Barstool facepalm

**Charlie Darwin** · 05/09/2011, 2:32 PM

How can it be cheaper to go the pub twice a week to watch Manchester United than to go to one LOI home game every week or two? Unless you only drink tap water. Even a home Sky Sports subscription costs the same as a couple of tickets to a match.

**gustavo** · 05/09/2011, 2:57 PM

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Never heard LOI fans singing in English accents.
What English regional accent is most commonly used out of interest?

I've heard people sing "Red Army" with an English accent

**nigel-harps1954** · 05/09/2011, 3:02 PM

I had great craic reading that thread. Got through about 5 pages of it. The arguments those lads were putting up in favour of supporting english teams were hilarious and what was even funnier, their reasons for not supporting LOI.
Every time one of those threads pops up I think they get funnier.

**ger121** · 05/09/2011, 4:14 PM

I rarely read other non LOI forums, plus in my job, there is a healthy LOI interest, so I tend not to have to listen to or read a lot of barstooler crap.. You'll always have idiots in all walks of life, the best thing to do if possible is to ignore them!

**El-Pietro** · 05/09/2011, 4:15 PM

Originally Posted by pineapple stu

An average spend of a grand a game?!?! Are these lads morons or what?

id go over to see Charlton once or maybe twice a year at a stretch - flights usually come to around 100-150 or so, getting across london is cheap enough, lets say a tenner. match tickets are never more then 20 pounds. never usually even close to that to be honest. I'd stay somewhere for less than 50 a night.

high end estimate would bring that to a total of £230 and thats really pushing it don't think im spending anywhere near 800 on food drink and merchandise

**Charlie Darwin** · 05/09/2011, 4:18 PM

I'd say a lot of the cost comes from corporate packages though. I'd say at least half of it solely down to John O'Donoghue.

**mypost** · 05/09/2011, 5:28 PM

Our European success has them rattled. Every time a LOI team gets some decent public media attention, they're on the defensive when having to explain why they don't support a team here. Celtic barstoolers won't be happy to have to share their UEFA Cup coverage with us. Spurs barstoolers will be very angry that 4 of their 6 games won't be covered in-depth by TV3. the Dublin Stoke's, Fulham's and Brummies will be disgusted that they will get piecemeal coverage. For once, they will be upstaged by a LOI side, and they won't like it one little bit.

**born2bwild** · 05/09/2011, 7:46 PM

Originally Posted by ger121

I rarely read other non LOI forums, plus in my job, there is a healthy LOI interest, so I tend not to have to listen to or read a lot of barstooler crap.. You'll always have idiots in all walks of life, the best thing to do if possible is to ignore them!

Any jobs going? I work in GAA heaven.

**PartySaint** · 05/09/2011, 9:30 PM

Originally Posted by BonnieShels

Lasted to the end if the second page.

The justification of playing good football keeps coming up.

My argument against that is one word, Bundesliga. That's good football from a competitive entertaining league with great players.

When I've queried why they don't support the Bundesliga in that case they clam up!

I've given up on the Barstooler. It's like arguing with a small deaf child.

I've come up against this before and have come to a great soultion, Next time it happens use this

Barstooler: LOI is ****e, Crap standard of football why would I go watch that?

LOI Fan: Who do you support?

Barstooler: United/Liverpool/Arsenal etc..

LOI Fan: So in comparison to England what level do you think LOI is at?

Barstooler: It's about the same as the conference

LOI Fan: So if United/Liverpool/Arsenal etc.. got relegated to the conference you would stop supporting them then yeah??

Barstooler: eh em urgh....

**BonnieShels** · 05/09/2011, 10:27 PM

Originally Posted by PartySaint

I've come up against this before and have come to a great soultion, Next time it happens use this

Barstooler: LOI is ****e, Crap standard of football why would I go watch that?

LOI Fan: Who do you support?

Barstooler: United/Liverpool/Arsenal etc..

LOI Fan: So in comparison to England what level do you think LOI is at?

Barstooler: It's about the same as the conference

LOI Fan: So if United/Liverpool/Arsenal etc.. got relegated to the conference you would stop supporting them then yeah??

Barstooler: eh em urgh....

Good angle.

**thischarmingman** · 06/09/2011, 11:10 AM

I think maybe we need to do a 'Dealing With Barstoolers' article.

**Poor Student** · 06/09/2011, 8:53 PM

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Never heard LOI fans singing in English accents.
What English regional accent is most commonly used out of interest?

I find it tends to go by the club it's lifted from. 'United' chants have that distinctive sound of Old Trafford for example.

**poster** · 06/09/2011, 9:18 PM

Originally Posted by Rasputin

Never heard LOI fans singing in English accents.

I have..alot.

**monsexile** · 07/09/2011, 3:09 PM

Think it is still perfectly possible and reasonable for fans in Ireland to support their local LOI team and the British team they may have grown up supporting.

**bluemovie** · 07/09/2011, 3:44 PM

My take on it is that there's a MASSIVE difference between being a 'fan' and a 'supporter'. For all my moaning about barstoolers, I've been a Liverpool fan to some degree since childhood. I don't kid myself thinking I matter to LFC in the greater scheme of things, I don't contribute financially and Kenny Dalglish doesn't know I exist. I support Waterford United in every sense of the word - spend as much money as I can on them, spend WAY too many of my waking hours thinking about the club and do everything I can to help them and, in return, I have my own place at the club. Oh, and I go to all their games.

I'm a fan of Liverpool, not a supporter. I'm also a fan of Sour Cream and onion crisps, Jameson whiskey and the smell of fresh cut grass.

**gormacha** · 07/09/2011, 9:18 PM

Originally Posted by monsexile

Think it is still perfectly possible and reasonable for fans in Ireland to support their local LOI team and the British team they may have grown up supporting.

I agree. Trouble is (stating the bleedin obvious here), most people skip the supporting their local LOI club bit, and go straight to the supporting an English club bit.

**BonnieShels** · 07/09/2011, 9:28 PM

That's the problem. Support all who you want. Be a fan of who you want. Just don't belittle the LOI with absoltely no basis whatsoever.

**Dunny** · 07/09/2011, 10:54 PM

IRISH FOOTBALL fans spent approximately €145 million last year visiting Premier League

Irish spend €145m on visits to Premier League

RONAN McGREEVY

IRISH FOOTBALL fans spent approximately €145 million last year visiting Premier League grounds and made 164,000 visits, with an average spend of £776 (€884.64) each, according to VisitBritain, the UK’s state tourism agency.

The Irish accounted for one-in-five football fans who visited a Premier League ground from overseas last year. Though the Irish are by far the most popular visitors to Premier League grounds, a similar survey in 2008 found 267,000 Irish fans attended a match in the UK, so the numbers travelling (down almost 40 per cent) have clearly been hit by the recession.

In that year 400,000 Irish people visited a sporting event in the UK, which may be accounted for by the huge influx to Cheltenham and other race meetings every year.

The Premier League is arguably the most popular football league in the world and is beamed into 212 different territories with an audience reach of nearly four billion people.

Last year 750,000 overseas fans attended a Premier League ground. That was worth €678 million a year to the British economy. After Ireland, Norway (77,000), the US (56,000), the Netherlands (41,000) and Germany (39,000) provided the greatest number of visitors.

Unsurprisingly, Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United, was the most popular venue – attracting 114,000 visitors. This was followed by Anfield, the home of Liverpool, which attracted 89,000 visitors; Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium (88,000), Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge (54,000), and Tottenhams White Hart Lane (38,000).

Surprisingly, Celtic’s ground, Celtic Park, which is a huge draw for Irish fans, did not figure in the top 10 grounds.

Patricia Yates, the director of strategy and communication at VisitBritain, said the results showed the impact of a partnership between itself and the Premier League going back to 2008 with many footballers extolling the virtues of the country on the VisitBritain website.

“It has given us access to some of the stars of the British game who have promoted Britain to their fans back home – and encouraged them to come and visit,” she said.