‘shoot the messenger’ mentality by corporations and government departments.

One of the recommendations made in the Mahon report was creating more robust whistle-blower legislation. The upcoming ‘Protected Disclosures in the Public Interest Bill’, known commonly as the Whistle-Blowers Bill, has been cited by Minister Brendan Howlin as being the best in the world. It is based on the existing models in South Africa, New Zealand and Britain. The comprehensive bill includes protections from any penalisation by their employer, including harassment, dismissal, discrimination or any threat of reprisal. The proposed Electoral Amendment Bill, which proposes donation limits and registering lobbyists, also displays a move in a promising direction.

While all legal protections are welcomed, this may not go far enough to tackle the perception of whistle-blowers. The decision to report on an employer is not one made in a vacuum, but it is heavily based on external factors, such as fear of ill-treatment, belief that the wrong-doing is ‘run of the mill’, or ‘needed to get something done’, or, indeed, beneficial to the employee.

More needs to be done to change our attitudes towards corruption. Not only does the Mahon Report condemn politicians, developers, and the business elite, but it also denounces the wilful ignorance on the part of ordinary citizens and points out the “general apathy on the part of the public towards . . . corruption.”

We can no longer call ourselves a democracy if we allow the rule of law to be undermined consistently by those who believe themselves to be above the law. We can no longer afford a culture of ‘I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine’ and business as usual. We need to accept our personal responsibility to stand up and expose abuse when we see it. As a country we need to take a long look at ourselves and make the decision not to let the wave of anger pass without some kind of change.

“It is morally wrong, unjust and unfair to tax a persons home”. These are not the utterings of a member of opposition, but the words of Taoiseach Enda Kenny in 1994. While undoubtedly the economic situation is drastically different, never let it be said that the present government won’t let irony stand in the way of a good argument. This is coupled with the actions and words of Minister Phil Hogan, who refused to take a solidarity pay cut for the good of the country while calling those who paid the Household Charge patriots. However, the ironies of the situation aside, it has emerged that just under fifty per cent of those eligible to pay the charge did so, which raises the question: along with an economic deficit, does Ireland have a patriotic deficit?

Blandly defined, patriotism is the unwavering love and support for one’s country. Similar to concepts such as justice and liberty, patriotism is an idea shrouded in romantic imagery. But is it more patriotic to obey your government or defy it?

Blind patriotism is dangerous to democracy as it allows corrupt and unjust leaders to rule without question. Indeed, blind patriotism corrupts; absolute blind patriotism corrupts absolutely. It should be a citizen’s duty to question and defy a government when it is acting against the wishes of its people. Therefore, it is not unpatriotic to stand up for something you believe in that goes against the policies your government espouses. If patriotism is acting to protect the ideals of your country, then it is not unpatriotic to defy your government when you believe it is betraying these ideals. As George McGovern wrote, “the highest patriotism is not blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one’s country deep enough to call her to a higher standard.” Patriotism is about protecting the moral basis of a country, such as freedom, truth, and respect for human beings and their dignity. All of these are the cornerstones of democracy and are above the jurisdiction of government.

When addressing patriotism in the narrower scope of the recent household charge, there are two sides to the debate. The charge was designed as a short-term solution to a long-term problem. It is not a litmus test of a citizen’s sense of patriotism. Those who paid the charge are as well intentioned as those who didn’t. However, it also has to be acknowledged that many of those who paid the charge did so out of fear of what would happen if they did not, but the majority of the country’s citizens made their opposition to the charge clear and did not pay. Instead, stories have come out that families have been using the €100 to spend on necessities or expenditure such as their children’s exam fees. A campaign led by Today FM encouraged listeners to donate their money to the financially vulnerable Crumlin Hospital instead of paying the charge.

The actions on both sides of the debate by citizens cannot be criticised as they have acted in the way that they saw fit, and in their views, in the best interests of the country. The real culprits in this debacle have been the government. Cut off from the realities of the day-to-day struggles its citizens face, they continue to impose more and more burdens on the public, while refusing to share the cost. From Ministers Hogan to Alan “get a life” Shatter, it is obvious that they are removing themselves from the problems the public face under the guise of saving Ireland’s future. It is no wonder that the public are now finally taking it upon themselves to defy, in a loud and reasoned way, that they are no longer willing to accept the burden alone.

While they may be portrayed as breaking the law, those who refused to pay the charge were protesting against the inequalities of our political system, a system that is not working. In this broken political hierarchy the government have shown very little patriotism and solidarity. The Irish people showed true patriotism in defying a political system where, in the words of Bob Dylan, “they say patriotism is the last refuge, to which a scoundrel clings, steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you a king.”

Derry City 0 UCD AFC 0

The last two weeks have proven to be a success for Martin Russell’s UCD outfit, as they managed a well-deserved victory over bottom side Monaghan United, as well as a somewhat fortunate draw against Derry City in the Brandywell. The two results have left the Students in seventh position in the Premier Division table, and with an impressive home record, UCD can look forward to the arrival of Bohemians on Friday night.

The Students picked up a vital three points last Friday against a struggling Monaghan side in the Bowl with a 3-2 victory. UCD halted the possibility of four consecutive losses with this result after defeats to Sligo Rovers, Bray Wanderers and Dundalk F.C. The Students took the lead in the fifty-third minute after Daniel Ledwith crashed in a goal past the Mon’s goalkeeper Chris Bennion. Monaghan then showed great determination to level on the sixty-ninth minute, when Conor Murphy headed in a Jordan Keegan cross.

UCD did not hesitate to push on for the win, and punished the Mon’s defense with two late goals from Cillian Morrison and Paul O’ Connor. Jordan Keegan grabbed a late consolation to make it 3-2 to the Students at the final whistle. Monaghan United manager Roddy Collins will begin to worry after he cited the game against UCD as vital to their season. Martin Russell, meanwhile, can’t be any more content at his homeground, as the Students have won seven out of their last eight games in the Belfield Bowl.

Both UCD and Derry City failed to return to their recent winning ways on Friday night, only managing a 0-0 draw in a close affair under the lights in the Brandywell Stadium. Praise may be given to the away side, as UCD showed great organisation to avoid defeat to a rampant Derry City, who currently sit at fourth in the Premier Division. The Candy Stripes dominated throughout the match, but were left frustrated at full-time after squandering numerous chances.

The game began slowly, with neither side able to create much in the opening exchanges. Just minutes after the half-hour mark, Dermot McCaffrey threatened with a corner from the right, which was met by Kevin Deery, only for the attempt to be saved by McGinley. David O’Connor showed great awareness to keep out Simon Madden in the fifty-third minute after an aggressive burst into the UCD area. On the hour mark, Patrick McEleney showed quick feet and an array of skills to open up a shot for himself, but could only see his left-footed strike parried away by McGinley.

The first genuine opportunity of the match came in the seventy-seventh minute, when Ledwith’s free kick found David O’Connor in a dangerous position. O’Connor’s header clipped the outside of the post, highlighting the poor finishing that was evident throughout the game. The Candy Stripes may have had claims for a late penalty but Referee Derek Tomney waved away protests after David O’Connor appeared to foul Farren inside the six-yard box.

The Students nearly caused a potential smash and grab late on after Kevin Deery’s header sailed just inches wide. Derry hit back on the counter attack immediately and nearly broke the deadlock themselves, after Robert Benson teed up Mark Langty, but could only see his close range attempt swatted away by Candystripes keeper Gerard Doherty.

In the final moments of play, Farren was only inches away from getting a late goal for Derry City. Stephen McLaughlin sent in a testing ball and the resulting header from Farren went straight at McGinley, to the disappointment of the Derry fans. UCD will go into their next fixture beaming with confidence, as they face Bohemians on April 13th in the UCD Bowl.

Derry City: Doherty, Madden, McCallion, McBride, McCaffrey (McDaid 84), McEleney, Higgins (McGroary 87), Deery, McLaughlin; Patterson (Morrison 74), Farren.

UCD: McGinley, Langtry, Nangle, D O’Connor, Leahy (Burke 33),

O’Connor, Rusk (Lyons 67), Benson, Douglas, Ledwith, Morrison.

Referee: Derek Tomney (Dublin).

by Aaron Kennedy

Rugby

UCD RFC almost went undefeated in Division 2A of the All-Ireland League last year, losing on the final day to archrivals Trinity. This season, although they gained revenge over their city centre opponents in the Colours match in November, the league has not been so kind to them. Having earned promotion to Division 1B, it would have been unrealistic to expect them to continue winning every game. Now facing much stronger opposition in the form of Belfast Harlequins, Dungannon, and Buccaneers to name just a few, as well as being the only Leinster side in the league, making away games all the more daunting, avoiding relegation was always going to be the objective for 2011/12.

Currently sitting in eighth place in the table, one position above the relegation zone, with two games left to play, Collidge’s season is far from over. Important games against Belfast Harlequins and Dungannon lie ahead.

“We’ve found Division 1B a big step up,” says Bobby Byrne, Director of Rugby at UCD. “We’ve done reasonably well, and we’re hanging in with two matches to go, but we had a really good win against Ballinahinch last week, which gives us a chance of staying up. Considering we have about ten guys in our first team squad that are Under 21, if we did manage to stay in Division 1B this year it’d be very positive for next year. Survival depends on how Galwegians and Bruff do. We suspect that Bruff will beat UCC, so it’s likely that we’ll need to win at least one game, if not both.” UCD have the toughest of the three run-ins and are probably favourites to go down, but two wins will almost guarantee their safety, depending on bonus points.

Judging UCD RFC by league standing alone is unfair, as the youth coming through the system, and individual player performances from young Leinster and Ireland prospects, have to be taken into account. The U21 team won the JP Flanagan League, and are in the final of the Fraser McMullen cup, as well the semi-final of the McCorry Cup. There was also strong representation on the Ireland U20 team this season. “We’ve had five guys in the Irish Under 20 squad with Conor Gilsenan, Jordan Coughlan and Barry Daly along with Luke [McGrath] and Sam [Coughlan Murray],” says Byrne. “Those guys are young players who have a bright future not just in UCD, but in Leinster rugby and maybe further up than that. There won’t be any issue with them staying on next year.”

Grade: B. It was always going to be a season of survival in Division 1B, and even if they go down, they will do so fighting. There is a huge amount of talent coming through the system.

GAA

The health of GAA in UCD is invariably going to be measured by the success of the Sigerson Cup campaign for Gaelic football and the Fitzgibbon Cup campaign for hurling. While the O’Byrne Cup and Dublin Championship are realistic goals for UCD, the prestige of the intervarsity tournaments means they are held in the highest esteem for both codes of GAA.

It’s difficult to gauge the standard of a football team from the O’Byrne Cup, since university teams are preparing for the Sigerson Cup while county teams are only beginning to train, but UCD’s four point victory over Laois made a good run in the collegiate tournament look all the more likely. It was to be a false dawn however, as UCD went out to Maynooth in the quarter-finals. A strong 0-13 to 0-4 home victory against Athlone IT set up an away clash with NUI Maynooth. Colm Murphy was sent off for the Belfield side in the thirty-seventh minute for lashing out at Tommy Moolick, and despite a late fight back, Maynooth went on to win 2-8 to 1-8, to continue UCD’s sixteen-year trophy drought in the tournament.

UCD hurlers also had a disappointing campaign in their intervarsity tournament, the Fitzgibbon Cup. A 0-15 to 1-17 home loss to Cork IT in the first game of the round robin qualifier was followed by a 0-13 to 1-13 away win against Waterford IT, to set up a quarter-final clash with University College Cork. UCD had relied heavily on the scoring of Tipperary’s Noel McGrath in both qualifying games, and when UCC were able to keep him to just 0-5 in the quarter-final clash, they were able to claim a seven point win of 1-23 to UCD’s 2-13. UCC went on to lift the cup.

Grade: D. Despite early victories, neither team progressing past the quarter-final is a poor return.

Hockey

It was an eventful season for hockey in UCD. Belfield played host to the Men’s Olympic Qualifying tournament, witnessing Ireland’s bid for a place in this summer’s Olympic Games curtail at the hands of a last-minute Korean goal. Despite the disappointment, the event as a whole was a success and a good advertisement for the sport in UCD and Ireland, attracting large crowds throughout the tournament, including the final, which saw a full house and was televised at a prime time weekend spot.

UCD’s Men’s First team had a mixed season. While a ninth place finish in the league (second from bottom) is an obvious disappointment, making the final of the Neville Cup on St Stephen’s Day is a positive step, despite the 3-1 loss to Railway Union. Neither side had won the competition before, but goals from Fiachra Maher, Rob Abbott, and Karl Chapple were enough to see off the Belfield side. The Men’s league form has left much to be desired; with just three wins this season, they must now play a Division One/Two play-off in order to keep their top-flight status. As is to be expected from a university team, they are very young, which is reflected in the fact that there are nine UCD players competing in the Ireland U21s Interpros this season.

UCD Women’s First team had a very successful season, winning the Leinster Division One League last week, to add to the Jacqui Potter Cup won in March. The combination of Nicola Gray’s penalty corner slap-shot and former Belfielder Caitriona McGilp’s late goal for Hermes, secured UCD their first ever Leinster Division One title by the narrowest of margins. UCD and Railway ended the league tied on forty-six points, but UCD win the title by virtue of having more wins than their opponents.

Grade: B+. Two cups and two finals between the two teams, but the Men’s performance in the league drags the score down.

Basketball

Hopes were high for UCD Marian this season, having won the National Cup last year. They failed to live up to expectation however, with choppy form in the Superleague due to injuries stopping the team from building any momentum: “The loss from last year’s team of Barry Glover and Neil Banes was significant,” says UCD Marian Head Coach Fran Ryan. “The other negative was that Dan James missed approximately half the season. Individually a lot of players improved during the year; what people keep forgetting is just how young this team is because there are so many students in it.” Despite their inconsistencies, Marian caused a massive upset in the quarter-final of the league play-offs, beating Bord Gáis Neptune 80-83 in Cork. Though they could not replicate this performance against DCU Saints in the semi-final, the victory in Cork went a long way to restoring confidence for next season.

Their defence of the cup ended early, as they lost out to Limerick in the first round: “We had an away draw in the cup, which is always difficult; the one thing we wanted was a home draw. We ended up being drawn away to Limerick, who won the double in the end, cup and league, and they barely got past us,” says Ryan.

Grade: C. First round cup exit and inconsistent league form, but a big quarter-final win against Neptune gave the season some semblance. The fantastic performance of the Division 1 team also adds to their score.

by Daniel Keenan, Sports Editor

Photography: Caoimhe McDonnell

Results
Gold Fleet Winners and Champions 2012:
UCD 1: Simon Doran & Aoife Cooney, Barry McCartin & Eimear McIvor, Aidan McLaverty & Bella Morehead
Gold Fleet Bronze Medallists:
UCD 2: Michael Harrington & Ciara Browne, David Fitzgerald & Zoe Flood, Alyson Rumball & Caitriona Ni Mhurchu

Nowadays, the Badger must hide this interest away from the general public, for fear of being stoned. But the Badger will defend his watching of last week’s Wrestlemania, because he believes that there is nothing wrong with watching greased up, muscle-clad, tights-wearing men toss each around a ring; it’s like a masculine ballet, but with grease.

Wrestling may be scripted (and while the Badger is ruining childhoods, he might as well tell you that Santa doesn’t exist) but having watched sport over the past few months, the Badger is now of the belief that other sports should be scripted. Collapsed scrums, Man City falling off the top of the table, Barcelona on course for the Champions League; it all reeks of inevitability.

Sadly, the most intriguing thing about football at the moment is Mario Balotelli and the re-runs of Dream Team on Sky 2.The Badger knows that Lionel Messi is the best player in the world, and is completely bored by it. The Badger wishes that Messi would hit the referee on the head with a steel chair, take the La Liga trophy and run off to join Real Madrid. It’d be a lot more interesting than scoring another fifty goals.

Post-match interviews have become duller than the Badger’s bath water, although, in fairness, the Badger has some very interesting bath water. It’s the land of the neutral, where PR personnel have more control of the mic than those speaking. With the exception of some fantastic Ian Holloway quotes, nothing ever comes from these interviews. Is there really a problem in letting players cut a Pro-Wrestling style promo? To go on the air and talk about how large their genitalia is and how far they’ll stick their boot up someone’s ass in the next game? The Badger sees no problems with it.

Having an Irishman at the top end of the WWE is another plus for wrestling in the Badger’s eyes: current World Heavyweight Champion, Sheamus, is Irish, though the Badger never would have guessed it from his name. Rory McIlroy is sitting pretty at the top end of the Golf World Rankings, but let’s face it, golf sucks; Katie Taylor is one of the world’s best female boxers, but the Badger has seen Million Dollar Baby, so stays clear of women’s boxing. There are few other Irish people who can claim to be the one of the best, although Paul Green and Glenn Whelan are certainly pushing for a spot on next year’s Ballon d’Or shortlist.

And so, as the Badger prepares for a summer of fruitless transfer talk, Ireland losing on their tour of New Zealand in rugby, and putting up a fighting spirit in the Euros, which will ultimately culminate in Spain once again winning the prize, he must ask, who writes the awful script for sport, and why won’t they let the Badger write it instead?

Lionel Messi is in unstoppable form at the moment, quite literally. He is on course to eclipse seventy goals for the season as well as a rack of assists, with the potential of a second consecutive Champions League title to go with it. It is therefore not surprising that people and pundits are crying out and professing his brilliance, with the tag of “the greatest ever” following not far behind. It’s true that we have seldom, if ever, seen a player do what Messi does and with such consistency, but is that enough to call him the best to have ever played the beautiful game?

Of course, it’s tempting to make such a claim, as often the excitement his wonderful talent brings out in us can lead us to say so, but perhaps it is somewhat short-sighted. While the young Argentine has proven his worth on almost every stage, he has thus far failed to do it without his supporting cast of Barcelona stars. His Argentinian teammates did not manage to flourish alongside him at both World Cups and Copa Americas since he made his major tournament debut back in Germany six years ago. This may seem like an innocuous issue and possibly even a mere blemish on an otherwise flawless career, but it is unfortunate enough to excuse Messi from the ‘greatest ever’ title challenge, because in football, World Cup heroes, rather than those of the Champions’ League, are historically considered the best in the game.

The truth of the matter is that Argentina have faired no better with Messi than they did without him. In four major competitions the Argentinians have failed to impress, with their best performance coming in the 2007 Copa America, where they were runners-up to Brazil. In fact, last year they failed to progress past the quarter-final stage of the competition on home soil. Messi will have to wait until Brazil 2014 before he can prove himself on the biggest stage in world sport, and there will be no room for failure, given the strength of the Argentinian squad and the favourable environment of South America.

American team sports are, of course, different to football. There is less of an emphasis on international competition, if any. They measure sportsmen on their achievements at club level, a luxury Messi doesn’t have. In baseball, there was Babe Ruth, ‘The Great Bambino’. Ruth won seven World Series with the New York Yankees and is widely considered to be the finest baseball player to ever take to the plate. In basketball, we had Michael Jordan, while in ice hockey, it was all about Canada’s national icon Wayne Gretzky. It is with Jordan, however, that the most cogent comparisons to Messi can be made, some even coming from Barcelona’s manager Josep Guardiola.

Jordan was a phenomenon. As much as people like to compare him to the likes of Kobe Bryant or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, when it boils down to it neither comes close to the Chicago Bulls legend. Jordan dominated in every facet of the game and remains the most prolific scorer of all time. All in all however, it was Jordan’s clutch play and ability in the big games that divorces him from the rest. The number 23 won two back-to-back three-peats in his career – achieving one is something that has eluded most of the greats of the game – which were separated only by a brief stint in baseball. To put Jordan’s accomplishments into perspective, for Messi to emulate it he would have to win La Liga six times in seven years, and even this does not quite equate to the comparable challenge in the NBA.

Of course, to hold these shortcomings against Messi is in many ways an equally unfair measurement of his ability. The fact of the matter is that all signs point towards the Argentine ticking all of them off the list at some stage, but sport has taught us not to count our chickens before they hatch – such has been the case with Tiger Woods and his now wayward pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’ record.

Ultimately, Messi has demonstrated a talent worthy of the title ‘best footballer ever’, but in sport it is never so simple as to crown a player on talent alone. If Messi is to stake his rightful claim to that title he is going to have to take Argentina all the way. In the meantime, however, while we are awaiting his coronation we should just enjoy the show.

by Ryan Mackenzie