Rugby Paper - Colin Boag

[thebearisstilldeano]

The Colin Boag column this last weekend's Rugby Paper was the straw that broke the camel's back. His constant picking (both subtle and obvious) at Tigers finally got to me.

I have sent the following to the letters page, with a "double dare" to them to print it....

Sirs

Re Colin Boag column 6 Jan 13 "Cockerill in doggerel is pure poetry for me"

So frustrated was I by Colin Boag's critisism of Richard Cockerill in his column last weekend after the Gloucester game that I decided to look him up to see why The Rugby paper's lead columnist so consistently has it in for anything red, white and green.

Is this the same Colin Boag who was cited by the Gloucester Citizen as a "Long time Gloucester Rugby supporter and Citizen fans panelist" in 2009 perhaps?

Outright criticism or at the very least sly jabs at anything to do with the Tigers are something I have noticed frequently in his column, yet never to my knowledge has Mr Boag had the good grace to inform readers of his own personal loyalties which must influence his perspective - especially after a tense game like the recent Tigers Gloucester match.

As a loyal reader of The Rugby Paper (and I dare say there are many others in the East Midlands) I expect impartial commentary from its journalists and nonpartisan opinion from its columnists.

If this is not possible, at least an acknowledgement by your writers of their allegiances would allow us mere readers to come to our own conclusions as to the independence of their views, and in Mr Boag's case take it with the pinch of Cherry and White salt it deserves.

Yours etc


No doubt it won't get printed, but I thought I would share my letter here so other Tigers fans are in no doubt as to Mr Boag's pedigree.

[fentiger]

Brilliant, well done

[Old Hob]

First time I have bought the rag. It will be the last.

[Brookfield]

It's not just Boag. The reporter on the Tiger v Warriors game is no friend of Tigers. He reports on Castro's and Goode's yellow cards in very different ways. Castro's was an illegal tackle, Goode's was in the act of trying to prevent a try (if that was what Goode was doing then he was criminally late). Furthermore in his ratings the two highest rated front row players were from Warriors. Nick Cain is just as bad. A plague on all their houses I say.

[Soggypitch]

Very eloquently put .......deano

[Phil B]

As a regular reader of Private Eye for many years (Street of Shame column for example) I find it difficult to have any respect for the profession. Period. Nice letter by the way - eloquently put.

[Nailsworthstiger]

It is what journalists do best and that is to get up the noses of Joe Public. They wont complain as his article has now become a talking point and invariably led to more sales. Job done in their eyes then.

BTW, I agree with your letter Deano.

[old one eye]

Good letter,i hope they have the b**ls to publish it.

I stopped buying the paper some time ago because of bias against Tigers.

[tigerburnie]

Very well put, it might be worth putting it on other clubs forums, pointing out the pro Glaws bias,maybe not worth putting it on the "shedweb" though.

[Bunchy]

The Colin Boag column this last weekend's Rugby Paper was the straw that broke the camel's back. His constant picking (both subtle and obvious) at Tigers finally got to me.

I have sent the following to the letters page, with a "double dare" to them to print it....

Sirs

Re Colin Boag column 6 Jan 13 "Cockerill in doggerel is pure poetry for me"

So frustrated was I by Colin Boag's critisism of Richard Cockerill in his column last weekend after the Gloucester game that I decided to look him up to see why The Rugby paper's lead columnist so consistently has it in for anything red, white and green.

Is this the same Colin Boag who was cited by the Gloucester Citizen as a "Long time Gloucester Rugby supporter and Citizen fans panelist" in 2009 perhaps?

Outright criticism or at the very least sly jabs at anything to do with the Tigers are something I have noticed frequently in his column, yet never to my knowledge has Mr Boag had the good grace to inform readers of his own personal loyalties which must influence his perspective - especially after a tense game like the recent Tigers Gloucester match.

As a loyal reader of The Rugby Paper (and I dare say there are many others in the East Midlands) I expect impartial commentary from its journalists and nonpartisan opinion from its columnists.

If this is not possible, at least an acknowledgement by your writers of their allegiances would allow us mere readers to come to our own conclusions as to the independence of their views, and in Mr Boag's case take it with the pinch of Cherry and White salt it deserves.

Yours etc


No doubt it won't get printed, but I thought I would share my letter here so other Tigers fans are in no doubt as to Mr Boag's pedigree.

Well constructed letter - in fairness to the RP, I sent an email to them a couple of seasons ago in response to a Jeff Probyn column where he likened Tigers fans to football fans. I asked for clarification on the basis of this, as in was he accusing us of being thugs / hooligans? I just wanted clarification (by the way, i am a football fan too and do not believe all football fans to be thugs / hooligans) as it did not come across as a compliment. Not only did JP publish the letter, he did so as part of a 2 page spread - so don't automatically think it won't get published

[mightymouse]

Now if he had said THAT about the shedheads...

[jgriffin]

If you want real anti-Tigers bias read the Independent, especially Chris Hewett.
Last year he reported a match that Tigers won, and he managed to relegate vaguely positive comments to the last paragraph. I said to Mrs G at the time that you wouldn't know that Tigers won apart from the scoreline!

[TigerCam]

Having been to the last Glaws/Tigers game, IMO Glaws supporters are the most 'one-eyed' bunch ever. So I guess you can't really expect any different from CB just as Stu Barnes (Bath) does ever game on Sky.