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From the Bleachers by Cormac Eklof

The Daily Telegraph thinks Irish Olympic hero Katie Taylor is British

Posted on Wednesday, August 08, 2012 at 04:49 AM

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Irish hero Katie Taylor

Katie Taylor Photo Gallery here

Goodness gracious these Olympics seriously get the blood going, don’t they? Katie Taylor and her legion of Irish fans have a date with destiny in just a few hours in London, as she fights in the semi-final of the Olympic games women’s 56kg boxing. Taylor won her initial bout with Natasha Jonas on Monday and her legend has grown exponentially ever since.

Apparently, some are confused as to Taylor’s nationality.

In an incredibly crass, insulting and ill-informed ‘article’, the English rag The Daily Telegraph, has called Taylor British.

Perhaps a quick history\geography lesson is called for, for our friends across the sea.

Katie Taylor was born and raised in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland. Bray is a vibrant little seaside town to the south of the capital of Ireland, Dublin. Ireland won its independence from an oppressive, corrupt and often brutal British imperialist state and declared independence from same in 1919. We have been free from British rule ever since. It should be noted that before that time, any Irish man or woman, athlete or regular punter, would rather die than be known as British, despite the latter’s military occupation of Ireland.

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One final note for the idiot\editor who approved this unbelievably stupid piece. Taylor should be easily recognizable to all British journalists and sports fans, she was the Irish athlete that annihilated your actual British boxer on Monday, in a flurry of punches that left your girl reeling (Despite my obvious fury on this subject, it should be strongly noted, the telegraph could learn a thing or two about dignity from Jonas, who carried herself with utter class on Monday)

Any telegraph ‘journalist’ who is still confused about Taylor’s nationality should perhaps put the question directly to her.

It would be fun to watch her retort.

If you would like to contact the telegraph to remind them that Taylor is Irish, and not British, you can do so by phoning them or filling out this quick online form. Either should suffice.

Update Wednesday 3:30 pm: Credit where credit is due, the telegraph has issued an apology, and as always, that's all you can ask for.

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STEVENSTAR | Oct 19, 2012, 09:42 PM EDT

Oh for gods sake give over !! The British people put on a great Olympics and it was the best i have ever seen so far.. As an Irishman who was Born in Ireland and i live in Co. kerry :-) Im very proud of our neighbors and to write a story about something so silly is just soooo typically American.. I would also like to point out that this is not an Irish newspaper its an American newspaper aimed at an American audience.. If this news paper were read by irish people over here in Ireland im sure there would be lots of complaints and many people would not like to read how we are been portrayed over in America ...

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curtisjohnson | Aug 13, 2012, 08:59 PM EDT

british supremacist such as averagejoewa care.

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YoungPike | Aug 13, 2012, 11:21 AM EDT

Who cares if she is Irish or British? I don't! There seems to be no consistency in deciding whether people are "Irish" or "not Irish". For example, thousands of people born and raised in Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham, classify themselves as Irish. I don't think you'd find anybody born and raised in Dublin or Cork describing themselves as English!

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curtisjohnson | Aug 12, 2012, 01:03 PM EDT

For you "british" (whatever that is) supremacist out there, her phenotype is certainly more consistent with being Irish than english.

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curtisjohnson | Aug 12, 2012, 01:01 PM EDT

@averagejowa - wtf is "[b]ritish" ancestry. LOL.

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Nicoletta | Aug 09, 2012, 10:03 PM EDT

Get over yourself Eklof and stop trying to stir up the hate.

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averagejoewa | Aug 09, 2012, 09:26 PM EDT

Katie Taylor is British. She is a Protestant of British ancestry. Being Irish is not about where you were born but who your ancestors were. In other words, it is about biology, not geography.

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ancavker | Aug 09, 2012, 02:40 PM EDT

donegali: Typical.

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donegalcali | Aug 08, 2012, 10:18 PM EDT

Who cares?

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Rebelforce | Aug 08, 2012, 07:13 PM EDT

I wish Irish newspapers would start calling Danny Boyle or Paul McCartney or Alfred Hitchcock Irish just to get a rise out of the English.

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WoundedKnee | Aug 08, 2012, 02:17 PM EDT

An interestng counterpart of this is that we have Irish people who would tell us that the guy who won bronze yesterday, the boxer Conlon, is not Irish, because he's from Belfast. If you don't believe that some Irish hold this kind of belief, just check out posts by sir peter and ciaradexy (where she gone?). These people constantly told us that the North of Ireland is a separate country. I hope they're busy in Ireland pointing that out to anyone who wants to include Conlon among the Irish medallists!

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citizen69 | Aug 08, 2012, 01:40 PM EDT

Cormac Eklof shows his complete lack of knowledge & understanding of the Irish Olympic team. Throughout Ireland's Olympic history there have been athletes who were proud to also be known as British, both before & after 1919. Let me remind you of world WBC boxing champion Wayne McCoullough who was from the Loyalist Shankill road in Belfast and was honoured to be asked to carry the Irish Tricolour during the Olympic Opening Ceremony in Seoul 1988. He went on to win an Olympic silver medal for Ireland in Barcelona 1992. Yet he was also proud to be British and proudly carried the Northern Ireland flag at the 1990 Commonwealth Games. Even now in London 2012 the Irish team has Irish protestants from Northern Ireland competing with pride (including canoeist Hannah Craig and cyclist Martyn Irvine) whom most likely also consider themselves British. They compete in the spirit of sport not politics. The author gives a phone number for complaining to the Daily Telegraph... Well who do I phone to complain about this imbecile? Not that it would matter as this site is becoming a more narrow-minded, one-dimensional, Oirish caricature by the day.

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WoundedKnee | Aug 08, 2012, 12:14 PM EDT

A very minor matter, and a silly overeaction by the columnist. You can't blame the British for not seeing much difference, indeed a survey of prospective British tourists showed that they found Ireland unattractive "because it was too much like home".

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citizen69 | Aug 08, 2012, 12:08 PM EDT

A one word mistake in an article that had only one sentence about Katie Taylor and Cormac Eklof releases all his sectarian bigotry in a few short paragraphs! I think it is he who is "incredibly crass, insulting and ill-informed". Quote:"any Irish man or woman, athlete or regular punter, would rather die than be known as British"... Oh yeah? There's quite a few of them up north. Some of which have already won Olympic medals this week for team GB. Seeing as Katie's father was born in Leeds, England, i doubt her attitude against the British would be quite so full of bile & hatred as yours... I wish Katie all the very best in her quest for a gold medal for IRELAND.

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citizen69 | Aug 08, 2012, 11:29 AM EDT

Don't get your knickers in a twist over a simple mistake fer god's sake!

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