Originally Posted by
Spudulika
Everton were the traditional Irish-Catholic club in a city where the orangemen marched freely. Years ago I was on a show in Torquay and a guest in my hotel, from Liverpool, asked me where I was from. I told him and he laughed, and told me he was from the capital of Ireland - Liverpool. I didn't take it on board but heard the same thing back home afterwards.
What we don't realise fully in Ireland is that for hundreds of years Irish people have moved over and back to GB - going back to late medieval times - for work or simply to survive. I know Magicme will support me in the case of Monaghan folks who ended up massively in one province in Canada who went via Glasgow. In the winter they worked in Glasgow and the West of Scotland, in summer they worked their small holdings in the drumlins. Eventually they got the call to head to a place called Prince Edward Island in Canada where to this day they consider themselves "real" Irish. I never had any problem with that, if it helps them sleep at night so be it. It's better that we tap into this diaspora than looking down our noses on them.
In Ireland we're more British than the British, so no surprise we still follow goings on on the mainland.