Republic of Ireland v N.I. friendly. 15/11/2018

[backstothewall]

PA reporting Northern Ireland will play the Republic of Ireland in a friendly at Lansdowne Road on Thursday 15 November.

[samhaydenjr]

Good to add an extra friendly in to assess options next season - so that's four friendlies and four Nations League games before Euro 2020 qualification proper kicks off - great opportunity to test out a bunch of new players and give some of our fringe players a significant opportunity to impress and build up their caps (so eight caps for Hogan and Rice then). Who knows, if one or two youngsters make a breakthrough at the start of next season, this particular friendly would give us the chance to blood them in also before qualifying starts - after all, it's highly unlikely that our cadre of teen strikers will make a significant breakthrough in time for the March and June friendlies (Michael Obafemi's 10-minute cameo notwithstanding), but it's a not insignificant possibility that one of them might make the leap to first-team football over the summer.

[samhaydenjr]

Friendly in Poland also announced for September 11: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2018/0205/938503-republic-of-ireland-to-take-on-northern-ireland-in-nov/

[colonelwest]

Gotta love how the FAI have realised they've completely faffed up this seasons season tickets. Supposed to be 6 games and the cup final paid for, by June we'll have had 4 games on the season ticket and the cup final. So they've thrown the N.I. game in November into this seasons season ticket, even though it'll also be part of the 18/19 season ticket which will no doubt lead to the same absolute clusterf*** that happened when we played Poland at home where they decided to sell 4 blocks of the east lowers season ticket holders seats to the away support and on ticketmaster and didn't bother telling most of the season ticket holders.

Still due another home game on top of that, rumours of a big get for the June friendly so I hear, no word on who it is though.

[ArFella]

Still due another home game on top of that, rumours of a big get for the June friendly so I hear, no word on who it is though.

I believe Oman are available :rolleyes:

[colonelwest]

I believe Oman are available :rolleyes:

I always look forward to my annual inflicting of all my terrible Ken Oman references and chants on everyone within earshot.

[BonnieShels]

I wonder will there be any requests to wear a poppy?

[DannyInvincible]

I wonder will there be any requests to wear a poppy?

Hadn't thought of that. I would imagine surely not. It would be provocative and brazen, especially as we're hosting the fixture, given the symbol's contentious connotations within non-unionist circles in Ireland.

[backstothewall]

I wonder will there be any requests to wear a poppy?

I'd be amazed if a request isn't made. Daft time of year to be playing this.

[Olé Olé]

Surely would be rejected on the basis of the location of the match?

I get the feeling the only red we might see is a card brandished to McClean!

[gastric]

Red poppy to a bull!

[OwlsFan]

Hadn't thought of that. I would imagine surely not. It would be provocative and brazen, especially as we're hosting the fixture, given the symbol's contentious connotations within non-unionist circles in Ireland.

Within non-Unionist minority circles in Ireland, perhaps ?? I am within non-Unionist circles in Ireland and don't give a fiddler's flying flute about the wearing of the poppy. The only issue I have is with the poppy Gestapo in the UK who raise the roof when anyone appearing on TV chooses not to wear it but that issue has been covered ad nauseum elsewhere.

I wonder will many of the NI fans attending the game once more turn their back when our anthem is being played like their did last time they were in town for the Celtic League game?

[osarusan]

I also wouldn't give a crap if they wanted to wear one.

It wouldn't surprise me if it was already discussed as part of organising the friendly. If I remember the new rules correctly, the FAI need to agree, for the poppy to be allowed.

[seanfhear]

No Poppy-ery Here !

[IsMiseSean]

I'd have no issue with them wearing it, however I don't think a minutes silence before KO would be a good idea.

[OwlsFan]

I'd have no issue with them wearing it, however I don't think a minutes silence before KO would be a good idea.

If they're doing it they could be smart and tie it in with the usual minute's silence for the list as long as your arm of football people who have died since the last home game: you know the one. We're all ready to go at the opposition after the anthem and then we have to be silent for a minute for some guy who used to shine the boots in Tolka Rovers.

[DannyInvincible]

I'd have less of an issue with them wearing it in their own back yard, so to speak - that'd be their call ultimately and not really my business - or against a country that hadn't been subjected to the British army's violence (although such a country would presumably have to provide their permission for the display too under present rules).

In respect of our fixture specifically, however, I'd be uneasy with the idea of the FAI providing a platform for and playing host to such a display. The RBL (who run the annual remembrance poppy campaign) have stated (https://web.archive.org/web/20151024233959/https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/ways-to-give/fundraising-appeals/poppy-appeal-2015-launch/) of the symbol:


"The poppy is a powerful symbol – it is worn to commemorate the sacrifices of our Armed Forces and to show support to those still serving today and their loved ones."

The poppy doesn't commemorate those who lost their lives in wars generally. According to the RBL, it serves the British army's perspective and entails support for only their soldiers in only wars in which Britain has been and is engaged. If Irish soldiers are remembered, it is only insofar as they fought for British interests. Of course, people can have their own reasons for wearing a poppy and can attribute their own meaning to the symbol, but, beyond the official symbolism, which is solidarity with the British armed forces, soldiers who killed a few hundred people (over half of whom were innocent civilians) in the north - not to mention their collusion (which the British state still refuses to come clean about), the use of torture, the use of "human shields", et cetera - are supported by and benefit directly from the poppy's promotion.

Of course, the IFA can go ahead and request permission for their players to wear the poppy (although whether their nationalist-background players would get much of a say in that is another matter), but people are entitled to look upon it unfavourably. Personally, I would view it as an inflammatory request. I'll find it easier to "move on" and "mature" as soon as Britain faces up to the truth of its armed forces' past in Ireland and the legacy of that, particularly in the north, instead of hiding behind the convenient and independently-unverified cloak of "national security".

Conversely, I wouldn't expect the IFA to play host to a display of, say, Easter lilies if the FAI wished for our team to wear those for whatever reason in a game at Windsor Park.

[osarusan]

Given the timing of the friendly, you'd hope that both associations considered the potential for a poppy to be worn, and hopefully came to some agreement - that either no request will be made, or a request will be made and agreed to.

If an IFA request was made public but the FAI refused to agree, I think it would be the worst thing that could happen.

[geysir]

It would write another chapter in the voluminous annals of IFA pig-headedness should they make public, a request to the FAI to join together and bid permission for a poppy commemoration before and during this football game.
Does the poppy waving continue that long after remembrance sunday?

I didn't agree with the FIFA decision to allow a poppy commemoration at football games. It was a dreadful biased decision which went against the fifa statutes and how they were enacted. The poppy remembrance campaign is clearly political when it used to remember current military campaigns and claiming that such recent military campaigns (https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/remembrance/what-we-remember/recent-conflicts/) are a fight against terrorism and colonial unrest. This is a ´With God on our Side' fallacy. Next time a team goes to play in Tel Aviv and it happens to fall upon Israel's remembrance day, would the visiting team be requested to support a tribute to all the fallen/injured Israeli soldiers in their recent fight against terrorism and for colonial expansion?
Last time there was a fuss about poppy commemoration at an international game was 2016 and the UK FAs all snitched the FAI out to FIFA in an epidemic of hysterical whining whataboutery which resulted in the FAI being fined.