Politically correct language has a lot to answer for.

Bernard O’Byrne is the CEO of Basketball Ireland. Following the recent England versus Denmark Euros semi final match he posted a short three word comment on social media, ‘Black dives matter’, which referred to the controversial penalty won by the English forward Raheem Sterling, who appeared to fall to the ground of his own volition. At best there was a small amount of contact from the Danish defender who was closest to Sterling however the latter did appear to be already on his way to the floor before the contact was made. In footballing terms an action of this kind is often referred to as a ‘dive’, an attempt to deceive the referee. Given that Raheem Sterling has been a strong and important voice in the Black Lives Matter movement it seems to me that there was nothing wrong with the comment made by O’Byrne yet he may end up losing his job over it.

By times it’s a mad world that we live in.