Barstool facepalm

**peadar1987** · 02/08/2015, 10:21 PM

Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

That time of year again

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/co...-31421056.html

Oh god, that's dire:

Originally Posted by Barry McStool

They say that the relatively weak performances of our teams in the Champions League in recent seasons - Liverpool in particular put up a poor show last year - has "proven" that the Premier League is not "the best league in the world", that that is all hype.

"Our teams" indeed.

I thought perhaps it was an article borrowed from an English news service, as is sometimes, the case, then got to the last paragraph:

Originally Posted by pure ****e

And still...still they come with their cribbing about how ludicrous it is for people from, say, Roscommon, to be regarding themselves as Liverpool fans. In fact, Irish people have been supporting English football teams for so long now, as a natural expression of their humanity and of their longing for a bit of diversion in their lives, it can with some justification be called our national game.
In a similar move, people from Roscommon became fans of the Beatles without thinking it was ridiculous, what with all the great Roscommon bands they could have supported at the time.
Thank God we can admire aspects of a culture other than our own, that we are so open-minded.

A couple of short sentences would pretty much win you a game of Barstool Bingo. Just a reference to crappy facilities and you'd have a full house.

**ger121** · 02/08/2015, 11:16 PM

I was reading it and kept having to remind myself it wasn't an article from Waterford Whispers News. Cringe Factor 10!

**Nesta99** · 03/08/2015, 10:13 AM

A natural expression of our humanity.... Mother of jaysus.....

**nigel-harps1954** · 03/08/2015, 10:37 AM

So disrespectful and ignorant toward football in this country. Come to expect little else from the majority of journos here though.

**Dalymountrower** · 03/08/2015, 11:04 AM

I would think that Lynch's piece was dripping with irony until the sub editor got his hands on it

Lynch is a long time Athlone fan, would have seen him at lots of other LOI ga mes too

**peadar1987** · 03/08/2015, 12:46 PM

Originally Posted by Dalymountrower

I would think that Lynch's piece was dripping with irony until the sub editor got his hands on it

Lynch is a long time Athlone fan, would have seen him at lots of other LOI ga mes too

If being an Athlone fan doesn't make you hate Irish football, nothing will

**gufcfan** · 03/08/2015, 2:33 PM

Originally Posted by peadar1987

If being an Athlone fan doesn't make you hate Irish football, nothing will

Says the Bray fan... I feel your pain.

**nigel-harps1954** · 03/08/2015, 10:52 PM

https://thetirconaillview.wordpress....et-revolution/

A loosely related article to this thread. Why are more people not watching a team top of the league while 15,000 travel to Croke Park and more travel regularly to England and Scotland?

Thought it was a well written article and deserved a few more readers.

**joey B** · 03/08/2015, 11:54 PM

Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

That time of year again

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/co...-31421056.html

The saddest thing about it is it probably represents the view of the vast majority of football supporters in this country the patriotic Irish me hole!

**IsMiseSean** · 04/08/2015, 4:12 PM

Originally Posted by joey B

the patriotic Irish me hole!

That always makes me laugh but not as much as 'the sports mad Irish'.

**Charlie Darwin** · 06/08/2015, 6:46 PM

http://www.wiganlatics.co.uk/news/ar...d-2597956.aspx

**SkStu** · 06/08/2015, 7:55 PM

Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

http://www.wiganlatics.co.uk/news/ar...d-2597956.aspx

Wow...

Why did you start supporting Wigan Athletic?

It’s a strange story really because I don’t have any family ties to Wigan or anything.

Not really that strange mate. Exactly like 99% of the Irish fans of English teams.

**TheOneWhoKnocks** · 06/08/2015, 8:26 PM

In all fairness, most Scandinavian and Dutch lads have an English team they support pretty rigorously.

Even a surprising amount of people in the more traditional footballing nations support a foreign team (along with their domestic team). I've seen Italians in Rome wearing West Ham kits, presumably due to the Paolo Di Canio link - that's as tenuous as it gets.

I mean there are bigger things to laugh about than young Johnny supporting Crewe Alexandra. Half the people in the country under the age of 30 - and virtually the entire non-inner city Dublin female population - speak in an American accent. I think that's pretty embarrassing.

It's hard to sustain any kind of fanbase when the G.A.A. has an iron grip on things, the stadiums are worse than English Conference and Scottish League Two stadiums and emigration is culturally ingrained - particularly in the most attractive market segments.

**SkStu** · 06/08/2015, 9:41 PM

Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks

In all fairness, most Scandinavian and Dutch lads have an English team they support pretty rigorously.

more often that not in addition to a local team. That's really the key missing part with Irish barstoolery (barstoolism?).

**PartySaint** · 10/09/2015, 10:17 AM

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...es-high-800000

The number of overseas fans visiting England to watch Premier League matches rose to 800,000 last year, contributing a collective £684m to the economy, according to new research.Though most of the visitors were from the Republic of Ireland (121,000), the league also drew 93,000 from Norway, 58,000 from Sweden and 53,000 from the US.
Manchester United were the most popular destinations, with Old Trafford and the Emirates both receiving 109,000 international visits last year. Liverpool rank not far behind on 99,000, with 89,000 visiting Chelsea, 51,000 Wembley, 40,000 Tottenham, 33,000 Manchester City, and 30,000 Fulham’s Craven Cottage.
The research, undertaken on behalf of VisitBritain by the Office for National Statistics, also indicated that football-related tourism is responsible for one in 10 visits to the north-west, and one in 20 trips to the north-east.

The overall £684m economic gain represents a 15% rise – or an increase of £89m – compared to when the research was last conducted in 2010, when 50,000 fewer overseas fans visited.
While Richard Scudamore, the Premier League’s chief executive, welcomed the numbers as “very encouraging”, some fans groups remain concern that increasing demand will serve to drive up ticket prices still further. Last season fans stagedorganised
protests against prices in the Premier League, while a Guardian survey this month found adult prices in the Championship will regularly surpass £35 – with Sheffield Wednesdaycharging £52 for certain games.
Sean Bones, the Manchester United Supporters Trust vice-chairman, told the BBC: “It’s good for the country when additional funds come into the economy but we need clubs to reward the long-term loyalty of our supporters.”
Tracey Crouch, the tourism minister, welcomed the figures as proof of “the positive role football is playing in showcasing key destinations in many different regions … It’s great for local economies, great for football and great for the UK’s tourism industry.”

We're winning...

**nigel-harps1954** · 10/09/2015, 10:20 AM

That's over 1/3 of the entire League of Ireland attendance for the 2014 season across 20 clubs.

**Spudulika** · 10/09/2015, 12:17 PM

Reading comments on this made me feel really depressed this morning. "10% of them in LOI grounds" "10% of the revenue for LOI clubs..." Can anybody imagine the absolute carnage and apocalypse were 12,000-odd extra heads were spread across our games? And worse, a couple of million extra slosh around LOI clubs? Chaos. Our clubs are not built (with very, very few exceptions) to handle money, they're not even able to negotiate as a collective, nor handle TV coverage. It's terrible that this came out the same moment as the Rovers plea to RTE.