The curious backlash against Nick Griggs taking up a US athletics scholarship

The announcement by the University of Oregon earlier this week that Nick Griggs was officially “Flying with the Flock”, a reference to Oregon’s sports teams also being known as the Ducks, certainly appears to have ruffled a few feathers.

In continuing the long history of Irish athletes taking up a US scholarship, Griggs has brought some wider attention to the rules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the governors of all US college sport since 1906.