This may be a tad naive, but do ye reckon there is anyone from the fai monitoring what is said on this site?? They would pick up a good few ideas and be on top of things a bit more if they did.
Stuttgart was fine considering how much alcohol was consumed and how many of us there was over there. Wasn't there one only one arrest for public disorder?
"If God had meant football to be played in the air, he'd have put grass in the sky." Brian Clough.
You'll NEVER beat the Irish.......you'll just draw with us instead!!!
This may be a tad naive, but do ye reckon there is anyone from the fai monitoring what is said on this site?? They would pick up a good few ideas and be on top of things a bit more if they did.
I've noticed a couple of minor incidents in recent years but nothing of any real note. If there is a bit of a nasty element getting into our away support then it's as well we have a group that isn't that attractive to these kind of people. People like that won't go to Georgia, Montenegro or possibly even Bulgaria. In the unlikely event of there being any trouble it will be in either Italy or Cyprus. I would still like to think however that that despite the odd incident that we will still manage to maintain our good record across Europe. As an aside I would say that the best way to avoid trouble is, on the really big trips, to avoid the Irish pubs.
I totally agree with Citizenerased. The last campaign there was an nasty element creeping in - San Marino was one of the worst - Fans fighting with other fans, throwing things at the players, starting on fans with non irish accents and generally being agressive little scum bags.
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The Gardai have liaison officers at all the away matches. I met one of them, who is based in Fitzgibbon Street (local station for Croker) in the Square in Prague. He was "assisting" the local police to take away the heavier footballs being kicked around in the square. He told me that they had been in Bratislava also and the other away games. I expressed to him my disquiet at the behaviour of the police in the square in Bratislava but he said that they do not interfere in local policing matter.
I know some people think kicking balls in the air is harmless fun, this seems to have started in Paris, however if you are a local elderly person going about your daily business, or a young mother with a baby in a pram you might not agree. I also doubt if it would be tolerated in Dublin.
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I don't think the FAI or the Department of Foreign Affairs let it be known that members of the Gardai travel to away matches. Perhaps this is something that the Department of Foreign Affairs could set out in their travel advice for fans travelling to away matches. In Rimini it was only after the Department of Foreign Affairs liaising with the local authorities that public transport was provided for fans travelling to San Marino (except those on the GT Buses); the FAI did not play any part in making these arrangements.
Sorry but why should the FAI organise transport from Rimini in Italy to a different country San Marino?? Anyway there was an excllent bus service linking the two places as we used it to go from our hotel in San Marino to Rimini, mind you didnt like a small section of the crowd in Rimini.
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Liaison Officers from the FAI might be a different matter. Do the FAI give a s**t about the fans. The Dept of Foreign Affairs usually have an embassy or consulate where matches are held (they set up a temporary consulate in Rimini) and it should not be impossible for the FAI to install a representative in these places for the days around the game(s). Given all the info required about fans travelling to away matches it would be possible for the FAI to set out details of their liaison person to those receiving the tickets as well as publish it on their website. The problem may be that someone probably needs to tell them this as they probably aren't capable of putting it together themselves.
WHY should the FAI get involved in fan travel arrangements, I've never had the need to see an FAI official in over 25 yrs of travelling to away games. What is needed is for ALL fans to take personal responsibility for their actions and that of their travelling party. I know of an incident in Tokyo where an ******* assaulted a couple of local women, the rest of his group disowned him, chucked him out of their hotel and kept his match tickets, which he hadnt yet paid for!
What really ****ed me off in Prague was when some fans decided to sit where they wanted to cause they were too ****ed to find there own seat. Led to a lot of hassle particularly when fans just started standing in front of people who were in the wrong seats. Could have led to a crush.
Also was talking to some fans lads from Birmingham and London and they said that they are getting a lot of grief from so called Irish fans cause of there accents. They all said that the Dubs were the worst.
I travel with 3 other lads and they all have commented on the amount of muppets stoned out of their heads travelling to irish games. Rimini was pretty hairy i thought.
I dont think The FAI care about the fans. I was in Macedonia when a few locals starting throwing bricks at us at the end of the game. It was the British army on UN duty that sorted the problem out.
In Serbia when fans were been fleeced by the immigration officals both on arriving and leaving belgrade there was not a consulate or FAI official sight even though it was highlighted we may have problems before we travelled.
Georgia was a good trip last time as it was the hardcore that travelled it was a great trip "8 flights in 6 days.
Personally i have more respect for irish fans who travel from all over the UK and europe to irish games either home or away. Those who abuse these fans just shows they are uneducated fools.
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Larry Be Wyse
www.acsportsimages.com
Larry Be Wyse
www.acsportsimages.com
10 minutes spent in the Rose & Crown in Rimini was enough.
A crowd of Filthy scumbags, monged out of their gourds on god knows what, blocked the door of the lounge with their fat stupid arzes, abusing anyone coming through who wasn't in a green jersey, greatly piffing off the locals and generally wrecking the gaff.
Anyone with a British accent (Green jersey or not) was singled out for special treatment. Which is exceptionally witty & clever in a pub named the Rose and Crown.
The wales game wasn't as bad , with only a few mutants making their presence felt in Cardiff, but there was the exception of one crowd of preteen Skangers staying in Bristol who loudly deliberated outside a pub whether to go in or not as they had heard it was "Full of Brits".
In Bristol, lads? That's MAD, eh?![]()
On the way into the stadium, an elderly San Marino Steward waved us in and said "Tonight, may the best team win"
And they nearly did.
Correct. Some fat Celtic Jersey Dub in a bar in Bratislava gave myself and my girlfriend stick because of the English accents. I pointed out his Scottish shirt and he went back to his pint.
Its unbelievably annoying though, when we spend as much time, money and effort as anyone getting to the games, that some pr!cks still act like this. At least its still the overwhelming minority at the moment.
That really annoys me , its only the ignorant that act in such a manner, braindead fools...I agree with what Paulie said, thank god this campaign is mostly off the beaten track destinations....
'How can I hate women, my Mums one!!!' Chris Finch
Its laughable really, but it can be bloody irritating. I'm Irish born so I can throw that back at them but I know hundreds of foreign-born Irish people who are just as loyal and passionate as any fan I've ever met and they shouldn't have to put up with this. Its annoying enough when English people go 'well you've lived here all your life, so you're English really' without getting it from our so-called fellow Irishmen.
Sorry. Touched a nerve.
Its becomming more and more frequent unfortunately. I seriously thought about stopping travelling to the away games when I got abuse in Stuttgart, San Marino and particularly Prague because of my accent. But I love doing the trips, so I have just taken steps to make sure Im always in a group of friends and when people start I have to walk away, its safer. The galling part is that most of them arent even bothered about the game, its just an excuse to go bevving somewhere else and cause a ruck. I hate them.
Have to admit, not been caught up in any run ins with two many eejits on trips for years, proberly due to my major swerve of the Biddy O'Ripoffs and The Shamrockyerwallet type pubs, which have and i'm sure always will be the major Amerdom magnets on trips. Last time got caught up in a near boot off was in Lisbon in 2000 with some f**kwit who was chucking beer mats in people faces, strangly I think the pub was called the Shamrock.
Have noticed a change of attitude in many Irish fans, ie the moan, moan ,moan about Bratislava and how terrible everything was, they wouldn't have lasted five minutes on the trips to Latvia and Lithuania in 93, Poland in 91, or the oasis that was Romania in 97 to mention just a few of the trips we've made pre or post fall of the Berlin wall.
Sadly nobody has had a dig at my English accent for many years now, after reading some of the posts regarding some other 2g's i'm feeling well left out and would love to meet some of these eejits again.
Its crazy to see people be what society wants them to be but not me.
Some stock putdowns are:
- You should follow a team that just has Irish accents then.
- You look old enough to have lived through a time when Ireland had a president with an English accent. Don't tell me this is the first time you've heard someone Irish with an English accent?
- Did you miss the history class on emigration at school?
Warning: Might need one of those bottles from Paris instead of dialogue if the person is on the old Gianluca Vialli.![]()
This is the cooooooooooooolest footy forum I've ever seen!
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