The "Ultra" Culture

I'm sick of it!:mad:

Unfortunately younger fans associate it with fighting and violence and this is what i'm sick of because when hearing the younger fans speaking about games the first question is always "Do Cobh have ultras?"

For example this was just posted on the Cobh forum:

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Originally Posted by corkboy360

Sorry but i just do not like UCD not a lot of fans no ultras no nothing just like cobh 2 games you just do not get excited for like.:rolleyes:

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Why the hell does it matter whether or not a team have "ultras"? Ultras don't make a team and unfortunately some people think they do which just proves how times have changed:(
Ultras are a group of fans but in many cases there are another 1,000-1,500 people in the ground backing the team.

This is a great example to what is good about ultra culture but this is done every week in Eircom League grounds around the country all be it not as well as the Derry fans but it baffles me as to why the word "ultra" has to be used!

Agree. Our group 'Forza Rovers' call themselves ultras. I personally don't though as I just don't like that word or am mad into the 'ultra mentality'. I agree with the stuff that's done though, displays and that and backing the team for 90minutes. I just call us vocal supporters, not ultras like others in the group does.

To me, it seems like people watched Ardal O'Hanlon's "Leagues Apart", specifically the episode on the Rome Derby and thought, "I'll have a piece of that!" and called their supporters groups "X Ultras"
Ultra groups have unfortunately, mostly due to Italians, become associated with hooliganism. Some young'uns here seem to believe this is an essential part of it. It just seems to me like we're trying to copy/import something from the European game.

Ultras bring noise colour etc to league of Ireland. Without them the league would be a much duller place I tell you. Who wants to go to a quiet showgrounds on a saterday night to watch poor football. Its the atmosphere thats part of the biggest experience's in League of Ireland. And its this aspect we should be looking to promote. I certainly do not enjoy going to the belfield and I'm sure you don't like it as well.

There's no such thing as Ultras in Ireland, they'd be laughed out of it if they had a conversation with their Italian counterparts

Agree; most people who call themselves ultras in Ireland don't know the meaning of the word.

Another example of someone who doesn't really know what an ultra is.

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Originally Posted by Inside Man

Ultras bring noise colour etc to league of Ireland. Without them the league would be a much duller place I tell you. Who wants to go to a quiet showgrounds on a saterday night to watch poor football. Its the atmosphere thats part of the biggest experience's in League of Ireland. And its this aspect we should be looking to promote. I certainly do not enjoy going to the belfield and I'm sure you don't like it as well.

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You have to differentiate between the ultra concept and name.

Hooliganism apart - the concept behind ultras is a positive thing for football, in terms of the atmosphere and passion they bring to the game.

The word/name 'ultra' has, however, been irreparably tainted (at least for the foreseeable future), and is broadly considered as short-hand for 'hooligan' nowadays.

Irish supporter groups would therefore be wise to embrace the ultras concept, but avoid the name like the plague. The world is full of names - no need for supporter groups to choose one that lazy journalists and those who don't understand our footballing culture will mis-interpret at our cost.

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Originally Posted by jebus

There's no such thing as Ultras in Ireland, they'd be laughed out of it if they had a conversation with their Italian counterparts

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The Oirish will find out what am Ultra is when this happenes,they can come back and tell us:)

Italian will ask who do you support??

Oirish replay Man United,Italians laugh.
Italian no who do you really follow??

Oirish reply,United,seeing them on Sky Sports a whole bunch of times.

Italians stop laughing and beat up the Oirish.

This may even happen:o

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Originally Posted by D24Hoop

Why ?

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Because groups like the Rovers Ultras are a joke to be fair. I didn't see much from ye when Rovers were in the 1st division

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Originally Posted by jebus

Because groups like the Rovers Ultras are a joke to be fair. I didn't see much from ye when Rovers were in the 1st division

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Surely you dont suggest you have to 'turn it on' for every game? :)

I think supporters groups/Ultras or whatever are good for the game here but theres no comparison to groups in Italy/Germany/Poland/Russia (even in the lower leagues) Rovers/Derry/Bohs do top the list here though, so credit to them.

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Originally Posted by brianw82

To me, it seems like people watched Ardal O'Hanlon's "Leagues Apart", specifically the episode on the Rome Derby and thought, "I'll have a piece of that!" and called their supporters groups "X Ultras"
Ultra groups have unfortunately, mostly due to Italians, become associated with hooliganism. Some young'uns here seem to believe this is an essential part of it. It just seems to me like we're trying to copy/import something from the European game.

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Unfortunately so.

I was very happy to see Hibs in Scotland set up their ultra group recently. They are a club who were associated with a violent hooligan element in the past. The real supporters have now gone ahead and set up an Ultra-Group (Capital Greens) who's aim is to bring colour and noise to the matches. IMO they are doing the ultra label a world of good, unfortunately this example wont be as noticed as the Italian ultras but they do have the backing Hibernian football club.. so perhaps there is hope for the name to be saved.
I suppose it's a question of avoiding the name at all costs like dcfcsteve said or fighting for a principle. I'll assume my usual position on the fence if that's ok.

http://i33.tinypic.com/11u98jp.jpg

Would you like to see games like that?

This is football in the land of ultras. Heroes? Criminals? Warriors? I don't know and I couldn't careless. All I want is to see the beautiful game back. I wrote a book about the football stadia in Italy but I don't go to games at all. The ultras planet can be fantastic and make a match worth attending, but we've reached the point of no return. A recent essay showed that Italian football grounds are the oldest (average: 67 years, only British are older but most were refurbished) and emptiest in Europe (average 53%, Premiership 92%, in Germany 84%, in France 80%, in Spain76%). The serie A current average attendance is about 20.000, in 1984-85 was 40.000. To claim hosting the Euro 2012 was a joke. Everybody has an explanation for that at their own convenience. Beware the media, I don't trust them at all, they are all owned by lobbies and political parties, paid with government funds and they need monsters everyday to hide the dramatic truth (15% of Italian population is considered poors by EU standards despite their apparently high quality of life). The pseudo troubles in Sofia are just the last example.

The ultras movement is actually a crazy hidden world, hard to understand and explain. A mix of freedom, honour, violence, values, fascism, community, mafia, lobby, truth, fanatism and God knows what else. Their strongest point is to escape any definition

I failed to understand, all I can do is to translate this

“We are ultras (or ultrà). We are not people like the others. We don’t follow the crowd, we refuse to conform. We are ready to fight wrong truth, oppression and contemptuous sights. We will never betray what we believe in and we will keep following our line for ever . Without anybody’s help, without anyone saying “good, well done”. Alway like this, wearing our scarf around Italy, following our dream. We are not heroes but we love what we are and we want to defend it. And you, even if you don’t care about us, listen to our words: if you feel they push you around, if you think you can play you part in making this world pure, then follow us. Do the same, be ultras, no matter if you are (politically) black, red or purple. We can’tell your life will be better, no we can’t. But we know it will be real life”

The use of the word 'Ultras' in the Irish context was surely supposed to be tongue-in-cheek. There's no real hatred as such in our league - with the exception of the odd few wannabies dragging around behind some of the Dublin clubs.

We all come on here, have a good laugh, air our various beefs, go to our games, slag each other off then come on here again and congratulate each other on a good night.

To be honest as much as I dislike teams in the league there's never any chance of my being violent towards a fellow Eircom league fan. In theory, I suppose, if Limerick were to play a friendly against a Liverpool or United u16s b-reserves-team and a load of local lads came down in their red shirts I'd be ****y as hell . . .

Look, the original point was that for younger kids it seems to be all the rage to get excited about 'kickin heads in' at games. But realistically, in this league, that's not happening. We've adopted, rather whimsically, the word 'Ultra' as a way of differentiating the fairweather fan from those who drag themselves to ever cesspit and beautiful second-training-pitch in the country and why not. It's litterally as arbitrary as denoting the more dedicated fans as every team's 'rat-pack.'

Actually there's a lot of links and coperation between ultras of different clubs. They seem to share their hatred against the establishment most of all. The "pure" troubles between supporters have definitly decreased

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Originally Posted by sligoman

I just call us vocal supporters, not ultras like others in the group does.

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excuse me???:eek: US!!!???
havent seen you sing at a game in yonks, except Derry ;)

I HATE the word ultra, it belongs somewhere near Italy imo, i would call FR a supprters gruop more than ultras.

Where to start. :o

Its gas the way certain people seem to have a phobia of the word "ultra" and give advice not to use it. Granted its not needed in the name of the group just for the sake of it (like Famous 45 Ultras, which, appart from just not sounding right off the tounge, is a ridiculous name), but Im my opinion, and you may scorn me, a true ultra group would laugh at this advice.

Id agree that alot of the groups who call themselves ultras here arn't ultras, and I honestly think there is a completly different mentality in Dublin and maybe Cork to most other places in the country. Its ridiculous seeing a group of 14-16 year olds all wearing club jerseys calling themselves ultras. Id say "Tifo group" would be a more accurate description.

I dont see the Limerick chap's point about an Irish ultra being laughed at by Italians. Members of our group have connections with ultras from Italy, Germany and elsewhere, and I know SRFC Ultras as a whole have links with groups from other countries.

And to GenerationXI, sorry if it offends you but I believe there most certainly is hatred between certain teams in the league and Im glad, Id rather that then a Disney love in, although I know thats not what you are saying.

Go ahead and roll you eyes at me, as I have said before this is not a good place for discussing ultras because there will always be people who hate the term and the culture and vice versa. Oh and theres a difference between schooligans and ultras, most groups here arnt violent at all.

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Originally Posted by jebus

Because groups like the Rovers Ultras are a joke to be fair. I didn't see much from ye when Rovers were in the 1st division

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In all fairness I saw them the night they won the first div in Cobh.
There was about 50 of them came pouring out of the bar on 90min and asked me did they win. As soon as they found out they did they ran onto the pitch hugging and kissing the players.:D

Not a joke BTW!

I'm all for fans trying to add colour and atmosphere to the league but I can't understand why they feel they need to label themselves.
People gathered together to cheer on their team and had flags and banners at LOI games long before they called themselves "Ultras".
Sligo fans had a great display of flags and banners before our game in the Showgrounds. But the "Forza" Rovers group name and "Ultras" tag are cringeworthy.

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Originally Posted by GuisaSaigon

Sligo fans had a great display of flags and banners before our game in the Showgronds.

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for anyone who's interested:

http://sligorovers.proboards53.com/i...ead=433&page=1

(the picture at the bottom)