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Well put Stutts, agree 100%
Tried rugby twice before. In college where no one would pass to me, perhaps I had the wrong accent. Unlike the football guys who were great craic.
And later on got into it for a few months. Was tough, and was full of bruises, but found the game itself terrible boring to play, and feck all running about. (edit: perhaps that was just me!)
Have to agree. I think of the 4 main sports on this island, rugby is probably the easiest for athletes to find a role in and adapt to. ie he's fast, stick him on the wing. Couldn't get away with that in soccer, football or hurling.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Where did you go to college, if you don't mind me asking? And what accent do you have? I've always thought you were from Belfast, but maybe mistaken?Quote:
Originally Posted by bennocelt
Maynooth, apparently the same time as Spud! Mullingar bog accent and proud!!
There's more of it on the42.ie. Usual overpaid prima donna cliches. There's a lot both to admire and dislike in pretty much every sport.
This reminds me of the counter productive, Government generated civil war between public and private sector workers. It's just so pointless. I almost find myself thinking 'yeah, take that ye rugby b@stards!' when somebody makes a good point favouring soccer. Then I remember I feel nothing but pride and happiness when the rugby team have days like last Saturday and will hopefully have again next October. It really is a senseless battle and one that should be left to the mentally unstable, like Mr. Minogue. The more successful (or striving to be successful) teams and individuals we have to get behind and support on the international stage the better. I don't think anybody felt the need to say "but soccer is way bigger" when Katie Taylor was picking up her Olympic gold or countless other medals. People are entitled to have whatever opinion or preferences they like and if they don't feel an emotional attachment to certain sports or teams, fair enough, but I don't understand how they feel the need to passionately express their disdain.
Munster v connacht on the news before Ireland European qualifiers. 3rd item on sports news.
crucial match tomorrow. thats ridiculous
I love seeing all Irish teams doing well and I follow a variety of sports but there are a few points I think are relevant. Its an interesting article but there is a much wider backdrop to this than just the national team.
First point that I think is relevant is that any time I heard Ken Early on the radio he did little to hide his disdain for League of Ireland football. When I listened to the show on Newstalk there would be a football show for an hour every evening on top of any other soccer discussions during the first two hours of the show. There would be a League of Ireland segment shoved into 10 or 15 minutes on a Wednesday night which always ended up being a rushed job. Now obviously that is reflective of people's interests but any time LOI was even mentioned it would be glossed over by Ken Early. I'd imagine he'd struggle to name more than a couple of players in the league. So to see him making some of these points is a bit ironic.
Soccer is bigger than rugby in terms of people's interest and playing numbers but in terms of a basis for support its almost completely premier league focused. If you ask a lot of people who follow soccer they'll say I hate the international breaks, can't wait for the league and champions league to restart. Multiples of the gate receipts for League of Ireland matches or Ireland friendly matches are spent going over to England every week. People are interested in soccer but don't want to waste their evening/weekend and money watching the poor quality fare being served by the Irish team.
If you are completely honest when was the last time you enjoyed rather than endured an Ireland game.
Ireland is a bandwagon country in general and that has helped rugby but the provincial teams being setup and competing in the league and europe gives people access to good standard games in their local area and creates the kind of tiered approach that helps generate a good core support for the sport.
Also an international used to genuinely be an occasion and something to look forward to. A decade or so ago you wouldn't have got into even a friendly at Landsdowne Road and it was a big event but the decline in our fortunes couple with the rise of other sports and lets be honest the overall decline in interest in international football haven't helped. For years attendances at Ireland's games compared very favourably to other countries. The decline in interest has hit here as well. Let's be honest we are in the 30s now probably in terms of teams in Europe. There is no-one really with whom fans can relate. We haven't beaten any serious team in a competitive match in years and we haven't beaten any proper team away from home (you could argue France) in almost 30 years.
I'm hopeful we can get a result tomorrow. It would be great to get everyone behind the team again.
We were talking about this in the pub earlier. Had the Murray / Zebo "double tag" incident been two of our footballers would the media / public reaction been the same? My ar$e. Moral decay / overpaid prima donnas blah blah blah more like. Essentially: knackers are judged differently.
I'm told that the natural response to this is to be labelled a reverse snob. I'd be happy to debate that.
And in the interest of fairness, what Murray and Zebo did is well and truly up to them and I'm not passing judgment.
What people do in privacy is their own business but there were elements of that situation that I'm honestly shocked weren't investigated more. IRFU shut that one down very effectively.
http://m.independent.ie/sport/soccer...-31102342.html
more of the same from fanning today.
I heard it was a great game alright, & very entertaining.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Apologies if this has already been posted.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/liam-brady-i-was-threatened-with-expulsion-for-playing-soccer-for-ireland-instead-of-gaa-in-school-31113319.html
Liam Brady was threatened with expulsion for playing soccer for Ireland instead of GAA in school.
And rightly so.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hHGQk8itk9...gn%2Bgames.bmp
Independent somewhat behind the times with this one, it was discussed in the second episode of "Green is the Colour" before Euro 2012Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
The second episode is here: https://vimeo.com/42763927
and the discussion of Brady's treatment is at the 36 minute mark
I think he might have personal issues with viewing that link. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
“I think the biggest thing, and people won’t be happy, are rugby and Gaelic Games. The rugby men are doing so well, got success, picking up trophies and boys might be saying: ‘I’ll have some of that.’ And when you see the scenes in Donegal when a team comes back with the Sam Maguire, you can understand.
“I played Gaelic and soccer when I was growing up, no hurling. I trained with Donegal one evening up in Convoy last summer, and they train three or four nights a week. The intensity, the physical input in the session was phenomenal, there’s no way the next night they could have trained for a soccer team because their legs would have been wrecked.
“Their fitness levels have gone up. They’re machines, so it’s more difficult than it was to go 50/50. You’ve to focus on one sport and they’re going Gaelic. The rugby’s taking a few as well. Not so much in Donegal, but down the country.
“In Convoy they were building a new training centre, in the old days you’d have trained in a car park. It’s moved on and Jim’s got a lot to do with that in Donegal.
“Lifford Celtic, my first club – I don’t think they’ve changed that much. But the Roughan Gaelic pitch always used to be flooded. Now it’s fixed, new drainage, changing rooms, the GAA have put money in. That must have an impact.
Shay Given
Does anyone have a UK times subscription? Can you copy and paste Steohen Jones' rugby column today please?
It was either this or start a thread for Kevin Moran.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-31283091.html
Kevin Moran contrasts his GAA career with his soccer career for Paul Kimmage.
He was right, it was a blatant penalty on Waddle. It was right in front of me. We sang "Cheat, cheat..." at Waddle for the rest of the game!
We got so much luck in that tournament at times it was unreal!