QuoteLike where?Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
On other sites but worth a mention.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqSX5...ature=youtu.be
Are you not a LOI fan yourself?
Like where?
On other sites but worth a mention.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqSX5...ature=youtu.be
I make it to Limerick games when I can, but I've never complained about Irish fans watching English, Scottish, or whatever clubs. Phrases like "real football for real fans" only serve to widen the gap between the two groups.Are you not a LOI fan yourself?
from http://thescore.thejournal.ie/uefa-i...comment-477328
from https://twitter.com/TheLOIBLOG/statu...09758261280769So Ireland’s Premier League supporters win an award from UEFA. Platini could either go to Richmond Park, Dalymount or any League of Ireland ground and present it to the real Irish fan or he could go to any Premier League ground and award it to any of the thousands of ‘Irish Fans’ there on a Saturday.
and in reply to the above https://twitter.com/7_tom/statuses/219012939527630848UEFA to present Irish fans with award for their support at EURO 2012. He should present it at HT at a LOI game to see how good they are!
I've seen similar comments to the above on private forums, but I can't link them here@TheLOIBLOG agree UEFA award an absolute farce. Ole Ole Ole Ole we don't support when Irish clubs play
my point is (and has been for some time) that LOI fans need to change their attitude towards fans of non-LOI clubs if they want to get these fans in the gates at LOI games
Totally agree re. certain LOI fans. And EPL/SPL fans also.
My club is no longer in the LOI, but with 3-4 exceptions really don't care what other club sides they follow.
It is a 'free' world. Of sorts.
Well said. If the LOI does become a success many would complain about all the johnny-come-latelys who have hoppped on board. Football is a broad church and attracts many different ranges of interest. It's about time some of the cranks realised this.
I can understand their frustration. Simply put, people who don't go to football matches cannot possibly be the best fans in the world and to say otherwise is just downright silly. I can see why people consider LOI fans to be hostile and unwelcoming but it's asking a lot of people to expect them to be ambassadors for the league 24/7. LOI fans might be derisive of non-LOI fans in public forums, but anybody who shows up to a game is treated exactly the same way whether it's their first game or their 10,000th.
Yeah but how can someone say they love football then totally ignore the game that is on their doorstep while going off to the bar to watch a game on the tele. With the amount of good ex LOI players now in the Irish team, its now more than ever that the LOI need the "best fans in the world" to come out and show their support. Its very easy to follow ireland, not so easy to attend a game in a damp Carlisle grounds for instance. No problem with the irish fans singing, as i would be singing and enjoying the craic myself if i was out there, but its the total lack of respect thats shown towards our league that gets on my nerves
This is absolutely 100% not the case.
That's ridiculous
I don't think it is but hopefully events will prove me wrong someday. I fully accept that the Polish RoI support contained many "temporary" fans but it's just a simple fact that big events attract more people than small ones. I don't think many RoI fans will claim to be one of the "best all-encompassing fan of all levels of footbal" on the planet but that's not what the supposed award is for. "Best fans at the tournament and a role model for all fans of the international game and probably all levels of the game", yes.
I think anyone who doesn't recognise this nuance is probably choosing not to recognise it and just has the hump.
I also think that the LOI is just one tier of Irish football. There were many flags and banners of local clubs and junior clubs who people play and volunteer for. These people are every bit of the support fabric of Irish football as LOI fans.
Just to set the record straight: I have only disdain for people who ridicule the standard of the LOI - either enjoy it or shut up about it I say - but I have no major gripe with people who don't think it's worth paying to see.
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 30/06/2012 at 1:15 PM.
It would be ironic if the behaviour of ROI fans was portrayed as the ideal model for fans at all levels of the game given the attendances at LOI level.
Regardless of any award for the genuinely admirable way the ROI fans conducted themselves in Poland, as I've mentioned before, I wonder what fans from other countries imagine our domestic league games to look like. Do they envisage something similar to ROI's euro games but (obviously) on a smaller scale?
Would their perception of the ROI fans change if they knew that a serious majority of those in Poland don't go to LOI games?
I was referring to the behaviour of the RoI being the ideal model of beahviour for fans of the game at any level. I think you noted yourself what I was tryiong to say.
I dunno about the perceptionod RoI fans changing among the Poles or wherever. I think if people knew the full picture about football in Ireland they'd appreciate that it's such a strange thing it's probably understandable that low numbers support the game in Ireland. More than anyone we're in the shadow of the biggest, most bloated, most financially obscene soap opera version of the game in the world, we share an island with a huge powerful sports organisation that has historically been hand-in-hand with a most insular idealist nationalist political party that only ever looked down its nose at our game in Ireland, an organisation that labelled you unpatriotic by supporting football with its "foreign game" tag and the ban, and so on.
I fully accept that there's a challenge for someone to somehow tap into the temporary fan element of the RoI support to become a more frequent fan, and so on, but how to do it is another debate.
Just as a complete total and utter aside: are there many Poles left in Ireland? Would a Dublin Polish football club (like London Irish RFC used to be) have any merit?
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 30/06/2012 at 2:56 PM.
Anyway, back in the real world far beyond RMK and certain detached (& possibly deluded?) zealots dictating who the 'real' fans are...
http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/euro-...ve-uefa-award/
I assume perceptions of the Ireland fans in Poland were 100% based on perceptions of the Irish fans in Poland, regardless of where they live in the world or what they do when they are at home.
Am I mistaken, I thought you had no problem calling somebody a supporter of the Ireland team even if they did not attend LOI games?
Hopefully when in Dublin Platini will be shown a game in, e.g., Tallaght, and will have a meeting with JD and Leo Varadaker (sports minister?) to discuss how UEFA can help countries like Ireland compete in the current marketplace for football. Rather than just engaging in a PR stunt / backslapping exercise we can use something like this to catalayse some change - and embarrass government into doing something useful for our game.
Nice gesture to honour James Nolan with the award.
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 30/06/2012 at 3:27 PM.
Here is Keith Andrews' view of the fans in Gdansk:
In the end, after waiting 10 years and after all the hard work in getting to Poland, probably the only real positive we could take out of the tournament was the amazing atmosphere created by the Irish fans. We’re 4-0 down against Spain and all you can hear for the last 10 minutes is The Fields Of Athenry. That will live with me forever.
I was so knackered by that stage of the game, after putting in a fair old shift running around after Spain’s 17 midfielders, but that sound just made me want to kick on to the end. It sent shivers down my spine.
I got dragged straight into a TV interview 30 seconds after I came off the pitch and I remember what I said: that we’d fallen well short and been beaten by a far superior side. But I also said that the fans were the highlight of the evening and would probably be remembered as one of the highlights of the tournament.
Roy Keane was critical of all that but I’m not going to get involved in a slanging match with him. He was a fantastic player for our country, one of the best midfielders to play the game and I respected him a hell of a lot as a player. He is also entitled to his opinion in his new job. But my thoughts about the fans are as clear now as they were when I spoke with my emotions running high right after the game.
And what they did that night has since been praised worldwide. Supporters aren’t stupid. They know football and they know that when their team has just been put to the sword by one of the greatest football teams the world has seen, that’s not the time to turn on the players and throw out all thoughts of unity and togetherness.
But I’m also sure that if, in the next qualifying campaign, we’re not up to the standards we’ve set in the last few years, then they’ll be quick to voice their anger too — and rightly so.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/s...or-199229.html
Exactly.
So, what's the title of this award then? "Best fans in the world", "best supporting role in an international tournament", "best song at an international match despite worst overall score"?...
I think someone at their 10,000th game would get some pretty weird looks. Any 250-year-old would!
You think? I dunno. When crowds increase now and again with the promise of impending success, is there not a hint of derision towards who the regular supporters perceive to be "fair-weather fans"? I've certainly witnessed it on forums. I know that is often related to a later subsidence in support when times are tougher, but everyone has to start somewhere and everyone supports in different ways and measures.
Is that the polite term for event junkies? You're such a diplomat.
You make good points though. Would expect no less from the best poster on the international forum of late. I think it's a great shame that the general Irish public don't get behind our national league, never mind see that a stronger league is crucial to the development of a stronger and better-pedigreed international side in the long-term, but, as I've said before, people are entitled to spend their money wherever they want, be that on EPL/SPL clubs or on something else entirely unrelated to football. Ultimately, responsibility rests with the FAI and clubs to encourage people to take a greater interest in the league.
You're not mistaken, I have no problem describing anybody as a supporter in that situation. I think the whole division of 'real fans' and 'true supporters' is a pointless exercise whoever does it (though I note that posters are quicker to highlight the silliness of these terms when LOI fans use them than when, for example, Tricky Colour made his retarded claim that anybody not singing at the end of the Spain game was not a true fan).
As a complete guess, I'd imagine the wording would avoid terms like 'best' and go something like 'rewarding ROI fans for their behaviour and fantastic displays of support during the Euros'.
With the possible exception of Salthill, nobody at LOI games knows everybody else at the games. We don't look for new faces and ask them if they're 'newbies' so we can abuse them for being fair-weather fans. This season Limerick got an attendance of over 1,000 only once - home to Longford, and we were delighted to get it. Look at our forum after that game. Nobody complaining about fair-weather fans, just disappointed we played so badly that we knew a lot of them wouldn't come back.
Anybody who would decide based on the 'hostile' posts of the fans on an online forum that they didn't want to go to an LOI game is being incredibly over-sensitive.
Last edited by osarusan; 01/07/2012 at 1:31 AM.
Something to put in the trophy room at last!!!
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