EVEN BEFORE HE became a forthright rugby pundit, Ireland fans were sick of the sight of Tim Horan.
The Australian centre, role model for a young Brian O’Driscoll, scored three tries in five Test match wins over the Irish over the course of his 80-cap career. Since retiring from the international game in 2000, Horan has taken to the world of rugby broadcasting with gusto.
During the 2011 World Cup, Horan drew the ire of Ireland coach Declan Kidney when he claimed the 15-6 victors had a ‘deliberate plan to fake injuries each time there was a breakdown in play’. Horan said he learned of this plan from fellow Aussie Alan Gaffney, Ireland’s backs coach at the tournament. Kidney responded:
It’s incredulous and slightly scandalous that he’d try to bring one of his fellow countrymen into something that is totally untrue. It’s for other people to have their standards in life.”
Horan and his employers, Fox Sports Australia, have trained their sights on the British and Irish Lions and their thousands of fans, who are expected to make their presence felt as they did in 2001 when they created a ‘Sea of Red’.
Fox Sports blurb for the video reads, ‘Thousands of British tourists are invading Australian shores, determined to paint the country red.” Take a look at the video here:
YouTube credit: FoxSportsAu
What do you make of the video and #GetRidOfRed campaign?
