The Gown Student Newspaper at Queen's University Belfast

Lol at the hack of you mr riggs

To be fair to all, me and Niall Bole actually hada good chat and laugh about this thread in the Science Library earlier so others needa lighten up. As i said in every post, we wer beat and has been accepted. Just had an issue with the image. And i duno any1 that makes up a nickname 4 themselves, that 1 was gave 2 me a few years ago and it stuck. Neways, sun is shining, so less of us should be sitting complaining to eachother on this. G Lack!!

Massive sour grapes here. Give over GAAheads. You lost. Get over it.

Going by Riggs' (what sort of person gives themselves a crap nickname?!) couple comments on this thread I believe the Union is much better off without him!

*Cry, cry, GAA, cry, cry, GAA, cry...*

Well done Mr Boles

It's just a bit of craic like. The fella did well to win. Lighten up people.

CLARIFICATION:

The VPCS role no longer decides club and soc budgets. This is now decided by the clubs and socs coordinator. So the GAA have nothing to fear - the favouritism that has been displayed to them for 14 years will not be reversed on them in the coming year.

Here Firstly im all for the satire - if any of youse knew me you wud kno i am 1 of the most scarcastic, piss taking, slagging people around and like this pic I only do it for the laugh. Difference is I like many others do it in small groups and not publicity across the universitys media. And yes I can see that sure it depicts Nialls victory over what was deemed a GAA held position, (Why arent the other 6 popsitions victories depicted?) but we dont actually sit around in a big GAA meeting every year in the hatfield and decide who to put forward as the GAA candidate, cos if we did me and Niamh wudnt have ran for the same position and split the supposidly large GAA vote. I met her for the 1st time on the nominations day 2 weeks ago, 4 years into my time at Queens. All I said is that it is a poster which could be seen to people that the new VPCS is anti GAA. Which by his commemnts I doubt he is bt if people start printing this picture out or using it as a profile pic on facebook, tensions may rise and confidence drop within GAA members. He ran a good campaign and fair play 4 winning. And I hope he puts his full effort into the plans he has. On the dragon being slain, although me and Niamh both come from GAA backgrounds, neither of us had big GAA issues in our manifestos or plans. We were going for this position to help all clubs and societies. She has played for the QUB Soccer and netball teams in the past, and yes we both concentrate on GAA teams now, like all students who have full time courses and part time jobs, theres only so much you can do in your spare time. I doubt with Niall Boles duties in the DragonSlayers and his part time Job in the Union, that he wouldnt have the time to train 4 times a week for a GAA team. EVERYONES DIFFERENT. Thats what this position is all about, giving some1 the full time job to deal with all clubs. To Niall Bole, this isnt the place where you havta prove what you are going to do, you dont take up office til July, so dont be dragged ito discussions on what you plan to do. On the issue of funding and organisation, I dont think any of us fear that the GAA would have a reduction in funding as all the GAA teams grew in size last year so wouldnt be reasonable, and on the comment of bringing other clubs up to the same level as the GAA, well that will be down to each clubs members and not just the New VPCS. The GAA within QUB is the largest club and one of the best run because it it the most popoular club and 1 of the best supported. Simples

I think this is a wonderful piece of satire. On the results night, Niall was really perceived as the underdog. No-one expected the position not to be filled by an officer without a GAA background, which can clearly be seen by both Niall's victory speech, and the look of Niamh McKernan's face as the result was announced (at least one picture of this is currently on Facebook). By winning the position of VPCS, Niall really was "slaying a dragon" that had been in that position for 14 years. This shouldn't be seen as an attack on the other VPCS candidates.

@Riggs - Niall's comments about not cutting funding for the GAA societies really aren't a problem. Yes, no-one here said that he was going to cut funding, but that doesn't mean that certain people weren't afraid of the possibility. With regards to your comments on it reflecting negatively on the GAA societies, I don't think it will. Most people here can see that it is satirical, even if you are unable to do so. If this image has a negative effect on your recruitment numbers (which I don't think it will), perhaps you should look at your societies' advertising campaigns and how to make them more effective.

Personally, I trust Niall to do his job professionally. When it comes to grant allocation time, I think that it will be extremely fair for all involved. When it comes to support, again things will be fair. The larger groups do have an advantage when it comes to changeover time, in that they are more likely to have members that know the role and can take over.

I think it's funny that people are annoyed. It's actually unbelievably surprising how conservative students are nowadays. Same goes for exec's reaction to The Hood. Totally seem to misunderstand satire.

Some taking this a bit thick for a cartoon...

@Chris McW - my main strategy for helping out every club and society is a massive overhaul of the training provided to the committee members. Whilst some groups have the advantage of former committee members remaining with the club/soc after they step down, a large number of new committees find themselves going in with little to no idea of what they should be doing.

Issues like how to apply for funding, both from QUB and outside sources, need to be tackled so that everyone is aware of the options open to them. Again with the finance, there needs to be a transparent system of accounting so a new treasurer doesn't actually need to be doing an accountancy degree in order to make sense of it, along with a simpler system for purchasing equipment that doesn't require many weeks of lead time.

I want to make sure that training isn't a "fire and forget" system, I aim to have ongoing sessions as well as being in my office and available as much as possible to deal with individual problems as they occur. On top of this I'm going to try and attend meetings of every club and society that I can make it to next year, just to try and get a feel for the sheer variety offered to every QUB student and see for myself if there are areas where the service can be improved.

I think that if a club or society has a passionate committee with proper training in how to run their organisation, and full support from their VPCS, David Bradley and any other relevant staff, then this can only be a good thing for the average student member.

I think its worth noting that this cartoon is a work of satire and not an attack on any of the other canditates who ran for VPCS.

For those who need background Niall Bole is a member of QUB Dragonslayers the Queens Anime and Gaming Society. He ran a very strong campaign for VPCS even though it was expected he would loose as the position had been held for 14 years by members of the GAA clubs at Queens. Despite this he narrowly won and this has come as a major shock to clubs and societies members, check out The Gowns report on the election results for more on this.

As such this cartoon depicts Niall Bole as a "Dragonslayer" character standing over the body of a slain dragon, here meant to represent the perceived control the GAA had over the VPCS position which was thought by many to be insurmountable.

Now if the Dragon has had the head of Niall McDermott or Niamh McKernan then that would be another matter as it would be a personal attack and I feel The Gown would be obliged to remove it. As it is I feel this cartoon accurately captures the elation many of Niall's supporters felt upon his victory, feeling that "the Dragon has been slain."

It should also be noted that Niall Bole did not draw this cartoon nor aid in its publication, his only comment on it so far is to thank the artist Niall Mooney (lots of Niall's involved here) and act to dispel GAA fears that their funding will be cut of effected by his election as VPCS.

Niall "Riggs" McDermott has the right idea above in that this cartoon has little to do with Niall's opinion of the GAA though it might be advisable for him not to take this cartoon so seriously.

@ Merlot

I believe you would very much enjoy Dragonslayers as their website indicated that they have Dungeons and Dragons as well as video games which would think includes Tetris.

I think a bit of maturity is reuqired when discussing the issues of funding, merlot.
Many students have real concerns about whether the sports they have played all their lives and are their main social outlet are going to be supported and funded. This goes for all sports within QUB and not just the GAA.
As Niall does post on this site many students would greatly appreciate if he would give an outline of how he intends to 'bring everyone else up to the same excellent level'.

Niall will there be more money for dungeons and dragons and other neat gaming clubs??? I am really good at tetris????

I was wondering if the gown could justify their reasons for printing such a jibe at two students that graciously accepted their defeat? Also, whether the new VPCS condones such an image of himself being projected?
It will be interesting to monitor the funding that all sporting clubs receive compared to minority societies in the coming year.

FANTASTIC!!!

WE LOVE BOLE!

Bole, No1 said that you were going to cut funding or support or otherwise hassle/hinder one of QUB’s most prominent clubs, but this picture if kept on this Website will send out a negative feeling to the current members and possible future members of the 5 GAA Clubs at Queens. Although some may think, we dont have the easiest time running our clubs and the last thing we need is negative publicity incvolving a picture of the incoming VPCS. Because if it has an effect or returns negativity within our clubs the blame will lie on the Gown and not you.

Taking it well then hahaha!

Great cartoon! =D

Good job, what a great drawing :D good that Niall won

what a load of tosh! as for you nial mooney love jumpin on the bandwagon much? your fellow granemore gaa associates feel a bit let down? wat about those former GAA vp's who are your friends u never used to have a problem with them? looks like someones need for attention has clouded things. stop adding fuel to the smoke trying to make a fire idiot

Looking good, Niall!

I should clarify before people get worried that I have absolutely no plans to cut funding or support or otherwise hassle/hinder one of QUB's most prominent clubs, I just intend to bring everyone else up to the same excellent level.

love this!

We're never gonna hear then end of this. :o

great illustration

Brilliant

EPIC!