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NORTHERN IRELAND international football Fans have been officially crowned the best football Supporters in Europe after winning the prestigious, EU and UEFA endorsed, Brussels International Supporters Award 2006!
Obviously our innate charm has spread to our fellow Irishmen in the 6 counties.
I'm always astounded by the atmosphere they create when I see the highlights and most of the time they have nothing to chant about :eek:
Fair play lads ;)
Is it true that Israel have been voted second best ?
Owls Fan & Raheny Red: thanks for the plug, but actually we have plenty to cheer on and off field at the moment. The win over England last term, third place in a prestigous North American tourney during the summer :) and now comfortably beating the Finns. Belfast City Council is supporting a plan to build the new stadium in the city and all home qualifiers are sold out.
Bobby and Bloomfield: nice try. There is certainly a case for UEFA to sanction the Israeli FA (for the way they've prevented the Palestinian FA fulfilling fixtures). But that's nowt to do with NI. And you know rightly why they will remain in UEFA. Which in any case allows for plenty of other oddities- Kazakhstan, four British teams, postage stamp countries etc.
I feel slightly awkward about these awards- there's a temptation to be holier than thou about them. But actually, why shouldn't Israel or England fans get an award? They contribute plenty to international football.
Whatever the right sand wrongs of the political situation in the Middle East the Israeli football fans were great for both games in the last campaign. They couldn't have been more welcoming. Good support in Dublin too.
Yeah they are great, NI and Israel if you choose to completely ignore the bigotry. Among the most racist fans of any country.Quote:
Originally Posted by gspain
Where are you getting that crap from?Quote:
Originally Posted by Scram
The success of the IFA is virtually eradicating sectarianism from the NI support is well documented and recognized by this award. I attended quite a few games at windsor in the late 80's and early 90's incl our 3 in the period and it is unrecognizable now.
I've no experience of Israel apart from our 2 games.
Maybe you've got some evidence/experience to support your claim then
Aye, right enough.Quote:
Originally Posted by RDBloomfield
http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=25941:eek:
Be fair, NotBrazil. You can't rely for your information on what other people tell you. Like RDB, you would have to have been there...;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Not Brazil
Ironic or not, you certainly make me laugh at times...;)Quote:
Originally Posted by RDBloomfield
wow, i hope they get Neil Lennon to present it
Press reports of the next Northern Ireland game following the infamous night v Norway.Quote:
Originally Posted by Merc67
http://www.ourweecountry.co.uk/Lennon1.jpg
http://www.ourweecountry.co.uk/lennon2.jpg
http://www.ourweecountry.co.uk/lennon3.jpg
Also this quote from the BBC report of the game.
Neil Lennon paid tribute to the Northern Ireland fans after he received nothing but cheers from the supporters in Saturday's World Cup qualifier against the Czech Republic.
However, the Celtic midfielder was "gutted" by Northern Ireland's 1-0 defeat after what he described as a "tremendous performance".
"I'm really sorry for the lads because the efforts they put in were magnificent.
"But the support out there today from the fans was brilliant.
"That is what Northern Ireland football should be all about.
"The atmosphere today was as good as it's ever been since I've been involved with Northern Ireland," added Lennon.
The home fans sang `There's only one Neil Lennon' at the end and manager Sammy McIlroy was delighted at the response of the 10,000 crowd.
Several Northern Ireland fans will be making their way into Belfast City Centre this Saturday to meet Neil at a signing of his book before making their way to Windsor Park for the Iceland game.
Direct quotation from Guardian Interview with Neil Lennon (Tue.29/08/06):
"At the start of what would be a momentous season for Celtic and for me, Northern Ireland played Cyprus. A few hours before the match it was announced that, in my 41st appearance for my country, I would be captain. Michael Hughes was unavailable while Steve Lomas and Gerry Taggart, who would probably have been given the armband, were injured. I was the most experienced player in the squad and pretty much the obvious choice to lead the side.
I was honoured, and my family were proud and delighted for me. At a press conference I emphasised that the events of the Norway game were in the past and that I preferred to look forward. I said honestly that it had been difficult at the time, but I had put it all behind me. The political situation in Northern Ireland had also changed. It was now more than four years on from the Good Friday Agreement, and I thought there was genuine goodwill on all sides. But one man in a phone box many miles away thought differently."
Oh dear - sure why don't you just make it up!:oQuote:
Originally Posted by RDBloomfield
Well done to the Norn Iron fans. We have much to learn from them.
let them live in their bubble mate.Quote:
Originally Posted by gspain
their posts, and many others, show where the real bigotry is.
From what I've read on the the net no Arab (the indigenous people of Palestine) has ever played for Beta Jerusalem, Israel's most famous club. I've got some stuff here on Israel.Quote:
Originally Posted by gspain
http://ispc.ie/soccerstatementMay.html from the Irish Palestinian Solidarity website.
It seems to me that perhaps Lenny's cousins views are, shall we say, "hard core"Quote:
Originally Posted by RDBloomfield
If Lenny didn't want to play for Northern Ireland, why did he not just say so and walk away before he did? He wasn't forced to play.
Half hearted players are no use.
That said, I saw Lenny put in a few sterling performances for Northern Ireland, although he never consistently produced the goods to a level commeserate with his club football at the time.
The link doesn't work.Quote:
Originally Posted by Paddy Ramone
I assume you mean Beitar Jerusalem. They are hardly Israel's most famous club but that aside they certainly have a racist element to their fan base.
I believe they have never signed an Arab player and are the only club in Israel not to have done so.
In this case we were talking about the Israeli national team and their fans. there were no issues with them at either of our games. We certainly partied together long into the night and next morning in Tel Aviv. The last minute equaliser was scored by an Israeli Arab - Suan Abbas. He certainly seemed very popular with all bar 3,000 of the attendance.
We had one arrest in Stuttgart at the weekend - an Irish fan made a Nazi salute. Does that make all our fans Nazis?
You're right about Beitar. I guess they'd be the Milwall of Israel, in terms of the attitude of their fans at least.Quote:
Originally Posted by gspain
Coincidentally, after the Ireland away game last year in Israel we were in a restaurant with a load of Israeli's we befriended out there. They pointed out a guy on the other side of the restaurant who was the owner of Beitar, and got one of us to go over and tell him for a laugh that we were big fans of the club, but that he needed to sack the manager :)
Interestingly, the restaurant was in Jaffa - the Arab twin-town next to Tel Aviv.