Barstooler face offs?

[Lim till i die]

Jaysus, is it any wonder we had to get the Garda rapid response unit down there.

:p

I was actually just about to pick up on that Mr. Jar

[jebus]

Another barstooler bashing thread. :rolleyes:

I hate the "we are better than them" attitude that el fans have. Whatever happened to freedom of choice?

Freedom of Choice went out with communism (oddly enough), welcome to post Cold War Earth :)

[GavinZac]

One retort I always enjoy when faced with these sort of conversations is "and what rate of tax do you pay to the queen on those tickets/trips/jersies". very effective, especially with "Celtic" "fans".

[The Sheliban]

Can you be a real Boy Scout if you never go to the meetings? Can you be a real football fan if you never go to live games? (whether its the Premiership, EL, junior football or whatever)
Basically, all Leagues have good games and bad games. Chelsea and Liverpool in particular can be abysmal to watch at times. So can Shels. They can also be exhilerating too (yeah, really) We go for the involvement, the craic, the scrappy wins and real 3D football.

[bellavistaman]

This reminds me of the embarassmewnt in turners cross when roy came over to help out rams, and for some strange reason all rams fans were scattered around the ground so there was no singing what so ever, there was no rams fans near me, and when rams scored i jumped up and celebrated as you do, and this nacker(in a celtic jersey may i add) threatened me, "shut your mouth and go back to cobh boy were here for roy not ye nackers". I'll never forget it and my hatred for people who hate the EL because of its standard is unreal because of it. The same Skobie was probably one of the lads with their no to foreign sports signs outside croker. Makes me sick. We've the local derby saturday, win lose or draw the game will be a testament to the EL, we havent had iti n over ten years, roughly 5000 in attendance, the passion will be ten times any liverpool fan will get when he travels over to watch them draw with the likes of aston villa. Little do they know what their missing out on.

[GavinZac]

This reminds me of the embarassmewnt in turners cross when roy came over to help out rams, and for some strange reason all rams fans were scattered around the ground so there was no singing what so ever,I was there, the atmosphere was surreal. You could hear the keeper coughing. I lay claim to being the only person in the ground wearing a Cork City jersey - this because I got a phone call from a friend up in the media gantry asking was I the one in the city jersey. It was disgusting - thousands of people politely clapping a load of kids they'd mostly likely never see again against a team of local players.

[bellavistaman]

I was there, the atmosphere was surreal. You could hear the keeper coughing. I lay claim to being the only person in the ground wearing a Cork City jersey - this because I got a phone call from a friend up in the media gantry asking was I the one in the city jersey. It was disgusting - thousands of people politely clapping a load of kids they'd mostly likely never see again against a team of local players.

agreed

[kingdom hoop]

welcome to post Cold War Earth :)

Add in a few sneaky misplaced hyphens to that and you get the greeting awaiting babies born into the globally warm, dystopic world of 2030; "Welcome to Post-Cold War-Earth."

(Completely pointless point, I'm just going through a hyphen-mania phase at the moment :))

[Boh_So_Good]

A Premiership or Celtic follower living in Ireland is no more of a football fan than pulling yer mickey to porn movies every night makes you a stud.

[holidaysong]

A Premiership or Celtic follower living in Ireland is no more of a football fan than pulling yer mickey to porn movies every night makes you a stud.

:D:D:D

[GavinZac]

A Premiership or Celtic follower living in Ireland is no more of a football fan than pulling yer mickey to porn movies every night makes you a stud.

Not quite as direct but I also like to say supporting Celtic because of their links to Ireland is like shagging a monkey because of its links to Natalie Portman - that was a long time ago and things were considerably hairier back then :D

[KianD]

One retort I always enjoy when faced with these sort of conversations is "and what rate of tax do you pay to the queen on those tickets/trips/jersies". very effective, especially with "Celtic" "fans".

And Derry fans, I've always found :D

When I worked in British Telecom (in Ireland) I don't think there was another LOI fan there and I used to get some amount of slagging for it. Didn't help that Harps were floundering horrendously at the time - don't think it'd be quite so bad right now. Got the 'Irish heritage' speech about Celtic enough times to make me want to torture the next person that delivers it, strangely I got it off someone who also 'supported' Liverpool (a Protestant club, historically...).

Current employer, at least the Liverpool fan actually heads over there, frequently - and we've a barstooler LoI fan at that! Don't think he's been to a Longford game since he moved to Dublin.

Although I'm probably just as bad myself in quite a few peoples eyes - wardrobe full of ten seasons of Brighton & Hove Albion shirts, could probably do the journey from Gatwick to Withdean blindfolded...

[osarusan]

Another barstooler bashing thread. :rolleyes:

I hate the "we are better than them" attitude that el fans have. But I do think we are better fans than they are.
It's when we start to say that we are people because of it, then we go too far.
Also the argument of "what would he know about football, sure he watches that premiersh!t" is one that baffles me. Watching Ferguson, Wenger, Ramos etc manage games (in the stadium, not on TV) will teach you at least as much as you will learn from watching any eL manager.

People should be allowed to choose what football they want to watch and they shouldn't be looked down on by others because of it.
They are free to watch whatever games they choose, but I have every right to look down on them for doing so, if I think it is nonsensible.


Public humiliation and insulting is not going to win them over. They'll go if/when they want to. If they believe that the quality is poor then let them believe that
I agree with you that humiliation is never going to win them over, and I've argued on this site that we can't bemoan the small attendances we have while insulting the people most likely to improve those attendances. Regarding the second sentence, my comment would be "If they believe the quality is poor then let's change their mind"


So it's understandable why they would want to watch higher quality football in the comfort of their own home.
That doesn't account for the people who go to bars and drink at least the equivalent of the entry fee to an eL game.


These people are football fans but they continuously pursue the best quality football, not like most el fans who seem to have more interest in being local. These people obviously don't care about being local, it doesn't seem to be an issue to them.
But I don't think it is true that people are searching for the best quality football. Most fans, who for whatever reason start supporting a team home or abroad, tend to stick with that team through thick and thin, and develop a deep allegiance to that team. Indeed, the thought of supporting a different team fills them with horror. Once you become a fan, the quality of football becomes less and less important, as results become more important. So the allegiance you feel to a club has nothing to do with they quality of the football your team plays. If they were purely concerned with quality, they'd be watching different teams every week, without any emotional interest in the results.

I've always been of the opinion that people who start following football are looking for a place to lay their allegiance, and once that allegiance has been formed, they are a fan. What I can't understand is why so many people immediately disregard Irish clubs when they start following football.

[CameramanConka]

Ha a chat one night went something like this


'Who do you support?'

'Buckey Thistle'

'Yer jokin'

'Aye I'm joking. Finn Harps'

'Yer really jokin me now'

'I am. See ye later'

[jebus]

I had one that went like this

Me: You should start supporting Limerick

Him: But I like United

Me: Why do like that shower of ****?

Him: Because I think Ronaldo is great

Me: You're nothing but a puppet of the British media you jumped up piece of ****, I hope you die

At which stage he ran off crying looking for his mother. Moral of the story, don't berate 5 year olds in shopping centres, I got some odd, odd looks :)

[GavinZac]

I had one that went like this

Me: You should start supporting Limerick

Him: But I like United

Me: Why do like that shower of ****?

Him: Because I think Ronaldo is great

Me: You're nothing but a puppet of the British media you jumped up piece of ****, I hope you die

At which stage he ran off crying looking for his mother. Moral of the story, don't berate 5 year olds in shopping centres, I got some odd, odd looks :)
sounds like an average day down the crescent :)

[jebus]

sounds like an average day down the crescent :)

If only you knew how true that statement is in regards to one of my fellow Limerick supporters :)

[passerrby]

A Premiership or Celtic follower living in Ireland is no more of a football fan than pulling yer mickey to porn movies every night makes you a stud.

there you go again knocking my hobbies

[Joey Killester]

One thing Premiership fans don't seem to understand is that the quality of football is probably the least important thing in supporting a team. Obviously we all want our teams to do well, but no matter how ****e Shels are I would never stop following them and going to matches, ect, and Im sure its the same for most of you. I like watching football played well like every football fan but that doesnt mean I have to support an English club to see it. Most big Leagues in Europe are avalible to watch somehow now a days for watching good football.

Another thing which grinds my gears is when someone supports a team other then the big 4 in England and they see it as some kind of achievement. I remeber hearing, or someone telling me about, Ken Early on Off The Ball one night talking about how great it is to see Irish fans supporting smaller clubs like Sunderland, idiot. That reminds me, another time he was talking about how he'll be watching a big match in England the next day and the host, whatever his name is again, asked him was he going to watch some big GAA match that weekend also, in Cork or somewhere. Ken says no and is asked why not. Ken says it's cause hes not from there. The host says "Well you're not from Liverpool either." followed by silence, it was brilliant, he didnt know what to say.

Rambelled on a bit there, but one last thing, you often get barstoolers from parts of the country who dont have an eircom League team near them, and they say thats the reason they dont support an eircom League club. My cousin from Cavan is like this and he supports Liverpool. I tried telling him Monaghan is closer to Cavan then Liverpool, but he wasn't listening of course.

[michaelguineys]

I was there, the atmosphere was surreal. You could hear the keeper coughing. I lay claim to being the only person in the ground wearing a Cork City jersey - this because I got a phone call from a friend up in the media gantry asking was I the one in the city jersey. It was disgusting - thousands of people politely clapping a load of kids they'd mostly likely never see again against a team of local players.

Thank god that wasn't the case in the City v Sundireland game last summer.
Because of the way the tickets went on sale (Munster Senior League were in charge of their distribution) and some people in our city's obsession with Roy Keane and sunderland, i was half dreading the game to be honest.
I thought it was going to be full of barstoolers cheering for sunderland.
How wrong was i??
Now there was a lot of barstoolers around, don't get me wrong, but the amount of city fans that managed to get their hands on tickets was unreal.
The atmosphere was unbelievable, chanting "Support your local team" from start to finish. I was so proud to be a city fan and a LOI fan that day.
When Denis scored and we went 1 up it was unreal
It was a big 2 fingers to all those barstoolers who say our league is sh*t.
It might have ended 1-1 but every single cork city supporter did their club and league proud that day.
Best feeling ever
http://bebo.com/FlashBox.jsp?FlashBoxId=4538449544&

[Jamjar]

This isn't just an Irish phenonenom (how do you spell that word ?). Wasn't there something on telly a while back showing all the Norwegians who flock to england at the weekend, and when interviewed, some of them said that the Norwegian league was crap.
The english premiership is, like it or not, the biggest league in the world right now. I work with a polish guy who goes to watch Leeds utd. I live in Gort and a lot of the Brazilians follow Arsenal (because of Gilberto I was told). Although I also saw a Brazilian in a Dublin GAA jersey which made me laugh.

[Réiteoir]

This isn't just an Irish phenonenom (how do you spell that word ?). Wasn't there something on telly a while back showing all the Norwegians who flock to england at the weekend, and when interviewed, some of them said that the Norwegian league was crap.
The english premiership is, like it or not, the biggest league in the world right now. I work with a polish guy who goes to watch Leeds utd. I live in Gort and a lot of the Brazilians follow Arsenal (because of Gilberto I was told). Although I also saw a Brazilian in a Dublin GAA jersey which made me laugh.

Jamjar - about 95% of Norwegian football fans do follow their local clubs (having had experience of going there and being amongst them for the past decade or so)

The attendance figures for the Tippeligaen and Adeccoligaen are quite healthy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Premier_League_2007#Attendances

[gilberto_eire]

This isn't just an Irish phenonenom (how do you spell that word ?). Wasn't there something on telly a while back showing all the Norwegians who flock to england at the weekend, and when interviewed, some of them said that the Norwegian league was crap.
The english premiership is, like it or not, the biggest league in the world right now. I work with a polish guy who goes to watch Leeds utd. I live in Gort and a lot of the Brazilians follow Arsenal (because of Gilberto I was told). Although I also saw a Brazilian in a Dublin GAA jersey which made me laugh.

How dare you make accusations about me without a shread of evidence:p.

In fairness though what happens elsewhere is'nt our problem, it's whats happening here that counts!. Ya see the barstoolers are the first to slate the national team when they don't realise that our national team will decline until we can get the domestic game up to a good standard and thus give us a massive pool of players to choose from instead of a few decent lads + championship wasters!!.

I'll just use galway as an example but it's the same for everywhere else.... if all ''football'' fans in galway came to terryland we could easily get 20,000+ per game, this in turn means more revenue, which in turn will get a better standard of player over from the continent along with our better players staying at home instead of going over to english clubs. Champions league football would be the norm and the irish national team would be back among the best teams in europe!!.

So barstoolers IMO are'nt football fans, there glory hunters, no surprise 99% follow teams occupying the top 4 places in the Premiership(there was a massive surge in kids wearing Chelsea jersies when they were the champions:rolleyes:)

[TonyD]

This isn't just an Irish phenonenom (how do you spell that word ?).

Phenomenon. (Do do de do do) Fans of the Muppet show will get the reference.

[yiddo]

Hey folks, im new to this site as a member but i have been a lurker for years. One thing i always wanted to ask. Have any of you EL fans ever had a contratemps with a barstooler or fan of the premiership so much that it actually sickened you for a couple of days but after that it just rebaptised your faith in your home team?
Im a Longford fan living down in Cork (its ok Cork people we all know where your from etc etc), only joking. Anyway i used to work with this Liverpol fan from the City & he never bothered with Cork City or Turners Cross much but he read the papers or saw the odd match on tv. He regularly goes to Anfield & made his way to the last 3 Champions league matches of Liverpool last season & blew a fortune getting to the final in Athens. To cut this short we were drunk one night & a debate flared up between us. The main gist was that he started calling EL fans dreamers & that you would never get the Anfield atmosphere anywhere in Ireland. Its all about money, "Im a fan of great football" etc etc & basically rubbishing what we follow & with venom too. It all blew over after a couple of days obviously.
My main memory of the occasion was being actually sickened by what i saw in him & this exists around us still as you all know. It got to the stage where he started looking for support from the "buddies" but nobody said anything.
Anybody here ever had anything like that & how did you present your argument? All tales welcome.

Viva The Town.....

TBH I wouldn't class that lad as a barstooler. The fact he goes to live football albeit in England rules him out as a true barstooler.A real barstooler never leaves the comfort of the pub :p

[Erstwhile Bóz]

Phenomenon. (Do do de do do) Fans of the Muppet show will get the reference.
Originally written for the sauna scene in a Swedish porno, somebody told me! :eek:

[Blue Man]

Im a die hard Leeds fan but Ive played in the league for a number of seasons so I class myself as a fan of the league.Leeds will be my first love but the eircom league is my priority. I dont think it makes a difference if one follows an English or Scottish team as long as they're aware that a local team is within reach

[A face]

I used to berate barstoolers when given half a chance, now i just dont bother. Any eircom League fan can find flaw in all the excuses not to support home team, no matter how much a barstooler will try and convince you.

Someone mentioned it eariler, its them who are missing out. But what does need to happen is things need to improve here first, and then there'll be no convincing, barstoolers will just end up at games anyway. We wont get them all as some will just bite off their nose to spit their face but would we really want them anyway.

[Straightstory]

I think the problem is Irish people having little imagination. The more supporters who go to games, the better the atmosphere, the stadiums and the standard of play will be. It’s simple economics. But people can't make this link. How good would Man United be if they got attendances of 2,500? My theory on the lack of support for the LOI is that Irish people and society really suffers from a lack of imagination. You can see this in many areas; for example RTE and newspapers. They just completely copy everything from their British counterparts. There is so little innovation and enterprise in anything, and mediocrity rules.
An important point: It’s not mentioned here enough about Dublin’s attitude to sport. A modern, well populated cosmopolitan European city - but with an incredibly parochial and insular sporting outlook. Why are 80,000 people going to see Dublin v Laois to witness the brutish spectacle of Gaelic football when these numbers should really be going to see Bohs or Shamrock Rovers versus Real Madrid or Juventus in the Champions League? It just doesn’t make sense. Full houses at Croke Park for Ireland friendles, while even 5,000 at a league game is a rarity. It’s just crazy. We’re a weird country.
(I also used to support Leeds. Finally got there for a game in 1996. I won’t be back. It’s grim up north. Couldn’t realate to the place at all. My time as a supporter of an English club was a waste of time).

[Straightstory]

Incidentally, the best thing to do with barstoolers is to presume they support England. Say something to them like: ‘How do you think your boys will do under Capello?’ That drives them frigging mad.
Also works for Celtic fans if you mention George Burley.

[pól-dcfc]

Incidentally, the best thing to do with barstoolers is to presume they support England. Say something to them like: ‘How do you think your boys will do under Capello?’ That drives them frigging mad.
Also works for Celtic fans if you mention George Burley.

Unfortunately one of my Liverpool supporting barstooler mates, from Derry but living in Dublin, basically follows England, because Gerrard and Carragher play for them.

Makes me sick!

[damoGUFC]

Nice video for ye..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vzqGB4WLkY

C'mon United!!:D

[BacRod]

I think there's a difference between supporting a club, and following them.

For instance, when I started getting in to football, I was about five or six (I'm twenty now) and at the time, the team playing the most exciting football that I could see was Man Utd. To this day, I still like the way Man Utd play, and admire Alex Ferguson's tactics and the ruthlessness approach he takes, and when I'm watching them, I'd usually rather they won than their opponents.

Similar for Barcelona, I think they're are a great, exciting team, and I've always liked the way they played.

However, I could never say that I support either team. I support Derry City, and I'll go to see Derry, rain, hail, or shine, whether they are playing well or not. I can't say the same for Man Utd, if I'm watching them and it's a **** match, then I'll turn it off.

I don't know if that makes me a bar stooler or not. I don't think it does. I support Derry, I watch good football wherever I can, paying special attention to Man Utd means I watch more than I would otherwise. I don't think this makes me any more of a bar stooler than watching Goalissimo in the wee hours does.

[michaelguineys]

No, that doesnt make you a barstooler at all.
When i say the word barstooler I mean someone who looks down on the Eircom League and "follows" an English / Scottish team from the comfort of their local pub.
That's what a barstooler is.
I have no problem at all with anyone taking an interest in an Premier League or SPL, La Liga etc team, as long as they follow their own local team first and foremost

[Tis-smeee]

Calling yourself a football supporter and watching all your games on sky is equal to knocking one out every night watching porn and calling yourself a stud.

[jebus]

Calling yourself a football supporter and watching all your games on sky is equal to knocking one out every night watching porn and calling yourself a stud.

I think someone said that a few pages back, I'm not saying you didn't come up with that line.....but I don't know how to finish this sentence.....:p

[Jinxy]

Calling yourself a football supporter and watching all your games on sky is equal to knocking one out every night watching porn and calling yourself a stud.

Is there an echo in here?

[Tis-smeee]

Sorry I dont read every page on here and memorise it, i saw someone say it on bebo yesterday and i thought it was funny sorry lads i throw myself at the feet of the foot.ie gestapo and the anal ucd fans , once again sorry :)

[Erstwhile Bóz]

Why are 80,000 people going to see Dublin v Laois to witness the brutish spectacle of Gaelic football when these numbers should really be going to see Bohs or Shamrock Rovers versus Real Madrid or Juventus in the Champions League? It just doesn’t make sense...
...to people who don't like going to Croke Park to watch Gaelic football.

[Titan]

Sorry I dont read every page on here and memorise it, i saw someone say it on bebo yesterday and i thought it was funny sorry lads i throw myself at the feet of the foot.ie gestapo and the anal ucd fans , once again sorry :)

Fnar Fnar he said Anal

[Dodge]

Most of my mates wouldn't be arsed even looking at LOI results. Couldn't give a toss. They knw better than to have a go at the league ub front of me though, as I'll argue every single time. Always win too. 16/17 years trying and I still haven't got a satisfactory answer as to why they picked Liverpool or Man U over the other (without them sounding like glory hunting fools, something the "die hard" EPL fans hate...)

Won't talk to random blokes in pubs about football because 90% of them know **** all about the game. Its a lesser percentage in LOI fans, but its still high.

Your typical Irish football fan would rather go see Sunderland v Reading than Barcelona v Real Madrid, yet they have the cheek to lecture us on quality. So I say **** them all, if thye want to come to our party, more than welcome, if not, enjoy your ******* (http://foot.ie/showpost.php?p=907175&postcount=61)

[Splurge]

Im a Man Utd fan but have never been to OT, what with living abroad and having kids young etc, they'll allways be my nr 1 club but i've just moved back to wexford after 11 yrs abroad, we never had a LoI club before obviously but i feel that it's a love that's going to blossom.
I'd much rather spend a few bob going to see the Youths regulary that line Glazers pockets. Ill pop over to OT someday but there's something special about supporting your local team.

re the original poster, slag the Liverpool fan off about their anti Irish/catholic history, Everton being the Irish side of Liverpool. Allways works for me :D

[Splurge]

Calling yourself a football supporter and watching all your games on sky is equal to knocking one out every night watching porn and calling yourself a stud.

:D ill remember that one

[Splurge]

Most of my mates wouldn't be arsed even looking at LOI results. Couldn't give a toss.

That would have been me before, when we were kids we went from Wexford to Kilkenny for the odd game but it wasnt the same and the intrest never grew.
But now we have our own team for the first time ever, i just hope it takes off.

[oldyouth]

Im a Man Utd fan but have never been to OT, what with living abroad and having kids young etc, they'll allways be my nr 1 club but i've just moved back to wexford after 11 yrs abroad, we never had a LoI club before obviously but i feel that it's a love that's going to blossom.
I'd much rather spend a few bob going to see the Youths regulary that line Glazers pockets. Ill pop over to OT someday but there's something special about supporting your local team.

re the original poster, slag the Liverpool fan off about their anti Irish/catholic history, Everton being the Irish side of Liverpool. Allways works for me :D
Ah Splurge, we were getting on so well and then you tell me you follow Commercial United:(
Anyway, we both seem to be on our way back to LOI

[HolylandsMan]

Rambelled on a bit there, but one last thing, you often get barstoolers from parts of the country who dont have an eircom League team near them, and they say thats the reason they dont support an eircom League club. My cousin from Cavan is like this and he supports Liverpool. I tried telling him Monaghan is closer to Cavan then Liverpool, but he wasn't listening of course.

See I don't think its a matter of just location, its more about identity. Is somebody from Cavan really going to identify with Monaghan Town?

Personally I live in a rural part of Armagh, within 15 miles of Armagh City, Newry City or Dundalk but I wouldn't identify with any of those towns so would feel strange supporting them. Ended up supporting Derry after tagging long to a few games and found I really enjoyed the experience and have kept going on a semi-regular basis. I feel a wee bit out of place sometimes because obviously not being from Derry I don't get same buzz from following my local side as most of the fans do but its still good to sample a real atmosphere.

But I do think people are much less likely to support the EL if they don't have a team in their town or at least their county. Its hard to identify with something that you feel doesn't include you.


Why are 80,000 people going to see Dublin v Laois to witness the brutish spectacle of Gaelic football when these numbers should really be going to see Bohs or Shamrock Rovers versus Real Madrid or Juventus in the Champions League?

Possibly because they prefer Gaelic Football to soccer?

[KevB76]

I don't think the case of not having a team from your county is a reasonable excuse.

I disagree, if Limerick weren't in the eircom league I would have absolutely no interest in it, and I wouldn't feel the need for an "excuse". I would have no feeling of belonging to any other club, no affinity, no sense of pride or any other emotion.

If I hadn't "discovered" the eircom league I would quite happily continue to follow Aston Villa (my local premiership team for some years when I lived abroad) from the comfort of my living room, I would continue to take an interest in Sunderland, Celtic and any other club with Irish links, and would only attend the occasional international as well as local junior matches. In other words clubs that I would feel some sort of affinity with.

You cant realistically expect someone who doesnt have a local club to develop an interest in the eircom league, theres absolutely no logical reason why they would, is there?

[holidaysong]

I don't think the case of not having a team from your county is a reasonable excuse.


I disagree, if Limerick weren't in the eircom league I would have absolutely no interest in it, and I wouldn't feel the need for an "excuse". I would have no feeling of belonging to any other club, no affinity, no sense of pride or any other emotion.


I agree with Kev. If Dundalk FC didn't exist, there is absolutely no way that I'd go and support Drogheda (even though they were still in my county) or some other club that identified themselves as the County Louth club. Local identity doesn't always have to be based on the county anyway. They were just set up by the British to help them administer the country and in many areas they only came to have a significance in the life of an ordinary person after the GAA adopted them.

[viagogo]

People in this country are only interested in watching the really big matches no matter the sport.

When Munster played in the Heineken final in Cardiff about 50,000 fans were supposed to have traveled, most of those would never have went to a Magners League game that season.

In GAA take away Dublin games and both finals most games have huge empty spaces. Am not a big GAA fan but decided last year to travel from Cork to watch them play Dublin in Parnell Park and a friend of mine who considers himself a huge Cork GAA fan said to me "Why did you go to watch that crap"?

I used to get six tickets in the block booking scheme but had to drop it to three cause in the 2002 qualifiers we got Holland and Portugal (everyone wanted tickets - even had strangers in the street asking me) then in the 2004 qualifiers we got Russia and Switzerland and these same lads said it wasnt worth it.

[jebus]

I disagree, if Limerick weren't in the eircom league I would have absolutely no interest in it, and I wouldn't feel the need for an "excuse". I would have no feeling of belonging to any other club, no affinity, no sense of pride or any other emotion.

Agree completely, i think the only way to promote the LoI is with local pride. The standard is muck compared with our competition across the sea and we will probably never be able to compete on that front, so we have to bring people in through local pride and history. I personally wouldn't watch the LoI anymore if Limerick football had been kicked out along with Danny Drew, and to be honest if Limerick 37 hadn't come along I probably wouldn't watch that much football anymore, as it is I watch highlight packages from around Europe, but can't stick watching 90 minute games on TV, no matter what league it is