Fields of Athenry - Ireland v Spain, Gdansk

[SkStu]

All those foreign fans are commenting about how great we are on YouTube..

I know you're just pointing out the comments on YT but that's the justification I hear from folk for the singing - who f**king cares what other fans think of us - it means NOTHING... well keep singing while they keep winning.

Ooooh what will the neighbors say... It's so annoyingly Irish.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Hmm.
So if you live outside Ireland it disqualifies you from attending home games?

No-one would expect them to turn up to every game, especially the mainly mind-numbing friendlies but some effort is possible, surely...

[ArdeeBhoy]

As for the singing, surely it's down to the individual.

Personally, far more p*ssed-off most people don't know verses 1-3 of FOA, FFS.

[brine3]

Hmm.
So if you live outside Ireland it disqualifies you from attending home games?

No-one would expect them to turn up to every game, especially the mainly mind-numbing friendlies but some effort is possible, surely...

I didn't say it disqualifies me. But it is easy talk for somebody in Ireland to preach to people on the continent about attending home matches.

I don't have limitless amounts of money and I when I visit Ireland it is not to visit Dublin. I don't have family in Dublin.

The matches in Stockholm and Cologne are next on my agenda. Maybe Vienna as well. They are more accessible for me.

But I want to see football at the new Lansdowne Road someday so hopefully it will come to pass.

[osarusan]

Yep bungle, its hte fools on here who dont attend games that are the first to complain. Id ignore the comments on here to be honest, as they are so out of touch its unreal.

do you think people have to be regular supporters at games to be able to be 'in touch' with what's going on?

[brine3]

As for the singing, surely it's down to the individual.

Personally, far more p*ssed-off most people don't know verses 1-3 of FOA, FFS.

Hehe, if you started with "By lonely prison walls" nobody would be able to keep up.

[ArdeeBhoy]

I didn't say it disqualifies me. But it is easy talk for somebody in Ireland to preach to people on the continent about attending home matches.

I don't have limitless amounts of money and I when I visit Ireland it is not to visit Dublin. I don't have family in Dublin.

The matches in Stockholm and Cologne are next on my agenda. Maybe Vienna as well. They are more accessible for me.

But I want to see football at the new Lansdowne Road someday so hopefully it will come to pass.

Except you don't have to have family, even in Ireland, to go to home games.
Not suggesting anyone spends money they don't have, but they could make the effort, say at least once a decade...

Hehe, if you started with "By lonely prison walls" nobody would be able to keep up.

My singing's bad but not that bad...

Plus people could make the effort to learn the words if they really wanted to.

[Predator]

do you think people have to be regular supporters at games to be able to be 'in touch' with what's going on?

Of course. Sure in order to be a jockey, you have to have been a horse first.

[Predator]

Unlike the greeks.

The Greeks are still in the competition.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Don't you mean to have been 'on' the horse, surely?

[paul_oshea]

Superfan syndrome.

call it what you want. But the reality is that people on here who don't go to games or haven't witnessed it first hand aren't in a position to comment and really, really don't have a clue. They are way out of touch with what goes on on the ground.

[Predator]

Don't you mean to have been 'on' the horse, surely?

"I never realised that to become a jockey you needed to be a horse first." - Arrigo Sacchi.

[paul_oshea]

"A sane man in a looney house, will eventually become a looney" - paul_oshea 2012.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Ah right, Pred. Thought sounded vaguely familiar.

Good analogy re.being involved in professional sport, unsure how much it applies to certain 'fans' mind. Though take the wider point.

[geysir]

Predator used the inverse of Sacchi's analogy in order to say - of course you do have to attend the games in order to be in touch.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Ah, read it originally as being 'tongue-in-cheek'...

[brine3]

Except you don't have to have family, even in Ireland, to go to home games.
Not suggesting anyone spends money they don't have, but they could make the effort, say at least once a decade....

I choose to go to some away matches instead. What's the big deal...

I'm already spending more money and giving up much more of my time than people who go to all the home matches.

[SwanVsDalton]

Just back but quick thoughts since I'm only really catching up on Tourney reaction now...

There's seems to be a big disconnect between those in the stadium and those watching on TV. To be fair I can see why some watching at home might be scornful - a 30,000 strong sing-song at the end of a heavy defeat, replete with paddywackery and plastic hammers, may seem a destructive bandwagon too far.

But to those in the stadium, it just seemed an impromptu defiant moment - a chance to loudly show our voice and colour as our side limply exited a tournament without giving us anything to shout about. We'd travelled, spent thousands, saw handballs in Paris, stalemates in Moscow, waited ten years and, in my case, forked out even more on a crashed campervan and had my passport stolen. Sack it - we were singing and I was proud to be a part of it.

I didn't meet one Irish fan remotely content with the performance. Not one. It seems unfair to take an event as nuanced and unique as Gdansk and view it simply in light of the performance.

And was I happy when, in Warsaw, Poles, Greeks, Russians and Croats came up to me in an Ireland top to congratulate on being brilliant fans, great singers etc etc? Of course not - I want them to respect my team, fear our players even. It's frankly embarrassing how poor we've been on the pitch.

But we gave our side fantastic backing when leaving a tournament they'd barely turned up in and made a memorable mark on a tournament in which we in danger of being forgotten about completely. I'm proud of it - and I'll still be proud even when most of those who were there stay home and we're in the Aviva, Berlin, Stockholm, Vienna or Torshavn with nothing to sing about.

[Junior]

, in my case, forked out even more on a crashed campervan and had my passport stolen. Sack it - we were singing and I was proud to be a part of it.

You lost it, didnt you?

[SwanVsDalton]

You lost it, didnt you?

Genuinely stolen, had it in a travel bag which was nicked. Shouldn't have had it in the bag in the first place though so kicking mysel no matter what.