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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Olympic hero Daley Thompson’s anti-Irish slur a reminder of the bad times -- Black British superstar should really have known better given his race

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Olympic hero Daley Thompson’s anti-Irish slur a reminder of the bad times -- Black British superstar should really have known better given his race

Posted on Tuesday, July 24, 2012 at 08:14 AM

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Daley Thompson (Credit: PA)

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, anti Irish sentiment in Britain ran high, linked to the IRA campaign in Britain.

It was a very tough time to be Irish there. I worked for close to a year in London in the 1970s and anti-Irish jokes, a steady stream of comedians on TV indicting us as stupid and lazy and a constant sense of being under suspicion when an Irish accent was heard, was part of everyday life.

Those bad old days, post peace process, are gone – but there has been an unwelcome echo of the old days these past few days – and from a very surprising source.

Daley Thompson is roughly the British equivalent of Magic Johnson, a widely adored and respected former athlete who accomplished amazing feats and has had a successful post- sporting career.

He has been honored three times by the Queen and is an official ambassador for the London Olympics. It has long been rumored he will light the Olympic torch at the opening ceremony.

Thompson is also black and he won Olympic gold at two different Olympics. In a country starved of top class athletes, that made him a superstar. The fact that he won them at the decathlon event, one of the toughest events at the games, made his achievement all the greater.

So it is deeply surprising that Thompson jeopardized all that goodwill with the type of racial stereotype that he, a black person, above all, should have been wary of.

Daley, 53, made his screw up on live TV on BBC when he was shown a photograph of a torchbearer with the words ‘OYLMPIC torch bearer’ (sic) tattooed onto her arm.

Images of the miss-spelt tattoo have gone global on the Internet but Thompson took an anti-Irish stance when he commented on the photo and said: “The tattooist must have been Irish.”

Jenny McShannon, chief executive of the Federation of Irish Societies, stated the comment was "unnecessary and totally out of keeping with the spirit of the Olympics."

The BBC issued an official apology and stated, "Daley's comments about this were clearly meant as a joke but we apologize if any offence was caused, it certainly wasn't our intention."

It may cost Thompson the opportunity to light the Olympic torch according to some reports. While that may seem an over reaction to some, Thompson, son of a Nigerian father and Scottish mother, really needs to class up his act if he is chosen for such a role.

Compared to legends like Muhammad Ali, who has lit the flame in the past, he has a very long way to go indeed.

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Schon | Jul 27, 2012, 07:44 AM EDT

curtisjohnson The Celts are thought to have originated in mid-Europe, a swathe running northeast to southwest through Switzerland circa 1200BC. The Hallstatt culture, late bronze age circa 600BC, developed from the Urnfield culture, that occupied this swathe of land. It was the Hallstatt culture that spread West. It is thought that the Urnfield culture was preceded by Beaker, Unetice and Tumulus cultures (in that order). There are dissenting opinions putting teh Celts origins in the Iberian Peninsula, however, the criteria used to define 'Celticism' tends to favour the Urnfield culture that precedes the Iberian evidence.

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curtisjohnson | Jul 26, 2012, 09:33 PM EDT

There is no "pure race" and "Celtic" has yet to be definitively identified in genetic terms. However, the most recent thought is that the Celtic culture spread from the West rather than Halstatt as originally speculated.

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seanomelb | Jul 26, 2012, 08:53 PM EDT

Schon made a correct statement we are not really Celts and DNA proves it.

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Towngate | Jul 26, 2012, 10:53 AM EDT

It was a flippant remark made on the heat of the live studio transmission. If you want to point a finger - do so at the producer/editor and 'presenters' who ran the item! Daley Thompson is a terrific chap who has been an inspiration to many following his successes. HE is the victim here. So relax, and prepare to enjoy the many Irish triumphs to come in the London 2012 Olympics!

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hancock | Jul 26, 2012, 10:31 AM EDT

You're the only whacko talking about pure races.

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Schon | Jul 26, 2012, 05:31 AM EDT

curtisjohnson so who were the original inhabitants of Ireland, the Fir Bolg? But they weren't Celts. The makers of Newgrange, etc. certainly weren't the Celts to which the 'Pure Irish' hail as their forebearers. And do you mean to say that all of the blow ins in the later migrations/invasions didn't 'know' the local inhabitants? Strangely enough the blood grouping of Ireland is reasonably close to that of the United Kingdom, that most bastardly of races! What does that say for your 'Pure Irish race'? You really want to read from unbiased sources. Any website tha has celtic, or Ireland in the name should be suspect.

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seanomelb | Jul 26, 2012, 03:28 AM EDT

British only the English call themselves British and a few loyalists in the north they all suffer from a sense of mis-belonging.

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curtisjohnson | Jul 25, 2012, 10:58 PM EDT

The notion of the existence of a "pure race" is fiction outside of the minds of anglo-nordic supremacists/fetichist or presbyterian chosenites. However, genetics, anthropology, and archaelogy leave no serious scientific dispute that the Irish are among the most indigenous and homogeneous peoples in Europe. Perhaps this explains why, despite centuries of nation mugging by the british crime syndicate, they have no need to invent a phony nationality such as "british."

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Schon | Jul 25, 2012, 07:53 PM EDT

For your information nope, the Irish consider themselves to be a pure race. They were never invaded by the Romans! (But the Celts, Spanish, Britons, Vikings, Normans, English, Welsh, Scots and uncle Tom Cobley an' all invaded but never, I repeat never, indulged in carnal knowledge... ever, with any of the local Irish race). So you see, they can be a racial group... because they have kept themselves poor... I mean pure.

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seanomelb | Jul 25, 2012, 07:52 PM EDT

IrelandNorth had the same experience in Dover (1966).

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hancock | Jul 25, 2012, 04:48 PM EDT

What a jackass.

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nope | Jul 25, 2012, 04:31 PM EDT

So the author is highlighting apparent racism and is at the same time calling a mixed race man black! Can't take this article seriously.

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nope | Jul 25, 2012, 04:16 PM EDT

Last I checked, you can't be racist against a nationality. How do we know he wasn't referring to an Asian Irish person or a Black Irish person, hmmm?! Besides, he was probably just repeating something he had already heard sarcastically- you know banter... John Terry can explain that one.

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Barry | Jul 25, 2012, 02:45 PM EDT

I'm Irish, living in Ireland, and so should probably be offended by what Daley Thompson said. But strangely, I'm not. The reason: the racist remarks I've heard made time and time again by Irish people (including those in the US and the UK) about Blacks (or "darkies" as some ignorant, bigoted Irishmen in Britian still call them!) and other ethnic minorities. You only have to look at the comment made by tomgallagher below to see that these kind of attitudes are alive and well. I also think it's quite possible Thompson's remarks were to do with the pronounciation of the word "Olympic", as someone alluded to earlier. In any event, we Irish would want to have a look at our own racist attitudes towards others before getting up on our high horse about this one.

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Sparklet | Jul 25, 2012, 09:36 AM EDT

KinsaleLad - you have every reason to be cocky. I've got English friends who adore the Irish, and envy the fact that everyone loves us. :) And if they could bag an Irish man, they'd be in seventh heaven. And friends who aren't looking for husbands have holidayed over there, and love it

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