and France.Originally Posted by Mento
But if we did win it, it would be a great achievement just as it is for the Rugby team to do so.
I'm not so sure we would have and if we did I doubt we'd do it by beating every team considering the fact that we're rarely ever won away from home, never mind against the top nations.
Even so if there were such a competition in soccer and we did win it it would be a great achievement and worth celebrating, just as it is for the Rugby Team.
Over the last 50 years, with all the players we've had, I'd say we probably would have, but we'll never know, so it's not worth debating
I think the fact that the country is ready to go to war this morning puts the rugby v soccer popularity guff to bed.
2 million watching at one point last nite..half the country.
Thank you and thank you. No other sport captures the heart of the nation like football.
Highest viewership for a sporting event since 1995...........even beating the Grand Slam success earlier this year and by a sizeable margin too!!
http://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2009/1...eland_rte.html
Its a shame, anyone who doubts the impact that WC qualification would have had for the morale of this country has their head in the sand.
What was the 1995 event that had more viewers???
Holland play off?
The other half were either watching Sky or in Paris.
Absolutely agree with that, however, with the way FIFA are handling this, on top of the whole seeding issue, it is beginning to make it very difficult to love the game anymore. I think Sepp Blatter has been too long in his job and is now only interested in money. Am I alone in feeling that this kind of carry on lessens the appeal of football? What happened to the days when Fowler appealed against a penalty, when DiCanio caught the ball instead of scoring, when Arsenal offered Sheff Utd a replay? Proper fair play, players acknowledging that its a game, and games are only worth winning fairly. When O'Driscoll got his dodgy try against the French at least they looked at the video before awarding it, it still took from the win though.
Football should be played for what it is, it should be run for what it is, a game, a glorious game, when played properly it is by far and away the best game on the planet. Yes it needs money to provide the best entertainment, in fact nowadays the money involved is part of the entertainment, but FIFA and UEFA seem hellbent on making it the be all and end all of the game. They don't seem to want the smaller nations to succeed anymore, its almost as if they are saying "we have enough participants, unless you can make us huge amounts of money kindly **** off and play another game." What happened to the "everyone loves the underdog" days, I'm a Liverpool fan yet I would have been kind of happy had they been beaten by Havant a few years ago, a small part of me is happy even when my own teams are beaten by the underdog, why? because thats football, its about 22 players taking to a field and giving it everything for 90 minutes in order to claim victory. Its not about who has the most money, thats what Wall St. and other financial districts are about.
Don't get me wrong, I love football, it stirs emotions in me that no other sport does, I flew from Australia to Ireland in the vain hope of getting to Paris, I was happy to watch the game in my parents home instead, for what? for football, for the opportunity to watch my country beat one of the "BIG BOYS". Today after all that has happened I feel let down, its the same as when you are a kid and discover your dad is not superman, that santa is not real, that your mum is not perfect, that you are last to be picked at football. Its the same kind of dissapointment, not at Henry or the ref, but at FIFA and how they are seemingly happy to forget their fair play code of conduct in favour of money.
For as long as football moves down this path, then football and I will be moving further and further apart.
As I said on another thread, its a sad sad day but there is a bright bright future for our team. Wheather I will care so much in the future is another question.
Help something bit me!!!
How many will watch FAI Cup final on Saturday? Is there anything to compare it against rugby?
I feel like that at the moment, a bit like what was all that effort and hard work over the last 2 years for, nothing when you get screwed over like we have with the draw and T "handball" H. The poor I look at the incident the more sickening it is, not deliberate my ass.
Im sure, in time, the pain will pass for us as well and we'll soon be starting about the next campaign.
No sport can genuinely match the sheer scale of drama and interest that the Irish team generates. This debacle is almost on a similar scale to Saipan with the level of interest it has attracted nationally.
Whatever about the popularity of the various sports, I hope the rugby team batter the ****e out of the French in the 6 nations!!!
I hope BOD got some extra motivation from last night for the match in Paris next spring - COM' ON CHAPS!!!
When you posted this I agreed completely. But as time goes by I'm not so sure. Now that the anger is fading the emotion I'm left with most is disillusion. Disillusion with everything to do with football except our national side. For the first time since i was a child I don't think i'll watch any football this weekend. I just don't think I could face watching a bunch of over paid primamadonnas kicking a ball around a park in England, and local football is a farce beyond watching.
I don't know if I'll watch much more until after the World Cup. the World Cup will be one big reminder of last night. Even watching us play friendly's against sides preparing for South Africa would be the same. Them in their new kits with their name and squad number for South Africa on the back. Us playing 1-11, people pulling out of the squad because they have a niggle and its not worth risking with an important club game coming up.
Think I might get most of my sport at Ravenhill for a while.
kind of cant blame you(whats worse is im contemplating quitting the game i'm only 19 but collage work and travel is killing me cant do it anymore) and i have no loi now ah.......... what do i do!?
Rugby has its faults too - blatant thuggery going uncited, Irish players gouging other Irish players' eyes and so on. Bloodgate showed that too. Football can really stink at times but it pulls on the nation's heart strings like no other in my opinion.
Won't bother but I'm going to sunday's.
The cup final won't get high viewing figures. It may get decent enough figures but the interest in football in this country is still mainly in the national team and in British club sides.
Thats true Stuttgart, very true. However the RFU came down on those involved like a tonne of bricks. Life bans and huge fines. As for the gouging, those cases are almost always heavily punished. The IRB have not yet sacrificed their morality or undermined their own code of conduct. FIFA do so repeatedly.
Help something bit me!!!
I feel very similar to many above, i.e. what was the point of all the blood, sweat and tears of the last campaign only to be cheated out of our ultimate goal. Bad enough the play off seeding debacle but also the hand of henry.
The reality is though that in time, we'll start looking forward again. Once the draw is made for the Euros, we'll have something tangible to look at and it will only be about 6 months away until the campaign starts. Time will heal us etc but for now football in general just sucks.
i tought the Euro draw would be soon, before xmas, it used to be that way didnt it? Waiting until Febuary, im hoping the return of the premiership on saturday will help get it out of my system. Im a Utd and even loosing horribly to Liverpool never stung this bad, not near.
A man can have no greater love than give 90 minutes to his friends
Dont understand some of your points there lads to be honest...i was/am as disappointed and heartbroken as anyone about Wednesday night..ive been going to Ireland matches for 20 years,rarely miss a home game,have travelled abroad and have been to a World Cup with them...and would have gone to SA next summer had we qualified...to say im gutted is an understatement...and i agree im disillusioned with certain aspects of the game(cheating) and it's governing body etc...but its still the game i love and always will..and the game itself is bigger than a few fifa/uefa bigwigs,its bigger than a few overpaid diving disgraces(yes Drogba,Ronaldo etc i mean you)..i wont let these things put me off my sport.....im not going to "quit the game" as one dramatic post said!!....my weekend will be as usual..football!!...playing tonight,coaching in the morning,will spend tomorrowafternoon/evening watching Spanish and English league football and then on to Tallaght on Sunday where hopefully some of the disappointment from Wednesday can be forgotten.
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