I just don't get it . . .

Just heard on RTE 1 News that Brendan Mullin was sentenced to 3 years for that Bank of Ireland case.

Mullin may not have been a genius but he must have been given some habit of work by the Holy Ghost order in Blackrock. Enough at any rate to get him into law in TCD and through that course while he ran and ruggered for Ireland. Like MacNeill a couple of years ahead of him, he went to Oxford for postgrad and it was said that he also planned a career in merchant banking rather than practise law. And so it seemed to have gone.

Yet his pro-bio has him working as a broker initially - not exactly where you'd expect to be with a legal qual from TCD and Ox. Of course, brokers earn commission and have good salaries and bonuses. Still, he never looked the mad-for-money type.

Anyone can get into trouble with money. We all see nice people fairly often doing so. In fact quite a few very nice people can find themselves in trouble moneywise. I wonder do the Rugby Brotherhood really take care of their buddies ? At times, being a good friend really means hard tough love with a person we know who is walking on dangerous ground. Not too many people bother to do so. Far too many let them carry on down the quare road. And a few are glad to see them in trouble: less competition, an easier time professionally and socially for the "survivors" of some or other temptation.

I don't know where it went awry for him - and I certainly do not exempt him from self-responsibility. But I also feel here that questions need to be asked about the depth of human relationships at the higher end of rugby.

Greed. Like so many other people around that time who did similar regardless of education.

What exactly do you see as the connection between his criminality and rugby?

@JoeRoberts, how many other Irish Rugby internationals were sentenced to jail sentences? Blackrock, TCD, Oxford, IRFU, BoI, Mountjoy - seems odd.

@mathepac

I see the friendships between people from serious amateur sport as being limited, ephemeral and ultimately false.

All Mullin's career he was hired by financial organisations in large part because of his sporting repute. He "fished" clients for them, at times pushed their financial products. He made money for them and for himself by this modus operandi. But the transaction was purely material: the other aspects of a life had to be found outside of work. While the latter challenge (who am I as a person, stripped of my fame and fortune and how do I present myself as such to the world around me?) is one everyone has to meet, most of us don't also face the headwind of notch-uppers and gold diggers that prominent sportsmen attract.

Brendan Mullen stole money. He refunded what he stole even before the investigations started. He pleaded Not Guilty. He got convicted and was sentenced to three years in jail. In his early sixties his career is in tatters, his good reputation is on hold, at least. He’ll get remission for good behaviour and then likely retire. He appears to be a very private sort of individual. The sporting fraternity owes him nothing. It appears his situation was of his own making. However, I feel sorry for him. He’s not the first to steal and won’t be the last. I get it . . .

Leper said:

Brendan Mullen

Click to expand...

Brendan John Mullin, to avoid confusion with others of similar names.