Irish UK Club Football Bangwagon Jumpers -Irish Footballs Number 1 enemy

[Pablo]

I can accept many things about this "Green revolution" happening at Sunderland. I'm even an interested observer. But when they sign a deal with Umbro Ireland that will result in the country being flooded with Sunderland Replica shirts i get annoyed.

And to think the FAI had him on the Assesment group for the new National League!

Am i being a bit OTT or is my dislike for this justified?

[dcfcsteve]

Quinn is doing what's best for Sunderland. That is his job/role.

He owes nothing to the Eircom league - a league where he didn't even play himself at any stage in his career.

If the EL was well supported and Sunderland were everyone's favourite second team - a bit like Barcelona etc would be for many football fans - then no-one would give a toss about this. It's not his fault that Irish clubs haven't persuaded anyone that they should support the domestic product.

The best way to stop things like this happening is for the ridiculous imbalance in support levels between Irish and English/Scottish clubs to be addressed. Does Niall Quinn have any responsibility, let alone genuine ability, for this to happen ? No.

[MyTown]

The best way to stop things like this happening is for the ridiculous imbalance in support levels between Irish and English/Scottish clubs to be addressed.

Steve, You're a bit shy on suggestions here about how your big idea nmight get off the ground.

When the Irish Times did a big feature on Sunderland's 'Green' revolution. I wrote the following to them:

Your coverage of the ‘greening’ of Sunderland Football Club (‘Sunderland Revolution’ by Mary Hannigan, IT, 19/09/2006, p25) brings into sharp focus support for domestic football in Ireland. Charlie Chawke bubbled with enthusiasm at the prospect of Sunderland supporters clubs springing up all over Ireland and flying to Wearside every other weekend to cheer on the Black Cats.

If only a similar group of Irish businessmen could be found to support their local clubs and invest their largesse in their local economies. I doubt the new owners of Sunderland ever heard of Thurles Town, Newcastlewest, St. James’s Gate, St. Francis and more recently Dublin City football clubs. I wonder if they ever met their creditors or the few volunteers who tried to keep those clubs alive in their local communities, often at great personal cost?

The football community of Sunderland deserves success. They are traditional and loyal football lovers who have stuck with their club through thick and thin. I genuinely hope they are enjoying the buzz created by the Quinn-led take over and the arrival of Roy Keane.

The Sunderland manager would not have to worry about a prawn sandwich brigade if he ever chose to take up a similar challenge in his native land. (His past criticism of well heeled soccer supporters is profoundly hypocritical in light of the millions he will “earn” from his stint in the north east of England).

I think it highly unlikely that the scenario suggested by Sunderland’s co-owners of ‘plane loads of Sunderland fans jetting out from places like Galway will ever come to pass.

I just wish the investors money had stayed in Ireland and that support for football in Ireland could be seen as a worthwhile, if long term project. Football is played and enjoyed by thousands in this country. It has the potential to be life giving, health giving, can foster community and offer a focal point to many.

I ask the business community not to send their money abroad. Support your local team. Be guaranteed Irish and guarantee the future of Irish football.

The Irish Times was not impressed with my plea as they ignored it.

The Sunderland tie up with BoyleSports highlights how the need for sponsorship is not affected by borders. Wasn't Boylesports started in Armagh?

As you pointed out yourself, Quinnys responsibilities now are to his investors, and unsurprisingly, since many of them are Irish based, he's continuing to look in this direction for future funding.

[Jerry The Saint]

If only a similar group of Irish businessmen could be found to support their local clubs and invest their largesse in their local economies. I doubt the new owners of Sunderland ever heard of Thurles Town, Newcastlewest, St. James’s Gate, St. Francis and more recently Dublin City football clubs. I wonder if they ever met their creditors or the few volunteers who tried to keep those clubs alive in their local communities, often at great personal cost?

No offence, but I'm not surprised the Irish Times ignored your letter. Quinn was actually one of the few supporters of Thurles Town in his youth and travelled all over the country to watch them. Maybe if they hadn't gone t*ts-up he would have poured his money into them I could see why he might be a bit disillusioned with the game here.

Honestly though, I don't think he ever even considered investing in a club here (beyond his 400 Club membership). He has written about how he admires clubs like Shamrock and Pats but, like most people who follow football in this country, he would prefer to make English clubs Irish than to make Irish clubs better. The last time this was tried it was a spectacular failure but not even Mother Teresa would be generous enough to give Roddy Collins a job at this stage.

The Kelleher deal with Pats, and Wallace fronting up in Wexford, could be a big step for the league if successful.

[Pablo]

Its the very diliberate tie up with Umbro Ireland as opposed to Umbro UK that i am worried about. Sounds like they are gonna flood the market to me on the back of the Keane factor.

[Steve Bruce]

The ambition is to make Sunderland the biggest Irish supported English club.

Whether this happens or not I don't know, but I think that Sunderland will soon be a major player in the Irish Market.

[CharlesThompson]

This has all the potential of a potatoe eating dwarf signing for Barcelona as their centre forward as it has as being a long term Irish support winner for Sunderland and Niall Quinn. His 'greening' of Sunderland will fall flat on its face when Roy Keane ups sticks and takes over from Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and Terry Butcher takes the reigns at Weirside.

[superfrank]

I say fair play to Niall Quinn as a buisnessman, he's been very clever. He's recognised a lot of Irish people like English football so he's trying to develop an Irish brand over there to appeal to these Irish people even more. He can't be blamed for what's wrong with our league. That's ridiculous.

As for the deal with Umbro Ireland, surely the Umbro owners had a say in it too?

[BohDiddley]

There's nothing 'wrong', immoral or illegal about Quinn selling Sunderland to Irish supporters. Quinn is a good businessman, in that he clearly is effective at putting a plan together to maximise his and his mates' returns out of football.

It's just rather pathetic that many among us, led by a massive PR campaign aimed at Mary Hannigan etc., will buy into this charade that sees support, investment, merchandising and now sponsorship money flowing out of Ireland.

Sunderland are about as 'Irish' as clogs and morris dancers. If the SundIreland project succeeds, as it probably will, it will merely confirm our status as a nation of football dopes.

[shelbourne1904]

I think everyone is missing the point.Niall Quinn is in business so he has to look after his business interests in the UK.

But what about Boyle Sports??Part of their business is in Ireland .The money they make comes from Ireland but........

they are spending their money in England on an English club!!!

Clear the smokescreen here and anyone who spends money in Boyles should asked why they are doing this??????????????

[Mr A]

Clear the smokescreen here and anyone who spends money in Boyles should asked why they are doing this??????????????

They're doing this because Sunderland are getting a hell of a lot of coverage and interest in the Irish media. So spending the money there will have major benefits for them here. Sad but true.

[Kildare Lad]

I dont know if this has been mentioned yet, but theres a rumour that Sunderland are opening club shops in Cork and Dublin?!?

But I dont think he is doing any harm to the League Of Ireland.

[OneRedArmy]

He's playing on our nation's propensity to jump on whatever new fangled bandwagon is rolling through town and newly enriched we have lots of spare cash to spend on whatever this weeks "new thing" is.

I suspect he's not so stupid to believe it will be anything other than transitory, as we don't do commitment, but who can blame him for making hay when the sun shines.

Its the Irish pysche that needs to change, not Quinn's actions.

[Steve Bruce]

There's nothing 'wrong', immoral or illegal about Quinn selling Sunderland to Irish supporters. Quinn is a good businessman, in that he clearly is effective at putting a plan together to maximise his and his mates' returns out of football.

It's just rather pathetic that many among us, led by a massive PR campaign aimed at Mary Hannigan etc., will buy into this charade that sees support, investment, merchandising and now sponsorship money flowing out of Ireland.

Sunderland are about as 'Irish' as clogs and morris dancers. If the SundIreland project succeeds, as it probably will, it will merely confirm our status as a nation of football dopes.

A bit like Celtic then?

I'm not stiring but it is a fact that Irish people North and South of the border would rather support a team from a different country who has an Irish or Ulster background.

You have Celtic who promote an Irish background and you have the majority of the Irish footballing public who support them to.

In Northern Ireland you the same on the nationalist side. But on the unionist side you have the Rangers supporters because Glasgow Rangers promote a Ulster Unionist British ethos.

Personally I'm no fan of either of the Old Firm, Im a Linfield man and a United man(lived 10 mins from Old Trafford when I was a boy for 9 years)

Sunderland will become a sizeable English club with an Irish Support, whether it becomes an institution like Celtic or Rangers, I remain very doubtfull. But then our footballing public on this Island are very fickle.

[Stuttgart88]

I was dismayed that Irish new-money found its way into English football, presumably just as a trophy investment as realistically the chances of a return are small. In fact, if they get promoted they'll find the financial demands very tough. It's such a shame that owning an eL club isn't considered an asset to boast about.

In fairness to Charlie Chawke he did actually sponsor my old Leinster Senior team. Then again, he got it all back very quickly as our pitch was very near The Goat and we were there after every match and had meetings / AGMs etc. there!

[BohDiddley]

A lot like Celtic -- or Celtic wannabes.

[superfrank]

But what about Boyle Sports??Part of their business is in Ireland .The money they make comes from Ireland but........

they are spending their money in England on an English club!!!

Clear the smokescreen here and anyone who spends money in Boyles should asked why they are doing this??????????????

I'd imagine they do a lot of business on British football. The fact is el supporters are a minority of the football supporters on this island. The others support British teams and that's where a lot of these bookmakers get their money from.

Another question should be if Paddy Powers are now sponsoring Pats, how much is that worth to Pats? I guarantee it's no where near as much as Boylesports forked out for Sunderland.

[Poor Student]

Anyone know what the attitude of North East England Sunderland fans are about the "greeing" up of their club? I assume given the rollercoaster ride they're on at the moment they don't really care?

[Paraic]

I don't think that this is a trophy invetment by a long shot. The Magners etc of this world have shown that there is serious money to be made with the right investment (admittedly very few and far between though) in the English game, which simply isn't the case in the ELOI.

Quinn and Co is being very smart and there's no doubt that Sunderland are following the Celtic model in terms of raising the profile / support with the knock on effect that has. It's a natural enough thing for them to do - they're exploiting a market that's ripe for exploiting and until there's a real alternative domestically that's going to happen.

Boylesports
again, looks like a smart bit of business, they're not doing it for the Irish market, although, it will undoubtedly have a benefit, Boylesport are looking to make serious inroads in the UK with on-line poker betting etc. And what better way to do it than to with a team who, at the current rate of going will have serious exposure in the coming years. What odds that the shirt deal is performance based? Im not sure how €15m is in comparison to other shirt deals in the Premiership, but it does'nt seem like massive money if it is performance based.

Umbro
did a quick google and could only see references to Umbor UK in the few press releases that I saw. subject to correction on that one, and I don't know the corporate structure but I couldn't see umbro ireland recoup any significant investment on shirt sales in Ireland unless the deal was funded from the UK parent company.

[Erstwhile Bóz]

In Northern Ireland you the same on the nationalist side. But on the unionist side you have the Rangers supporters because Glasgow Rangers promote a Ulster Unionist British ethos.

Jesus, you can say the word "Protestant" if you want to, you know; we're all grown up.