View Full Version : The Sunderland 'Craze'
What is the Sunderland 'Craze' like in your area ? a local rag in Dundalk had a front page story over the w/e of a family attending a match in Sunderland, complete with photo and a smiling John Aldridge who I`m guessing has some corporate role. I just couldn`t believe how this was considered newsworthy, let alone front page.
dcfcsteve
03/09/2007, 9:11 AM
Probably says as much about Dundalk as it does the Sunderland craze.... :D
It is just fcuking stupid the whole Sunderland thing. I can't wait until the bubble inevitably bursts - and the way results are going, I may not have to wait too long.
Bald Student
03/09/2007, 9:45 AM
However nothing wrong in supporting Irish players and getting behind them.Unless you're in a group of less than 500.
Def says more about Dundalk that it makes front page news. However nothing wrong in supporting Irish players and getting behind them.
yes there is ? its totally stupid .
TheBoss
03/09/2007, 9:49 AM
Yes, you might want them to do well but to support them is entirely a different issue. I am bored myself, hearing about them on the Irish News Stations, radio and in papers. They might be owned and managed by Irishmen, so are a lot of foreign business. I do not see many support them.
SunderlandBohs
03/09/2007, 10:50 AM
Here's the facts about Irish football 'fans' & the Sunderland craze. The papers say that over 1000 fans from Ireland travel over. Rubbish! It's a couple 100 at the most travel. Dozens of supporters clubs will open all over Ireland with 1000s joining. Only two (Dublin & Belfast) & they have been here long before Roy Keane was in charge. We had no new members. It's all media hype. It'll die down in awhile lads. I know how you all feel. If I find it annoying, God knows how you feel?! By the way, we are called Sunderland Association Football Club not Roy Keane's Sunderland.
oriel
03/09/2007, 10:53 AM
Yes, you might want them to do well but to support them is entirely a different issue. I am bored myself, hearing about them on the Irish News Stations, radio and in papers. They might be owned and managed by Irishmen, so are a lot of foreign business. I do not see many support them.
Quite right. What is the 'craze' all about, they have bought average to poor players, currently lie 4th last and have as much an Irish tradition as the white cliffs of dover. How can someone wake up and suddenly announce 'I think i`ll support Sunderland now they have an irish manager, irish chairman and have been taken over by extremely wealthy irish business men (who have such a sharp eye for business they will be demanding a profit within a few years)
And what about the annoying sight of these idiots who travel over standing up and waving an Irish flag whenever the ball goes out of play, CRINGO, some complete with their eircom jersey, I dread to think what the locals must think of them/us, utter embarrasment I would say.
ps the dundalk connection i`m told is based on their sponsor, their head office in the town and the staff at the town centre betting shops wear safc tops - jesus christ is there no escape.
kingdom hoop
03/09/2007, 11:07 AM
ps the dundalk connection i`m told is based on their sponsor, their head office in the town and the staff at the town centre betting shops wear safc tops - jesus christ is there no escape.
I think the staff in all Boylesports shops wear Sunderland jerseys on match days. They do in Tralee at least so one would presume they do everywhere. Good to know my lost betting money goes to a good cause:rolleyes:
Réiteoir
03/09/2007, 11:16 AM
I think the staff in all Boylesports shops wear Sunderland jerseys on match days. They do in Tralee at least so one would presume they do everywhere. Good to know my lost betting money goes to a good cause:rolleyes:
I think that's written into the contracts of the staff who work there - basically they have no choice in the matter...
Gareth
03/09/2007, 11:30 AM
Its no different to people jumping on the bandwagon when a team gets promoted, wins the cup, gets to the world cup, get to all-ireland.. fait play to them if they get some enjoyement from it surely nobody would begrudge them that. I think the most likely reason is that they fancied a trip somewhere so decided to go to sunderland to see the game and a night out in newcastle all done with cheap flights. Ive done it myself its good to get away for the weekend.
You are taking about a different thing to most of the people here. You talk about following a team so you can get a trip to a city and have a night out afterwards in Newcastle. These people don't follow a team, they support it, daily, and to most incorporate their passion into their daily lives, they are not interested in the once off events, they are interested in the team, the club, not just about having a bit of a holiday away somewhere. This thread is like comparing chalk and cheese. Your interest in Sunderland has no simliarities in what most of the people here are comparing your interest to. The only thing combining the two is at the centre a football match takes place.
dcfcsteve
03/09/2007, 12:12 PM
I think the most likely reason is that they fancied a trip somewhere so decided to go to sunderland to see the game and a night out in newcastle all done with cheap flights.
If you want a cheap weekend away and a night out in Newcastle, then why go to watch Sunderland rather than the Toon. Like most of your posts, that doesn't make any sense.
I fancy a night out in Manchester. Think I'll go see Preston play whilst I'm there...... :o
Réiteoir
03/09/2007, 12:20 PM
to be fair - Pat Devlin and his family have had a lot of dealings with Wor Newcastle over the years.
Plus Given, O'Brien, that lad who only won a cap despite not playing for the first team, and Duff turning out for the Barcodes - there's enough there for the discerning Irish Daytripper.
Plus the Broon in Newcastle is better than you get anywhere else.
Gareth
03/09/2007, 12:20 PM
Rocketfingers, teh argument to your point raised is we have plenty of clubs irish owned, irish players and irish managed that need your support very badly but that is not happening in favour of doing so for one in England. I don't really care if you support Bogner Regus or Juve but I will say if you wanna support irish teams, then maybe look to home before seeking a solution abroad is all.
Réiteoir
03/09/2007, 12:23 PM
If you want a cheap weekend away and a night out in Newcastle, then why go to watch Sunderland rather than the Toon. Like most of your posts, that doesn't make any sense.
I fancy a night out in Manchester. Think I'll go see Preston play whilst I'm there...... :o
Sod Preston - you need to take in a game in the Blue Square Northern.
I suggest Hyde United or Leigh RMI
Neish
03/09/2007, 12:25 PM
Yes I apologise profusely for refusing to go with the crowd and for holding the same views as the majority of NORMAL football fans.
Ah? Does that statement not contradict itself? If you weren't going with the crowd you woul be a LOI fan and not defend the idiots who pledge alligence to clubs in a complete different country. If These people are normal football fans I ask you in what other country (excluding countries in less devloped areas) to the vast majority of fans support clubs in a different country & ev a country that alot of these people say they hate because that country invaded & conqured their country)
dcfcsteve
03/09/2007, 12:28 PM
Sod Preston - you need to take in a game in the Blue Square Northern.
I suggest Hyde United or Leigh RMI
To be honest I'd go to see Stockport County, as my sister lives near Edgeley Road.
It's AFC Wimbledon for me in the non-league stakes.
SunderlandBohs
03/09/2007, 12:38 PM
i know how your thinking mate.i bet you youve even walked down the road in a sunderland top and someone would mutter look at that gloryhunting twit!!
True! It's annoying. Or even worse is the 'You must be a Roy Keane fan?' No, I'm a Sunderland fan, the only reason I like Keane is because he's our manager & if result don't improve that might change! The worst of all is the sad Man Utd fans buying Sunderland tops! It's got that bad I sometimes fly over from Belfast to avoid the morons at Dublin airport. By the way Cupcakes, going to see Sunderland play & heading into Newcastle for a night shows what kind of fan you are. No Sunderland fan would step foot in that hole! That's how the rivalry is. That boils my p*ss! The only good thing to come out of Newcastle is the Metro!
dcfcsteve
03/09/2007, 12:47 PM
No Sunderland fan would step foot in that hole! That's how the rivalry is. That boils my p*ss! The only good thing to come out of Newcastle is the Metro!
Sorry SB - but that's just nonsense.
The economic set-up of the Niorth-East is such that large numbers of Makems regularly work, shop and socialise in Newcastle. I know of loads of Sunderland fans born and bred who have lived and worked in Newcastle happily for years. I even saw Niall Quinn drinking in the Aklenside in the Quayside on two different occassions in the last 90's - so even died-in-the-wool Sunderland players were to be seen out in Newcatsle occassionally, despite how dangerous that was.
Northern Rock - Newcastle's sponsors - even have large offices in Sunderland, and plenty of Makems happily spend their working days boosting the fortunes of their rival's main sponsor.
But if you're only flying over to the odd game a season, I guess you probably wouldn't have noticed the reality of the situation over there..... :p
P.S. I love the irony of an Irish person adopting the whole inter-cl;ub rivalry from England - evemn going so far as to call Newcastle "a hole". I can assure you that Sunderland would come off worse in every single category of comparison with Newcastle...
Réiteoir
03/09/2007, 12:52 PM
What if we chuck Middlesbrough into the equation? :D
Dodge
03/09/2007, 12:53 PM
I can assure you that Sunderland would come off worse in every single category of comparison with Newcastle...
Except Oirishness. Truely, the greatest category of them all
dcfcsteve
03/09/2007, 1:01 PM
Except Oirishness. Truely, the greatest category of them all
Even on that score. Newcastle has strong and very long-standing links to Ireland. Sunderland does not.
For example - Newcastle has had an Irish Centre in the city centre (ironically very close to St James's) for decades. There were also two Tyneside Irish volunteer regiments sent from Newcastle in the first World War.
The most Irish thing in Sunderland when I worked there was me......!
SunderlandBohs
03/09/2007, 1:04 PM
What a clown you really are dcfcsteve. I travel over for ALL our home games & away if I can get tickets. I've been going over for 13 years now mate. If you know so much about the North-East you would remember when Keegan did the Suger Puffs ads, shops in Sunderland refuse to stock them & people bouycott the shops that did. Northern Rock's customers in Sunderland dropped by 60% in the first month when they started there sponsorship with the scum. Even during the English Civil War the Mackems & Geordies fought on different sides. I could go on & on mate. As for the Irish fan supporting a British club. It's a bit rich coming from a Derry City fan. Aren't Derry City a British Club trying to Irish?
Moderator: Please keep this on topic. Off Topic rubbish removed.
don ramo
03/09/2007, 1:13 PM
at the end of the day:D, if you go up to a hardcore fan at any club in england, and they ask who you support and you say liverpool, they will just look at you strange, and say what the hell are you following a team hundreds of miles away, dont you have league of you own, english hardcore fans would respect an irishman a lot more if he actually supported his own league and followed, not support like the irish, the english league
and sunderland big f****ng woooop, ive seen roy keane talked to him a few times more than any other (except stephen ireland who lived in the estate across and i kicked about with), but i will watch from afar as i respected what he done for man u and more so for ireland (the team used stay in 2 star hotels, fly economy, leave player behind due to over booking, the FAI members had to go, and had ****e facilities, keane stood up and complained and sure enough things changed), but sunderland irish sure liverpool is the unofficial capital of ireland, celtics major shareholders are irish, man us old share holders were irish, im not into all the smaller clubs in england but a bit of research would show up a lot more irish connections methinks,
as for a weekend away, ya go watch a football game if you wanna spend 500 euro, just for your flight, match ticket, and a hotel for 1-2 nights, cause thats you intent to go watch a game so you must book this in advance of going, not just get a ceap flight stay in a b&b and go down and buy a ticket at the club , thats what fans do they go down and queue for tickets,
its easy to say you follow a club, but support, thats a huge no no for anybody living in ireland unless you go to over 50% of games for your club, you not a supporter otherwise, you a follower,
dcfcsteve
03/09/2007, 1:19 PM
What a clown you really are dcfcsteve. I travel over for ALL our home games & away if I can get tickets. I've been going over for 13 years now mate. If you know so much about the North-East you would remember when Keegan did the Suger Puffs ads, shops in Sunderland refuse to stock them & people bouycott the shops that did. Northern Rock's customers in Sunderland dropped by 60% in the first month when they started there sponsorship with the scum. Even during the English Civil War the Mackems & Geordies fought on different sides. I could go on & on mate. As for the Irish fan supporting a British club. It's a bit rich coming from a Derry City fan. Aren't Derry City a British Club trying to Irish?
So you've been a weekend travel freak to the North-East for years. Good for you. I used to live in Newcastle, worked in both Newcastle and Sunderland, and have had ongoing business operations on Tyneside for over a decade. I'm up there extremely frequently - was up last week, and I'm back up at the end of next week, for example. I even have 2 friends who work for SAFC at the Stadium of Light and are life-long Makem fans, yet who live in central Newcastle, which shows how purile your assertions re an 'ethnically-cleansed'-style situation in the North-east really are....
So maybe you learnt more about an area on your little weekend trips over, spending your time with rather one-sided people in this debate (i.e. Sunderland fans) than someone who has lived and worked in the areas you're discussing. Or maybe not......
The reality is that, bar a tiny hardcore of out-and-out extreme supporters for whom football is an unhealthy all-consuming obsession, tha vast majority of football fans get on with their life without feeling the need to avoid setting foot into certain towns etc etc. I'm sure you'll find Northern Rock still doing plenty of busienss on Wear-side these days, and I know for the fact that they've never faced any trouble getting staff there. In fact - if you give me 24hrs I'll ask a mate who works for Northern Rock at their Doxford Centre in Sunderland to dig-out some stats for me on the amount of their business done within the 'SR' postcode area. That's, coinicentally, if you've ever heard of the Doxford International Business Centre....
Anyways - as you yourself have said, no Sunderland fan would set foot inside Newcastle, so I'm not sure how you're able to contribute to this debate in an informed way if you've never actually been there ? :confused: Or alternatively, as I suspect, you have indeed been to Newcastle many times (the airport aside even) - which undermines your original statement.
In summary - please grow up. It may float your boat to see yourself as some sort of Taliban-esque fundamentalist football supporter, but the vast majority of the tens of thousands who go to watch Sunderland don't really give a feck about using Northern Rock, popping to the Metro Centre, flying in and out of Newcastle Airport, studying at one of the 2 Unis in Newcastle, or going for a pint in the Toom with their Geordie mates. Because most people have a life beyond football. :ball:
I don't like this sudden upsurge in support of Sunderland (neither does my brother who started supporting them after seeing them beat Leeds in the '73 FA Cup final) but a significant amount of Irish support for the likes of Liverpool, Man Utd, Everton, Arsenal etc. dates back to the time when Irish players started to head to England to ply their trade. This Sunderland thing is just a modern-day version, it will blow over when results on the field don't match expectations.
The Sunderland 'craze' thing is just another example of the twisted band wagon jumping Irish fan, supporting an english side at the weekend and cheering on whoever is playing England in EC/WC etc. Total embarrassment. 2007 ? Oh Sunderland will do, lets all pile over and make t#ts of ourselves in the bars over there while the locals all laugh at us and wait for the next bunch of morons to arrive over.
Also I really wish irish radio/tv esp. rte would drop the introduction scorelines such as 'and Roy Keane's Sunderland, or Stephen Kenny`s Dunfermline etc'
On the topic of any historical and relevant Irish link to a club over the water, there can be one and one only. Celtic. End of story.
dcfcsteve
03/09/2007, 2:21 PM
On the topic of any historical and relevant Irish link to a club over the water, there can be one and one only. Celtic. End of story.
Simply untrue, on acount of at least 2 other Scottish clubs for a start....
Lads this is nothing new, and it's hardly a Sunderland Craze, these morons will follow Roy Keane wherever he goes, it has nothing to do with 'supporting Irish players who don't play in Ireland'
On the topic of any historical and relevant Irish link to a club over the water, there can be one and one only. Celtic. End of story.
And Hibs fans and anyone with any knowledge of the Scottish game roll their eyes
bellavistaman
03/09/2007, 2:36 PM
And Hibs fans and anyone with any knowledge of the Scottish game roll their eyes
Correct!
Hibs and Dundee Utd both started off with Irish fanbase and set up but have done nothing since the late 1800`s/early 1900`s to maintain any of this early support.
I think oriel was being sarcastic lads...
Edit
Oooops. I was wrong...
*sigh*
Hibs and Dundee Utd both started off with Irish fanbase and set up but have done nothing since the late 1800`s/early 1900`s to maintain any of this early support.
Yes, just because a club doesn't mass produce inflatable shamrocks, and 'Kiss Me I'm an Irish Celtic Fan' t-shirts means they have less of a claim to an Irish heritage than others :rolleyes:
Pád Von Tirpitz
03/09/2007, 3:29 PM
So you've been a weekend travel freak to the North-East for years... Because most people have a life beyond football. :ball:
This was an excellent post, one of the best I've read on here.
at the end of the day:D, if you go up to a hardcore fan at any club in england, and they ask who you support and you say liverpool, they will just look at you strange, and say what the hell are you following a team hundreds of miles away, dont you have league of you own, english hardcore fans would respect an irishman a lot more if he actually supported his own league and followed, not support like the irish, the english league
I beg to differ. If an irish person walks up to a hardcore fan in England and they start to discuss football, the english fan will only be negative if :
- the person supports a rival club.
- if the irish person hasnt actually got a clue about football.
- if the irish person acts like an eejit.
In all my years attending games in the UK and travelling from here, I have never heard of one instance of what you describe above.
I was talking to a group of real Liverpool fans from here on Saturday and we all agreed that we would love it if a few thousand of the "champions" who travel from here would waddle off to EL games instead.
don ramo
03/09/2007, 4:09 PM
I beg to differ. If an irish person walks up to a hardcore fan in England and they start to discuss football, the english fan will only be negative if :
- the person supports a rival club.
- if the irish person hasnt actually got a clue about football.
- if the irish person acts like an eejit.
In all my years attending games in the UK and travelling from here, I have never heard of one instance of what you describe above.
I was talking to a group of real Liverpool fans from here on Saturday and we all agreed that we would love it if a few thousand of the "champions" who travel from here would waddle off to EL games instead.
which chanpions,
ya but your a liverpool supporter, judgeing by your signature, a true fan who gos to games, of course theyll like you, your not stupid, im on about barstoolers, think they know all about clubs in england, and sorry ive been to england and talk to fans of a few clubs and they do respect ya better if you are actually a supporter of a club and not just a follower, i know i'd respect a villa supporter more than a chealsea fan, cause i know hes a supporter and not a follower, but in this caes even though sunderland arent great, and will never be great, there followers are bandwagoners for the reason two years ago they didnt wanna know sunderland, just like chealseas massive fanbase didnt wanna know chealsea 5 years ago,
Fingal hoop
03/09/2007, 5:43 PM
Correct!
yeah Hibs are so Irish they tried to ban celtic flying the tricolour
sligoman
03/09/2007, 5:43 PM
I saw a Sunderland F.C. magazine on sale in a shop in Co. Sligo. Loads of info/interviews with the club and even what Sunderland is like for a night out:rolleyes:.
yeah Hibs are so Irish they tried to ban celtic flying the tricolourDerry did the same to us;).
Fingal hoop
03/09/2007, 5:44 PM
Yes, just because a club doesn't mass produce inflatable shamrocks, and 'Kiss Me I'm an Irish Celtic Fan' t-shirts means they have less of a claim to an Irish heritage than others :rolleyes:
trying to ban a team from flying the flag of ireland does diminish their claim
trying to ban a team from flying the flag of ireland does diminish their claim
That's if Hibs actively sought to exploit the Oirish feeling in this land, and whore themselves out as some sort of extention of what it means to be Irish, which they don't, because they realise they are Scottish first and foremost, and want little or no part of the Union Jack vs Tricolour nonsense that has invaded the Old Firm and Tynecastle. Doesn't mean they deny their Irish roots at all though
dcfcsteve
03/09/2007, 8:15 PM
yeah Hibs are so Irish they tried to ban celtic flying the tricolour
That doesn't re-write history or erase their very clear Irish heritage.
dcfcsteve
03/09/2007, 8:18 PM
That's if Hibs actively sought to exploit the Oirish feeling in this land, and whore themselves out as some sort of extention of what it means to be Irish, which they don't, because they realise they are Scottish first and foremost, and want little or no part of the Union Jack vs Tricolour nonsense that has invaded the Old Firm and Tynecastle. Doesn't mean they deny their Irish roots at all though
Indeed. There are many in Celtic's ranks who wouldn't be there without the whole sectarian tomfoolery, and would hate the day they couldn't hate Rangers fundamentally because they're prods.
But that's all for another sub-forum..... :ball:
SunderlandBohs
04/09/2007, 9:43 AM
dcfcsteve, before start bad mouthing me, understand where I'm coming from. I've family who live in the Sunderland area. My Grandfather & Dad have been travelling over to Sunderland since the 60's. I've a lot of mates over there & have friends who live in Ireland who come from Sunderland. I've mates who are born & bred in Newcastle too.I know a hell of lot more about Tyne & Wear than you do. My neighbour is from Gateshead & he's a Newcastle season ticket holder & one of my best mates. If you really did live in either Sunderland or Newcastle you'd understand the passion of the people for there cities & there football clubs. I know plenty of people from Sunderland who work in Newcastle & who work for Northern Rock or Sports World. But plenty of people work from Cork & Meath work in Dublin it doesn't mean they like the place.Yes I'm Irish by birth but my background is Sunderland.
Pád Von Tirpitz
04/09/2007, 10:46 AM
But plenty of people work from Cork & Meath work in Dublin it doesn't mean they like the place.
And if that dislike stems from rivalries with Dublin sports teams then those people are idiots.
cheifo
04/09/2007, 11:21 AM
Sunderlandbohs you are clearly a genuine football supporter and the difference is that you have an interest in the Eircom league.When the Irish influence is gone from Sunderland, you will still be their fan while the recent Irish people going over won't.The problem is the thousands of Irish people who consider themselves knowledgable football
heads who will not for love nor money attend games of Irish teams.If your football interest is soley devoted to watching it on the telly with a couple of trips over every season then how can you be a real fan ffs.
The ones who really get on my nerves are the smug faces in the pub when England are getting beat yet will not cross the road to watch their local team.The knock on result is poor media coverage, little influence on Gov investment, no tax incentives for potential investors and Irish football suffers.
Enjoy watching The Premiership by all means(people in other countries do)
but if your a real football fan then you should also support Irish football teams.
I think craze is the wrong term. This is more like a Sunderland fad as will soon be over when people realise there are better random English clubs to choose.
Think about it. Since you have no connection to any Premier League club you get to choose. Why choose a rubbish team from North East of england. At least pick a team who can win games or from big city with good shopping...
:rolleyes:
SunderlandBohs
04/09/2007, 12:12 PM
The media are making the whole Sund-Ireland hype sound great & there's huge interest over here. But it's just a little interest in how they're doing. If we're still struggling by Christmas the hype will be over. These people only follow sucessful football clubs, something in which Sunderland hasn't been in over 50years. Most of these people will never step foot in a LOI ground & to be honest we don't need them. When you look at Sweden, Norway & Denmark, people follow two teams. One local & one foreign. Why can't it be the same here?
When you look at Sweden, Norway & Denmark, people follow two teams. One local & one foreign. Why can't it be the same here?
Good example. Scandinavians seem to be as much into the EPL as anywhere. In fact probably more english games shown on tv over there too.
NY Hoop
04/09/2007, 1:49 PM
Good example. Scandinavians seem to be as much into the EPL as anywhere. In fact probably more english games shown on tv over there too.
True but at least they support their own team first. Not all Scandinavians support two clubs. As Dolan rightly said "You cant support two clubs".
KOH
lofty9
04/09/2007, 1:58 PM
Good example. Scandinavians seem to be as much into the EPL as anywhere. In fact probably more english games shown on tv over there too.
They are, but, Scandanavians have decent support at their games thus have a higher standard of football than here. They have better stadia and don't have €10,000's coming out of it's economy from people who refuse to invest their time and money in anything local. They have a distict passion for their own local clubs AS WELL as EPL team. They will not laugh at someone for supporting their local team. I don't have a problem with guys supporting English/Scottish teams if they support their own first
As long as we have our dinner at home it doesn't matter where we get our appetitie. ;)
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