Three Cheers

It's amazing that people are more upset about Steve Staunton than Bertie Ahern, but that's because Bertie is one of de peepul and isn't stoppin' us havin' deh craic, like.
I despise barstoolers, green wig wearers, and all of that lame, SKY Sports 'football is fun' nonsense. Some foot.ie PC police ain't gonna change my attitude.
Neil: I agree. After nearly 40 years supporting Ireland, I walked away and will have nothing to do with the Lansdowne muppets. They are welcome to their lame atmosphere, everyone-sit-down attitude, plastic hats, green wigs, the same couple of chants year after year, that awful 'Ole' nonsense and the rest of it.
I'm sorry I started this thread, there really was no point to it because people have entrenched views that won't change overnight; but that's life.
AS JP Sartre said: 'Hell is other people'.

Roadend: I think most males (even homosexuals, I'd imagine) would agree that buxom and under-dressed Brazilian women are rather more attractive than drunken Paddies in leprechaun suits or green wigs.

So abhorance of the casual fan should be weighted by the attractiveness of the fan. I see..........

i was in the south terrace last game and there were a fair few boos and whistles.... definately not as bad as mcCarthy's last stand but depressed me all the same.

regards celtic, yes technically i do support a foreign football team but i view it - as many others do - as a vehicle for the irish diaspora. i am an irish resident but recently returned after living in britain for a number of years. there are many books about celtic fc and it's affinity with the irish emigrant population in scotland ('celtic minded' to name one, which is a series of letters from supporters about what celtic means to them) and the fact is that not alone do people in ireland have that feeling of irishness for celtic but also the 2nd 3rd and 4th generation irish peoples of scotland also feel that the club is an irish club and feel that celtic is the vehicle for showing their irishness. (BTW celtic park is the only ground in mainland britain where the union jack is not flown as a tri-colour proudly fills that spot.) the point here is that the belief that celtic is an irish club in britain was not invented in this country it is infact the belief of the people of glasgow (and scotland) that it is an irish club.

Contary to popular opinion a large majority of Scots are anti-irish (and anti-catholic) and in particular in glasgow. when people in this country count the scots as percieved 'allies' or comrades they are usually wrong as most scots harbour anti-irish feelings. in fact nowadays irish people are made feel more welcome in england than in scotland - except in the strong irish ex-pat communities of which celtic fc is the main torch bearer.

rant over - but to answer your question / statement. in others views i may support a foreign club but to me (and the local people who support them) it is an irish club.

BTW i personally bear no grudge toward people who support EPL clubs or other clubs but i think that they should also suport their local eL club and should ever the twain meet then obviously their vocal support should be entirely for their local side. i know i'd be wearing maroon if we met celtic.

anyhow, this is an irish soccer forum (not celtic or eL) so i will leave it at that and you may agree or disagree with me but thats my opinion and you are entitled to yours.

regards celtic, yes technically i do support a foreign football team but i view it - as many others do - as a vehicle for the irish diaspora. i am an irish resident but recently returned after living in britain for a number of years. there are many books about celtic fc and it's affinity with the irish emigrant population in scotland ('celtic minded' to name one, which is a series of letters from supporters about what celtic means to them) and the fact is that not alone do people in ireland have that feeling of irishness for celtic but also the 2nd 3rd and 4th generation irish peoples of scotland also feel that the club is an irish club and feel that celtic is the vehicle for showing their irishness. (BTW celtic park is the only ground in mainland britain where the union jack is not flown as a tri-colour proudly fills that spot.) the point here is that the belief that celtic is an irish club in britain was not invented in this country it is infact the belief of the people of glasgow (and scotland) that it is an irish club.

Contary to popular opinion a large majority of Scots are anti-irish (and anti-catholic) and in particular in glasgow. when people in this country count the scots as percieved 'allies' or comrades they are usually wrong as most scots harbour anti-irish feelings. in fact nowadays irish people are made feel more welcome in england than in scotland - except in the strong irish ex-pat communities of which celtic fc is the main torch bearer.

rant over - but to answer your question / statement. in others views i may support a foreign club but to me (and the local people who support them) it is an irish club.

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As I saidpeople living here more often than not justify supporting Celtic on the grounds that they are "an Irish club".... eh no they are not... they are a Scottish Club. I've no objection to people choosing to suport any club they wish... I do however have strong objections to people trying to sell me some crap that a Scottish club is in some way "Irish", it's not , never was and never will be. Guess we'll agree to disagree on that.

ps... when Dermot Desmond tries to get Celtic into the Eircom League instead of the Premiership in Englan... then I might re-consider !!

I think this thread is absolutely hilarious. The EL fans on here really do have some kind of superiority complex and they dont realise that the attitude thye have actually turns people away from the EL. I am a season ticket holder at Bray and have been for 5 years but I am also a Leeds United fan and go to Elland Road quite a bit as well. It annoys the hell out of me when EL fans look down on you for supporting an English or Scottish side. The fact that EL fans only support EL teams does not make them any better or more knowledgable about football than an Irish person who doesnt support an EL team.

I understand the points being made about money not coming into the EL because fans are staying away but to call people poor Irish fans because they choose to wear a wig and dont go to EL games is just totally ridiculous and a huge generalisation. Yes those fans exist and I know some of them that go to the pub dressed in their Irish gear but know nothing about football. This doesnt give anyone the right to broadly generalise fans that wear wigs because an extreme minority know nothing about football.

If im honest I would prefer to see a fan dressed in a wig and face painted at an Irish game than someone in a Bray jersey. It is an Irish match afterall.

Your missing the main points being made by EL fans
1 There is a gap growing between Irish football on the Island of Ireland
and the International team
2 Alot of people dont fell a connection with the national team anymore
3 Fans feel the International team is no longer reflective of the Irish people
4 The fact that people are getting in such a snot over the result against
Cyprus yet the biggest thing holding back the international team is
the neglect of the domestic game mainly the EL

well said kingp35. some people who support eL clubs (just eL clubs and no foreign club) begin to sound like the old timers at GAA games who give out about the supporters who go to championship games and 'where were ye when we played wexford in the national league in january'. is there not room to support both eL and EPL/SPL?

the only axe i personally have to grind is with the lads who have absolutely no interest in the league of ireland and complain venehemently about our national team's performances without realising that we must begin to rectify the game here which will in turn improve the national side (albeit it may take 10 - 15 years before any wholesale improvements) and our nations football in general. can we do this while still watching or attending the EPL/SPL teams? obviously. and if you still don't want to support the eL but follow the national team then fair enough. i won't look down my nose but there will be enough hurlers on the ditch who will!

the 'wigs' conversation is bordering on the ludicrous!

Answer me this than not that i give a sh1t?
Why do people only wear these ridiculous outfits at International matches?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TonyD

Was it you who said earlier in the thread that you didn't support the league as you wanted a "better product" ? (Forgive me if I'm wrong, and I'm not saying you were sneering) surely the logical extension of that is to go and support Brazil, or France, or anyone of the many international teams who could currently offer you a much better product than the Ireland team ?

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deffo wasnt me as I deffo wouldnt even close to think that. I did say people in this country are too f*ckin lazy to go watch anything on a regular basis. and I did resent bein painted as some leprechaun suited moron cause I dont know much about the eircom league. but apart from that I agree totally with people pointing out the irony of not supporting the league and then bemoaning the lack of depth in our squad.

actually i caught the tail end of graham taylor on sky last night and he was saying that unless england do something drastic to nuture their own players the national side will suffer in 10 or 15 years from a lack of players of a high enough internation standard!

this is from a former international manager of a country who have one of the strongest leagues in europe...... if they think they are going to struggle how are we going to do if we don't start looking at our own league to get our ship in order! in short there is not enough players going to or regularly playing for top clubs from this country anymore to sustain us as a top 2 or 3 seed so we will have to try and get ourselves in a position where we can use home based players if required.

if we get the league running to a sufficent standard then players won't feel the need to go overseas to play professional football. and then the elite of our league can step up to a higher level overseas when they are already established in a professional national league

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kingp35

The EL fans on here really do have some kind of superiority complex and they dont realise that the attitude thye have actually turns people away from the EL. I am a season ticket holder at Bray and have been for 5 years but I am also a Leeds United fan and go to Elland Road quite a bit as well. It annoys the hell out of me when EL fans look down on you for supporting an English or Scottish side. The fact that EL fans only support EL teams does not make them any better or more knowledgable about football than an Irish person who doesnt support an EL team.

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This argument ****es me off more than anything else on here.

1) SOME el fans despise the premiership. I think you'll find the vast, vast majority have an interest in it and couldn't care less if people supported someone else.
2) Nobody has claimed that people who don't go to games don't know football. What some claim is they're not true supporters. BY DEFINITION a football supporter goes to games.
3) If people think that the national team is the be all and end all of Irish football, they absolutely deserve to be mocked. The national team is a tiny bit of it, and if the rest of Irish football was fixed, the national team would pretty much look after itself, its the irony of people slamming the league tht gets people ranting here
4) Anybody who decides not to go to a game becomes some random bloke posts on the internet is a fool, and is looking for excuses not to go. There's no way that person would ever go to a game. NONE.

People are getting too bogged down in the wigs bit, they are a symptom of the type of people who don't deserve to go to games, they're not the cause of it. On a side issue, they look ****ing stupid and I think you'll find most people are against them for this reason alone.

I ****ing hate people who read one/two posts and think that this represents the views of large groups of people. Remember that most people here post on their behlaf and no one elses. We might agree on some aspects but never, ever think that all eL fans think the same. Thats the absolute beauty of being a true football fan, you have opinions on everything

Well, I have been going to Old Trafford since 1974. I also go to Rome and Stockholm on a regular basis to see football, and have neglected Cardiff City in recent times, while also having a soft spot for St Johnstone in Scotland, whom I've seen a few times.
I love football, and can't understand why people don't support their local clubs. Unless you change allegiances every season, there'll always be 'better' football somewhere other than who you supprt, so that logic doesn't wash. Some people just couldn't be arsed supporting Irish football, that's all.
That's got nothing to do with with clueless Westlife fans wearing Leprechaun suits and green wigs at Lansdowne Road.
Having said that, I've just come across a ticket for tonight and I think I'll go. Unlike the muppets I won't leave before the end and won't be wearing a wig, even though I could do with one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dodge

BY DEFINITION a football supporter goes to games.

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By whose definition?　

I have no problem calling somebody a supporter even if they dont follow the el.

As far as I am concerned, passion for the national team, or knowledge about the game, is not determined by attendance at the el.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by osarusan

By whose definition?　

I have no problem calling somebody a supporter even if they dont follow the el.

As far as I am concerned, passion for the national team, or knowledge about the game, is not determined by attendance at the el.

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How can you support a team if you don't go to games? And again, I never mentioned el fans or anybody's knowledge of the game

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dodge

How can you support a team if you don't go to games? And again, I never mentioned el fans or anybody's knowledge of the game

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This is yet again another stupid statement. By your definition Leeds united can only have 41,000 supporters in the entire world because thats what the ground holds. Same goes for Bray, Derry or whatever, they can only have the amount of supporters that their ground holds.

Are you telling me out of the entire population of Ireland we can only have 35,000 supporters of the national team?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by kingp35

This is yet again another stupid statement. By your definition Leeds united can only have 41,000 supporters in the entire world because thats what the ground holds. Same goes for Bray, Derry or whatever, they can only have the amount of supporters that their ground holds.

Are you telling me out of the entire population of Ireland we can only have 35,000 supporters of the national team?

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No, national teams don't count. If you just go to national teams go, you're not a supporter. I'm not going over this again, search for my previous posts on this topic. If you don't go to Leeds games, you're not a supporter. Those leeds fans who go to every game are better fans than those who don't.

And it's not like Leeds sell out their ground every week either.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dodge

No, national teams don't count. If you just go to national teams go, you're not a supporter. I'm not going over this again, search for my previous posts on this topic. If you don't go to Leeds games, you're not a supporter. Those leeds fans who go to every game are better fans than those who don't.

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I agree with you there but you cant say somebody isnt a supporter if they dont go to games. What about the fans on this forum that are living in foreign countries now? They would still consider themselves supporters.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Soper

And it's not like Leeds sell out their ground every week either.

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True but it also doesnt mean that the people that dont go arent supporters, its just the ones that do go would be the hardcore element.