How the rest of the world see us....

[Stuttgart88]

Weren't Rangers players (and players mistaken for Rangers players) roundly booed in Lansdowne for years, including pre-2002?

We spent years debating that here! My own view was that it was a bit different, though daytime RTE made it out to be sectarian. Rangers is an anti-Irish institution, hence the booing, although obviously there was a large element of "we're automatically all Celtic" unfortunately. Look, if Peter Robinson or Maggie Thatcher walked out onto the pitch at half time and got booed would it be sectarian? Or just political hate figures for the Irish? Rangers FC is in the latter category for me - and a huge number of non-Celtic affiliated Scots for that matter.

After the guy who was not Lovenkrands (Madsen?) got booed and the PA announcer told the crowd (not the crows) to be quiet the crowd then booed every Ireland touch and cheered every Danish touch. I think it said it all about the nature of the booing. We also booed the Yugoslav anthem in the early 90s I think - a very rare occurrance but hard to complain about in context.

[O'Shea's Boot]

This post is just as much of a generalisation as the one on the oasisblues site.

Not trying to generalise Bucky - as I said Im only back from Poland and in most of my dealing with groups from the North it was FTQ/IRA chants - its not what a proper Ireland supporters about - these things are now on you tube and it gives the illusion that this is what Ireland fans are like - dont like it

[bennocelt]

Not trying to generalise Bucky - as I said Im only back from Poland and in most of my dealing with groups from the North it was FTQ/IRA chants - its not what a proper Ireland supporters about - these things are now on you tube and it gives the illusion that this is what Ireland fans are like - dont like it

You mean like the rugby support?

[tetsujin1979]

We spent years debating that here! My own view was that it was a bit different, though daytime RTE made it out to be sectarian. Rangers is an anti-Irish institution, hence the booing, although obviously there was a large element of "we're automatically all Celtic" unfortunately. Look, if Peter Robinson or Maggie Thatcher walked out onto the pitch at half time and got booed would it be sectarian? Or just political hate figures for the Irish? Rangers FC is in the latter category for me - and a huge number of non-Celtic affiliated Scots for that matter.

After the guy who was not Lovenkrands (Madsen?) got booed and the PA announcer told the crowd (not the crows) to be quiet the crowd then booed every Ireland touch and cheered every Danish touch. I think it said it all about the nature of the booing. We also booed the Yugoslav anthem in the early 90s I think - a very rare occurrance but hard to complain about in context.

yeah, it was Madsen who was booed. The announcer introduced him as Lovenkrands when he came on, then later corrected it.

[peadar1987]

We spent years debating that here! My own view was that it was a bit different, though daytime RTE made it out to be sectarian. Rangers is an anti-Irish institution, hence the booing, although obviously there was a large element of "we're automatically all Celtic" unfortunately. Look, if Peter Robinson or Maggie Thatcher walked out onto the pitch at half time and got booed would it be sectarian? Or just political hate figures for the Irish? Rangers FC is in the latter category for me - and a huge number of non-Celtic affiliated Scots for that matter.

After the guy who was not Lovenkrands (Madsen?) got booed and the PA announcer told the crowd (not the crows) to be quiet the crowd then booed every Ireland touch and cheered every Danish touch. I think it said it all about the nature of the booing. We also booed the Yugoslav anthem in the early 90s I think - a very rare occurrance but hard to complain about in context.

To be fair, I'd boo a Celtic player just as quickly. Boooooo!

[O'Shea's Boot]

You mean like the rugby support?

No definitely not - Im not a rugby man ...... I mean proper Ireland football fan who supports the team with all their heart without singing all that sectarian ****e in full view of the world - does my fcukin head in

[ArdeeBhoy]

Hmm. If anything the Irish support is way too passive collectively these days.
Not suggesting we should boo Balotelli or sing the rebs, but the FOA is the height of it.
Really.

[O'Shea's Boot]

Hmm. If anything the Irish support is way too passive collectively these days.
Not suggesting we should boo Balotelli or sing the rebs, but the FOA is the height of it.
Really.

your point is a good one - we have limited songs and rely on FOA too much - how do we get around this

[bennocelt]

No definitely not - Im not a rugby man ...... I mean proper Ireland football fan who supports the team with all their heart without singing all that sectarian ****e in full view of the world - does my fcukin head in

Was in Twickers for the big rugby match a few weeks ago (house party) and there was virtually no atmosphere in the town, was funny for me to experience the difference betweena rugger and football crowd.
You keep mentioning sectarian chanting - without wanthing to go into specific's what were the chants? I just surprised

[gastric]

your point is a good one - we have limited songs and rely on FOA too much - how do we get around this

Ireland's Call is the obvious one, but it is pretty ordinary! Sure wouldn't McClean, Gibson and Wilson love to hear reference to 'the four proud provinces of Ireland'.

[ArdeeBhoy]

"Ireland's Call" just sounds naff. Even at the rugby.

[back of the net]

I checked over on to the Tartan Army forum to see how our neighbours viewed our euro 2012 performance against spain (see link)

As per expected the alot of them think were sh*te, while some were not so hard on us as we were playing spain and others think were worse than scotland (with most of them thinking so cos they still hate mcgeady for declaring from us)

However there was alot of posters (non celtic fans included ) who commented on how great the gdansk version of the Fields of Athenry and that our fans deserved alot of credit.
http://taboard.com/forum/index.php?s...=138130&st=120


Back on point though - I do agree that our song base is limited but dont agree with A.Bhoys point that we are too collectively passive away from home.....Tallinn 2011 , Bratislava 2010, paris 09, bari, 09, sofia 09 , stuttgart 06 , amsterdam 04 just some games that spring to mind when imo when our fans collectively support wise were fantastic

[ArdeeBhoy]

At most of those, but some of them were years ago.

We can make a noise away but too many of our songs are the same 5 or so tired tunes which are starting to sound contrived at this stage. Even FOA.

[irishultra]

I See Spain have been criticized for how they've played so far with many discounting their performance against us because of how utterly crap we are. Hard to argue.

[DannyInvincible]

We spent years debating that here! My own view was that it was a bit different, though daytime RTE made it out to be sectarian. Rangers is an anti-Irish institution, hence the booing, although obviously there was a large element of "we're automatically all Celtic" unfortunately. Look, if Peter Robinson or Maggie Thatcher walked out onto the pitch at half time and got booed would it be sectarian? Or just political hate figures for the Irish? Rangers FC is in the latter category for me - and a huge number of non-Celtic affiliated Scots for that matter.

After the guy who was not Lovenkrands (Madsen?) got booed and the PA announcer told the crowd (not the crows) to be quiet the crowd then booed every Ireland touch and cheered every Danish touch. I think it said it all about the nature of the booing. We also booed the Yugoslav anthem in the early 90s I think - a very rare occurrance but hard to complain about in context.

I agree that there were very different dynamics at play in the two aforementioned contexts compared to Irish Manchester United fans booing Balotelli in Poznan. So, is it justified/more justified (?) if political so long as it's not sectarian/racist or moronically related to British club rivalries?

No definitely not - Im not a rugby man ...... I mean proper Ireland football fan who supports the team with all their heart without singing all that sectarian ****e in full view of the world - does my fcukin head in

What was the sectarian stuff being sung? And can you be sure it was only northerners?

[Stuttgart88]

So, is it justified/more justified (?) if political so long as it's not sectarian/racist or moronically related to British club rivalries?

I would say yes if the political context was that a blatantly anti-Irish organisation was the target. If the political context was that the target had a different view on Obamacare or how to fund greyhound racing, it'd just be silly.

I'd prefer for there to be no booing except for cheating, referee decisions etc. but I find it hard to fathom how some people just plainly fail to recognise any difference between sectarian and any other motive.

[paul_oshea]

A laughing stock id imagine, and rightly so. The Defenders of the Great who for so long stuck by and lived in their bubbles on here must have serious egg on their face now. Although they probably don't even realise it and might even imagine that they never said it in the first place.

If a team ever says before a game that they expect to beat us i will no longer get annoyed at the arrogance or ignorance of said team about our team. It can only be a fair assumption.

[Stuttgart88]

I think laughing stock is a bit extreme Paul. They'd think we were out of our depth but fair play for getting there.

I'd say they see us as a small nation who were pitted up against 2 giants of world football and one of the best tier 2 teams.*


I'm not sure if you're including me above. I fact I'm not sure if anyone was an unqualified Trapologist. I personally always fight the tendency to say the manager is crap because that's usually the first claim of the ignorant and uninformed.

I always had serious concerns about our tendency to sit back when ahead, persisting with 442 and I thought the clean sheet run was grossly misleading. I refused to criticise Slovakia away because we played well enough to win. I wavered between 60 & 70% in favour of Trap and his methods while they were working. I'm glad we had him away in Macedonia unlike more popular managers. I think lots of people thought like that.

Despite my criticism of Trap now I think there were various unfair accusations thrown at him over the years or certainly situations where he deserved the benefit of the doubt and in those situations I defended him. I'd love if Marc Wilson had 10 caps by now but can anyone catergorically say it's Trap's fault he doesn't?

Even after Poland there seems to be quite a high degree of qualified support for Trap.

Hey, where Dr_peepee these days? C'mon Doc - we want to hear what you have to say.

* Weren't all 3 opponents number 1 seeds in qualifying, or were Croatia a high number 2 in Greece's group? Were we the only no. 3 seed to actually qualify (Czechs?)?

[Not Brazil]

What was the sectarian stuff being sung? And can you be sure it was only northerners?

I watched all 3 of the South's games - I certainly didn't hear anything sectarian at the games.

There does, however, appear to be a problem amongst a minority of your support (in particular Nordies) away from the match - add ons to "The Fields", for example, whereby some of your fans seem to want to have sexual intercourse with Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth and to express their support for a terrorist organisation that slaughtered ad maimed thousands of Irish men women and children - quite an irony that the FAI saw fit to remember the victims of a cowardly, murderous, sectarian attack by vermin involved in a terrorist gang but yet some of your fans see fit to glorify equally repulsive terrorists of a different hue.

The Belfast Newsletter carried front page headlines of the antics of some of your sectarian Nordie fans who thought it great craic to have their sectarianism exposed on You Tube.

[BonnieShels]

I watched all 3 of the South's games - I certainly didn't hear anything sectarian at the games.

There does, however, appear to be a problem amongst a minority of your support (in particular Nordies) away from the match - add ons to "The Fields", for example, whereby some of your fans seem to want to have sexual intercourse with Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth and to express their support for a terrorist organisation that slaughtered ad maimed thousands of Irish men women and children - quite an irony that the FAI saw fit to remember the victims of a cowardly, murderous, sectarian attack by vermin involved in a terrorist gang but yet some of your fans see fit to glorify equally repulsive terrorists of a different hue.

The Belfast Newsletter carried front page headlines of the antics of some of your sectarian Nordie fans who thought it great craic to have their sectarianism exposed on You Tube.

Fair play to the Newsletter. Quality journalism as always.

The FAI can't legislate for idiots. I have never sang the inexorable dirge that is the TFOA as a result of the addenda.
But if people choose to what can the rest do?
I have noticed that there is a different attitude these days and there is a noticeable reduction of the amount who sing SF and IRA within.