where does football rate on the national scale of importance now

[an_ceannaire]

Fourth surely? Way more interest in Gaelic, Hurling and Rugby nowadays. Way more. The apathy for tonight was palpable. No one really cared bar the odd fan here and there. Embarassing. And as for atmosphere.....better atmosphere at Belfield. Oh the days of Jacks Army and Keano the God are long gone now. Very sad. Sad indeed. :(

[Maroon 7]

Hard to get excited about friendlies full stop. Let alone with players pulling out left, right and centre. We actually get very good crowds at friendlies by European standards but it's still hard to people excited about a game with nothing at stake.

[holidaysong]

Also hard to get exciting when you're paying €40 for the ticket to get into the meaningless friendly..

[an_ceannaire]

Gary Kelly speaking the truth, papering over cracks in last few minutes. Dunne was very poor. His form is worrying. Ah man this is depressing

[holidaysong]

I don't get why he stuck with Gibson and Whelan after their poor showing in the last match.. I wonder how Andy Reid feels watching that tonight..?

[an_ceannaire]

I feel TRAPped under this new regime. I am not encouraged. Friendly or not. pick ure best bloody team ya old codger

[danonion]

Ugghhhhh Rugby

Sorry (:

Hurling is very regional. I reckon football is still second to Gaelic

[drummerboy]

Football is still the most played game in the country. Event junkies change games on a regular basis. Wait and see what happens if Trap manages to get us qualified.

[OwlsFan]

Fourth surely? Way more interest in Gaelic, Hurling and Rugby nowadays. Way more. The apathy for tonight was palpable. No one really cared bar the odd fan here and there. Embarassing. And as for atmosphere.....better atmosphere at Belfield. Oh the days of Jacks Army and Keano the God are long gone now. Very sad. Sad indeed. :(


Yawnnn. I have never been at a friendly soccer match where the home support gets up for the game - it just doesn't happen since nothing is at stake. The away support is having a party and sing and cheer. So has it been, so shall it always be. I have been to a number of Irish away friendlies where the home support is quiet and the Irish make noise the whole game. Nothing WHATSOEVER to be read in to the support at that game and to do otherwise shows a total immaturity and lack of understanding:rolleyes:

[Docboy]

Agreed, the atmosphere will always be there for the games that it's needed. No doubt about that...

[Lionel Ritchie]

Ugghhhhh Rugby

Sorry (:

Hurling is very regional. I reckon football is still second to Gaelic

It's a distant second to Gaelic games in terms of the spotlight it's afforded on mainstream media. I recently heard the changeover in Donegals GAA Football manager reported as a news item on RTE ...note -not a sports section item - a news item. Last weekend gone there was acres of footage of acres of empty GAA terraces as RTE covered the club championships in downright fetishist detail including post match interviews with players, managment ...bewildering carry on when evidently the GAAs own adherents couldn't give a tuppeny****.

This from the same station that frequently doesn't even list the fixtures or give the results from the first division and hasn't shown a goal scored in it since God was a boy.

[Newryrep]

Agreed, the atmosphere will always be there for the games that it's needed. No doubt about that...

Really ? Wales H, Slovakia H, Germany H Cyprus H x 2 - good atsmophere ?

all must win games as all our home games are yet crap pretty crap atsmosphere.

[mypost]

As is uniform here and in the UK, home fans don't sing. And moving to Lansdowne won't change that. Away fans always do.

[lionelhutz]

Really ? Wales H, Slovakia H, Germany H Cyprus H x 2 - good atsmophere ?

all must win games as all our home games are yet crap pretty crap atsmosphere.

I agree that Wales at home was a shocking atmosphere - althougn i think that had something to do with the early kick off and the abysmal performance from both sides.

The Germany and Cyprus home games in the last campaign didn't matter - they were more like friendlies so I'd discount them.

And I thought the atmosphere at the Slovakian and the Cyprus game this campaign was very good.

[seand]

In fairness we had a crowd of over 50000 for a friendly against Poland. How many countries in the world would match that? England and Germany... that's about it.