Northern Ireland int. team

[padjoe]

whats the story with the northern ireland? is it true that only protestants and loyalists follow the international team while the catholics and republicans follow the republic soccer side? is there many catholics playing for the north side? is the atmosphere tense inside windsor park when both sides meet or is it just forgotten about for the match? just looking for someone to clear a few things ive been told about the north

[padjoe]

ya ok cheers

[BannsideBoy]

A little research hasn't hurt anyone, ignorance is a dangerous thing.

[padjoe]

i cant find that thread. can someone just fill me in please any body.

[BannsideBoy]

Well, this is my point of view, I am not loyalist, don't class myself as a protestant as i'm not particulary religious in any way. Right so thats the background. I am a northern ireland supporter as they are the players that I feel represent my local football. Yes all but a few ply there trade accross the water, infact some were not raised on these shores, but in today's international set up very few countries don't have this. But to watch a lad from enniskillen and a midfielder from belfast is what international football is all about, representing your local football. I have no interest in what international team other people support, that is up to them to decide who represents their idea of local football, but for me its the intimacy of knowing that the players playing in green could have come from just down the road.

[-lamb-]

is it true that only protestants and loyalists follow the international team while the catholics and republicans follow the republic soccer side?
no. there is more of a trend these days for younger catholics to tend towards the ROI team but it is by no means set in stone and probably has a lot to do with ROI success in recent years.


is there many catholics playing for the north side?
there have always been catholics playing for Northern Ireland in my living memory. the proportion goes up and down but is dependent only on ability and not religion/belief.


is the atmosphere tense inside windsor park when both sides meet or is it just forgotten about for the match?
do you mean between fans of Northern Ireland? no.

[Eire06]

Neil Lennon

[-lamb-]

Neil Lennon

pat jennings, martin o'neill, mal donaghy, gerry amrstrong, pat rice.


your point? that younger people support the ROI team because of the neil lennon incident?
i'm not sure i agree with that.
there's no arguing that it didn't help, certainly a small minority put a lot of people from both communities off going but i honestly think its more to do with the ROI's success and players kids can idolise and possibly feel more akin to.
if you think people are more extreme in their views now than they were at the height of the troubles then i would strongly disagree. i know that most older (35+) catholics in northern ireland either supported no team or northern ireland.
for many many years the ROI team had little support in Northern Ireland. they were also not successful on the field at that time. coincidence? maybe, but i don't think so.

[Eire06]

pat jennings, martin o'neill, mal donaghy, gerry amrstrong, pat rice.


your point? that younger people support the ROI team because of the neil lennon incident?
i'm not sure i agree with that.
there's no arguing that it didn't help, certainly a small minority put a lot of people from both communities off going but i honestly think its more to do with the ROI's success and players kids can idolise and possibly feel more akin to.
if you think people are more extreme in their views now than they were at the height of the troubles then i would strongly disagree. i know that most older (35+) catholics in northern ireland either supported no team or northern ireland.
for many many years the ROI team had little support in Northern Ireland. they were also not successful on the field at that time. coincidence? maybe, but i don't think so.

I wasn't really making that point of course a lot of young people for NI are going to support Ireland its the whole glory hunter thing.. It happend with Man Utd too (slight different issue but general point).. Young people don't want to support a team who lose a lot, they want a team with top class players and that get into major championships ect....

I was just bring Neil up because he was forced to quit International Football by a few bigots, and this caused the whole Catholics can't play for NI ect. ect. to be brought up again

[-lamb-]

ah, fair enough. it didn't help anyway. :(

[dancinpants]

i know that most older (35+) catholics in northern ireland either supported no team or northern ireland.


I obviously missed that referendum!!! :rolleyes:

The single most sweeping statement on foot.ie.

[-lamb-]

I obviously missed that referendum!!! :rolleyes:

The single most sweeping statement on foot.ie.

:D maybe i should explain why it appears like that to me.

i can only go on speaking with older football fans than me (i'm 35) of all persuasions, their opinions and my own experiences. their opinion was that Northern Ireland had a bigger catholic support then. they also say that to support the ROI wasn't really thought about so much. certainly not to the extent it is these days anyway.
remember, both communities footballers played for the NI team. it wasn't such a them or us thing in those days. political connotations weren't pressed upon people to the same degree.
pre-troubles even thru the some of the 70's that would seem to have been the case. possibly not up around your way though, i don't know.
it seemed to be only from around the jack charlton era and subsequent success that support strengthened considerably for the ROI.
again, maybe it wasn't like that in derry, but i'm fairly sure it was along the east coast.
hope that explains what i meant ;)

[Éanna]

I've binned a number of posts from this. Was one warning not enough Davros? I'm sick of having to babysit threads in this forum because they're being hijacked like this. Talk football, or the whole thread goes next time.

I want everyone to be clear on this- forum rules (http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=21973)

Éanna

[beano]

I don't know, my g/f's catholic and most of her family support the RoI side, I think you're right though, in general it seems to have a lot to do with the fact that all of a sudden the Republic have a side worth talking about, and not helped by the fact that OWC have been fairly consistently rubbish for the last 5-10 years.

As to the original question, you do get the odd sectarian clown at NI matches but if you read the forums at Our Wee Country (http://ourweecountry.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3909) they tend to show that the bigots are not welcome by the majority - unfortunately this doesn't seem to stop them.

As for the whole Neil Lennon thing, I have to wonder how much of his retirement was actually to do with the threats and how much of it was to do with not wanting to play for a painfully unsuccessful, underfunded team. Don't get me wrong I'm disgusted at these threats, coming from people who obviously weren't NI fans (come on - it's not like Lennon was a staunch republican or he presumably wouldn't have played for NI in the first place!!). Idiots!! :mad:

It's true there are one or two "bad apples" at home games but it's cleaned up a lot in recent years (it's not all "One night in November" despite what some would have you believe). We can't abandon supporting NI because of one or two arseholes, otherwise they win. Like I said it's getting better, lets just hope it's not too long before the bigots stop showing up altogether. We live in hope.

[conboy]

I take your points there Beano but the sad fact is when Anto Rogan played for the North and Celtic he got the same treatment as Lennon. Chris McGrath a Belfast wing back and Man Utd. player declared for the Republic and got masses of abuse for that in the 80's. This has been an issue for a longer time than many realise judging on the points raised here. McGeady is getting the same now as his family are Irish and most of the boo boys on their bile sites are banging on about him which has got more to do with Aidans own "identity choices i.e. Celtic and the Republic". He's Irish and has declared for Ireland, he holds an Irish passport like a lot of Northern Irish do the harrassment these lads get is all wrong. There was a young anglo Irish guy born in Dublin years ago who played scrumhalf for England and got abuse at Landsdowne Road from the home crowd on his England debut there and after that things died down and he had a long career with them without the same level of abuse. Kyran Branagh I think he was called. My point is that young northerners who declare for the Republic are welcome to do so both locally and culturally. I've family in the North and I know from talking to them and their not SF, that they think its handy having the Irish passport and following the Republic. Whether ye like it or not thats the way a it is for a lot of people and thats why the Republics team comes first for a lot of Northern soccer fans.

[onceahoop]

Kyran Bracken was the scrum-halfs name. Many of his relations still live in Skerries, Co. Dublin

I remember Rangers players being booed at Lansdowne Road while playing for their country and it wasn't one of the so called home countries. I know many Catholics who supported Northern Ireland in the world cup in Spain. I also know that there are Catholics who are playing for the NI under age teams. The whole booing thing is just pure ignorance and stupid. You only have to look at the Irish League Forums to realise that the vast majority of fans are totally against sectarianism in football. So let's follow their example and remember that it's only a game. Those of us who've played the game know that we shake hands with our opponents after the game. Maybe it would be a good idea if supporters did the same.

[Green Tribe]

whats the story with the northern ireland? is it true that only protestants and loyalists follow the international team while the catholics and republicans follow the republic soccer side? is there many catholics playing for the north side? is the atmosphere tense inside windsor park when both sides meet or is it just forgotten about for the match? just looking for someone to clear a few things ive been told about the north

oh my God, do u live on mars?, u talk as if the 'north' is an alien place far far away.i apologise if u are a foreigner, then i can understand, but from cork, that is shocking ignorance ..... :eek:

[Wiseguy]

I have met people in Cork,Kerry,Waterford & Wexford who didn't know where Longford was and also thought that Donegal,Monaghan & Cavan were part of Northern Ireland.Anyone would think we lived on a bloody huge Continent with millions of counties.Some of the questions being asked about the North are rediculous but some people just don't bloody know.Personally i think these questions are put out there to stir up some sh1t by raising the Neil Lennon issue and so on and hoping someone will come on with a sectarian rant.This thread along with any other ones that go along this line should be dumped.

[dcfcsteve]

Padjoe,

Shockingly basic questions for an Irish person to be coming out with.

The below article written in October 2004 should hopefully answer your questions to a certain extent.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/euro2004/feature?id=280042&cc=5739

[dahamsta]

This is "Irish League"? Was the word "League" too big for you to understand?