that mexican wave was actually started by pesky kids in front of me with their man u jerseys!the amount of looks I got when I dared to cheer on a loi player was revolting.. it wasnt the best of nights that was for sure..and for those vuvuzelas I dont want to hear them ever again..
Gary Cronin is he the right man to manage Longford Town?
It's the same criteria as for supporting a country.Originally Posted by Murfinator
The principle is the same, and the rest of the world (bar nations that speciailise in peculiar post-colonial confidence crises/self-loathing) gets it.
recently i watched a man u game in my local along with the local man u supporters club and was amazed to hear them cheer with a english accent "go on my son" etc by half time they all had english accents .
I asked sacasticly of one bloke if he was a regular at old trafford no he says much prefer the crack here.
my point is most of these lads are not football supporters but trend followers.
when someone asks me why i support my team say my dad took me when i was a kid. but if you ask a man u fan why he supports them he will say he remembers his dad taken him to the pub for his first match.
I wish i did not know then what I dont know now
It's just the difference between football fans and football consumers.
Football fans like watching football. If they're living somewhere, they'll check out who the local team is and take some sort of interest in them - usually going to at least one game. If they're on holiday somewhere - it doesn't matter where really - they'll take the chance to go to a game if one comes up. And it's not just about the football - they're also curious about the fan culture, the stadium, the overall experience. The more obcsure the club or the league the better. Because football fans love football.
Those who think football starts and ends with a handful of foreign teams on a TV box aren't fans. They're just consumers. In fact, they're worse - they're just dispensable sales units for the global entertainment corporations that they support.
Last edited by dcfcsteve; 05/08/2010 at 5:40 PM.
Here ya go Martthat mexican wave was actually started by pesky kids in front of me with their man u jerseys!
o======<() ~♪ ♫♪ ♫♪ ♫♪ ♫♪ ♫♪ ♫♪ ♫♪ ♫♪ UNITED.....UNITED
Thats a nice way of summing it up.
"Ask not what your club can do for you, but what you can do for your club"
This was a meaningless game aimed at corporate Ireland to attract event junkies in the hope of selling more vantage club tickets nothing more nothing less.
I can't speak for other league of Ireland clubs supporters and I'm sure most would say the same about themselves. But at Sligo Rovers our supporters are born not manufactured. We do not choose, we are chosen. Those that understand need no explanation. Those that don't understand don't matter.
But their money would probably be welcome all the same!
I used to get very worked up over this whole thing. These days much less so, because I've come to the realisation that there's very little point. It's apples and oranges. I don't get upset that someone will watch Man United instead of the Bit o' Red. I might as well be annoyed that they're devotees of Jedward. Following the Premiership or supporting your hometown team - two different worlds. If I have to explain it, you won't understand.
"Even if the wind stops to blow
Even if the sea ceases to flow
Even if the sun ceases to rise
The name of Sligo Rovers will shine and shine forever like the morning star glittering in the sky."
I'd go even further any say it's not even that we're chosen, but that we simply have no choice. Just like the choice of country you support. Your place of birth/ethnicity decides for you.
I support City because I'm a proud Derry man. For me it's an expression of civic pride as much as it is about football. I could never be a proud Mancunian, as I'm simply not one - even if I lived there (I'd support Stockport County or FCUM anyway....). It could never mean that much to me (and I tried when I lived in Newcastle).
That's it, I'm moving to Sligo.
Bottom line is that people can and will "support" whoever they choose. That's their right. The rest of us have the right to view them with anything from bemusement to contempt. I think the reason people get so defensive (ManWho fans and the like) is that they recognise the inherent contradication in their stance, but can't bring themselves to admit it. And by the way, supporting your local team isn't a chore, to be suffered so that you can feel superior. Does anyone really think people would go if that was the case ? The people who go to Pats, Rovers,Derry Sligo etc every week do so because it's their team and they love it. Like supporters of every team in the world I'm sure, there are games that are poor and times when it's desperately disappointing/frustrating. But then, every so often, your team scores a 92nd minute equalizer in a local derby to stay on top of the league, or a last minute winner in a cup tie, and you honestly can't buy that feeling.
Out for a spell, got neglected, lay on the bench unselected.
I dont have much to say on this as ive already vented to anyone who would listen.
But as a relatively new LOI follower (and still a Man U supporter) Im just so annoyed about what happened. Building up to this fixture I had been complaining about how sad it is that at the opening of the national stadium the majority would be supporting an english team....disgraceful. But to see it all in action (i had tickets but had to work....not sure whether this is good or bad., would have liked to have been one of the few supporting the LOI team), the shameless in the man u jerseys cheering on their team and in despair when one of the heroes missed....the cheers they got as they walked out onto the pitch etc etc.
I had hoped/expected that the LOI team wouldnt lose this much but in fairness Man u are one of the best football teams in the world, with players trying to prove themselves, players trying to gell properly etc.
Buti dont see how the FAI could have made things worse. Its as if they looked at all the choices they had before them and picked the one least likely to benefit irish players (bar the 2 on uniteds team), irish league or irish football.
The scoreline has only further justified english football fans in following their english team., the manu fans got to see a goal fest "wasnt it great etc etc" and if i ask "would you think about following a local LOI team" theyll dismiss it condescendingly because they just saw the "best" of our league get hammered.
it is so ironic that rico said this was an oppurtuninty to right the wrongs of the bohs hammering, or the dundalk hammering, and lift the Loi in the eyes of the irish people....
it has done the opposite.
Well done FAI
(i know this is all been said before and most loi fans know how much the fai likes to **** on the loi but im a relativly new fan and im just disgusted about it all....lol).
Do you not think there is a contradiction in the stance of many LOI fans also?
On the one hand, we recognise that we need to attract fans to games in order to improve, but on the other hand, if people just don't 'get' following their local team, they're barstoolers who can **** off as we don't want them at out games anyway.
People are way over-analysing this.
Nobody who wore a Manchester United shirt to the game yesterday was ever going to be won over - if they'd have lost, it would only have strengthened their resolve ("we'll beat Chelsea to the league title anyway").
What it has done is helped some of our best players test themselves against the best. Paddy Madden had a really tough evening in a role he's not suited for against world class defenders... but he acquitted himself well. Karl Sheppard came on and they found it very hard to deal with him. Conor Powell was given a lesson in defending by one of the best wingers in the business, but he didn't let it get him down and produced some wonderful attacking play to compensate (as well as improving in his defending as the game went on). Brian Shelley did his bit and made sure Park had to come inside every time he got the ball and kept Evans quiet. Ken Oman was brilliant at times. Other players raised their stock too.
They might have been spanked and it might have been embarrassing for some people, but I guarantee every one of the Airtricity players walking off the pitch was ruing a particular mistake he made and will be itching to make up for it in his next game. Which is how players improve.
In all honesty Charlie Darwin both sides had made changes by the time Sheppard had come on so its hard to compare like for like(paddy madden et-al)
The bar stoolers are a lost race imo,its the youth of today that LOI clubs should be chaseing.
Many of whom, impressionable as they are, have just seen Man Utd thrash 'the League' 7 - 1.
Though I do agree with your main point.
Back four was unchanged, wasn't it? (Not entirely sure on this point, actually)
I've only really read it on internet forums, rather than in the real world. If that was genuinely the reaction, then half the people in grounds wouldn't be there - not everyone is brought up to go. In my experience LoI fans are welcoming to newcomers. Compare that to the utter contempt the "day trippers" are held in Old Trafford, for example, and I don't think it's a valid excuse anyway.
The only time you'd get that reaction was if someone was being agressive (as witnessed in this thread tbf) about hating the league. In such a case a reaction is completely understandable, and it's imperative such arseholes get a few home truths back.
If you attack me with stupidity, I'll be forced to defend myself with sarcasm.
But in real terms the only people we (existing fans) would try and coax to games are our mates or at least people we'd know. If one them states they've no interest, I'm pretty sure it'd just be dropped and we'd still remian friends. its not like we'd be telling them to eff off
54,321 sold - wws will never die - ***
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New blog if anyone's interested - http://loihistory.wordpress.com/
LOI section on balls.ie - http://balls.ie/league-of-ireland/
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