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Home arrow News arrow Local News arrow Cllr blasted over Minors 'loser' comment
Cllr blasted over Minors 'loser' comment E-mail
Written by Marie Madden   
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
City councillor Billy Cameron is under fire today, after he branded the Galway minor hurling team ‘losers’. His comments came during a discussion on whether a reception should be held for the team, who were narrowly beaten by Kilkenny in the All-Ireland Hurling Final in Croke Park last Sunday.

While the vast majority of councillors strongly supported the motion, Cllr Cameron suggested that the team did not deserve a reception, asking the question “when did we start celebrating losers?”. He said a similar reception would not have taken place in Kilkenny, if the situation had been reversed.

His opinion caused a storm in the chamber as fellow councillors jumped to the defense of the team.

Cllr Michael Crowe yesterday called on the councillor to “put more thought into who he insults” in the future.

“This was an outrageous and derogatory thing to say. These are young lads and they should have won on Sunday, if they weren’t robbed at the last minute.

“They trained hard and travelled to Croke Park to represent out county and if the Mayor feels that they deserve a reception for that, then they should get one.

“I think it is worth noting that Cllr Cameron does not have any love for the GAA and I think this may have been a reason for his comments. I have never heard any team described in this way and I would ask him to consider the implications and put some thought into what he says and who he insults in future.”

However, Cllr Cameron has stood by his comments, insisting that he wasn’t insulting the players but encouraging a “winning attitude”.

He told the Galway Independent that he saw the honouring of losing teams as defeatist and called on his the council to take a more realistic approach to civic receptions.

He also dismissed notions that he wasn’t a “GAA man”, saying he played Gaelic football as a teenager and regularly supported local teams.

“There are a women’s football team out in Croatia at a European championship for the first time at the moment and I would have no problem celebrating them if they got on well.

“We get to All-Ireland finals on a regular basis, so if we are honouring every team that gets there, what kind of message are we ending out?

“We need to draft a policy to decide who and when we hold civic receptions for, and if it is the case that a certain Mayor feels that another team deserves recognition, then he should hold a mayoral reception out his own allowance instead of the taxpayers money.

“We have to ask ourselves, would this be done in Kilkenny or Kerry, where they have a winning attitude? We always look on the bright side in Galway, but sometimes I think we can take it a little too far. As for Cllr Crowe, all I can say is ‘I’m not sick of the GAA’!”

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