Today I'm ashamed to be Irish

[OwlsFan]

At the game itself I thought the Israeli anthem was respected by 95% of the fans and I thought our Taoiseach Bertie Ahern got more boos than any Israeli, barring their actor in goal.

There are biggoted yobs in every country. If you say there were 60 out of 38,000 abusing Israeli fans outside pubs then that is 60 too many but to compare our fans' actions to the thousands of English supporters who go on the rampage is not a fair comparison. I've seen these in action in Cologne, Stuttgart and Dublin and it's not a minority - the behaviour of the majority is desperate.

It is terrible that some Israeli fans were abused but their actions are not representative of 95% of the fans.

[Poor Student]

I didn't hear or see any of this myself. I did feel the Palestinian flags and handouts were being forced at me when I tried to enter the ground. Quite annoying. I did feel for the small bands of Israelis I saw when I could see a large group of people waving Palestinian flags ahead of them. It's not very welcoming for our guests who may have no or similar views on the conflict to those even waving the flags. For all we know they've lost loved ones to the conflict. I understand they were very nice to us when we were there. I think a combination of factors combined including people with certain political opinions, lots of alcohol and frustration at the game. None of which make any of this acceptable. What can you say? There's a large amount of fecking idiots in this country who can ruin the reputation of a group of people 1000 times or more their size.

[onenilgameover]

I was in outside Murray's myself but maybe for only half an hour or so. I saw a group of fupping knacker tossers down the road from Murray's more nearer the spar shouting stuff and actin like they do. Lady went by on a bike in a short skirt and there was a few cat calls but it wasn't that harsh. then I did walk past one fella who was ''screamin where's your fore skin gone? at some israeli fans'' made me feel ill but it makes me more ill now knowin I didn't tell him to shut up. However he was with ten or so dutch gold drinkers who looked like the ran into walls for a livin and I was on me toblerone at the time. There was as seems to be on occasion some ''black ******* comments'' made towards clinton. and a few other occasions where we let ourselves down. I just few bad for the Israeli cos they made such an effort for us. However having said that if that team and that ***** of a keeper is a justifyable representaion of the people and they are not ashamed of that well then I couldn't give a damn. Poor show by us last night I felt and I don't mean on the pitch. Seeing people with Palastinian flags who obviously didn't know the significance of one...................Best fans in the world we are not.

[thecorner]

was there as well and it was a gisgrace..lot of city fans involved as well. these fans travelled a long way for a football match. nothing more, nothing less.

funniest part of all was seeing a rovers fan in the ground waving a palestinian flag with an isreal flag around his neck

these fans that were given the height of abuse are the same as all of us...football fans.

those involved should be ashamed

[zinedineontour]

look lets look at this rationally .. people were disgusted after game ****ed off with the israeli goalie , prob a few who had too many and took it out on the easy targets the israelis ... not to be condoned but to say im ashamed to be irish is going to far .. oh we are all holier than though on this site arent we ... ffs have you never had one of those nights were you do stupid things not thinking of the meaning ....

[thecorner]

look lets look at this rationally .. people were disgusted after game ****ed off with the israeli goalie , prob a few who had too many and took it out on the easy targets the israelis

this all happened before the game

[student]

the level of abuse last night directed at the Israeli supporters was worse than i have ever witnessed in an Irish stadium. To call it disgraceful is an understatement. Redgav your account of what happened outside Murrays and in the stadium was 100% correct. I fully agree with you, i too was ashamed to be Irish.

i was seated in the north stand and if some of the "salutes" of the so called irsih supporters wer caught on camera then it is quite possible that ireland could be at the centre of a major FIFA inquiry. If a fan in England shouted racist abuse or made nazi salutes (as happened on numerous occasions yesterday) than that fan would be kicked out of the stadium straight away and wouldnt be allowed return for a long time.

There is no doubt that as ever the majority of fans were well behaved. but that is simply no where near good enough. Surely we as a nation should expect higher standards than that.

And lads for f£$k sake using the fact that fans were ****ed out of the brains is no excuse.

Finally if anyone is wondering i was seated in the North Stand buckets on the west stand side right beside a bunch of bohs supporters. i trust amd hope that they are not representative of the majority of Bohs fans.

[hamish]

I'm appalled to read of that behaviour.

Every country has its pond life - didn't an Israeli journalist say a few weeks ago that Behar FC fans have an infamous reputation for racism and that Arab players were booed when they played for Israel?

We have scum, they have them, how do we rid the game of these scum - many are banned etc but like bacteria they seem to breed.

A few years ago 100,000 people marched in Israel for peace. I'm certain that many of the Israeli fans in Landsdowne were in that 100,000. Needless to say, the media in general (exceptions Guardian/UK Independent) took little notice of that march.

Yeah, I've probably done more stupud things in my time that the rest of you combined but thank God racism han't contaminated me or my friends would have thunped me if I said anything racist.

Don't knock yourself about lads for not protesting that behavior as much as you think you should have - no point in getting your head kicked in.

Personally, I would have gone to the Gardai but would they have done anything about it??????????????

I'm so depressed that we have "fans" that behaved like that.

PS I'm not boasting but I'd be thick enough to go over to the Isareli fans and shake as many hands as possible - I did soemthing similar before in a club situation and suffered the consequences.

[redgav]

look lets look at this rationally .. people were disgusted after game ****ed off with the israeli goalie , prob a few who had too many and took it out on the easy targets the israelis ... not to be condoned but to say im ashamed to be irish is going to far .. oh we are all holier than though on this site arent we ... ffs have you never had one of those nights were you do stupid things not thinking of the meaning ....

I take it from that insane comment of yours that you were comfortably watching the game from a nice cosy bar stool then ??? this occured 2 hours before kick off ,and might I add, while the isrealie fans were singin "we love you ireland we do "

Holier than tho my ar$e ,any decent football fan there lat nite was disgusted

[MacAonghusa]

Lads, it's only right to call it like it was ... pure bigotry and racism!!

Of course these guys are less that 1% of fans, and they can't even be called 'proper fans', but they do exist and we have to acknowledge that if we want to combat it. Quite simply we cannot claim the title as worlds best fans if these sort of louts exist. It's irrelevant that other countries may have bigger problems (ahem ... England), the point is we DO have this problem (this is not the only incident remember) and it needs to be stamped out.
I hope next time such a thing happens real Irish fans present will show their true colours and align themselves with the visiting fans!!

True fans of ROI take back the name of Worlds Best Fans!

[The Bit O'Red]

If you look across the stand there are nearly more Celtic jerseys than green ones


fukin idiots like that should stay at home

Agreed Flea, the blade 2 all-round Celtic jersey wearing brigade should have been over in Glasgow cheering on Scotlands win if they want to wear those colours. I saw some incident outside Murrays too with some knackers shouting 'PLO' at passing israeli supporters. Somehow I don't think that those lads had studied/researched their middle east history/politics all too much. In fairness though it was a minority and I did see some of the NLSA telling them to shut up and cop on which nearly started a fight.

Inside the stadium there was a young lad (fairly pished) who from the minute israel scored kept shouting 'fcuk off u jewish kunts' every two minutes. I eventually had enough and told him to shut the fcuk up, I think that he was just about to start abusing me when one of the Derry lads behind me said the same thing to him (gave him a bit of stick about his train-tracks i think!). That shut him up for most of the game but he started again at the end and then started abusing other Irish supported whenever they turned to look where the racism was coming from.

These people obviously have no respect for themselves, their clubs (this was in the Eircom league section) or their country. Hard men wannabies. And what about the stewards or the Gardai? You can't tell me that they didn't hear some of it. Were any arrests made or people removed from the stadium? I doubt it.

[MacAonghusa]

I'd like to congratulate all those who condemned the evil Zionnist oppressive Regime that descriminates against the Christian and Islamic Palestinian people on a daily basis.

Keep your bull out of Irish soccer!! Football is football, no politics!!

[MacAonghusa]

Nonsense. The Israelis disgustingly use football as a political tool to give them some veiled credence as a nation.

I couldn't care less what the Israelis do. We're not Israeli. We have to be above all that sh1t. There are ways of making political points, it should not be done as part of a soccer game.

[mjpcc]

Keep your bull out of Irish soccer!! Football is football, no politics!!

Hear, Hear. And no matter what your political beliefs we should all be disgusted at the behaviour described above. No matter how small the minority the fact that men, women and children were racially abused and attacked is horrific.

I'm not really surprised because yob culture has been on the rise in Ireland for some time and ordinary decent citizens are too scared to stand up to the thugs.

[zinedineontour]

I take it from that insane comment of yours that you were comfortably watching the game from a nice cosy bar stool then ??? this occured 2 hours before kick off ,and might I add, while the isrealie fans were singin "we love you ireland we do "

Holier than tho my ar$e ,any decent football fan there lat nite was disgusted

yeah a nice cosy bar stool on the south terrace.. sorry didnt realise it was before game but politics should not be brought into football and those that put those posters up for there march should the ones feeling more guilty than those who made some comments ..

[Donal81]

I'd like to congratulate all those who condemned the evil Zionnist oppressive Regime that descriminates against the Christian and Islamic Palestinian people on a daily basis.

I proudly flew my Palestinian flag on the night and am only soirry more did not do likewise.

It sadly shows the lack of moral courage in Ireland today...

I was infuriated by the performance of the Israeli team. But this infuriates me more.

I was having a few beers in Beggar's Bush with a few mates before the game. There were a few Israeli lads (let me clarify, very dark-haired sallow-skinned Londoners all wearing Israeli shirts) having drinks beside us. The atmosphere was great, everyone was getting along. The Israeli team went by in the coach, we had a laugh with the fans, that was that.

Then some lads turned up with Palestinian flags and posters, stood on the opposite side of the road and starting waving their flags and roaring at them. Obviously, there was trouble.

I'm disgusted by so much of what the Israeli government does and would support a peaceful protest, although I feel that the Israeli embassy is a more suitable location. This wasn't peaceful protest. This was incendiary stuff aimed at inciting Israeli people and it was a f*cking disgrace. Fly your Palestinian flag mate but that's what your associating yourself with.

If you give so much of a toss about it and your full of moral courage, why aren't you protesting outside the embassy right now or why aren't you in the West Bank or East Jerusalem right now protesting with your brethern?

That wasn't a protest, that was a shower of prats looking to wind up Israeli supporters and players. F*ck off with that rubbish.

[Éanna]

I'd like to congratulate all those who condemned the evil Zionnist oppressive Regime that descriminates against the Christian and Islamic Palestinian people on a daily basis.

I proudly flew my Palestinian flag on the night and am only soirry more did not do likewise.

It sadly shows the lack of moral courage in Ireland today...

I have no problem with a peaceful protest whatsoever, in fact I fully support it. The problem is that fact that this protest was tarnished by idiots who let not just the protest, but the whole country down in the process.

[Gerrit]

I was infuriated by the performance of the Israeli team. But this infuriates me more.

I was having a few beers in Beggar's Bush with a few mates before the game. There were a few Israeli lads (let me clarify, very dark-haired sallow-skinned Londoners all wearing Israeli shirts) having drinks beside us. The atmosphere was great, everyone was getting along. The Israeli team went by in the coach, we had a laugh with the fans, that was that.

Then some lads turned up with Palestinian flags and posters, stood on the opposite side of the road and starting waving their flags and roaring at them. Obviously, there was trouble.

I'm disgusted by so much of what the Israeli government does and would support a peaceful protest, although I feel that the Israeli embassy is a more suitable location. This wasn't peaceful protest. This was incendiary stuff aimed at inciting Israeli people and it was a f*cking disgrace. Fly your Palestinian flag mate but that's what your associating yourself with.

If you give so much of a toss about it and your full of moral courage, why aren't you protesting outside the embassy right now or why aren't you in the West Bank or East Jerusalem right now protesting with your brethern?

That wasn't a protest, that was a shower of prats looking to wind up Israeli supporters and players. F*ck off with that rubbish.

Nice post there.


Instead of writing angry letters to the Israeli FA about the goalkeeper, why not writing an angry email to the FAI as well to complain about the behaviour of some people in the stadium ? The FAI should try to clear the supporters mass from these no-goods.

And I agree that the Israeli government hasn't treated the Palestinians that nice (but then was Yasser Arafat such a holy good man ??) but probably the majority of Israelis just want a solution for the conflict as well and live their lifes in peace. Why bothering people with it who probably also don't want to live in war and travel +1000 km to see a sports game in quiet ?
Even if you sympathise with the Palestinians (I do as well, but also understand the Zionist point of view - as stated, it is a very complex problem with two sides that have arguments to claim the land) that doesn't justify bringing on nazi salutes. In Holland I've heard football fans shouting slogans such as "all Jews to the gas chamber" towards Jewish people... They should goddamn be sent to court straight away.

[redgav]

I know nothing of the Beggars Bush incident.
I was however a proud part of the Palestinian falg waving in Landsdowne and wholeheartedly let my abhorance of Zionist opression in Occupied Palestine be known...

Are you palestinain ????
And were you one of those scumbgs making nazi salutes ???

Will you be standing outside the isreali embassy tonite ???
Will you be waving your Chechnian flag next time we play russia ??


Pathetic

[mjpcc]

I've just checked the Sunday Indo, Monday Indo and Monday Examiner and there is no coverage of Irish fans behaving badly. How widespread was the problem and why is there no coverage?