{"id":158116,"date":"2025-11-02T02:57:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T02:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/158116\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T02:57:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T02:57:08","slug":"ireland-v-new-zealand-was-a-sight-that-caused-sore-eyes-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/158116\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland v New Zealand was a sight that caused sore eyes \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did Ireland<\/a> win? <\/p>\n

We ask only because \u2013 and not to be too hyperbolic or anything \u2013 has there ever been a less aesthetically pleasing and more bewilderingly distracting sporting sight to appear on our TV screens in the history of time than the one Soldier Field chucked at us on Saturday evening? <\/p>\n

At one point in that first half, Virgin Media\u2019s Dave McIntyre told us that Tadhg Furlong had, apparently, scored a try, even when Ireland were, apparently, down to 14 men. <\/p>\n

This was, indeed, news to us, because the very last thing you could focus on was what actual rugby happenings were occurring on the pitch. It might as well have been a behind-closed-doors tussle. <\/p>\n

First, there were so many luminous yellow boots on the field, the players had a look of Laa-Laa from the Teletubbies. Granted, if we were offered a heap of loot by a bootmaking company to don their excessively loud footwear, we\u2019d snatch their hands off too. Damn it, we\u2019d have worn stilettos out there if they paid us enough. <\/p>\n

\"HowHow the Soldier Field pitch looked without the superimposed ads. Photograph: Gary Carr\/Inpho <\/p>\n

But hats off to the few rebels who opted for less jarring shades. If Harry Chapin was alive today, he\u2019d have saluted them with lyrics along the lines of: \u201cRugby boots are luminous yellow young man, and green leaves are green, there\u2019s no need to see rugby boots in any other way, than the way boot manufactures now want them to be seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

At which point traditionalist Andrew Porter, in his white footwear, would burst in to song: \u201cThere are so many colours in the rainbow, so many colours in the morning sun, so many colours in rugby boots, and I won\u2019t be cowed in to wearing luminous yellow ones when white is available.\u201d<\/p>\n

You could only assume that the couple of lads who wore luminous pink had lost a bet. <\/p>\n

But let\u2019s move on to the biggest issue of all. The ads on the pitch. Lord. <\/p>\n

\u201cCHICAGO\u201d read one, lest we thought the match was taking place in Bundoran, and it was as if a 3D-ish Harvey Norman and Vodafone were sitting on our laps. Not to mention the insurance company and the crowd specialising in industrial services and equipment manufacturing for the construction and building industry. (Hat tip: the Google). <\/p>\n

WhatsApp exchange:<\/p>\n

\u201cThose ads on the pitch are ugly, I can\u2019t see any rugby.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ads are not actually on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too early for whiskey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at the view from the blimp \u2013 they\u2019re not on the actual pitch. Hic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rewind. Strewth. They weren\u2019t on the actual pitch. We were victims of hokery pokery. Porter\u2019s white boots weren\u2019t trampling Harvey Norman and Vodafone after all, their ads were just being superimposed on a field that was already bestrewn with American Football markings, as if the viewing experience wasn\u2019t already headache-inducing enough. <\/p>\n

Appropriately, New Zealand had a Holland and Barrett in their side, which was a reminder to order eye health capsules. <\/p>\n

The game, then, was a sight that caused sore eyes. <\/p>\n

Did Ireland win? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Did Ireland win? We ask only because \u2013 and not to be too hyperbolic or anything \u2013 has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[34133,75579,9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,34132,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-158116","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-all-blacks","9":"tag-autumn-nations-series","10":"tag-breaking-news","11":"tag-breakingnews","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-featured-news","14":"tag-featurednews","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-ireland-rugby","19":"tag-latest-news","20":"tag-latestnews","21":"tag-main-news","22":"tag-mainnews","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-top-stories","25":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115477862390768887","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}