Smoke signals

When Amber Dempsey batted her eyelids to win the "Little Miss Springfield" beauty pageant in The Simpsons, Laramie - "gives a smooth smoke" - tobacco products were the best of sponsors.

Lisa Simpson, of course, then stepped in to wrest the winner's prize from her before her conscience crashed and burned in the realisation that Laramie cigarettes were not entirely a health product.

No doubt the Dublin Primary School Football Final organisers field vigorously health conscious teams. Yesterday they ran off their series of big matches for the little folk at Croke Park.

At 2.15, Scoil Cholmchille, Knocklyon played Scoil Mhuire, Marino in the last of the four finals in a competition named Corn na nGearaltach Sweet Afton. Could it be that same Sweet Afton - "gives a smooth smoke" - we all knew before we turned utterly PC?

According to PRO Jerry Grogan, the tobacco company's name was brought up at an AGM some years ago, but it was decided that, as in many competitions, the name had been in place for as long as anyone could remember, so they decided to leave it in place. He added that it may well be discussed again at a later date. (N.B. Amber Dempsey was later struck by lightning when accepting her `Little Miss Springfield' baton from Krusty The Clown and went on to win `Little Miss Casualty')