Paddy Jackson signing: Well done to rugby club for resisting sickening virtue-signalling mob

Diageo will come to regret the decision to pull sponsorship with London Irish and assist the continuing harassment of Paddy Jackson.

We now live in a world unduly influenced by the ‘Twitter mob’, a small but extremely vocal group who generate more heat than light.

They know Diageo is a major sponsor of Irish Rugby. If they can get Diageo to pull out of sponsorship with London Irish they can then guarantee Paddy Jackson will never again play for Ireland because the IRFU would never risk losing the Diageo sponsorship revenue.

The sad thing is Diageo naively cave in to the PR pressure. Diageo talk about their ‘values’. The problem with this moral grandstanding is they have a short memory when it comes to the behaviour of other notable rugby players – unlike Diageo I will not rake over the coals, except to point out their double standards.

Further, I take the view people make mistakes and providing they learn from them they should be free to get on with their lives.

Well done London Irish. At least someone in the world of rugby has the guts to stand up to this nauseating virtue signalling.

John McClements, Newtownards