Neil Francis is a retired

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

lock forward and number eight. He played club rugby for

Blackrock College Blackrock College ( ga, Coláiste na Carraige Duibhe) is a voluntary day and boarding Catholic secondary school for boys aged 13–18, in Williamstown, Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded by French missionary Jules Leman in 186 ...

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

Old Belvedere Old Belvedere R.F.C. is a senior Irish rugby union club based on Anglesea Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin, Ireland. Old Belvedere was originally founded in 1918–19 by former pupils of Belvedere College. Old Belvedere enters senior men's teams in th ...

and provincially for

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of ...

. Francis also earned 36 caps for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

between 1987 and 1996 and competed in three rugby world cups in 1987, 1991 and 1995 respectively.

Controversy

On 16 February 2014, Francis sparked controversy when he said that "gay people do not have any interest in sport" and that "only a tiny percentage are actively involved in professional sports of any kind". The player-turned-pundit was speaking on

Newstalk Newstalk (formerly NewsTalk 106) is a national independent radio station in Ireland. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Audio Ireland, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Aut ...

's ''Off the Ball'' and when asked by presenter Joe Molloy if he "believed the percentage of gay people involved in sport was lower than the 10 per cent which is the estimate of the general population who are gay", he said he suspected that the percentage was "nowhere near 10 per cent. I would say in the smaller margin of 1 per cent". In November 2019, he suggested South Africa's win in the Rugby World Cup was "tainted by steroids". On 23 July 2021, the ''Irish Independent'' newspaper terminated his contract, where he had been a columnist, following his remarks on one of their podcasts about

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

player Marcus Smith. Francis described Smith, a half-

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

, as having a "David Beckham haircut and an Oompa Loompa tan". Smith's club, Harlequin F.C., criticised the remarks as "offensive" and "racist". The Lions also criticised the remarks as "offensive". Francis apologised for any offence taken and for the fact that the comments were interpreted differently from what he intended.

References

Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players Blackrock College RFC players London Irish players Leinster Rugby players Old Belvedere R.F.C. players Living people People educated at Blackrock College 1964 births Rugby union players from Dublin (city) Irish rugby union commentators Rugby union locks Irish columnists Irish Independent people Writers from County Dublin {{ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub