QuoteWhat can be learned from it. We will be playing teams that play a similar style of football to us. IMO much more can be learned from friendlies such as our up coming one against Denmark. I think it might work for us if we use it for our B team.
But they're British first and foremost. They have no affiliation with the Irish Republic. Its a completely different country.Originally Posted by livehead1
Marching, however
I think I should the parachute, because I'm great.
In fact, I think I should get both parachutes, in case one doesn't work.
What can be learned from it. We will be playing teams that play a similar style of football to us. IMO much more can be learned from friendlies such as our up coming one against Denmark. I think it might work for us if we use it for our B team.
Of course it won't be the Home (more properly "British") Championship; that's why the working title is the Celtic Cup
As for the Anthem, thank you for your advice on what song we should play, but we don't need it, thank you very much.
For myself, I have long felt that the NI and England football teams should have their own distinctive anthems (like Scotland and Wales), but the more I'm told what to do by outsiders, the more I appreciate GSTQ.
Above all, it would be sad if the ROI felt unable to participate in any new competition merely because one or two of their supporters objected to the National Anthem of another participant...
I take your first point (different styles), but are you seriously proposing that the ROI field its "B" team against the other three countries' "A" teams?
No-one said that, though you, sadly, seem to want to believe it.Above all, it would be sad if the ROI felt unable to participate in any new competition merely because one or two of their supporters objected to the National Anthem of another participant...
I really don't think we have anything to gain from playing the North. Our experience with lesser teams is that we have a tendency to get dragged down to their level. We should aim to play against the top teams who will stretch us & build appropriate experience for our players.
i cant get over the negativity here , the chance to win a tournament ?? competitive fixtures?? decent opposition?? too right bring on the celtic cup , i can see it now perched in our newly purchased cabinet beside the Iceland tournament trophy !
Was he crazy!! Yeah , in a very special way , an Irishman.
I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty;
I woke, and found that life was Duty.
Won't I don't have is an atlas with 'N. fcukin Eire' in it........
I agree and I don't see the benefit of it for us either. Most of our top players won't be bothered with it. We'll have to play our C team as with the trip to the states. The North would take it far more seriously.
Last edited by youngirish; 25/06/2007 at 10:22 AM.
can't see a problem really. if for example the tournament was on this year and we were drawn against wales in the semi then either the march/november uefa qualifing fixture between the teams could double as the 'celtic cup' game. problem solved. everyone happy. all you would need to do was pre-arrange what to do in the event of a drawn game - maybe go back to the 'coin toss'. or more practical would be to keep teams on seperate sides of the 'celtic cup' if they are in the same quualifing group. if they happened to meet in the final then use the qualifing fixture as the final and if it is a draw then play the final on the next available friendly date.
and btw what effect do you think it would have on the other teams in the group that you say they wouldn't tolerate it? if the two relevant associations are happy, and uefa are happy then it is no-one elses business.
it is only 2 games for each country ffs! one semi final and a final or a 3rd place play-off. how would that damage gate receipts? i reckon they would all be sell-outs as they would offer the 'celtic;' teams bragging rights over each other.
as for 'burn out' the games would be played in the august and november friendly dates - so it would be no more or less than they play now! and in fact with the games being more competitive than friendlies and players playing against their friends, collegues and rivals i'm sure there would be less withdrawals than a run of the mill friendly.
and in fairness it would offer players from these parts a very real prospect of winning medals (however insignificant in the grand scheme of things) at international level.
Hmmm ...that has merit
I can't recall a campaign in our history where we played a friendly against a current competitor in a qualifying series. Commercial reasons aside I suspected there might be a moratiorium of some sort for fear it may allow wealthier, bigger associatons set up friendlies with the smaller countries, the minnows even, in their groups to use as "dry runs" to make sure there's no fcuk ups when it matters.
Hands up on this one. I didn't know the format when I posted and assumed it'd be a round-robin. I was speculating on the possibility of us playing -for example Wales in November -rounding off a qualification series we might both be out of contention in ...and then facing them again in February.
" I wish to God that someone would be able to block out the voices in my head for five minutes, the voices that scream, over and over again: "Why do they come to me to die?"
Originally Posted by EalingGreen
"Above all, it would be sad if the ROI felt unable to participate in any new competition merely because one or two of their supporters objected to the National Anthem of another participant..."
Re. the Anthems, the debate over this topic was proceeding merrily, until CollegeTID and Livehead (both ROI supporters) raised the subject of the NI anthem, along the lines that it might be some sort of a problem. Well as far as I'm concerned, it's absolutely no problem what anthems are played, or none. Clear enough?
As for your second paragraph do you honestly believe that NI is currently a "lesser" team than ROI? And what about Scotland? Between us, we provide 2/3 of your opposition in the proposed tournament.
If anything, it might offer the chance to drag you up...
Agree with your overall sentiment, GH. On the particular point of receipts etc, I imagine it should be possible to sell the TV rights for such a competition to Sky or Setanta etc for a decent sum, unlike say, the end of season tours to the USA which ROI and NI have undertaken in the last two years.
I would guess that a regular tournament would be more attractive to sponsors and advertisers than a series of ad hoc friendlies against all sorts of opposition, some of them overseas, and/or at inconvenient kick-off times.
It's sad, I know, but increasingly these days Associations have to think about what will bring in the most revenue, with the fans (unfortunately) having to fit in around it. From my own experience of the old Home Champs, however, "fitting in around" was no hardship - quite the opposite in fact, since the diehard fans appreciated the tournament, even if the "Event Junkies" were often apathetic.
I like friendlies so we can play team with different styles of football. Also you can go on better away trips than Belfast Cardiff and Glasgow.
In Trap we trust
Only problem in the past with the anthem was that it was illiegal to play it in the O6C, as well as fly the flag. I know the RUC tended to turn a blind eye to the sort of low level community festival ending with it, only coming out at the inistence of the current first minister, whose job as a youth was that of the flag and song police for the whole of O6C, when he demanded the removal of some small flag from the office of a political party. Despite the predictions from mister community po-leees-mahn, this ended, correct me if I'm wrong, in a riot spreading over a couple of days.
Therefore, could you bring me up to speed EG, and tell me: Is it legal to play the Soldiers Song at SGC Park now without fear of prosecution?
This is the cooooooooooooolest footy forum I've ever seen!
Re your first paragraph, I have absolutely no idea of the relevance of any of it to the proposed Celtic Cup.
Re. the second paragraph, I have no idea where/when it is legal to play the anthem of the ROI and I don't know why you're asking me, never mind what relevance it has to this debate. In fact, I don't even know where/what "SGC Park" is.
You really do seem to have a mess of hang-ups, don't you? Perhaps you'd feel more at home on Slugger O'Toole, or some such other bear-pit...
What relevence has anthems to this competition?
I'm asking you if the situation has changed and it is legal to sing the anthem or fly the flag at NI's home games. I thought you might know, as you support NI, and consider yourself a know it all. You don't seem to know though! That's a shame.
Ahhh! Thanks for the recommendation, but like you on the choice of anthems, I'll decline your advice.You really do seem to have a mess of hang-ups, don't you? Perhaps you'd feel more at home on Slugger O'Toole, or some such other bear-pit...
This is the cooooooooooooolest footy forum I've ever seen!
As I've posted elsewhere, the issue of which anthems are played at any Celtic Cup is of no concern to me. You should address your queries to those two ROI fans (CollegeTID and Livehead) who raised the subject.
As for anthems and flags at Windsor, neither issue has prevented our hosting Scotland, Wales and ROI a number of times over the last two or three decades in both friendlies and competitive matches. I fail to see why the Celtic Cup should be any different.
Anyhow, your particular brand of trolling is neither big nor clever; indeed, it has long since passed its usual purpose (i.e. to irritate, or wind up). Instead, it is just plain boring.
Good Bye.
How is it always you who manages to get these threads to degenerate into some boring North V's South political spat? It's a talent but not one to be proud of. No-one in the south gives a balls.As I've posted elsewhere, the issue of which anthems are played at any Celtic Cup is of no concern to me. You should address your queries to those two ROI fans (CollegeTID and Livehead) who raised the subject.
As for anthems and flags at Windsor, neither issue has prevented our hosting Scotland, Wales and ROI a number of times over the last two or three decades in both friendlies and competitive matches. I fail to see why the Celtic Cup should be any different.
Anyhow, your particular brand of trolling is neither big nor clever; indeed, it has long since passed its usual purpose (i.e. to irritate, or wind up). Instead, it is just plain boring.
Good Bye.
P.S. David Healy is muck.
Last edited by youngirish; 25/06/2007 at 2:45 PM.
Sorry to interrupt your political debate here but what I think would be neat would be if the competition included Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and two "guest nations" that can be picked from countries with large populations of diaspora from Celtic nations. Examples would be the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England. If you expanded this potential invitational group to have sides representing "Celtic nations" like Cornwall, Brittany, Galicia and maybe even (snicker) the Isle of Man that would be neat. That would give a number of groups to chose from for 2 spots every 2 years and I'm sure there are more you could find with a signifcant enough Celtic-nations diaspora to add to that list.
You know what would be neat. If you never used the word 'neat' again.
I think I should the parachute, because I'm great.
In fact, I think I should get both parachutes, in case one doesn't work.
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