Barstooler face offs?

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.....

Constantly get laughed at for being a LoI supporter, some things they are laughing at I agree with, I mean this league can be a bit of a jokeshop at times, but I do dislike getting sneery remarks from English club supporting Irishmen for not supporting Man Utd/Liverpool/Celtic. To be honest though when I would have called myself a Sheffield Wednesday fan, more than a Limerick FC fan, I got the same remarks from the same fans, so it's probably just a 'big club' thing

:D A liverpool fan saying he's a fan of great football....

Was watching a match in a hotel a few months back in Tullamore .Liverpool were playing and one of the lads asked me who i supported. I said Cork city and they laughed at me . One of them said that Cork city were terrible and that "real fans " support a team in the premiership. I said at least i support my local team and walked off. Fans of the eircom league can actually witness their local club,the club they support win the league. Something "supporters" of Man utd and Liverpool in Ireland will never experience.

It's a complete generalisation but when it comes to football fans I believe that those who follow the EPL are sheep and those who follow the EL are the more independent thinkers. Certainly among my friends it's the case. Of course, having this view is hardly going to help in persuading any of my friends to come along

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LeixlipRed

It's a complete generalisation but when it comes to football fans I believe that those who follow the EPL are sheep and those who follow the EL are the more independent thinkers. Certainly among my friends it's the case. Of course, having this view is hardly going to help in persuading any of my friends to come along

---

While I'd agree to an extent the El has a role to play too.

Until 2004, I was a huge football fan, 'supported(kind of followed' Manchester United, but had never been to the Cross. In fact wasnt even really aware of a team called Cork City until 2003.

It was only after I was dragged to the cross that I realised that I'd been missing out on, and what it means to support your local team.

So I think the onus is on clubs to get people to that first game. It wont be everyones cup of tea, some wont be cut out for really supporting a team, in more than name, but there'l be the few that realise that they've been missing out big time.

I have the usual Manchester United & Liverpool factions at work. If I make fun of Liverpool I sometimes get the "at least not as bad as Cork City" joke. There is no use trying to convert people to the LOI as the EPL is just too easy to follow. I believe that a lot of EPL followers would not attend games if their team suddenly moved to Ireland as TV is just so much easier.

Friend of mine who is 'Dundalk through & through' made it to only one of the 2 Youths V Dundalk games last year. He lives all of 500 yards from Ferrycarrig Park. He is happy enough to travel to the UK a few times a year to see Arsenal though:confused:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by oldyouth

Friend of mine who is 'Dundalk through & through' made it to only one of the 2 Youths V Dundalk games last year. He lives all of 500 yards from Ferrycarrig Park. He is happy enough to travel to the UK a few times a year to see Arsenal though:confused:

---

One more game than most people though

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sheao

Fans of the eircom league can actually witness their local club,the club they support win the league.

---

Unless you support Monaghan.


I think we've all experienced the converstaion that goes along the lines of;

"So, who do you support?"
"I'm a Derry fan."
"Yeah, but which proper team do you support?
"Um...Derry City."
"Look, ok, who do you support in the Premiership?"

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by thischarmingman

Unless you support Monaghan.


I think we've all experienced the converstaion that goes along the lines of;

"So, who do you support?"
"I'm a Derry fan."
"Yeah, but which proper team do you support?
"Um...Derry City."
"Look, ok, who do you support in the Premiership?"

---

I have that conversation at least once a week.

I was visiting a person who was dying of cancer in hospital and the TV in the ward was blasting some Man U match and none of the dying were watching it. Two or three cleaning staff were under the TV giving the MRSA a chance to kill some more patients.

I have also been to wakes in this country were the body was in the coffin in one room and the family were in the other watching Liverpool in the CL.

We have to come to terms that when it comes to sport most Irish are retarded. Completely and totally retarded. Look at how the Irish sports journalists are in convulsions of grief over Gretna problems. This is not normal.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by micls

While I'd agree to an extent the El has a role to play too.

Until 2004, I was a huge football fan, 'supported(kind of followed' Manchester United, but had never been to the Cross. In fact wasnt even really aware of a team called Cork City until 2003.

It was only after I was dragged to the cross that I realised that I'd been missing out on, and what it means to support your local team.

So I think the onus is on clubs to get people to that first game. It wont be everyones cup of tea, some wont be cut out for really supporting a team, in more than name, but there'l be the few that realise that they've been missing out big time.

---

Very true, I was a ''die-hard'' Man utd fan until 3 years ago when i went back to Terryland, I had gone as a child with friends as we were living close by but that would have been back in the mid 90's, I always used to follow the results/reports in the local paper(as i still do for Connacht Rugby but don't attend, same as i used to for GUFC) so was always fairly familiar with the players.

One of the lads used to go so i headed up with him for the Monaghan game, then the following week for Kilkenny, and so on. From the time i started going back my interest in Man Utd declined week by week, i now see it for what it is, I'm not from Manchester so why the hell was i supporting them in the first place??. I would'nt even really go out of my way now to watch them play and if they scored a goal or conceded it would'nt bother me too much either way.

No point in trying to get older fans to games, it's the kids who are the target and this is obviously known when you look at the EL promotion you see going on the last 2/3 years!!.

Things are improving I know of at least 3 lads who stopped going to Pats because the standard of the league was **** in there words.

They sat in the pub every week watch EPL.

There now back watching Pats since the Spurs game last relising we're not all half a bad. (I know it was a freindly but it still dragged them back.

Also in my Gaa club a lad whos been going to Manchester Uinted since the early 60's and also gave me a lot of Pats and general LOI related abuse as taken in a couple of games this year as well as his grandson is one of youth teams.

Said the standard of the league is not as bad as he thought.

Wont stop him going to England 20+ times a year but if he takes in one in every two Pats games even its good for the club imo.

Its about breaking attitudes and preceptians once this is done people have no excuses.

I did used to support Leeds from the age of about 7 until I was about 16. However, I started going to Derry matches aged 11 and for the next 5 years Leeds gradually became less and less important. In my greatest ever football memories, I count the Leeds Champions League run, and a few other brilliant moments.

I think part of it is to do with how you feel you contribute to the club. If I don't watch Leeds play on TV, it has no effect on the team whatsoever. If I don't go to the Brandywell, it has a financial ompact, however small, on my team.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by micls

I have that conversation at least once a week.

---

Stop bugging Derry City fans so.

When I used to live back in Ireland I used to go to the Turners Cross with the father as he supported the League as well.
Then I lived in Galway and went to Terryland when it re-opened to watch Cork but also Galway United’s other games.
I had a few mates who liked the Galway so they sort of became my second team.

The thing is though; I would regularly get slagged by barstoolers for supporting LOI and occasionally surprise when I said it to others.
Now I live in London for the past five years and I just started a new job. My work colleagues’ asked me if I support any team and I said Cork City. Its weird but the reaction over here is almost always the same, total respect. This is because you do also meet the Stevenage and Barnet fans who are loyal to the death.

Have to say it’s made my bond with City even stronger but also ironic that you get respect this side of the water.

The Pats programme last week had a comment about Brendan Clarke visiting one of the local schools.

- Who do you support?

Clarkey: St. Pats.

- No, who do you really support?


We all hear this type of remark - people just don't seem to believe that you would actually choose to support a team from your own league. Even as a (very) young child, before getting into Pats, I'd always tell people I supported Dublin. Because that's who I supported, i.e. went to watch live games and wanted them to win more than anything. They'd always come back with "No, who do you support in England?" or even worse "No, what soccer/football team?" (the England part being assumed).

I'm not sure about the recent radio/TV ad campaigns ("Local Legends") putting so much focus on the fans. You could say if helps mark us out as weirdos who are happy in our own little world :) Might not be the best way to encourage the normal people (or "norms" as I call them) to join us.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LeixlipRed

It's a complete generalisation but when it comes to football fans I believe that those who follow the EPL are sheep and those who follow the EL are the more independent thinkers.

---

There is so much truth to that. When I think of the people I met at LOI matches over the years I am constantly struck by how interesting many of them are. Also many are very well educated, involved in music etc.

I used to follow Leeds as a die hard, until i got into Rovers.

I still class myself as a Leeds supporter, and will always be, but definetely Rovers are my number 1 team.

I rather see Rovers win the league than Leeds win a Champions League.

THe thing with local teams is that, your a part of it, unlike cross channel clubs..