EL Support in Ireland

[cavan_fan]

Having just been home to Ireland on hols, I was as always struck by the English premiership jerseys. To be fair though there were an equal number of Barcelona ones on kids (is this the acceptable foreign team to support). However the numbers were dwarfed by GAA jersies.

It struck me that one thing GAA has over soccer is that everyone has one and only one team to support. You'd be surprised to see a kid in one county wearing the jersey of another even if they live in a county with a sh*t team, let's take Cavan as an example!

The difference with soccer is that even if you leave in an area with a soccer team, it doesnt represent an area. I don't know this but I'm sure there are many people in Galway county who dont identify with Galway Utd.

Is one option to have county teams in soccer too. Admittedly there would be a great discrepancy in skill but that doesnt stop Fermanagh people supporting their GAA team. I'm not excusing Clare people supporting Man U but they are not likely to support Limerick and who else are they going to support?

[BohsPartisan]

= I'm not excusing Clare people supporting Man U but they are not likely to support Limerick and who else are they going to support?

Why not? There are a fair few Meath men supporting clubs in Dublin and Louth.

[cavan_fan]

Why not? There are a fair few Meath men supporting clubs in Dublin and Louth.

Yeah but if you're going to go across the county boundary to pick a team it's not a huge step to going overseas. I'm fairly sure no Meath man supports Dublin's Gaelic team.

[Torn-Ado]

Having just been home to Ireland on hols, I was as always struck by the English premiership jerseys. To be fair though there were an equal number of Barcelona ones on kids (is this the acceptable foreign team to support). However the numbers were dwarfed by GAA jersies.

It struck me that one thing GAA has over soccer is that everyone has one and only one team to support. You'd be surprised to see a kid in one county wearing the jersey of another even if they live in a county with a sh*t team, let's take Cavan as an example!

The difference with soccer is that even if you leave in an area with a soccer team, it doesnt represent an area. I don't know this but I'm sure there are many people in Galway county who dont identify with Galway Utd.

Is one option to have county teams in soccer too. Admittedly there would be a great discrepancy in skill but that doesnt stop Fermanagh people supporting their GAA team. I'm not excusing Clare people supporting Man U but they are not likely to support Limerick and who else are they going to support?

I'm from Galway county and support Galway United. However a lot of what you say is right.

The amount of Ireland jerseys to be seen around the streets of Ireland is dwarfed by premiership jerseys. Yet in England, the home of the premiership, the main shirt to be seen on the streets is the England national shirt.

[osarusan]

Yeah but if you're going to go across the county boundary to pick a team it's not a huge step to going overseas. I'm fairly sure no Meath man supports Dublin's Gaelic team.

Yes, but thats because Meath has a team of its own, in direct competition with the Dublin team.

I'm from Clare and support Limerick, as do a few others I know. I think that if you have a genuine interest in live local football, you will find a team to support.

And the arguement that "There was no team near me, so I couldn't support one. So I chose a foreign team instead" has never made sense to me.

[biscuit]

it all goes back to the ideology alot of people have - that things non-irish are always somehow better....we go on about bational pride, and "ara its great to be a paddy, isnt it", yet somewhere there there is this sub concious feeling of inadequacy..it ****es me off too in regards football...we buy into this product that sky have designed (and make no mistakes about it, sky have made this) - the premiership, and neglect what is on our doorstep....it gives you immense pride when YOUR team does well, a team you regularily support financially, and that you can actually go and see live every week. I pity the fools who travel over like addicts to a clinic every few weeks to see that glamourised bullsh!t....

[cavan_fan]

it all goes back to the ideology alot of people have - that things non-irish are always somehow better....we go on about bational pride, and "ara its great to be a paddy, isnt it", yet somewhere there there is this sub concious feeling of inadequacy..it ****es me off too in regards football...we buy into this product that sky have designed (and make no mistakes about it, sky have made this) - the premiership, and neglect what is on our doorstep....it gives you immense pride when YOUR team does well, a team you regularily support financially, and that you can actually go and see live every week. I pity the fools who travel over like addicts to a clinic every few weeks to see that glamourised bullsh!t....

But with Rugby you don't get people supporting English clubs, again that's because of the regional base. There are loads of people in e.g. Clare supporting Munster Rugby even though in reality its mostly a Limerick/Cork team. Would they support Garryowen as readily?

[BohsPartisan]

Yeah but if you're going to go across the county boundary to pick a team it's not a huge step to going overseas.

There's a big difference. If you are from Meath, your nearest professional (sic) football club will be either Bohs, Pats, Shels, Drogheda, Kildare or Athlone (Leaving anyone out?). County boundaries are abitrary English creations anyway.

[Mental Man]

Did anybody read the back of the Sunday Independent yesterday on the sports pull out, McSweeney i think was the guys name, he wrote 1 hell of a piece practically giving out about the barstool mentality in this country and why is it people here support premiere-****e teams?
He went through the whole scenario and basically he called the supporters of the domestic league here that follow their team through thick and thin -HEROES !!!
I never enjoyed reading a piece so much, fair play to him.

[Lim till i die]

I'm not excusing Clare people supporting Man U but they are not likely to support Limerick and who else are they going to support?

Limerick have always drawn fans from Clare, North Tipperary and North Kerry aswell as Limerick

[sligoman]

Did anybody read the back of the Sunday Independent yesterday on the sports pull out, McSweeney i think was the guys name, he wrote 1 hell of a piece practically giving out about the barstool mentality in this country and why is it people here support premiere-****e teams?
He went through the whole scenario and basically he called the supporters of the domestic league here that follow their team through thick and thin -HEROES !!!
I never enjoyed reading a piece so much, fair play to him.Here it is (http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=67421).

[biscuit]

yeah i know what you mean...but would it be beacause theres maybe a different mindset between rugby and soccer supporters? tis a strange one!:confused: I think the glamour and glitz of skys premiership only appeals to a certain person...unfortunatly that sort of person seem to be in the majority here!and us poor fools go and watch LOI! wouldn trade it for the world tho!:D

[cavan_fan]

And the arguement that "There was no team near me, so I couldn't support one. So I chose a foreign team instead" has never made sense to me.

The problem is that with non regional teams you are asking people to choose someone to support. Once people have a choice they might exercise it to pick a foreign team. In GAA and now provincial rugby they don't have a choice to make.

It's actually the same issue in England. The reason kids from Surrey support Man U is because they are choosing their team.

[cavan_fan]

There's a big difference. If you are from Meath, your nearest professional (sic) football club will be either Bohs, Pats, Shels, Drogheda, Kildare or Athlone (Leaving anyone out?). County boundaries are abitrary English creations anyway.

They may be arbitrary boundaries but for most people (outside possibly Dublin) they are a huge part of their identity. You have an in built loyalty their which could be exploited. I take the point that a small proportion of people in Meath support e.g. Drogheda but if you want to get the rest to support an Irish team you need to use existing loyalties.

I've said it before I could feel no loyalty for Monaghan Utd and any loyalty I did create would be as fake as supporting Reading/Sunderland. On the other hand despite being no huge fan of GAA I do feel an emotional attachment to the Cavan team. Why doesnt soccer use this attachment to it's benefit.

[Lim till i die]

Why doesnt soccer use this attachment to it's benefit.

How??

Create a team in every county so the narrow-minded can support with a clear conscience??

[sligoman]

Exactly, you'd need 26 teams for that to happen and the EL couldn't sustain that.

[Dave77]

thanks for posting that article sligoman, first really positive thing i have read about LOI for a long time. Unfortunately most people will never read aything positve about LOI, and views will not change.

Was i a taxi on Sat night and the driver asked was into football, said i supported Shels and his response sure "EL is sh!t!". And that is the opinion of most "real" man u liverpool chelsea etc irish football fans.

[Torn-Ado]

quote

[sligoman]

26 actually.

What can I say, i'm a pedantic bast#rd:confused:...;)

[Torn-Ado]

:confused:...;)

d'oh :o

[Lim till i die]

Exactly, you'd need 26 teams for that to happen and the EL couldn't sustain that.

Not forgetting our friends in (London)Derry ;) :p

[sligoman]

Not forgetting our friends in (London)Derry ;) :pWell they don't seem to recognise the tri-colour so I presumed they'd wanna go back to the Irish League:p.

[TonyD]

The county team thing is a complete non runner in my view. The GAA comparison doesn't really fit, because the organisation of the sport is totally different. Remember, county teams have how many serious games a year that would attract big crowds, 6, 7 ? Would these people go every week, or even to a home game every other week ? I doubt it. Having said that, I completely take Cavan mans point about people in Clare having no attachment to Limerick, Mayo - Galway and Kerry-Cork could be added to the list I'm sure. Even allowing for that though, most clubs in the country would have a decent enough catchment area to draw their crowds from I'd say, certainly better than the crowds we are currently getting. We've heard all the arguments at this stage, and the Indo piece isn't telling us anything we don't know. The "barstoolers" know it too, they just don't care. The bottom line is that supporting your local team is just not seen as the thing to do. It's not trendy, it's not sexy, and it's too muc like hard work for a lot of people. The thing is though, there's nothing to say it has to stay that way. I remember a time when the National team got very poor support, pre-Charlton. All it took was one qualification and the feelgood factor took over, even to the extent that now, with a poor national team, it can still draw great numbers to support it.

[half_full]

Counties (and their boundaries) have got nothing to do with football, i am from and live in Tipp and i know of others who follow the Blues from other counties. If i was born closer to another LoI team then I'd support them simple as.

The arguement about supporting rugby provinces doesn't really hold up as its a GAA championship type situation whereby most people wouldn't know if Munster were playing in the Celtic League, the same as the GAA national leagues. Yet when the Heiniken Cup/All-Ireland Championship comes around theres such a scramble for tickets you'd think it was the end of the world.
When Munster won the Heiniken Cup for example, they probably could have filled the Milenimum Stadium twice over on their own. Yet when it came to the Celtic League game a couple of weeks after the final (remember they actually won the final) they was less than 3,000 or so at the match:eek:

Baiscally Irish people only want to follow very successful/fashionable teams (and when it suits them to) preferably the bigger teams in the EPL or La Liga so they can brag to their work collegues/friends. Its not just an Irish thing to be fair, Juventus have something like 11 million fans across Italy:rolleyes:

[superfrank]

But with Rugby you don't get people supporting English clubs, again that's because of the regional base. There are loads of people in e.g. Clare supporting Munster Rugby even though in reality its mostly a Limerick/Cork team. Would they support Garryowen as readily?
In rugby terms, afaik, the Irish teams are on a par with a lot of the English ones. In football, that is far from the case.

We get most of our fans from Bray town but there's a good few from Dublin and from Northern Wicklow. But then again I know a good few Wicklowmen who support Rovers, I even know a Bohs fan from Bray and a Pats fan from Kilcoole. So I don't know how el fans pick their teams. I don't think it's regional based. Just look at Kildare County.

[BohsPartisan]

I know a Bray fan from Coolock!

[superfrank]

I know a Bray fan from Coolock!
FFS, why can't they follow their local club!!! :D

[cavan_fan]

The problem is that the viewers of this forum are not representative of the people the league needs to attract. You may all have chosen teams but there is a huge untapped market.

[BohsPartisan]

The problem is that the viewers of this forum are not representative of the people the league needs to attract.
Why not? I was more or less a barstooler untill 1999.

[micls]

Why not? I was more or less a barstooler untill 1999.

And I till 2004

[holidaysong]

It struck me that one thing GAA has over soccer is that everyone has one and only one team to support. You'd be surprised to see a kid in one county wearing the jersey of another even if they live in a county with a sh*t team...


You should see the amount of Armagh jersey wearing people around Dundalk then! I'm sure some of them are from Co. Armagh but they can't all be.

[superfrank]

You may all have chosen teams but there is a huge untapped market.
Unfortunately there is no magic formula. European runs bring limited exposure and gloryhunting fans. Guilt-tripping doesn't work. All the other football fans out there will watch the el when they want to. Simple as.

[BohsPartisan]

Unfortunately there is no magic formula. European runs bring limited exposure and gloryhunting fans. Guilt-tripping doesn't work. All the other football fans out there will watch the el when they want to. Simple as.

How about subliminal advertising on Sky Sports?

[LeixlipRed]

How about subliminal advertising on Sky Sports?

An ad in Chris Kiwomya's afro perhaps?

EDIT: Not Chris Kiwoyma, who's that guy?? The guy with hair. Who's black :D

[gustavo]

An ad in Chris Kiwomya's afro perhaps?

EDIT: Not Chris Kiwoyma, who's that guy?? The guy with hair. Who's black :D

Chris Kamara?

[BohsPartisan]

What changed Bohs P and Micls from Barstoller EL nutter/fan ? :)

Subliminal advertising on Sky Sports?

[LeixlipRed]

Chris Kamara?

That's him

[micls]

What changed Bohs P and Micls from Barstoller EL nutter/fan ? :)

Was dragged kicking and screaming to the first game by GavinZac.....then I was hooked :D

Saying that I was lucky(or unlucky depending what day you ask) it was the 3-1 win against Malmo instead of a 0-0 draw with UCD or Longford....

[Macy]

I'm not sure I get the logic... I'm from Cavan so I couldn't support Longford Town (for example) as they don't represent me, so I'll support a team from Manchester/Liverpool/London/Glasgow instead? If they have no connection with another Irish team how the feck do they make the leap to justifying a Brit one?

I'd agree with TonyD on the GAA comparison not really stacking up. We always get the comparison with big championship games, not with national leagues or provincial cups. Essentially the Irish are a nation of part timers, be that football, rugby or GAA. Football is just unfortunate in that regard that our main competition is on a 33 game basis not a 5-10 game basis like the sports that purport to draw massive crowds in comparison.

[dcfcsteve]

Well they don't seem to recognise the tri-colour so I presumed they'd wanna go back to the Irish League:p.

And the Sligo nomination for Peace and Reconciliation Minister is.....

[cavan_fan]

I'm not sure I get the logic... I'm from Cavan so I couldn't support Longford Town (for example) as they don't represent me, so I'll support a team from Manchester/Liverpool/London/Glasgow instead? If they have no connection with another Irish team how the feck do they make the leap to justifying a Brit one?


Because once they havent got any emotional association with the club they will use other factors, like the attractiveness of the team and the ability to see the matches on tv to decide on who to support. Not having a true local team is 'giving permission' for people to stray

[Réiteoir]

How about subliminal advertising on Sky Sports?

Nah - subliminal advertiwatcheircomleaguegamesliveinsteadofsittingi nfrontofamassivescreenwatchingforeignteamssing on Sky Sports would never work

[StephenMcG]

Having just been home to Ireland on hols, I was as always struck by the English premiership jerseys. To be fair though there were an equal number of Barcelona ones on kids (is this the acceptable foreign team to support). However the numbers were dwarfed by GAA jersies.

It struck me that one thing GAA has over soccer is that everyone has one and only one team to support. You'd be surprised to see a kid in one county wearing the jersey of another even if they live in a county with a sh*t team, let's take Cavan as an example!

The difference with soccer is that even if you leave in an area with a soccer team, it doesnt represent an area. I don't know this but I'm sure there are many people in Galway county who dont identify with Galway Utd.

Is one option to have county teams in soccer too. Admittedly there would be a great discrepancy in skill but that doesnt stop Fermanagh people supporting their GAA team. I'm not excusing Clare people supporting Man U but they are not likely to support Limerick and who else are they going to support?

I live in Kildare, I see 5 Dublin Jerseys at least for every Kildare jersey.
Most of the people wearing them are not from Dublin nor have ever lived in Dublin, but Dublin are cooler to support :confused:

[Jerry The Saint]

who's that guy?? The guy with hair. Who's black

Martin Luther King:confused:

Denzel Washington:confused:

Wesley Charles??? :)

[Réiteoir]

who's that guy?? The guy with hair. Who's black


Martin Luther King:confused:

Denzel Washington:confused:

Wesley Charles??? :)

Shaft?

[Pauro 76]

[QUOTE=Wesley Charles??? :)[/QUOTE]

Incidentally there was a great pic of Wes Charles going mental at Kieran Richards in the Sun football review pullout yesterday. One of my mates is a Meath man but so many Dub jersey wearers out there too. His wee brother is a born and bred Meath man but supports Dublin. Why!!!!

[fbtn]

Harps have fans from Tyrone, Fermanagh and believe it or not Derry. We've a very staunch following from Strabane. Bizarrely, Lifford, on the other side of the bridge from Strabane and in Donegal have a sizeable Derry City support. As does other areas in Donegal, especially Inishowen.

[superfrank]

I live in Kildare, I see 5 Dublin Jerseys at least for every Kildare jersey.
Most of the people wearing them are not from Dublin nor have ever lived in Dublin, but Dublin are cooler to support :confused:
Same deal out here. A lot of Dublin fans who've live in Wicklow all their lives. Though some of them are from Dublin families.

[crc]

In the context of tapping into the large EPL-following market, I don't think it matters how many teams are in the eL, or how many games they play, or where they are located (though in other senses these can be important issues).
By and large, there is already an eL team close to most people, especially in large urban areas. What needs to be done in these areas is to have a product that people will come back again for. A certain amount of this will be creating hype, so that there's a sense of anticipation about going to games, but it also means that when they get there they see (reasonably) good football (or at least enjoyable football) in a relatively comfortable environment.

The best things we can do as fans are to stop slagging off barstoolers to their faces because that generates hostility to the league (even if it feels good), and try and bring non-beleiving friends along to games once in a while, and hopefully like micls they will return.

[bellavistaman]

Shaft?

Right on!:)