The Best Supporters in the World vs the League of Ireland

[EatYerGreens]

This article was posted on the Derry City forum and is a good read.

It looks at the contrast in Ireland fans being 'the best supporters in the world' whilst turning their backs on the LOI.

Not everyone will agree with or like it, but I thought it was worth sharing anyway.

https://www.betweenthestripes.ie/blog/2018/10/2/the-best-supporters-in-the-world-irelands-enduring-delusion

[Philosophizer]

This is brilliant.

And he has the balls to mention (albeit briefly) the reason why most irish football fans continue to ignore our league - guilt!

It's far easier to keep their heads buried in the sand (or in the EPL hype) rather than face up to the ridiculous sharade they've been living for decades...

[sidewayspasser]

Just my 2 cents as someone who only came to Ireland some years ago (yep, I'm not Irish):

I find the level of disregard towards domestic football quite surprising and strange. From the outside, it seems that the Irish football supporter is getting behind their team no matter what (this outside view is largely based on the support for the national team on big occasions and leads to these "best supporters in the world" awards).

Coming into the country some years ago and starting to see the "inside" view, the picture became quite different. The majority of football fans here would support the national team and either an EPL team or Celtic. League of Ireland? Nah, it's poor, it's awful, nobody wants to see that. I really can't get my head around why there is so much disregard and contempt towards the LoI. Has that always been the case, or have there been times in the past where this was different? If it was different in the past, when and why did it change?

[Straightstory]

This article was posted on the Derry City forum and is a good read.

It looks at the contrast in Ireland fans being 'the best supporters in the world' whilst turning their backs on the LOI.

Not everyone will agree with or like it, but I thought it was worth sharing anyway.

https://www.betweenthestripes.ie/blog/2018/10/2/the-best-supporters-in-the-world-irelands-enduring-delusion

Very good piece. After going to Ireland games for many years, it finally dawned on me how truly awful the Irish 'supporters' are. I don't go any more - I have nothing in common with those people. They do absolutely nothing for football in this country.

[blueblood]

I have a few non Irish friends who attend Limerick games even though we're crap, they go to watch live football and can't fathom most Irish people's attitudes of "I wouldn't watch that crap etc etc etc" and an English friend made a very good point that these people would be happy with just the epl and champions league, no 2nd or 3rd tier or no non league ideally a European superleague. These roi/epl fans are looked down apon not just here in Ireland but by the majority of foreign football fans when they realise they don't support their local team but instead a team from a foreign country. These "fans" are everything that is wrong with modern football.
It always sounds better when someone from a different country defends our league the barstoolers don't know how to react besides looking guilty and stupid 😂

[sbgawa]

Very good piece. After going to Ireland games for many years, it finally dawned on me how truly awful the Irish 'supporters' are. I don't go any more - I have nothing in common with those people. They do absolutely nothing for football in this country.

Ditto for me , stopped going to Ireland matches years ago although the football we play helped to make the decision easy.
Awful supporters in the main and really makes me laugh that they say the standard of football in LOI is poor...LMAO

[marinobohs]

Very good piece. After going to Ireland games for many years, it finally dawned on me how truly awful the Irish 'supporters' are. I don't go any more - I have nothing in common with those people. They do absolutely nothing for football in this country.

That should get them flying through the turnstiles at Tallaght, Dalymount etc 😳

Obviously we are looking to attract the biog ball or rugger bugger crowds.
Like them or not the Ole Ole brigade are the most likely market to develop LOI. Sneering at them hardly helps (although I did enjoy the article😁)

[Straightstory]

'Sneering' at them, cajoling them, offering them all kind of incentives - nothing would make them follow football in their own country. What might spark their interest (just possibly) is an Irish club competing in the Champions League Group stages. But then after a few hammerings at the hands of Man U and Barcelona, they'd revert to type. This is the one of the worst countries in western Europe to be a football fan. Ugh!

[NeverFeltBetter]

While its certainly cathartic to criticise, and plenty of them deserve it, being negative about the barstooler crowd doesn't get them in the gates. I don't claim to know what does get them in the gates, but insulting them and trying to make them feel guilty won't do it.

[nigel-harps1954]

I generally find encouragement a better tactic than criticising.

This idea of giving out to people and saying "sure English football is sh!te" doesn't work. I've encouraged a few friends over the past couple of years to take a chance on games by simply saying "I know the footballs not Champions League, but it's live football. Just enjoy it for what it is."

[ToberonaTornado]

The fu*king LOI mafia on twotter would suck the life out of as well with their > you'll die if go to a match in gb

I happily mix both and i've have only missed 1 Dundalk away game this year,none at home.

[El-Pietro]

I love live football. I go to between 30 and 40 City games a year and maybe an Ireland game every year. I tend to get one or two 3-4 day breaks to a European city every year and I'll always try and squeeze in a football game if possible (have a trip to Copenhagen coming up next month and contemplating a Malmo game as there aren't any top division Copenhagen teams at home when I'm there).

I have always supported an English team (formerly in the Premier League, currently in League One) and in normal circumstances I'd go see them once or twice a year though recently a significant portion of the fan-base is boycotting home games due to ownership and its easy for me to sacrifice a game or two a year and maybe go to the occasional away game.

I find it very difficult to watch Football on TV unless I have an interest in the team playing or its the World Cup/Champions League Final. I wouldn't even be bothered to watch Real/Barcelona unless I was in a pub with friends and it was on and even then I'd probably only keep one eye on it. I would rarely watch midweek Champions League games or Premier League games at the weekend.

I'm probably on the furthest end of the scale from your typical football fan in Ireland who will probably watch a couple of games on Sky on a Sunday. I long ago gave up trying to convince people that they should come watch the LOI. My mind isn't wired the same way theirs is. Its like having two music fans. One casual who will go see Guns N Roses or the Rolling Stones at Slane, Taylor Swift or Kings of Leon at the 3 Arena and that will be it, one or two concerts a year and they make a big deal of it. Similar to your barstooler fan going to the Liam Miller game or to whatever international Club friendly is at Lansdowne Road this year.
Then you have the diehard who knows about every up and coming artist and is at two shows a week in Whelans, Cyprus Avenue, Dolans, The Forum, Roisin Dubh or whatever your local equivalent is. Neither is the wrong way to enjoy your chosen entertainment but you'd be blue in the face trying to convince the casual group to try and enjoy it your way. You might even convince them to come along once in a while and they might even enjoy it but it probably wouldn't cross their mind to go to the next one, or to travel to Galway to see this new experimental indie band on a Tuesday night. They'd probably get more enjoyment out of some local guy playing cover songs in the corner of their local pub. Thats ok. How they spend their time and money is entirely up to them.

If we want to grow our leagues then we need to invest our time in schools and local clubs. Indoctrination is the only way forward. Give kids a taste early and enough of them will come back to justify the cost of free tickets and a few scarves.

[Hitman]

I tend to get one or two 3-4 day breaks to a European city every year and I'll always try and squeeze in a football game if possible (have a trip to Copenhagen coming up next month and contemplating a Malmo game as there aren't any top division Copenhagen teams at home when I'm there).

This is typical of the snobbish attitude that's preventing lower-league Danish teams from fulfilling their potential.

[marinobohs]

'Sneering' at them, cajoling them, offering them all kind of incentives - nothing would make them follow football in their own country. What might spark their interest (just possibly) is an Irish club competing in the Champions League Group stages. But then after a few hammerings at the hands of Man U and Barcelona, they'd revert to type. This is the one of the worst countries in western Europe to be a football fan. Ugh!

I know personally I have cajoled, threatened, bludgeoned several EPL fans of my acquaintance into visiting Dalymount, some got the bug many did not.My point is that people that support football - any football , are the most likely source of potential customers, necessary to grow our game. think about it, where else do we look for potential customers ? Slagging them off only makes it easier for them to ignore our (and ironically their) own game.

[Pablo Escobar]

While factually correct, the author states that 200,000 people spending €200 each is over €1m. Possibly a little conservative?

[CorribsideSteve]

Irish football fans would require Dundalk or Cork to WIN the Europa League before they think to themselves 'I suppose the League must be kind of okay'.

[nigel-harps1954]

Irish football fans would require Dundalk or Cork to WIN the Europa League before they think to themselves 'I suppose the League must be kind of okay'.

Sure the Europa League is only a ****, mickey mouse tournament anyway. Most teams only put out reserve sides. If you don't beat reserve sides you don't deserve to be in the Champions League.

Even half the teams in the Champions League are utter dog-sh!te according to the average football fan.

Trying to win them over with nonsense delusions of a cracking football league, or 'the standard is much better than you think' won't do a thing.