RSS
Sport


Home Page > Sport > Racially abused Cork hurler knows how gay star Donal Og Cusack feels

Blogs


comment on article Make a comment
print this article Print
email this articleE-mail

Racially abused Cork hurler knows how gay star Donal Og Cusack feels

Sean Og O hAilpin also suffered from discrimination

By
SEAN O' SHEA,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Thursday, October 29, 2009, 2:34 PM
Updated Thursday, October 29, 2009, 5:07 PM

 

Bookmark and Share

Sean Og O'hAilpin
Sean Og O'hAilpin

Cork hurling star Sean Og O' hAilpin has revealed that he and Donal Og Cusack have a close relationship as they have both received plenty of abuse during their careers because they are perceived as different.

O’hAilpin, whose mother is Fijian, has spoken of the racial abuse that he has received during his career, and can identify with some of the abuse Cusack has received from the terraces about his sexual orientation.

"The reason Donal Óg and I have a tight bond is because we’ve gone through the same thing on the field," O’ hAilpin told the Irish Examiner earlier this week.

"Because of my background and his situation we’ve gone through the same pain on the field.

"It’s happened in the past and it’ll happen again.

"Myself and Donal Óg are lucky in that we’re strong enough to deal with it, all you can hope is that decent people near the ones doing this chanting will tell them to stop."  

O’hAilpin went on to describe how the reaction of Cork hurling team was more a reflection of the type of person Cusack is.  

"I’m not surprised by the support he’s received from his team-mates," said the defender.

"If he was an unpleasant person it’d be one thing, but he’s a decent guy and, to be honest, the team couldn’t give a hoot if he was gay or lesbian or anything. He’s a decent individual and the bottom line is this: does he do the job for Cork in goal week in, week out? He does. The lads have been very supportive, but we knew for a long time anyway.

"He felt by coming out to his team-mates that it’d be a big thing to get off his chest and you have to go along with what he wanted. He shouldn’t be judged any differently now.’’

print this article Print
email this articleE-mail


Be the first to make a comment.

It may take several minutes for your comment to appear.


Click to learn more from DiscoverIreland.com.


Connect to IrishCentral with your Facebook account

or sign-in directly

Welcome to IrishCentral!
Please provide the following information in order to create your account

Username:
E-Mail Address:
Password:
Confirm Password:
I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy


Welcome to IrishCentral!
All we need is the following information and you will be part of the #1 Irish community in the US

E-Mail Address:
First select a unique username:
Username:
Now choose a password:
Password:
Confirm Password:
I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
Thank you!

Just one more step and you will be part of the largest Irish community in America! Tell us a little more about you to start enjoying all the features of IrishCentral.

Additional Information:

First Name:
Last Name:
Date of Birth:
Zip:
Gender: Male  Female 
Country:
Degree of Irishness:
Household Income:
Level of Education:

Subscribe to our newsletters:

The Best of IrishCentral - Daily Newsletter
Special Offers from our sponsors

or
Skip

You can edit your information at any time, just go to "my account" when you're logged in.

Log into IrishCentral with your Facebook account

or sign-in directly

E-Mail:
Password:
 Remember me Forgot my password