Never since the glory days of gladiators has there been so much interest in hand-to-hand combat. It hasn’t happened overnight, it is rare that an overnight sensation actually happens overnight, but Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) has passed the point of being a niche sport and is now officially the fastest growing sport on the planet. 21 years ago the first ever UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) fight was staged in Denver, US, on a limited pay-as-you-view channel. The beauty of the new sport was its diversity, linking as it does the different disciplines of martial arts into a hotchpotch of a sport – a fascinating, visceral, ambitious, primeval spectacle. Taking the highly structured moves from each martial art and then putting them together created an explosive combination. In the first televised competition in 1993, in which there 8 fighters, the expression was coined – two men enter, one man leaves – to hype up the fights. But as local MMA coach and legend John Kavanagh adds. ‘Followed by the other man leaving shortly afterwards.’ And that is why this sport is different. Being a young sport it was humorous, cross culture, highly addictive and making up the rules as it went. […]
Continue readingTag Archives: jillian godsil
Women’s Inspire Network (WIN) kicks off with first conference
For immediate release: Friday 24 October, 2011 The inaugural Women’s Inspire Network (WIN) formed by Twitter-Goddess Samantha Kelly kicks off its 2014 programme with a conference to inspire women in Wexford. The lineup includes Victoria Mary Clarke, Carmel Harrington and Jillian Godsil. The venue is The Talbot Hotel, Wexford, on Wednesday 29th October from 9am until 1pm, when lunch and networking will take place. The theme is Surviving in a Recession. Samantha Kelly, better known as @TweetingGoddess, is well known for her successful appearance on Dragon’s Den, the online group IrishBizParty and Goddess Hour on RadioActive. She formed IrishBizParty as a networking group and that has now grown to more than 2000 active members. She formed the WIN group this year in response to her experience at formal networking groups. As she explains: ‘I found most traditional networking groups to be intimidating. They tend to be suit-dominated and very male in their orientation. Often, the timing too was geared towards people who either do not have children or who have a spouse at home to mind them. I felt we needed a fresh channel where women in particular could come together to share experiences, link up and network in a […]
Continue reading
Running the Race
Sunday morning, 25 May 2014 I have run the race and am reaching the end. I have yet to cross the line but it is in sight. My legs are sore, my breathing laboured and there are rubs on my feet. There are many ahead of me; a goodly pack of politicians, first timers, old timers, new seekers, tired thinkers, young ones, old ones and inbetween ones. There are even one or two stragglers behind me. We have all run our race, some with parties, some without, some with zeal, some with polish, some with ideas quite divergent and some with ideas that are as old as the earth we cross. In this race there were moments when people slipped, were pushed or just fell. Mostly the other runners skipped over or ran around the runner on the ground. It was rare a hand was held out by another runner; it is not that kind of race. But it was common for the spectators to rush forward and pull the runner to his feet, to push water into his hand and to chivvy him on his way. No runner left behind, not until the fat lady sings anyway. When I […]
Continue readingGiving Thanks
I want to give thanks for my children, Georgina and Kathryn I want to give thanks for my mum Mary and my five siblings: Arthur, Ena, Richard, Ann and John I want to give thanks for my nephews and nieces I want to give thanks for my friends I want to give thanks for my neighbours I want to give thanks for my acquaintances I want to give thank for strangers who gave me a kind word I want to give thanks to everyone who helped me along the way I want to give thanks for every kind wish sent my way I want to give thanks for everyone who listened to me I want to give thanks for being alive and well and full of joy I give thanks
Continue reading
Debt is the single biggest issue of our century – Primetime Monday 19, 2014
Debt is the single biggest issue facing the Irish people this century both on a national and European stage. When history comes to be written the issue of debt in our time will be as big an issue as the famine was in the 19th century. And ironically, the misery caused by both – the deaths, suicides, emigration and homelessness – are utterly preventable. We know that we hold 42 percent of the debt from the banking crisis in Europe. We also know this is wrong, that this is an unjust debt, an odious debt. The current government was voted in three years ago with an overwhelming mandate to renegotiate this debt but they did nothing. They did not even ask for a single cent back. This is why I want to go to Europe to right that wrong. Why should you send me to Europe? I have personally felt the impact of austerity in a real and painful fashion. Last year the banks repossessed my home, my business failed and bailiffs called to my door. I tried the Insolvency Service but I was too broke. I was forced to go bankrupt. But as I hit rock […]
Continue readingShane Ross endorses Jillian Godsil – with Diarmuid O’Flynn
Deputy Shane Ross has announced he is endorsing my candidacy for Ireland South in the upcoming European European elections. He has also taken the unusual step of endorsing a fellow Independent Candidate Diarmuid O’Flynn, founder of the Ballyhea Protestors. We are both running in Ireland South. The election is on May 23rd. Last night Shane announced on Twitter: I will endorse both Jillian Godsil AND Diarmuid O’Flynn for Europe. Two noble independent battlers. Both deserve seats. Sorry decision delay. Please find his tweet here This is an outstanding day for democracy. Irish citizens now have the option to vote for the people of their choice and not be curtailed by party politics. It sends a clear signal to the government that Independents are the new Opposition. I personally am very honoured to have received Shane’s endorsement. I am also proud to be endorsed alongside Diarmuid O’Flynn whose dedication to Ireland and justice is unrivalled, To be named by one Irish patriot in the company of another is a wonderful day indeed. I came to prominence over the past three years when I very publicly documented my personal descent into financial misery; divorce and recession combined to force the collapse […]
Continue readingExclusive – first online only poster for a European Candidate
Welcome to my world. A world without posters littering the highways and the byways. A world where the candidates actually look like their photograph (and are taken recently). And a world where the candidate asks politely if you will please vote for them. Please vote for me!
Continue readingI can stop sleeping with my assenters now
You’ll be glad to hear that I can stop sleeping with my assenters now. For the past two weeks I have done nothing but talk, breathe and sleep my assenters. In my tiny house, my centre of elections has been my bedroom and as the days moved closer to the nominations date, I slept on less and less of my bed as the assenter forms took over. It was the filmic equivalent of the march of the assenter forms. I should pause to explain. In lieu of a financial deposit, candidates can collect assenter forms. For local elections 15 are required, for European a weighty 60 are needed. These forms do not commit the assenter to supporting the candidate, voting for the candidate or even suggesting the candidate is of sound mind. However each and every assenter must be a registered voter in the same constituency as the candidate. And, here is where it gets difficult, each assenter must have their form witnessed by a garda or a commissioner of oaths. It was suggested that it might be easier to lodge a deposit and I cannot argue with that sentiment, except when the modest deposit of €100 for the local […]
Continue readingIt is that simple – really!
History is littered with examples of ordinary people making the impossible possible Think Rosa Parkes and the civil rights movement Think of that student in front of the Tank in Tiananmen Square Think of the little boy and the Emperor’s New Clothes (ok he was fictional) Think of the power of someone who has nothing to lose and everything to gain Think of me and give me your vote on May 23rd I have changed the law. I can do so much more. Send me to Europe to ask for our money back. Ralph Waldo Emerson: ‘You have not failed until you have quit trying.’ Visit An Uncomfortable Truth documentary here
Continue readingAn Uncomfortable Truth
Irish Film makers launch hard hitting documentary to tell An Uncomfortable Truth CLICK HERE FUNDIT Irish Film Makers Daragh Murphy (November Seven Films) and David Martin Murphy (No Labels) today launch a new hard hitting documentary called An Uncomfortable Truth. The film duo claim the documentary will lay bare the truth behind the collapse of the Celtic Tiger and tell the story that Europe did not want to hear. The documentary takes its focus from one of the first Irish female bankrupts under the new Insolvency laws. Jillian Godsil (the bankruptshee) lost everything in a cruel twist of fate leaving her homeless, her business crushed and without income. At the same time, her searing honesty propelled her front and foremost of every conversation on debt in Ireland – and abroad. In 2011, she made a video to sell her home, it went viral, she went viral and subsequently appeared on television all over the world, telling the story of what it was like in Ireland post the Celtic Tiger. However, as Ireland was forced into the unjust position of propping up the Euro, Europe stopping asking for the truth. In fact, the truth about the […]
Continue reading