A few taunts but Linfield fans come and go in peace

A few taunts but Linfield fans come and go in peace

Tuesday April 5th 2005


RIVAL soccer fans from the loyalist Belfast club Linfield FC and Longford Town taunted each other in Longford last night.

Both teams wore black armbands as a mark of respect to the late Pope John Paul II but there was no minute's silence because of fears that it wouldn't command total observance from the 650 Linfield supporters who travelled to the Midlands.

The fans, mainly from loyalist areas of Belfast, travelled in a convoy of buses to Longford for the Setanta Cup tie and, apart from chants of 'God Save the Queen' and a few bars of 'The Sash', most were well behaved.

The pre-match build-up concentrated on security issues but a massive operation which involved around 75 gardai, the Garda horse and dog units and a spotter plane as well as members of the FAI, Longford and Linfield security teams ensured the game passed off safely.

About 2,000 Longford supporters turned up for the match, and most chose to ignore the occasional taunts of "Fenian scum" and "f*** the Pope".

Some Linfield supporters wore the Rangers' jerseys, and a number also carried Union Jacks and St George's Cross flags.

The smaller Linfield support, mainly male, was far more vocal than the home support, which was a mix of families, although the home crowd erupted after just five minutes when the first goal was scored.

The Belfast brigade were silenced again in first half injury time when Longford scored again, although the silence didn't last long.

There was an air of nervousness among FAI officials and gardai prior to the match. The event was an all-ticket affair and no tickets were available at the ground for security reasons.

Some buses carrying Linfield supporters stopped in Longford town prior to the match and supporters visited a number of pubs, although there were no reports of any trouble.

There was a heavy Garda presence and the garda mounted unit as well as garda sniffer dogs patrolled outside the ground prior to kick-off.

Inside, more than 100 gardai and stewards kept the fans were kept separated.

Stewards from Belfast also travelled to Longford to help police the Northern Irish support. The Belfast fans also had their own entrance and car park.

Tom Felle



© Irish Independent
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/ & http://www.unison.ie/

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Originally Posted by Ringo

About 2,000 Longford supporters turned up for the match, and most chose to ignore the occasional taunts of "Fenian scum" and "f*** the Pope".

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seem like a nice bunch of guys :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Ringo

Some Linfield supporters wore the Rangers' jerseys, and a number also carried Union Jacks and St George's Cross flags.

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never knew they were scottish as well as all the teams in ireland :) :) :)

I was at the game. Great win for Longford and well deserved.

Thankfully it went off peacefully. No hint of trouble apart from some of the sectarian chanting from a section of the visiting fans. Longford fans were great albeit quiet for long periods but nothing amiss. Security wasn't too bad - no searches or anything for home fans anyway.

Plenty of Linfield fans walking around the town beforehand and apparently the Longford Arms was mobbed.

[QUOTE=gspain] Longford fans were great albeit quiet for long periods but nothing amiss. .

/QUOTE]
no change there, so

Watched it on sentanta, thought there were no flags alowed?? Saw a fair few Union Jacks..
Linfield Crowd seemed a bit rough alright and a fair bit of chanting but fair play to the longford supporters they didn't rise to it..

Thought Longford owned the first half, linfield really came out fighting in the second half and really brought it to them were unlucky not to have scored earlier..

Biot of a scrappy game but the best team won in the end:D

I'll be surprised if any of the EL teams will bring anything like 650 with them to Belfast or Portadown - for Cork the distance factor on a weekday night will mitigate against it and Shels don't have 650 fans - think we need to get over ourselves about the union flags and the fenian scum stuff; as long as it stays at that then so what? ultimately, we're all fans of a minority sport on a small island and we've infinitely more in common than otherwise. I rather talk to a Linfield fan who was prepared to stand in the open, in the rain, at Flancare on a Monday night than to a Celtic or Man U fan from the Falls ( or from Cabra)

yeah so what if they have all the naff union jacks and rangers jerseys. As long as its only chanting and no rioting. The other side of the coin is that it will probably do wonders for the atmostphere at the games :D :D

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Some Linfield supporters wore the Rangers' jerseys, and a number also carried Union Jacks and St George's Cross flags.

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Excuse my ignorance, and slightly off-topic, but is this correct? Is it George or Patrick?
On another note, I thought the Linfield manager was sound: still optimistic at half-time and magnanimous in what was a hard defeat.

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Originally Posted by Ringo

RIVAL soccer fans from the loyalist Belfast club Linfield FC and Longford Town taunted each other in Longford last night.

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Tom Felle is a bell-end. There was no taunting by Longford fans. His own article states that there weren't any. He's just gone for a lazy soundbite here of 'trading insults' to try and boost the start of an article that he was clearly dying to make sensationalist. Sad that events on the night scuppered his wee plan...

Tosser....

as I posted on www.corkcityfc.ie earlier.....

Funny that the game went off without a hitch, that there was no trouble, even when the linfield boys stopped for a beer in the town, yet the main thrust of the piece is to highlight the sectarian chants, though by the jounalist's own admission these were "occasional", the linfield fans "most were well behaved" and "there were no reports of any trouble".

He twice makes reference to the amount and variety of Garda units at the event, but doesn't bother to name the goalscorers, and fails to mention that Linfield themselves scored late on. In fairness, was this a match report or just another example of the media waiting for this competition to fail?

There are idiots associated with every club, can you say hand on heart that someone in the shed won't start with the "what's it like to have a queen" or some such chants when Ports are down, but does that represent the club, NO!

Lazy journalism

Some linfield fans are'nt happy bunnies

LINFIELD FANS

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Originally Posted by tiktok

There are idiots associated with every club, can you say hand on heart that someone in the shed won't start with the "what's it like to have a queen" or some such chants when Ports are down, but does that represent the club, NO!

Lazy journalism

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Surely the "what's it like to have a queen" chant only works with those who don't really want a queen, like Derry. The Ports fans response to "what's it like to have a queen" would probably be, it's very nice thank you very much for asking.

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Originally Posted by The Good Son

Surely the "what's it like to have a queen" chant only works with those who don't really want a queen, like Derry. The Ports fans response to "what's it like to have a queen" would probably be, it's very nice thank you very much for asking.

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Yeah, good point. :)
To be honest I was trying to think of an example of sectarian chants and couldn't come up with any. Hopefully that's a good thing :)

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Originally Posted by sonofstan

ultimately, we're all fans of a minority sport on a small island and we've infinitely more in common than otherwise.

I rather talk to a Linfield fan who was prepared to stand in the open, in the rain, at Flancare on a Monday night than to a Celtic or Man U fan from the Falls ( or from Cabra)

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Minority sport??? :confused: :confused:

Football is the most popular sport on the island. By far! Ok, club football on the island doesn't attract anything near the crowds which attend the GAA All Ireland games and probably won't until the standard improves and genuine and consistent progress in Europe is made. However as regards interest, and playing numbers throughout the island as a whole, football is the number one sport. The interest in a Republic of Ireland world cup qualifier, never mind a game in the finals, far exceed anything the GAAH can engender.

I'd rather talk to a Linfield fan than a GAA fan! :D :D

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Originally Posted by Ringo

apart from chants of 'God Save the Queen' and a few bars of 'The Sash', most were well behaved.

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What's wrong with singing these songs? I've often sung my national anthem and other cultural songs at games. There's no reason why the Linfield supporters shouldn't do the same.

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Originally Posted by republic

Minority sport??? :confused: :confused:

Football is the most popular sport on the island. By far! Ok, club football on the island doesn't attract anything near the crowds which attend the GAA All Ireland games and probably won't until the standard improves and genuine and consistent progress in Europe is made. However as regards interest, and playing numbers throughout the island as a whole, football is the number one sport. The interest in a Republic of Ireland world cup qualifier, never mind a game in the finals, far exceed anything the GAAH can engender.

I'd rather talk to a Linfield fan than a GAA fan! :D :D

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I think both are correct.

Football is by far the most popular sport on this island but LoI or IL football is a still a minority sport compared to premiership football or even spanish football on this island not to mind the GAA or HC rugby.

If Man Utd met Milan last night at Flanclare in a mickey mouse friendly you would have filled the ground twenty times over. Sad!!!!

only seen the last half an hour of the game. it didnt seem bad.

glad there was no trouble but seemed like there was a fair bit of racist chanting at eric lavine(or was i imagining this).

btw, the linfield manager david jeffrey seems like a top man unlike alot of other characters in irish soccer. also remember hearing somethhing about him lending windsor park to a womens gaelic team a while ago

I think if we just had chants & flags in the stadiums then we'll be ok.

The fact that Linfield fans stopped off in Longford for a few pre match pints without any incidents has to be proof of the success of the competition.

Must say that Linfield fans on tv reminded me of Rovers fans.

By minority sport, I meant local football, i.e. the EL or the Irish League;

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Originally Posted by Bald Student

What's wrong with singing these songs? I've often sung my national anthem and other cultural songs at games. There's no reason why the Linfield supporters shouldn't do the same.

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There's 2 things to consider with songs like these - their actual content, and the intention behind singing them.

The 'Billy Boys' is an avowedly sectarian song - as shown in the line "We're up to our necks in fenian blood". Excuse my French, but if that line was changed to "******" or "faggot" blood then the whole world would be up in arms. But it's ok to sing anti-Catholic songs - "sure it's only an aul song, what harm will it do...".

The second consideration is the intention behind singing cxertaion songs. Singing the sash during a brand practise in an Orange Hall is of no offence or consequence to anyone. Singing it at a football game against Catholic opposition is clearly designed and intended to goad the opposition. Whilst the lyrics of The Sash may not be sectarian, singing it in that context clearly is.

Let me guess - singing "Rule Britannia" and "God save the Queen" were also just random songs they just happened to choose ? A small minority of Linfield fans may well sing these type of songs at most or all of their games, but when the context changes to one against a Catholic team it takes on a whol different meaning. To pretend that those singing such songs are blissfully unaware of this fact is naive in the extreme....

As for singing songs about the Pope - that is just sick. Ironic, given that the Linfield team were wearing black armbands. God knows how the Catholics in that team can leave the dressing room at each game, knowing that they're going to get abused. and then there's the monkey chants....

Longford has hardly been a hot-bed of Irish politics at any point in its history (Albert Reynolds aside :) ) . If Linfield fans sing songs like those against Cork City in the final, for example, the reaction may not be as relaxed. It's a recipe for mayhem, and those singing the songs are well aware of it....