Best Fans in the World?

**fergalr** · 09/06/2005, 12:36 PM

This thoughtless cliche got mentioned on another thread recently. Personally, I reckon we'd be miles down the rankings as I can think of many other nations who have more passionate, knowledgeable and faithful footie fans.

Nomination #1 Iran:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/break...062323,00.html

**Conor H** · 09/06/2005, 12:45 PM

I thought we won an award in korea for best fans throughout the competition

...In fairness we travel in numbers anddon't have a bad reputation ie the english.

**Beavis** · 09/06/2005, 1:14 PM

Originally Posted by fergalr

Nomination #1 Iran:

Fans who ran riot across the stadium, lit fires and threw torches onto the pitch when losing to us.

Its certainly true that Ireland fans devote more time and money on following the international team, per head of population than any other nation. 35,000 at an away international qualifier must be some sort of record. And all this with little or no trouble. I'm proud to be an Ireland fan, despite the antics of an idiotic few last Saturday.

**stojkovic** · 09/06/2005, 1:27 PM

Originally Posted by Beavis

Its certainly true that Ireland fans devote more time and money on following the international team, per head of population than any other nation. 35,000 at an away international qualifier must be some sort of record. And all this with little or no trouble. I'm proud to be an Ireland fan, despite the antics of an idiotic few last Saturday.

Because we don't have a professional league to follow, sorry we do The Premiership

**liam88** · 09/06/2005, 1:33 PM

A Reuters reporter saw some Islamic vigilantes use batons to beat youngsters in eastern Tehran after a few chanted slogans against the country's ruling clerics.

and thats on a good night...

To be honest I wouldn't be so quick to slag our fans. Like Beavis; I'm proud to be Irish! Yeah we won the award for best fans int he last world cup! As far as I'm aware (and i'm open to correction on this) Irish fans have never been responsible for a riot, forced a match to be abandoned or been responsible for the death or serious injury of any fan. Sadly the number of countries who can claim this is not as high as it should be. I'm not claiming we're the only ones by any means though! But we do have an excellent fan record.

**Dawn_Run** · 09/06/2005, 1:38 PM

From a travelling fans perspective the only ones that would come close would be the Dutch. Passionate, fun, noisy and good mixers.

**liam88** · 09/06/2005, 1:44 PM

Originally Posted by Dawn_Run

From a travelling fans perspective the only ones that would come close would be the Dutch. Passionate, fun, noisy and good mixers.

Yeah from what I heard from my uncle who's followed Ireland all around the world the Irish and Dutch fans always get on realyl well! guessing a few of you can second this!

**NeilMcD** · 09/06/2005, 1:47 PM

Lads the Tartan Army is up there too along with us and the Dutch. They take huge numbers to games and have a great record and won best fans at the 1998 World Cup.

**dr_peepee** · 09/06/2005, 1:51 PM

What Idiotic few last Saturday??

**tiktok** · 09/06/2005, 1:55 PM

Originally Posted by dr_peepee

What Idiotic few last Saturday??

It's covered here

I think we're well up there with the best fans in the world when it comes to (importantly hassle-free) numbers, colour and noise. The numbers we've taken to tournaments and France recently have been amazing. I think we've given a good representation of ourselves in most places we've visited.

On the negtive side, There may be an element of the event-junkie about us though, our domestic league is terribly supported

**Stuttgart88** · 09/06/2005, 2:00 PM

The Swedes, Danes etc are pretty good too.

Are the best international fans those for whom there isn't a huge domestic league which is the be all & end all for them?

The Dutch travelling support is very different from the Ajax / Feyenoord core support.

All things considered I'd say we're up there with the best of them but to say we're the absolute best is silly. Our fans tick nearly all the right boxes though - numbers, colour, fairness, behaviour etc. The quality of the home support has diminished in the last decade IMHO.

**dr_peepee** · 09/06/2005, 2:06 PM

Yeah!! Too many blow ins & Chavs.....

**Armando** · 09/06/2005, 2:09 PM

Following Ireland on the road is one of the greatest experiences any fan can go through. It is in complete contrast to going to home games, where the atmosphere has become a joke. I was amazed at fellow fans commenting at how good the atmosphere was against Israel. If thats the best we can do I will be very depressed. It may be nostalgia, but I remember going to a friendly against Bolivia I think pre USA 94 and it is the last cracking atmosphere I can recall. If it's going to take a do or die game every 3-4 years like the one against Holland to get fans off their seats singing and shouting, well then that's not good enough.

**OwlsFan** · 09/06/2005, 2:16 PM

This "best fans in the world" stuff irritates me. It's all self-congratulatory stuff and wins no points on the field - it's meaningless to everyone else in the world. It's great that we travel in larger numbers than anyone else and behave (but I suspect that a lot of the latter has to do with the fact that the English don't so we want to show we're different from them).

But sometimes it's taken too far. We sing "Always look on the bright side of life" after another disaster on a foreign field just to show what jolly good sports we are instead of sitting down and weeping. At the play-off game away to Belgium, where the latter fans were brutal, I saw dip sticks around me applauding them after we lost just to show that we were the lovable Irish losers again - the game guys had barely raised their voices for the Irish team during the game.

I love following Ireland away and the good support from most of the supporters - but they're are a fair number that are indifferent to the result and are there for the apres match. I couldn't care less whether we're the "best supporters" in the world so long as we come out with hoarse voices after the match and behave.

**mjpcc** · 09/06/2005, 2:18 PM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

The Swedes, Danes etc are pretty good too.

Are the best international fans those for whom there isn't a huge domestic league which is the be all & end all for them?

The Dutch travelling support is very different from the Ajax / Feyenoord core support.

All things considered I'd say we're up there with the best of them but to say we're the absolute best is silly. Our fans tick nearly all the right boxes though - numbers, colour, fairness, behaviour etc. The quality of the home support has diminished in the last decade IMHO.

Totally agree. Our fans are fantastic away, especially the core who go to places like the FAroes, Iran etc. I believe the quality of the home support is a reflection of the rise of the yob culture in general in Irleand.
You get very bad - mostly drink related behaviour - every weekend in Irish towns and cities and it's no surprise that it's happenng more frequently at home games.

If Ireland qualify for the WC there will be gigantic numbers travelling. Is anyone worried that we might have a significient yob element which are capable of causing trouble? There were 35,000+ in Paris and I did not see any trouble myself but there were reports of bad behaviour.

**Macy** · 09/06/2005, 2:20 PM

Originally Posted by tiktok

On the negtive side, There may be an element of the event-junkie about us though, our domestic league is terribly supported

Maybe? Look across every sport on the Ireland for examples. A nation of glory hunters.

**gimbly** · 09/06/2005, 2:20 PM

i completely agree mate,its just not good enough to be called the best travelling support and then to shame ourselves at home.I wonder how the players feel,its a completely different atmosphere at away games.Maybe being away makes us feel that bit more patriotic and brings out the real support in us that we should be giving at each and every home game.I dont know about anyone else but i feel the exact same when at a home or away game, i just hope to god it does improve and we re-capture what we were so amazin at from say 1990-1998....i cant vouch for the fans before that time...

Maybe we're too cocky at home and as humble as we should be when we're away

dan

**Stuttgart88** · 09/06/2005, 2:24 PM

I thought the Israel home game had a very good atmosphere.

Except for the stupid "Easy, Easy..." chants. What the **** was going on there? Was George Hamilton the cheerleader?

**stojkovic** · 09/06/2005, 2:26 PM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

I thought the Israel home game had a very good atmosphere.

Except for the stupid "Easy, Easy..." chants. What the **** was going on there? Was George Hamilton the cheerleader?

The one I hate is - we are 1-0 up after ten minutes or so and gobsh1tes start singing "you'll never beat the Irish".

**Stuttgart88** · 09/06/2005, 2:31 PM

Originally Posted by stojkovic

The one I hate is - we are 1-0 up after ten minutes or so and gobsh1tes start singing "you'll never beat the Irish".

"You'll never beat the Irish" is only appropriate if we've got out of jail through some kind of comeback in my opinion.

I think it started in Cagliari when we were trying to wind up the English about concedeing a late equaliser, and having beaten them 2 years earlier.