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no i dont support Ireland - doesnt mean im unpatriotic - how could it:(Quote:
Originally Posted by hunt4the
I follow the LOI, the grassroots of irish soccer, whcih without few irish players wopuld progress into the national team
i love the world cup - i hope i have made that clear
BUT i just find the day in day out bread and butter stuff more interesting:)
So, I'll put you down for World Cup then..Quote:
Originally Posted by bennocelt
26-2!!! :D
:confused:how can you not support ireland!!! are you irish?Quote:
Originally Posted by bennocelt
bread and butter stuff fair enough
but i remember me and me mates thinkin how lucky we
were that our leaving cert didn't fall in a world cup June
it meant that much thats what footie's all about for me
Quote:
Originally Posted by hunt4the
no i dont, i prefer the LOI, the soul of irish football. And i am irish :)
World Cup, all the way. The European Cup used to mean something, the "Champions League" (Which is neither a league, nor for champions), is just an exercise in making rich clubs richer. There are only so many times you can get worked up about Liverpool's Spaniards playing Barcelona's Spaniards (or Catalans) each season. The World Cup comes once every 4 years, so it stays fresh.
Ireland to win the world cup over Wanderers (or Stoke!) qualifying for the Champions' League.
I think the league of Ireland lovers are all very loyal and its admirable that they follow a terrible low standard league so passionatley.
However be realistic lads. Ireland in the World Cup is surely more important??
Come on..
see you dont get it -its everyday football in your blood stuff, absolutely nothing got to do with quality:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Pike B
(if thats the case why dont you follow argentina or brazil!!!)
Not remotely. I like to see Ireland do well, I follow their progress, and I am delighted if world cup qualification happens, or disappointed when they lose, bring on Darron Gibson.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pike B
However, when I get a text message on a Friday night telling me that a mediocre team in the second tier of a terrible low standard league in what is now a distant country have conceded a goal while 2-0 up, I almost retching. I am not saying I am a "better" fan than you because I follow my local side, even though I live elsewhere. Far from it. I am just saying that for many of us, our reality revolves around our clubs: indeed for some of us, it is as a Shamrock Rovers fan once put it on here - we'd rather our club to win a corner than Ireland to win the world cup.
As Bennocelt rightly puts it, who you follow is nothing to do with quality, it is to do with identity. Some people in Ireland follow Liverpool because that is who their family traditionally follow - an inherited identity. Some follow their local league side because it is a part of their neighborhood, and represents where they live - a community identity. Some follow Ireland because prior to the Charlton years of success there was no football in their family / area - an uncovered identity. Some move from following Ireland or Liverpool to following their local side too, or the reverse - an evolving or expanding identity.
And there are another hundred different reasons, most of them very valid reasons as football supporters to follow a team. The only one I have no time for is that of quality. You follow your team / country / club through thick and thin. It is fine being a fan of a team that plays particularly well and acknowledging that. I am a fan of the way that, say, Foggia played the first two or three seasons they were in Serie A. I don't lose sleep over how they are doing now. But to base your supporting a club or nation based on the quality is only one step short of saying that it is based on success.
Success is much sweeter when it is earned by years of following through the misery. Indeed, the best game I have ever gone to as a supporter was the game that the Blues won against Rovers to stay up in 2005. What should matter is not the team, but the reason for supporting the team - identity. I am stuck with my club, and I'd have it no other way. You are stuck with Ireland, presumably you would have it no other way either.
Basing it on quality alone makes me think of former Chelsea fans who used to have an Arsenal shirt but now are looking at a trip to Old Trafford over Easter.
I said before that this could become a debate on the whole Club v Country thing. Talking of following either club or country being the reason to choose the World Cup or CL is not remotely relevant to the debate. So now that we have eliminated that by acknowledging that that whole area is not up for discussion as it is irrelevant, PLEASE could we go back to the debate. And perhaps a poll?
My top choices of international competition, in order.
1. The European Nations Cup
2. European Cup (Pre CL)
3. European Cup Winners Cup (RIP:()
4. African Nations Cup
5. World Cup (any format other than 1986-94 - 24 teams is a bad idea)
6. World Club Cup (or whatever they call it)
...
12. Champions League:cool:
Some good points, some strange points, and a fair bit of presumption, but I do hear what your saying.
I personally have zero intrest in League of Ireland.
I became a Liverpool fan for no other reason than my Uncle was a fanatic and he bought me the gear when I was 5. I've loved them since. My home which I built a year ago is named Anfield House.
I have been involved with my Junior club Pike Rovers, most of my life, since around 12 years old, and I've always seen Limerick F.C as a bit of a joke really.
I know they have some loyal supporters but I've no intrest as I said.
I love the National team because they are Ireland. Nothing else I can add really.
The World Cup I fell in love with as a 9 year old wathcing Italia 90.
No other competition brings out the passion for football in me like this tournament.
Not even if Liverpool win the league at last, would it surpass those four weeks every four years that I countdown so impatiently.
Quality never comes into it. And I did apply that badly in my post about the league of Ireland. So I take it back.
But, as you said, it's back to topic and my list would be:
1:World Cup
2:European Championships
3:Premiership
4:Champions League
5:Copa America
6:African Cup Of Nations
7:Confederations Cup
8:La Liga
9:Asian Cup
10:Copa Libertadores
11:Limerick Division 1b.
987:Eircom League..
Hey, as long as you accept that for many the national team ranks as highly as you rate Limerick, we are at least in understanding
Damnit, I thought that the topic was meant to be World Cup vs Champions league, with international tourneys only! :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Pike B
Ah feck off!! :p
I rest my case!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Pike B
Very unconvincingly. I'd love to face you in court. Money for old rope. Now, if the charge was bad taste ...:)Quote:
Originally Posted by bennocelt
Anyone saying that a LOI team winning a corner beats Ireland winning a WC is just displaying pure inverted snobbery, hardly commendable. Get over yourselves.
Irish football is about all aspects of it, the very top of the pyramid being important for many but other aspects being important for many others. Nobody denies this so there's no need to go all defensive and protective of what bits you prefer as long as some degree of balance is shown.
To stir a hornet's nest, I'd say many think that the lack of a proper pyramid structure in Ireland is a failing i.e., the disconnection of the feeder clubs and "non-league" clubs" to the LOI clubs is a big failing of our game. I'm sure this has been done to death on foot.ie already though.
What case? What are you on about now? Are you Granpa Simpson in disguise?? :p:pQuote:
Originally Posted by bennocelt