Some of you might have read the speech (below) on a thread last week. There was an article about it The Irish Mail on Sunday yesterday. I don’t buy that rag and I can’t find the article online but I know someone who has a copy of it so I’ll get to read it in the next few days.
Liam Griffin’s speech to the people of Wexford town the night after the All Ireland Hurling Final in 1996
"I’ve often said that wexford is the flower of them all but when you came tonight, and you look down through the streets of gorey at 30,000 people, and you come on through the small places like clough, camolin, ferns and into enniscorthy, and you look back at enniscorthy at that magnificent town with the bridge in the background, the cathedral on the hill and the chapel and the spires, you think to yourself what a beautiful place and what a beautiful part of the world.
And then to come into ferrycarrig and a whole snake of cars for ten miles, the two castles shining in the air, the moon on the water, and then you can say about the blood in your veins and the county that you come from that this is a special place.
And the colours that you hold over your head are purple and gold. That flag over your head is a symbol of everything that we stand for. That purple and gold isn’t an accident. It’s a fact and it’s tangible and the men who wore it on their backs yesterday and marched behind the band with pride and stood with respect before their president carried your colours- the colours of your county.
That colour is your colour and it represents everything you are and all that went before you, and the people who died in the streets of this very town. This is your colour and dont forget it. If you have pride in your own county, pride in the place that you come from, you become a very special breed of person…We are Wexford and don’t ever forget that."
I must have read that a dozen times since you posted it last week Bandage. What an orator the man is. That speech is up there with his stopping the team bus on the Wexford-Wicklow border on the way to the Leinster Final in 1996.
Why would I dislike an inspirational man, even if I was from Leitrim?
Griffin had a good team that year so why is his achievement incredible - Wexford are in the wilderness at the moment but what does that have to do with the team Griffin had
I have said that you have a right to hold him in legendary status seeing he delivered Wexford their first All-Ireland in God knows how long but I also have a right to express my dislikeness for the man
Griffin had a good team that year so why is his achievement incredible - Wexford are in the wilderness at the moment but what does that have to do with the team Griffin had
The fact that we hadn’t won one in 28 years until Griffin came along, the fact that we haven’t won one in 11 years, that’s what makes him special.
Why would I dislike an inspirational man, even if I was from Leitrim?
Because you don’t have a similar character to look up to in Leitrim.
Inspirational characters aren’t all about big speeches and flowery language - its about doing the stuff on the pitch.
Griffin could talk, he also delivered and God knows how many All-Ireland’s he’d have won if he hadn’t quit to look after his ill wife.
You were one of the ones who probably thought that Gerard Houillier was a good manager because he talked the talk
Are you for real in linking Liam Griffin to Gerarrd Houllier? Houllier never talked the talk, a muppet who was more interested in getting to know the players families and being their friend than getting a performance out of them.
Legends indeed, Seamus Quinn would have a bag of all stars if he was a kerryman.
Why do you dislike him so? He has strong opinions granted, but at least he has opinions as opposed to the banal that we are used to. A success in sport and business, and for one glorious summer I think he actually walked on water. That team were down and out before he arrived, and in his first year they fell further but he learned, stuck to his guns, worked harder and got the rewards.
Don’t you dare Tinnion say to me that there are no inspirational characters in Leitrim just because they are not in spotlight with their flowery language - thats why I got angry and brought Houillier into it
I don’t deny your right to give Griffin legendary status but I just don’t like the guy. End of.
3 in a row I reckon, 96, 97 and 98. He would’ve been that missing link. If he’s stayed it’d have been Griffin v Loughane in 97. Truly the riverdance of sport. If only…
I am wary of all these Vinegar Hill references and not walking back across the border without the Liam McCarthy. I remember seeing him on a Sports Review of the Year once and he started lecturing everyone on the true meaning of the GAA. I know what its about - I don’t need you lecturing me. Fits into the persona of someone who would give the above speech
And I don’t have a huge hatred for him really - a lot of it has to do with winding Tinnion and Bandage up
3 in a row I reckon, 96, 97 and 98. He would’ve been that missing link. If he’s stayed it’d have been Griffin v Loughane in 97. Truly the riverdance of sport. If only…
98 - that was our destiny. We’ll just have to wait until 2048 for that one now though.
