Despair, despondency and dejection

[OwenGoal]

and other emotions beginning with 'd'. Sorry to drag everybody down but I can't get beyond this. There's a couple of threads on Euro 2012 but I just can't raise the appetite. I can't climb back on the hope treadmill this time. For me the agency of our disappointment doesn't really matter, it's the inevitibility of it. Does anybody know how to switch it off, this supporting Ireland business? We've all got lives to be getting on with. Why does it matter so much?

[Greenbod]

Lay off the booze for a couple of days.

[tetsujin1979]

Coming home from Paris, I genuinely believed I would watch no football this weekend, and possibly for the rest of the week.
Yet here I am at 1:25 in the morning trying to track down footage of Connolly and Hoolahan's goals in the Norwich - Southampton game and correcting a report on soccerrepublic.net (this one - http://soccerrepublic.eircom.net/News/readingwinwithoutirishcontingent.aspx - if you're interested)

Wednesday's result still hurts, and it's quite possible I won't ever forgive Henry, but I'm a football fan first and foremost and godammit I need my fix!

[OwenGoal]

[QUOTE=tetsujin1979;1279880]
Yet here I am at 1:25 in the morning trying to track down footage of Connolly and Hoolahan's goals in the Norwich - Southampton game and correcting a report on soccerrepublic.net .


That, my friend, is above and beyond the call. Or perhaps you're just plain shlootered. Fair play.

[kingdom hoop]

Why does it matter so much?

Partly because you invest so much time and emotion into it. Also, perhaps the pain is so numbing because your expectations of sport are inappropriate.

By all means engross yourself in sporting pursuits; think about them, look forward to them, act them, live them, and look back upon them. But all the while, try to keep a sense of perspective and realism. Realise sport is often fantastic, but also, it is often despairing. That is its nature, it is why it's so beguiling. Also, have the perspective that it is not life or death. It won't kill you in a car crash, and it won't even flood the home you've invested so much in.

Overall though, time heals. Maybe as you gradually experience more fun trivialities and daily normalities, then eventually the pain will lessen and subside.



There's a couple of threads on Euro 2012 but I just can't raise the appetite.

Take a break for a while. Hunger is a renewable resource. :)

[CarrickFan]

Coming home from Paris, I genuinely believed I would watch no football this weekend, and possibly for the rest of the week.
Yet here I am at 1:25 in the morning trying to track down footage of Connolly and Hoolahan's goals in the Norwich - Southampton game and correcting a report on soccerrepublic.net (this one - http://soccerrepublic.eircom.net/News/readingwinwithoutirishcontingent.aspx - if you're interested)

Wednesday's result still hurts, and it's quite possible I won't ever forgive Henry, but I'm a football fan first and foremost and godammit I need my fix!


Quality post...the football league show on BBC1 after match of the day is a great way to see all the goals..great to see Behan,O Flynn an other ex LOI players getting a few aswell.

[rebus2008]

keep the head up.
many across europe sharing your pain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdeMaUrL4Jw

Some strong words.

[Noelys Guitar]

and other emotions beginning with 'd'. Sorry to drag everybody down but I can't get beyond this. There's a couple of threads on Euro 2012 but I just can't raise the appetite. I can't climb back on the hope treadmill this time. For me the agency of our disappointment doesn't really matter, it's the inevitibility of it. Does anybody know how to switch it off, this supporting Ireland business? We've all got lives to be getting on with. Why does it matter so much?

It usually takes about a week to get it to the back of the mind (1977 Bulgaria, France 79, Belgium 81 and now France 09). Kicks in again when the draw is made for a day or so. Then kicks in again when the World Cup proper starts for a day or so. But we are on the rise again so there is much to be happy about. We have a very good manager who knows what he is doing. Our players are good enough to get us to Euro2012. And Irish fans can have a spring in their step again because we are improving.

[Crosby87]

This is a good post.
I think the thing is, in sports usually you get another chance after a brief offseason. But 4 years seems like so long to Rio.
Euro 2012 like the above mentioned seems sooner but in the back of our heads we know the fun of SA comes first.
It is depressing and coupled with the winter i think it hits hard.
Imagine if we dont make Euro. Then imagine looking at Rio. At best it will be 12 years in between tourneys. 12 years? Jesus. Who are we, Luxenburg?
With that said I have to root for my country now so be grateful. Ever hear of Clint Dempsey? OR a team with a starter named Bradley who is the son of the coach? Ugh....

[OwenGoal]

keep the head up.
many across europe sharing your pain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdeMaUrL4Jw

Some strong words.

Absolutely excellent. Very rarely are these things funny but that had me laughing out loud. Thanks.

BTW, bit too much Cotes du Rhone when I started this thread.

[Reality Bites]

Thursday and Friday were Hell!! I was a tortured Soul, I wasn't interested in work or small talk I just wanted to crawl up in bed and wake up the day after the World Cup Final, all the time I asked myself why are you beating yourself up over a Football match! its hard to explain really but as one poster put it you attach yourself emotionally to the team and when something as unfair and injust happens on Wednesday night its hard not to be affected by it....
But Time will pass and we'll move on, Wednesday will always be remembered as long as I live as both triumph and tragedy...But when the first ball is kicked in Euro Qualifiers It will truly be buried in the Vault!!!!

[Emmet7]

I wouldn't be so confident of that.

We've basically been defrauded of a strong possibility of a place in the WC by a player and a referee team as well as Domenech's refusal to replay the match.

So come the end of the Euro qualifying we may again be in a similar position and a similiar two legged match with a similiar big team, if UEFA go down the seeding route which they probably will.

We may well end up in a tight game with the ref feeling the pressue to side with the big team, and he may know if he allows a dodgy goal, the powers that be will side with him.

These things have a habit of repeating themselves. It's not the first time Ireland has been denied qualification because of dodgy refereeing decisions and cheating and it probably won't be the last.

As long as there is so much at stake, and with one person officiating in the middle with no assistance from modern technology, the temptation will be for some to cheat and for refs to turn a blind eye to it.

[Greenbod]

BTW, bit too much Cotes du Rhone when I started this thread.

thought so!......wasn't being flippant with my first reply:D

[Stuttgart88]

Speaking of despair & dejection, think of how bad Dr_Peepee must be feeling after Wednesday night AND Jermaine Defoe scoring 5 goals.

[Beavis]

and other emotions beginning with 'd'. Sorry to drag everybody down but I can't get beyond this. There's a couple of threads on Euro 2012 but I just can't raise the appetite. I can't climb back on the hope treadmill this time. For me the agency of our disappointment doesn't really matter, it's the inevitibility of it. Does anybody know how to switch it off, this supporting Ireland business? We've all got lives to be getting on with. Why does it matter so much?

Glad to see I'm not the only one in this situation. Keep telling myself to get some perspective.

At the moment all football seems trivial. Didn't even watch any Premier League all weekend or the Cup Final today despite being in on detox for the most of it (following the week of booze). Don't want to think about the Euros. Its all pointless in the context of last Wednesday.

I know, I know how melodramatic, nobody died, get over it etc. There are far far more important things in the world....There certainly are, but without meaning to sound shallow, in honesty they aren't personally relevant so its difficult to be so moved.

Couple more days should do it anyway.

[Reality Bites]

Glad to see I'm not the only one in this situation. Keep telling myself to get some perspective.

At the moment all football seems trivial. Didn't even watch any Premier League all weekend or the Cup Final today despite being in on detox for the most of it (following the week of booze). Don't want to think about the Euros. Its all pointless in the context of last Wednesday.

I know, I know how melodramatic, nobody died, get over it etc. There are far far more important things in the world....There certainly are, but without meaning to sound shallow, in honesty they aren't personally relevant so its difficult to be so moved.

Couple more days should do it anyway.

Worst than any other Irish exit from a major competition I can ever remember...but getting slowly over it today for first time..those flashbacks are the worst, funnily enough its not the handball but the one that got away from Duffer in second half....

[elroy]

Worst than any other Irish exit from a major competition I can ever remember...but getting slowly over it today for first time..those flashbacks are the worst, funnily enough its not the handball but the one that got away from Duffer in second half....

Spain 2002 was quite bad but definitely not as bad as this. Belgium 97 is another that sticks out for me as quite painful, not to mention Holland 88. Man we've had some horrors in the last 25 years. The cheated element is the worst part, although Spain 02 and France 09 are similar in the sense we shouldve had the game won in both cases.

Was thinking at the wkd, in the last 20 years, we've made 3 out of the 6 world cups, reached at least the second round in each case. The other three we didnt qualify for, we lost in playoffs twice (Belgium, France). So all in all not a bad record. With a bit of luck we could easily have made 5 out of the 6. Its our Euros record that needs improving.

[paul_oshea]

RB thinking the same i came to the conclusion that duffers miss cost us the qualifcation.

[dr_peepee]

Speaking of despair & dejection, think of how bad Dr_Peepee must be feeling after Wednesday night AND Jermaine Defoe scoring 5 goals.

I'm off to the Playschool to tell some kids there's no Santy..

[Yard of Pace]

I felt much worse after the end of Stan's campaign. The amount of negativity then was really dispiriting, people saying we didn't have the players, might never qualify for anything ever again etc. I didn't believe either but it was very depressing to listen to it.

As I get older the years go by all the quicker and before we know it we'll be kicking off in our first qualifier and I wouldn't like to be our first opposition.

[Stuttgart88]

I'm off to the Playschool to tell some kids there's no Santy..Careful, you might ruin Jebus' Christmas :)

[carloz]

Thursday and Friday were amongst the lowest days of my life. I must have been torture to be around. The feeling I got waking up on Thursday was horrible. It just hit me like a ton of bricks 5 seconds after i woke up. I am still completly disillusioned now and have a lot of pent up anger in me. Id like the thank the Bilbao fans for making me smile a little on Saturday night

[paul_oshea]

Ya i find myself still randomlyy stoping and thinking about it. i txtd a mate at about half 3 on sunday morning to say i couldn't beleive we wouldn't be in South Africa. Its getting easier but the world cup is really going to be hte final nail in the coffin.

Looking back, i really think we would have done very well in this world cup had we got there.

[Stuttgart88]

Ah it's always the same though. Belgium 81, Belgium 97, Macedonia 99, Israel away - all hurt like hell. I couldn't watch any sport this weekend, just had no interest.

[NeilMcD]

I must say I felt way worse under the Staunton era. THere was no hope and it lacked direction and every trip the football got in the way of a good trip. This time the football added to the trips in the way they should. There is now hope and I was proud of the team and really enjoyed the campaign.

[dr_peepee]

This was worse than those for me though.. Way worse (don't recall 81 mind you)..

It's the defeat and then everything else. We were never going to get a replay or anything like it... And if we had have gotten anything the achievement would have been sort of hollow, for me anyway. It's the way we've been so "Put Upon" since, is the killing part. The indifference showed by the powers that be.

The fact that there's no effort to ensure it won't happen again. There's no detterent for the next Henry. Everything to gain and nothing to loose by doing what he did. Whack a 3,4 or 5 game competitive ban on him and there'll be fewer "instinctive" hand balls in future. All this talk about technology and impact on the flow of the game. What about retrospective punishment?? There's no reason why part of the fourth officials remit shouldn't be a televised viewing of the game afterwards to catch things like that. If there's no accountability there's no detterent....

But nothing will be brought in on the back of an injustice against someone like us.. We'll put up and shut up and prepare for the Euros.

[geysir]

As moral victories go this was our finest hour :)

I knew we would be well up for the game but wasn't quite sure how good our upper limit would be.
No doubt during that game that not only were we good enough but more than good enough.
Despair, despondency and dejection don't come into the equation this time. Yes despair against the Swiss both the home and away games and despair during Stan's time. This time just fundamentally proud that our team were unbowed and second to none. That feeling goes a lot deeper than defeat syndrome.

I don't know what I'll feel as the Finals loom closer.

[tricky_colour]

The good thing to come out of it is the performances.
Unbeaten by Italy and beating France in their own back yard over 90 minutes, would not fear any team in the world now.
Strange thing is we dropped 2 places in the FIFA rankings!!?
I would like to know how they worked that one out!!

[Morbo]

I must say I felt way worse under the Staunton era. THere was no hope and it lacked direction and every trip the football got in the way of a good trip. This time the football added to the trips in the way they should. There is now hope and I was proud of the team and really enjoyed the campaign.
This was definitely a bigger disappointment for me, Under Staunton qualification never looked likely and we just kind of slowly fizzled out rather than the dramatic way we were dumped out at the hands of Henry this time round, its probably the sickest I've ever felt after a game. Only consolation for me is Trap signing an extension but the Euro's seem a long time away right now

[endabob1]

This was definitely a bigger disappointment for me, Under Staunton qualification never looked likely and we just kind of slowly fizzled out rather than the dramatic way we were dumped out at the hands of Henry this time round, its probably the sickest I've ever felt after a game. Only consolation for me is Trap signing an extension but the Euro's seem a long time away right now

It's not the disappointment that gets you it's the hope.
With Stan we were just slowly going backwards, Wednesday night will haunt me for a while. I have 8 months of 2010 Hype to look forward to, everytime I see a poster or hear an ad on the radio I keep thinking "that should be us" or "if only" too many "if only's".

I think the Macedonia game was the last thing that could compare.

[drummerboy]

All this suffering will make qualification for the Euros 2012 all the more sweeter. In Trap we trust.

[dr_peepee]

FIFA are having a meeting next month to discuss the out comes of the qualification campaign. So something might be emerging from this after all. I wonder would it extend as far as a ban on the player himself??

Was thinking this morning too after the Egypt Algeria match was mentioned. A player can be booked for removing his shirt or other types of celebrations for inciting the crowd. Surely there's more scope for volotile reactions from crowds baring from decisions such as Henry's efforts.

A sweeping generalisation I know, but can ye imagine the craic in Paris had Henry's efforts been against the English or the Dutch at the same stage in qualification. Do FIFAs obligation to safety not extend beyond the 90 minutes.

None of this will get us to SA I know. But I want something to come from this... A ban for Henry to act as deterrent for a start, on the grounds of a) Fair play and b) that old "Safety" chestnut that's bantered about so loosely when it suits!!

[elroy]

A sweeping generalisation I know, but can ye imagine the craic in Paris had Henry's efforts been against the English or the Dutch at the same stage in qualification. Do FIFAs obligation to safety not extend beyond the 90 minutes.



Henry Winter made the exact same point in the Telegraph over the last few days. Something along the lines of the Eiffel Tower wouldve been split in two if it were England.

[OwlsFan]

I think this one has hit the "younger generation" of fans harder than old codgers like me. For a change I went in to the game optimistic (French complacency, we play better away under Trapp etc) and I wasn't unduly surprised when Keane scored. "We might do this".

Then Duff was through one on one. Houghton at Wembley came to mind. This was the defining moment of the game. Score, we're though. Miss.... After the miss (save), I texted two of my friends "wait for the kick in the teeth". We were doomed. I thought it would come earlier than extra time but no, we made extra time and looked comfortable. Hmmm, a nudge by St. Ledger, free kick - no probs we've dealt with these all night.

The rest they say is history. It now gets stored away with the other disasters of Irish football history. There was a guy behind me who kept shouting in my ear all night, "The French are cr+p, we are going to win this!". I eventually had to move. He hadn't read his history books.

This time it was really blatant and the rest of the world took notice. Same result though, we're out. Like Kilbane, I'll think about them all on my deathbed (unless struck by a train) but the pain will never go away. However, it is expected unlike my friend behind.

Only silver lining, saves us all enduring the eventual pain of being knocked out (probably by an offside goal) in South Africa.

Bring on the Euros.

[Tipp Townie]

The main result of my 'depression' is that I haven't been able to read this forum since the match! This is the first time i've had a look since the game, and the first thread i've had a peek at. I just couldnt bear to read all the post-match reaction.

I didn't go to the game but i was at Gatwick Airport on Thursday night and there were plenty of green shirts milling around waiting for the last flights back to Dublin and Shannon. It was painful even seeing them.

Anyway, eventually i'll set aside a day or two (!) to read all of what has been said on here..

[Newryrep]

Coming home from Paris, I genuinely believed I would watch no football this weekend, and possibly for the rest of the week.
Yet here I am at 1:25 in the morning trying to track down footage of Connolly and Hoolahan's goals in the Norwich - Southampton game and correcting a report on soccerrepublic.net (this one - http://soccerrepublic.eircom.net/News/readingwinwithoutirishcontingent.aspx - if you're interested)

Wednesday's result still hurts, and it's quite possible I won't ever forgive Henry, but I'm a football fan first and foremost and godammit I need my fix!

sorry Tets the above post reminded me of

Spoof entries in Queen Mum Book of condolences


"When Diana died I swore I would never smile again, but eventually I did. Now the Queen Mum has gone I cannot image that I will ever smile for the rest of my life, but I will probably break that one too".
- A.Christie,Hendon.

[Razors left peg]

Champions league back on the box tonight and I still have zero interest in watching football.... Im begining to worry that this might become a long term thing

[Stuttgart88]

Yeah, no interest for me either.

And just to think it can't get any worse I was just on the phone to a guy in Holland. He said he was on the bench for Holland at Gelsenkirchen in 88. I nearly swore at him.