'Righteous fanaticism of a LOI fan' - Brian O'Connor in the Irish Times

Sorry mods, couldn't see a thread for this but feel free to move it.

Brian O'Connor in the Irish Times unleashes WUMticle aimed at the preachy sensitivity of LOI fans. Choice paragraphs:

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There continues, however, to be a belief among the converted that if floating sports fans just give the League of Ireland a chance, then a return to the halcyon days is still possible. But that is to ignore certain inconvertible realities.

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Does there?

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No youngster coming up through the grades is dreaming of togging out for Rovers or St Pat’s. The fantasy revolves around getting away, to the glamour and financial beano that is the Premiership and remarkably even the leagues below it.

But then the argument goes, what about Kevin Doyle and Shane Long playing for Cork City? Yes, and first chance they got they were gone. Stephen Hunt’s career looked to be heading nowhere when he was let go by Crystal Palace. Briefly he considered coming home and playing in the League of Ireland but decided Brentford was a better option. That’s Brentford, folks.

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Has even the most deluded LOI fan ever thought this?

Definitely playing into the writer's hands by not simply ignoring this guff, but hey - happy Monday everyone!

Saw it myself, was thinking about throwing it into that "Barstool facepalm" thread.

Guy seems to be feeling somehow threatened / annoyed by the success of the ex-LOI players.

Most eagerly awaited season kick-off for a long time and a negative article like this pops up? Strange.

Says a lot about the sheer hatred that the Irish Times (and to be fair, most of the media - particularly the press - in this country) has for Irish football fans. I don't know who Brian O'Connor is. Anyone know anything about him? You'd have to question the motivation of the editor who agreed to put it in the paper. Pretty disgraceful, but you don't really expect anything else.

I remember at the start of last year, the Irish Times ran the usual "who do you think will win xxx" covering, GAA rugby, soccer, and put the questions to people from a variety of sports. One question was "Who will win the Airtricity Legaue Premier Division" [note - not Premier League, Brian, Premier Division - if you are going to have a pathetic dig, at least get the name right]. Most people went for Shams, O'Connor's response was "who cares". Sad little man.

Read the article, wished I hadn't given it the webpage hit. It doesn't even appear to have any point beyond 'Rofl, I bet all the LOI fans give me loads of abuse for this'.

Hi Brian, I'm sure you're lurking, but cool trolling anyway.

What's a 'LOI fan' anyway? Who supports a league over a football club?

There is a certain amount of truth in what he says, despite the fact he comes across as a bit of a plonker, especially his conclusion:

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Maybe the answer is for League of Ireland fans to stop defining themselves, and what they love, by what they purport to despise.

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LOI fans do tend to be very sensitive and there is often an unfortunate tendency to abuse people into supporting the league rather than trying to convince them. I've probably been guilty of it myself. It's a good laugh sometimes in fairness. But totally, totally ineffective in terms of making it more likely that extra people will come to LOI games.

Of course, writing off all LOI people at the stroke of a pen is just plain stupid (or mischievous if you want to be kind) but in fairness he does insult a bunch of other sports as well.

Not a lot I could really take umbridge with there - except these 3 phrases:
"certain inconvertible realities."
"forever inextricably linked"
"task doomed to failure."

Nothing lasts forever - it could take many years/decades/more & a heck of a lot of hard work, but change is always possible & we (the LOI as a whole) do still seem to be slowly moving in the right direction.

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Originally Posted by Mr A

There is a certain amount of truth in what he says

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There's definitely a lot of truth in what he says, it's just that some truths demand / deserve to be told and others don't - there isn't any pressing reason or need for the fellow to point these facts out at this moment in time, unless he just intended to knock the league down a peg or two at a time when there's a good feeling around many of the clubs within the league.

Couldnt give a toss about these small minded 'football' fans. Ive given up trying to convince bar-stoolers. Kids are the future of our clubs and we need to get them involved before they are brainwashed.

What a ****.

At least he concedes that our fanaticism is righteous... though it's more likely that he doesn't really understand what the word means... :disdain: :)

What forums like this prove is there is no uniform LOI fan thought.

Most of I'd aren't even fans of the LOI but rather fans of Irish football clubs

And most of them have a rooting interest in foreign football too

It's a BS piece designed to attract attention (as the last line clearly shows)

Enjoy the racing Brian

From what little i can gather that column he writes is some kind of grumpy old man spiel were he's contrary about everything. Featured in a thread here before after mentioning loi in article about last year's cl final.

As such its not a bad piece. He's stuck between a rock and a hard place in that its popular to knock the loi, but we're - to paraphrase - "a bunch of proselytising whingers".

He does make some valid points (for us), but also offers up the same tired old tropes - easily digestible by the barstoolers.

I give it 3 out of 5, a good first effort and I look forward to his next column devoted to loi.

Even if he makes a decent point or two, he completely undermines it by suggest EVERY fan of domestic football expects players to treat the league like it should be the height of their ambition. I mean that's one of the stupidest things I've ever read, and there's a couple of other things in the article that run it close.

Nearly all the fleshed out arguments he makes are a thundering load of nonsense. And even as a wind-up write-up, where the points don't have to matter, it is really, really lame.

As Dodge alluded to,the guy is a horse racing journalist who's on the wind up,

http://www.hachette.ie/AuthorDetails.aspx?Id=33861



Brian O'Connor is an award-winning journalist who has worked on various national newspapers such as Sunday Tribune, Irish Times and the London Times. He was racing correspondent with the Irish Press for four years and has been racing correspondent with the Irish Times since 1997.

He gets some things right in his article; the passion and identity for example.

However, he seems to think that passion should only exist at the pinnacle of sport. No need for the likes of Crewe or Charlton, when there is Manchester United or Chelsea.

Which is more ridiculous, a young lad from Bray with Bray tattooed on his arm or the same lad with a city in northern England tattoed on his arm. To LOI fans the answer is clear, but not to Mr O'Connor apparently.

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Originally Posted by WoodquayBoy

I remember at the start of last year, the Irish Times ran the usual "who do you think will win xxx" covering, GAA rugby, soccer, and put the questions to people from a variety of sports. One question was "Who will win the Airtricity Legaue Premier Division" [note - not Premier League, Brian, Premier Division - if you are going to have a pathetic dig, at least get the name right]. Most people went for Shams, O'Connor's response was "who cares". Sad little man.

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Not sure if you are referring to the same article , but I remember 3 years ago that the IT ran a similar/same poll. Every respondent from sportspeople to features writers gave an opinion on possible winners in all major sports , (most opted for Bohs in that year). Step forward Brian O`Connor with his "who cares" answer. He couldn`t have given this side-splitting reply twice in successive years could he?
Cant think what happened this guy to make him so bitter? Run over by a taxi driven by Scully? Got the wrong post from Tommy Kelly, Nutsy didn`t wash his office windows to the required sparkle? Geoghegan robbed his mobile? Nick Leeson invested his savings?

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Originally Posted by the 12 th man

As Dodge alluded to,the guy is a horse racing journalist who's on the wind up...

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In that case, I feel a proprotionate and reasonable response is indicated.
http://images.wikia.com/godfather/im...horse_head.png

Pointless article, I'm not sure if he even fully knows what he is trying to say.

Would agree with a previous poster, it's kids clubs need to targeting to attend games and become fans of the future. The majority of the barstoolers will never bother with the League and dismiss it out of hand. There is the odd one here and there that you could possibly convince to come to matches and if you achieve this congratulations.

I'm actually sick and tired of people asking me 'who do you support?' and when I reply 'Dundalk', they say no what 'proper' team do you support.