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Geez, normally Gallop is good with his comments, but this is a Real Clanger !!!
While he didn't call the storm supporters terrorists, to try and compare the Passion for supporting a team to the "passion" for blowing up something in the name of god is very misguided !!!
Maybe it goes to show that he does not understand the passion of supporting a sporting team.....
Gallop defends Storm "terrorist" analogyBy Nathan Ryan
13 September 2011 01:12PM EST
ShareNRL chief executive David Gallop has defended his terrorist analogy made to describe the behaviour of Melbourne Storm fans during his trip to their finals match on Sunday.
While making a speech, presenting the club with the 2011 minor premiership shield, Gallop was met with a chorus of booing, later comparing their passion to that of terrorists on the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
"I never really go for that whole passion line. I mean, terrorists are passionate about what they do and, you know, that doesn't make it right," Gallop said after the presentation.
The boss of the NRL appeared on 2KY Sports Radio on Tuesday to defend his comments which have outraged Storm fans and public alike.
“Of course I wasn’t calling supporters terrorists, that’s nonsense,” Gallop said.
“I was just making the point that you can’t use the expression passion as an excuse for poor behaviour.
“It was an extreme analogy, maybe my timing wasn’t great but I was trying to make the point that poor behaviour is poor behaviour."
Gallop said while his comments were topical he was attempting to come up with an extreme example to deliver his point.
This is the second icy reception in almost as many weeks following his visit to Manly where he witnessed the match between the Sea Eagles and Melbourne.
“In all walks of life, particularly sport, you hear things were done because of passion and passion isn’t an excuse,” he said.
“It wasn’t unexpected, saying that it wasn’t that pleasant. I was there to recognise a great achievement to the Storm this year.”
It took four minutes on the Big Sports Breakfast for Gallop to apologise for his comments which was pointed out by Melbourne captain Cameron Smith when he joined the radio show.
“Clearly David, I guess, realises it was the wrong thing to say,” Smith said.
“I was a bit surprised it took him such a long time in that interview to say that he regretted it.”
Last year the NRL stripped the club of two premierships for systematically rorting the salary cap.
“I was just making a point that if you think through what you are booing, you were booing the decisions taken and those decisions were the right decisions,” he said.
“They were cheating against the other 15 clubs, the players and the fans of those clubs.”
13 September 2011 01:12PM EST
ShareNRL chief executive David Gallop has defended his terrorist analogy made to describe the behaviour of Melbourne Storm fans during his trip to their finals match on Sunday.
While making a speech, presenting the club with the 2011 minor premiership shield, Gallop was met with a chorus of booing, later comparing their passion to that of terrorists on the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
"I never really go for that whole passion line. I mean, terrorists are passionate about what they do and, you know, that doesn't make it right," Gallop said after the presentation.
The boss of the NRL appeared on 2KY Sports Radio on Tuesday to defend his comments which have outraged Storm fans and public alike.
“Of course I wasn’t calling supporters terrorists, that’s nonsense,” Gallop said.
“I was just making the point that you can’t use the expression passion as an excuse for poor behaviour.
“It was an extreme analogy, maybe my timing wasn’t great but I was trying to make the point that poor behaviour is poor behaviour."
Gallop said while his comments were topical he was attempting to come up with an extreme example to deliver his point.
This is the second icy reception in almost as many weeks following his visit to Manly where he witnessed the match between the Sea Eagles and Melbourne.
“In all walks of life, particularly sport, you hear things were done because of passion and passion isn’t an excuse,” he said.
“It wasn’t unexpected, saying that it wasn’t that pleasant. I was there to recognise a great achievement to the Storm this year.”
It took four minutes on the Big Sports Breakfast for Gallop to apologise for his comments which was pointed out by Melbourne captain Cameron Smith when he joined the radio show.
“Clearly David, I guess, realises it was the wrong thing to say,” Smith said.
“I was a bit surprised it took him such a long time in that interview to say that he regretted it.”
Last year the NRL stripped the club of two premierships for systematically rorting the salary cap.
“I was just making a point that if you think through what you are booing, you were booing the decisions taken and those decisions were the right decisions,” he said.
“They were cheating against the other 15 clubs, the players and the fans of those clubs.”
Maybe it goes to show that he does not understand the passion of supporting a sporting team.....
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