The Isles of the North Atlantic Cup.
The Isles of the North Atlantic Cup.
North East Atlantic Archapelagean Tournament? Though for completeness we should maybe invite the Faroes ...and Iceland.
As for England, let 'em off.
I can well understand why elements within their setup wouldn't want anything to do with it and that's nothing to do with the quality of the opposition. If I were Englands manager I'd want it written in my contract that I could NOT be sacked within the six months after a fixture in this tournament. Every game in it would be the end of the friggin world for them.
" I wish to God that someone would be able to block out the voices in my head for five minutes, the voices that scream, over and over again: "Why do they come to me to die?"
If there's going to be a fuss about the name then just let a sponsor name it.
I can see it now - The Armitage Shanks Four Nations Trophy, followed by The Red Bull Cup.
Yeah Lionel Ritchie's name idea was better.
I would go for call it what you like when you are at home cup
So my name would be the New Lansdowne Invitation Challenge Cup .......
"Selling Corporate Seats Challenge Cup"
Tact is for people who are not witty enough to be sarcastic
Who cares about the name, naff as it sounds?
I like the idea, it's far better then a lot of the meaningless friendlies of recent years (Canada and China anyone?). They're be a bit of edge to it and heading to Scotland, Wales and even NI for a weekend every 4 years will be a bit of craic. A lot of the lads I go to the home games with don't make too many away games any more with family commitments etc, these games will be more reachable for that bracket of fans.
How will they spilt the games between March and May though? Any idea which will be the double header?
Maybe call it Four Teams One Cup?![]()
Last edited by Drumcondra 69er; 19/09/2008 at 9:55 AM.
A pointless exercise imo. It won't provide any real benefit to us as I'd imagine most of the teams involved will generally treat it in the same way as a friendly and not play their strongest teams. Many of the top players won't be interested in playing another 3 games after a long and difficult season for their respective clubs.
I can see a ROI squad similar to the one we used to send to those tournaments in the US without many of the bigger names bothering to show up.
The North will probably see it as a great opportunity to get one over on their larger neighbours as their fans seem to relish these fixtures if EG is anything to go by but I can't see too many Republic of Ireland or Scottish players or fans getting too excited about it. The top Welsh players (Bellamy, Bale, Ramsey and Gabbidon) probably won't be arsed either.
Last edited by youngirish; 19/09/2008 at 10:25 AM.
Totally disagree. And it's not just at the end of the season, part of it will be played in Feb / March when players will be looking to impress before the qualifiers around the end of March / early April.
It's only going to be every 2nd year I assume and it'll certainly create more interest then the traditional end of season friendlies.
Michael Mouse Cup would be more apt;as a one-off tournament passable I suppose.
As anything more, a Complete waste of space!
Not often I'd agree with the english F.A. but this smells like meaningless parochial bullsh*t....
totally agree, seems the scots arent exactly counting down the days either http://taboard.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=81536, as pointless an exercise as I can think of . Heres hoping for Wales in the Euro draw to put it out of its misery.
One of the Chairmen mentioned bragging rights ?? are they on the same planet.
There are two competitons we are concerned with, the World Cup and the European Championship. Anything else is an absolute joke. If I am being forced to pay E50 to watch a friendly I at least want exotic/talented. end of rant.
Jesus lads, some of you need to get a grip. Here's a list of of our friendlies over the last 5 years, you can count the exotic ones on one hand. Said it before, I'd sooner play Scotland, Wales or NI then the likes of China, Canada, Bolivia etc and even the likes of Denmark or Sweden.
The games in bold are the games this competition will be replacing, it's obviously Mickey Mouse compared to a WC or EC, that goes without saying but it's not replacing much glamour now is it?
Scotland 12-Feb-03 Glasgow FR
Norway 30-Apr-03 Lansdowne Road FR
Australia 19-Aug-03 Lansdowne Road FR
Turkey 09-Sep-03 Lansdowne Road FR
Canada 18-Nov-03 Lansdowne Road FR
Brazil 18-Feb-04 Lansdowne Road FR
Czech Republic 31-Mar-04 Lansdowne Road FR
Poland 28-Apr-04 Bydgoszcz FR
Romania 27-May-04 Lansdowne Road FR
Holland 05-Jun-04 Amsterdam FR
Bulgaria 18-Aug-04 Lansdowne Road FR
Croatia 16-Nov-04 Lansdowne Road FR
Portugal 09-Feb-05 Lansdowne Road FR
China 29-Mar-05 Lansdowne Road FR
Italy 17-Aug-05 Lansdowne Road FR
Sweden 01-Mar-06 Lansdowne Road FR
Chile 24-May-06 Lansdowne Road FR
Holland 16-Aug-06 Lansdowne Road FR
Ecuador 23-May-07 New Jersey FR
Bolivia 26-May-07 Boston FR
Denmark 22-Aug-07 Aarhus FR
Brazil 06-Feb-08 Croke Park FR
Serbia 24-May-08 Croke Park FR
Colombia 29-May-08 Craven Cottage FR
Norway 20-Aug-08 Oslo FR
on the OWC boards the Nordies are getting quite excited about this anyway
I'd be a bit more in the meh camp
Exactly. You could argue that the 2 Brazil games and the Portugal ones could have been affected being in February but I've no doubt money spinners like that would be retained for other friendly dates.
It's the dross (that you still have to take your full Block Book allocation for)this will be replacing.
I like the idea of a a load of extra crap games against mediocre opposition! if we want to give it a bit of athmosphere (i.e. needle) I suggest the following;
Always playing it in Wembley
Calling it the "Mr. Cholmondley Warner Royal British Empire Cup"
Using a mug with Princess Di on it and the motto "queen of our hearts" as a trophy.
rather than presenting the trophy, it should be viciously hurled at the winning team by Prince Philip...while he wears a dust mask to protect him from the "frontier sorts"
that'd be the only thing to stimulate the competition...
I really think it won't last much more than 3 or 4 years before foot and mouth or a riot or a lost cat or sheer boredom kills it off.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6YTT5VDaO8
innit though??
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