Ireland Vs. China?

[eirebhoy]

Fair play to ya eirebhoy, Ive realised lately that you make more sense than any other member of foot.ie.
Jaysus, I've never gotten praise like that before, won't be long before you change your mind no doubt. ;)

I don't see a problem with fans preferring a competitive club game over an international friendly. Colm, etc, would also admit to preferring club over country in football which again, while I find it weird, at the end of the day its their heart that does the choosing. The "real fans" comment was silly though.

[Plastic Paddy]

Greetings one and all from sunny Melbourne. Twenty-eight degrees at the end of January. I love it. :)


Fair play to ya eirebhoy, Ive realised lately that you make more sense than any other member of foot.ie.

There's being damned with faint praise and then there's being endorsed by JPM... I'm not sure which I'd rather. :p


Colm and eoinh can talk all they like about the "real fans", but some so-called Irish supporters need to take a long hard look at themselves. We might have the odd player who doesnt do friendlies, but we also have a lot of "fans" who dont do friendly games. Im a real fan and I know that Id prefer to see my country in action against China. I bet every other l@nger who chooses a Setanta Cup game over an international, will all be looking for tickets when the French come to town. As for Cork V Shels having an effect on RTE's ratings for an Irish international, dream on.

Well PM, you're actually making an awful lot of sense there yourself. Apart from your having a direct pop at some fellow posters (attack the post, not the poster, remember?) I couldn't agree more with your sentiments. Still, each to their own. We're obviously the ones missing out... :rolleyes:

Right, now that I've cooled off, it's back to the sunshine... :D

:D PP

[sylvo]

[QUOTE=TheJamaicanP.M.]Fair play to ya eirebhoy, Ive realised lately that you make more sense than any other member of foot.ie.



PM I thought Davros was the one that made most sense on foot.ie. :confused:

[1MickCollins]

Fair play to ya eirebhoy, Ive realised lately that you make more sense than any other member of foot.ie.
Like yourself, I couldnt bear to miss an Ireland game. I'll be there to see them play China. It could be like the Canada game where there were about 18,000 fans in Lansdowne. Colm and eoinh can talk all they like about the "real fans", but some so-called Irish supporters need to take a long hard look at themselves. We might have the odd player who doesnt do friendlies, but we also have a lot of "fans" who dont do friendly games. Im a real fan and I know that Id prefer to see my country in action against China. I bet the likes of Colm, eoinh, and every other l@nger who chooses a Setanta Cup game over an international, will all be looking for tickets when the French come to town. As for Cork V Shels having an effect on RTE's ratings for an Irish international, dream on. :rolleyes:

PM you are dead wrong on this one, the real football fans in Ireland are the guys who turn up week in week out at EL games and who supported Ireland before success came along. Add to that the regular match goers and volunteers at youth games and the international underage games and they my friend are the real fans not the drunken twits in the leprechaun hats who only attend a soccer game in Ireland if it is in Lansdowne Rd. I will stand up and say "I am not a 'real' Irish football fan" because if I was back in Ireland I would not attend EL games on a regular basis. But I am still a football fan, perhaps a plastic one.

As for the China game as with all friendlies it is more about us than who we play. It is a chance for the manager to re-enforce his style and prepartion and to try a few variations with players and positions. Hopefully McGeady and Elliott will benefit.

[Plastic Paddy]

PM you are dead wrong on this one, the real football fans in Ireland are the guys who turn up week in week out at EL games and who supported Ireland before success came along. Add to that the regular match goers and volunteers at youth games and the international underage games and they my friend are the real fans not the drunken twits in the leprechaun hats who only attend a soccer game in Ireland if it is in Lansdowne Rd. I will stand up and say "I am not a 'real' Irish football fan" because if I was back in Ireland I would not attend EL games on a regular basis. But I am still a football fan, perhaps a plastic one.

I see your point Mick, but it's the sanctimony and self-righteousness of those "real" football fans on here that really sticks in my craw. I have a stereotypical view of them as lads in their teens and early twenties with no other commitments than meeting their mates on a weekend and watching their football. No wives, families or mortgages to consider. It's those things, after all, that allow people as they get older to put football and all that goes with it into perspective.

And, in the light of that, you shouldn't have to devalue or downplay your own commitment to football just to appease the super-supporters round here. You are a real fan, pure and simple; please don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. You care enough to spend time on here debating the game and the team you love, after all. Enough said.

:) PP

[TheJamaicanP.M.]

I see your point Mick, but it's the sanctimony and self-righteousness of those "real" football fans on here that really sticks in my craw. I have a stereotypical view of them as lads in their teens and early twenties with no other commitments than meeting their mates on a weekend and watching their football. No wives, families or mortgages to consider. It's those things, after all, that allow people as they get older to put football and all that goes with it into perspective.

And, in the light of that, you shouldn't have to devalue or downplay your own commitment to football just to appease the super-supporters round here. You are a real fan, pure and simple; please don't let anyone else tell you otherwise. You care enough to spend time on here debating the game and the team you love, after all. Enough said.

:) PP

Great point PP.
Im sure Mick Collins is a real fan. Most people on this site are. I know I am. I go to enough games and have a big enough interest. I also know plenty of lads who live in regions where there are no EL teams. Does that mean they are lesser fans? The lads from Cork claimed they were real fans because they would go to see Cork V Shels ahead of Ireland V China. That doesnt mean they are bigger fans than those of us who go to see the China game.
BTW, I am not one of the bandwagon, leprechaun-hat wearing fans. I do take an interest in the underage set-up and attend those games whenever I can.

[1MickCollins]

Whether I am a real fan or not I do acknowledge that the life blood of Irish football is at the underage level in particular and if somebody decided to go to an U-10 game rather than see an international friendly at Lansdowne Rd I salute them. If it wasn't for the unpaid coaches, players and fans at under-age level where would we be?

Irish foorball is like an iceberg - we see the senior international and to a certain extent the EL, but the most important and largest part is unseen almost.

He is an article on that mostly unseen and sad part ( though Stephen Bradley is pretty well know many of the other are not ) :
http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=15938

[thejollyrodger]

Personally I hope were playing poorer opposition that the likes of Italy Germany etc. It gives Kerr another chance with the 4-3-3 and give players like Mc Geady, Elliott, Miller etc full games. Playing holland Croatia etc is good but kerr always picks the usual suspects

[Colm]

I bet the likes of Colm, eoinh, and every other l@nger who chooses a Setanta Cup game over an international, will all be looking for tickets when the French come to town.

Don't worry I'll have my tickets when the French come to town alright because I do go to nearly all the home internationals (and the odd away one too) but I'll be damned if I ever got to an Ireland game over ANY City game.

[thecorner]

Don't worry I'll have my tickets when the French come to town alright because I do go to nearly all the home internationals (and the odd away one too) but I'll be damned if I ever got to an Ireland game over ANY City game.
great post

thats what u call priorities ;)

[eoinh]

I bet the likes of Colm, eoinh, and every other l@nger who chooses a Setanta Cup game over an international, will all be looking for tickets when the French come to town.


I dont go to ireland games. I have no interest in them.

[Schumi]

Can't see anybody going up to this one from Cork as our opening Setanta Cup game against Shels is on the same night.
Typical FAI. :rolleyes:

I think I'll be watching the Setanta game rather than that non-entity of a friendly.

[Peadar]

Is the China game definitely on Tuesday the 29th?
If so, why?
For Sky Sports?
Can't seen Brian Kerr getting anything new from watching Switzerland v Cyprus or Israel v France for that matter.
He's unlikely to want to fly straight back to Israel just for that game anyway.

[pete]

Is the China game definitely on Tuesday the 29th?
If so, why?
For Sky Sports?

Don't know but if you look at last couple of years most of our friendlies are on Tuesday & only reason has to be for Sky Sports.

[Dotsy]

Don't know but if you look at last couple of years most of our friendlies are on Tuesday & only reason has to be for Sky Sports.

I read in one of the papers at the weekend that Kerr choose to have the games on a Tuesday as it allows the players to get back to their clubs a day earlier and keeps their managers sweet.

[Peadar]

I read in one of the papers at the weekend that Kerr choose to have the games on a Tuesday as it allows the players to get back to their clubs a day earlier and keeps their managers sweet.

It also facilitated his trips to watch some other teams in the group compete against each other on the Wednesday but I can't see him needing to go to such effort on this particular match date.
I hope it's on Wednesday because the game may struggle to sell anyway without having to compete with a domestic fixture.