It’s a noisy world out there and only the best or the loudest get heard.
It’s never been as easy but never as saturated either for companies to get their brand out there or get their message across and, in the scramble to do just that, mistakes can happen.
Ultimate Rugby, an app which Brian O’Driscoll has a 45 per cent share in, got it wrong and they’ve since deleted a post they put out on social media. With a picture of Bundee Aki in his Connacht gear, they overlaid the text, ‘Tag a mate who also thinks they’re Irish’.
Aki is now eligible to play for Ireland and he has been called up to Joe Schmidt’s squad for the first time ahead of the November Internationals with South Africa, Fiji and Argentina.
There’s big excitement around the country – not just in Connacht – about the centre’s inclusion in the national setup. He’s a fresh face, he’s a fresh talent, and he can bring new qualities to the table for Ireland’s cause.
The eligibility debate is a touchy subject anyway but perhaps this one was a little more provocative than necessary asking the question: ‘On a scale of CJ Stander to Guinness, how Irish is Bundee Aki’. By doing that, Stander, a man who has been a passionate, an inspiring and a fantastic servant for the country for the last two years, has been inadvertently put to the very end of this abstract scale.
That sparked enough controversy but Connacht captain John Muldoon wasn’t having any of it, especially when his team mate was the brunt of the joke.
Iv never in my life regretting spending €10 more than I have signing up to this app- shameful to our game @ultimaterugby pic.twitter.com/92L9DcBLFl
— John Muldoon (@JohnMuldoon8) November 1, 2017
Muldoon was a member of the app but has expressed his regret at signing up and branded it “shameful” after the stunt.
There has yet been no response from Ultimate Rugby.
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