The Sunderland 'Craze'

[dcfcsteve]

Except Oirishness. Truely, the greatest category of them all

Even on that score. Newcastle has strong and very long-standing links to Ireland. Sunderland does not.

For example - Newcastle has had an Irish Centre in the city centre (ironically very close to St James's) for decades. There were also two Tyneside Irish volunteer regiments sent from Newcastle in the first World War.

The most Irish thing in Sunderland when I worked there was me......!

[SunderlandBohs]

What a clown you really are dcfcsteve. I travel over for ALL our home games & away if I can get tickets. I've been going over for 13 years now mate. If you know so much about the North-East you would remember when Keegan did the Suger Puffs ads, shops in Sunderland refuse to stock them & people bouycott the shops that did. Northern Rock's customers in Sunderland dropped by 60% in the first month when they started there sponsorship with the scum. Even during the English Civil War the Mackems & Geordies fought on different sides. I could go on & on mate. As for the Irish fan supporting a British club. It's a bit rich coming from a Derry City fan. Aren't Derry City a British Club trying to Irish?

[pete]

Moderator: Please keep this on topic. Off Topic rubbish removed.

[don ramo]

at the end of the day, if you go up to a hardcore fan at any club in england, and they ask who you support and you say liverpool, they will just look at you strange, and say what the hell are you following a team hundreds of miles away, dont you have league of you own, english hardcore fans would respect an irishman a lot more if he actually supported his own league and followed, not support like the irish, the english league
and sunderland big f****ng woooop, ive seen roy keane talked to him a few times more than any other (except stephen ireland who lived in the estate across and i kicked about with), but i will watch from afar as i respected what he done for man u and more so for ireland (the team used stay in 2 star hotels, fly economy, leave player behind due to over booking, the FAI members had to go, and had ****e facilities, keane stood up and complained and sure enough things changed), but sunderland irish sure liverpool is the unofficial capital of ireland, celtics major shareholders are irish, man us old share holders were irish, im not into all the smaller clubs in england but a bit of research would show up a lot more irish connections methinks,
as for a weekend away, ya go watch a football game if you wanna spend 500 euro, just for your flight, match ticket, and a hotel for 1-2 nights, cause thats you intent to go watch a game so you must book this in advance of going, not just get a ceap flight stay in a b&b and go down and buy a ticket at the club , thats what fans do they go down and queue for tickets,
its easy to say you follow a club, but support, thats a huge no no for anybody living in ireland unless you go to over 50% of games for your club, you not a supporter otherwise, you a follower,

[dcfcsteve]

What a clown you really are dcfcsteve. I travel over for ALL our home games & away if I can get tickets. I've been going over for 13 years now mate. If you know so much about the North-East you would remember when Keegan did the Suger Puffs ads, shops in Sunderland refuse to stock them & people bouycott the shops that did. Northern Rock's customers in Sunderland dropped by 60% in the first month when they started there sponsorship with the scum. Even during the English Civil War the Mackems & Geordies fought on different sides. I could go on & on mate. As for the Irish fan supporting a British club. It's a bit rich coming from a Derry City fan. Aren't Derry City a British Club trying to Irish?

So you've been a weekend travel freak to the North-East for years. Good for you. I used to live in Newcastle, worked in both Newcastle and Sunderland, and have had ongoing business operations on Tyneside for over a decade. I'm up there extremely frequently - was up last week, and I'm back up at the end of next week, for example. I even have 2 friends who work for SAFC at the Stadium of Light and are life-long Makem fans, yet who live in central Newcastle, which shows how purile your assertions re an 'ethnically-cleansed'-style situation in the North-east really are....

So maybe you learnt more about an area on your little weekend trips over, spending your time with rather one-sided people in this debate (i.e. Sunderland fans) than someone who has lived and worked in the areas you're discussing. Or maybe not......

The reality is that, bar a tiny hardcore of out-and-out extreme supporters for whom football is an unhealthy all-consuming obsession, tha vast majority of football fans get on with their life without feeling the need to avoid setting foot into certain towns etc etc. I'm sure you'll find Northern Rock still doing plenty of busienss on Wear-side these days, and I know for the fact that they've never faced any trouble getting staff there. In fact - if you give me 24hrs I'll ask a mate who works for Northern Rock at their Doxford Centre in Sunderland to dig-out some stats for me on the amount of their business done within the 'SR' postcode area. That's, coinicentally, if you've ever heard of the Doxford International Business Centre....

Anyways - as you yourself have said, no Sunderland fan would set foot inside Newcastle, so I'm not sure how you're able to contribute to this debate in an informed way if you've never actually been there ? Or alternatively, as I suspect, you have indeed been to Newcastle many times (the airport aside even) - which undermines your original statement.

In summary - please grow up. It may float your boat to see yourself as some sort of Taliban-esque fundamentalist football supporter, but the vast majority of the tens of thousands who go to watch Sunderland don't really give a feck about using Northern Rock, popping to the Metro Centre, flying in and out of Newcastle Airport, studying at one of the 2 Unis in Newcastle, or going for a pint in the Toom with their Geordie mates. Because most people have a life beyond football.

[Stato]

I don't like this sudden upsurge in support of Sunderland (neither does my brother who started supporting them after seeing them beat Leeds in the '73 FA Cup final) but a significant amount of Irish support for the likes of Liverpool, Man Utd, Everton, Arsenal etc. dates back to the time when Irish players started to head to England to ply their trade. This Sunderland thing is just a modern-day version, it will blow over when results on the field don't match expectations.

[oriel]

The Sunderland 'craze' thing is just another example of the twisted band wagon jumping Irish fan, supporting an english side at the weekend and cheering on whoever is playing England in EC/WC etc. Total embarrassment. 2007 ? Oh Sunderland will do, lets all pile over and make t#ts of ourselves in the bars over there while the locals all laugh at us and wait for the next bunch of morons to arrive over.

Also I really wish irish radio/tv esp. rte would drop the introduction scorelines such as 'and Roy Keane's Sunderland, or Stephen Kenny`s Dunfermline etc'

On the topic of any historical and relevant Irish link to a club over the water, there can be one and one only. Celtic. End of story.

[dcfcsteve]

On the topic of any historical and relevant Irish link to a club over the water, there can be one and one only. Celtic. End of story.

Simply untrue, on acount of at least 2 other Scottish clubs for a start....

[jebus]

Lads this is nothing new, and it's hardly a Sunderland Craze, these morons will follow Roy Keane wherever he goes, it has nothing to do with 'supporting Irish players who don't play in Ireland'

On the topic of any historical and relevant Irish link to a club over the water, there can be one and one only. Celtic. End of story.

And Hibs fans and anyone with any knowledge of the Scottish game roll their eyes

[bellavistaman]

And Hibs fans and anyone with any knowledge of the Scottish game roll their eyes

Correct!

[oriel]

Hibs and Dundee Utd both started off with Irish fanbase and set up but have done nothing since the late 1800`s/early 1900`s to maintain any of this early support.

[Dodge]

I think oriel was being sarcastic lads...

Edit
Oooops. I was wrong...

*sigh*

[jebus]

Hibs and Dundee Utd both started off with Irish fanbase and set up but have done nothing since the late 1800`s/early 1900`s to maintain any of this early support.

Yes, just because a club doesn't mass produce inflatable shamrocks, and 'Kiss Me I'm an Irish Celtic Fan' t-shirts means they have less of a claim to an Irish heritage than others

[Pád Von Tirpitz]

So you've been a weekend travel freak to the North-East for years... Because most people have a life beyond football.

This was an excellent post, one of the best I've read on here.

[reder]

at the end of the day, if you go up to a hardcore fan at any club in england, and they ask who you support and you say liverpool, they will just look at you strange, and say what the hell are you following a team hundreds of miles away, dont you have league of you own, english hardcore fans would respect an irishman a lot more if he actually supported his own league and followed, not support like the irish, the english league

I beg to differ. If an irish person walks up to a hardcore fan in England and they start to discuss football, the english fan will only be negative if :

- the person supports a rival club.
- if the irish person hasnt actually got a clue about football.
- if the irish person acts like an eejit.

In all my years attending games in the UK and travelling from here, I have never heard of one instance of what you describe above.

I was talking to a group of real Liverpool fans from here on Saturday and we all agreed that we would love it if a few thousand of the "champions" who travel from here would waddle off to EL games instead.

[don ramo]

I beg to differ. If an irish person walks up to a hardcore fan in England and they start to discuss football, the english fan will only be negative if :

- the person supports a rival club.
- if the irish person hasnt actually got a clue about football.
- if the irish person acts like an eejit.

In all my years attending games in the UK and travelling from here, I have never heard of one instance of what you describe above.

I was talking to a group of real Liverpool fans from here on Saturday and we all agreed that we would love it if a few thousand of the "champions" who travel from here would waddle off to EL games instead.

which chanpions,
ya but your a liverpool supporter, judgeing by your signature, a true fan who gos to games, of course theyll like you, your not stupid, im on about barstoolers, think they know all about clubs in england, and sorry ive been to england and talk to fans of a few clubs and they do respect ya better if you are actually a supporter of a club and not just a follower, i know i'd respect a villa supporter more than a chealsea fan, cause i know hes a supporter and not a follower, but in this caes even though sunderland arent great, and will never be great, there followers are bandwagoners for the reason two years ago they didnt wanna know sunderland, just like chealseas massive fanbase didnt wanna know chealsea 5 years ago,

[Fingal hoop]

Correct!

yeah Hibs are so Irish they tried to ban celtic flying the tricolour

[sligoman]

I saw a Sunderland F.C. magazine on sale in a shop in Co. Sligo. Loads of info/interviews with the club and even what Sunderland is like for a night out.

yeah Hibs are so Irish they tried to ban celtic flying the tricolour

Derry did the same to us.

[Fingal hoop]

Yes, just because a club doesn't mass produce inflatable shamrocks, and 'Kiss Me I'm an Irish Celtic Fan' t-shirts means they have less of a claim to an Irish heritage than others

trying to ban a team from flying the flag of ireland does diminish their claim

[jebus]

trying to ban a team from flying the flag of ireland does diminish their claim

That's if Hibs actively sought to exploit the Oirish feeling in this land, and whore themselves out as some sort of extention of what it means to be Irish, which they don't, because they realise they are Scottish first and foremost, and want little or no part of the Union Jack vs Tricolour nonsense that has invaded the Old Firm and Tynecastle. Doesn't mean they deny their Irish roots at all though