Are the FAI in cahoots with Celtic FC

[applehunter]

I was at the match on Saturday and was annoyed on the first place to see so many Celtic tops and doubly so to see the FAI trying to turn Lansdowne into Parkhead. They had ; the announcer, Dance to Tipperary, Celtic songs etc.

Are they trying to brainwash us into supporting Celtic or what? And I'll bet you the FAI and RTE will be ashamed of the booing that will follow tomorrow. What do you expect if you are promoting Celtic?

Also what the **** did they play "You'll Never Walk Alone" for?

And to finally add up, Shamrock Rovers fans are ******s, Firstly for slagging the sound Albanians and secondly for having a song about Roy Keane even though they knew Cork City fans were right in front of them.

[Colm]

Originally posted by applehunter
Shamrock Rovers fans are ******s, Firstly for slagging the sound Albanians and secondly for having a song about Roy Keane even though they knew Cork City fans were right in front of them.

Look, we all hate Rovers but slagging the opposition is all part of the game and I think most of the City fans agreed totally with the sentiments of the Judas Keane song!

[tiktok]

keano is from cork but he played with ramblers, not us. i don't think we owe him all that much. i wouldn't take offence on his behalf anyway.
both he and mccarthy are gone now, so that whole episode is old hat. i wouldn't waste my time on either side of an argument about him.

[gspain]

Apparently Fran Rooney is a season ticket holder at Celtic.

I don't mind "You'll never walk alone" so much - we sang that on the Kop at Jack's last game and on a few occasions although it is obviously a Liverpool song (I don't support them btw).

Getting the Celtic stadium announcer idiot to Americanise the whole thing was a bit naff. Bring back the gob****e from the 90's who tried to get Mexican waves and "ole ole" going.

I was at Celtic Park for the Packie Bonnar testimonial (Celtic v RoI XI) and the band played Sean South and some other IRA song (it probably was the boys of the old Brigade). Apparently you rarely see an Ireland shirt at Celtic but they are becoming much more popular here.

I was at our last 3 games at Windsor Park. You had plenty of Rangers shirts, sectarian chants etc. The IFA and the fans have taken great steps to stamp that out with family atmosphere, - rarely see Rangers shirts now etc. We're heading the opposite direction.

There was never a problem in Dalymount or Lansdowne as far back as I can remember (going since Switzerland 75). some Belfast guys did try to start some IRA stuff in Lithuania in 93 and they were promtly shut up.

Celtic have only been discovered by a certain element in this country in the last couple of years. We had the Manu and Liverpool jersey brigade in the 90's but that has largely disappeared and I don't actually care if somebody supports Manyoo, Kiverpool Celtic or Lech Poznan if they leave their alleagiances behind when it comes to the national side.

[Ash]

Lads,

As the announcer Decaln said at the meeting in the Gresham the
FAI were asked by a Man U/Ireland fan never to play it again
as it was a Liverpool song

The reason YNWA was played is because its a recognised
FOOTBALL song (never mind Liverpool/Celtic loyalties)
The song is about camaraderie and being a unified group, which
we should all be when supporting Ireland.
IMHO it worked quite well.

The Celtic thing was, as we all know Lansdowne is usually dead
and you can hear a prawn sambo drop. Anyone who's been to
European games knows what a good athmosphere there is.

Like it or not, Celtic is near Ireland (geographicially) and
Parkhead has a good athmosphere for most games and
Celtic had brilliant support in Europe.

Fran Rooney knows yer man from Celtic and as its near so he
agreed come over to try to spark the crowd up like he does in
Parkhead.

Now it mightnt have worked out to thier plan but for fupp sake
dont lambaste the lads for trying.

[elroy]

Ya green Ireland jerseys all round tonight please,plenty of flags and colurs and singing,
i think we're really gonna need it tonight.
On the you'll never walk alone i thought that was v good, i couldnt give 2 fecks who its associated with, but 75% of the crowd sang it right before kick off and the team was buzzing at the start, pity conceded again so quickly though.
The worst was I used to love her right before the 2nd half, like come on!!!

[Dodge]

At the meeting at the Gresham I made the point (after the FAI said they wanted to stamp oout the booing of Rangers players) that having the Celtic guy over wasn't going to help. Nothing wrong with a crowd singing "You'll never walk alone" (I know we (pats) have done it a few times) but I don't agree with the stadium PA playing it.

AFAIK the Celtic guy was only only over for that game (and possibly this one)

Rooney thinks that Celtic have the best atmosphere in the world. We know that the Italians and Spanish **** all over them so its up to us to show him that the continental way is the way to go... LOTS of and colour and LOTS of noise...

[NorthoftheLee]

Originally posted by Colm
Look, we all hate Rovers but slagging the opposition is all part of the game and I think most of the City fans agreed totally with the sentiments of the Judas Keane song!

the only thing, not minding your opinion on the keane affair, was the emphasis by the rovers fans on the "Cork Knacker" bit. Thats what ****ed a few of the city fans off.

But sayin that, fair play to them in general because they were very good last saturday.

"All you need is Duff" is class...........

[patsh]

"You'll Never Walk Alone" was played because Damien Duff requested it to be played.
I don't think the FAI are in cahoots with Celtic, but nobody in the Fumbliing A*sholes Institute is able to actually think so they try to but in something someone has seen elsewhere.
RTE are getting a lot of flak here over the Celtic thing, but the FAI must take some of the blame. Neither is the FAI really doing anything about the booing. No matter what you think of RK, he was completely correct about the utter uselessness of our national association.
F*cks sake, they can't even keep count of 2 yellow cards...

[Dodge]

Fran Rooney wanted YNWA from the start. Duff obviously didn't ask for it, it was George Hamilton joking about the transfer speculation...

[tiktok]

i wouldn't be too bothered about you'll never walk alone, it's a good unifying tune that was adopted by liverpool and celtic (and ajax, well, a version of it in dutch anyway) and at least everyone knows how to sing it.

agree with the point as well that we're better off aiming to emulate the colour and noise of italian and spanish, although celtic fans are great to watch in action, especially away from home. (i don't mean the slack-jawed-bum-fluff-on-upper-lip-signet-ring-wearing-reyna-booing-wolfe-tone-singing-you're-not irish-if-you're-not-one-of-us-idiot-brigade we have at home)

[patsh]

Originally posted by Dodge
Fran Rooney wanted YNWA from the start. Duff obviously didn't ask for it, it was George Hamilton joking about the transfer speculation...

Why is it "obvious" that Duff did not ask for it?
Hamilton joked that it maybe be a sign of where Duff wanted to go.
Rooney may have wanted it, but the stated reason on RTE for playing the song was because Duff wanted it.
This was repeated on RTE tonight, when Hamilton mentioned it again that this was at Duff's request.


Whoever decided on it, it was too much I thought, and didn't fit in.
Maybe after the game, or earlier on, but just before the match didn't seem "right".

[gspain]

Duffer is a Liverpool fan (has been since a kid) so he may have asked for it.

[Dodge]

Trust me lads Duff didn't request it, it was all down to Fran Rooney and that Celtic guy...

[Schumi]

Less of that Celtic $hite last night (apart from the idiots booing Arveladze ). I was talking to Fran Rooney at half time and he seemed well impressed. He said he'd do his best to do this agian for the Russia game.

[pineapple stu]

What's wrong with "You'll Never Walk Alone" anyway? It's not a Celtic song any more than green is a Celtic colour - it's a Liverpool song originally. It's stupid to associate it exclusively with Celtic just because they've taken to singing it and it fits in with the rest of the criticism of the FAI.

"The Bhoys are Back In Town" and all that rubbish was ridiculous though. And Celtic aside, it's a football match we're going to, not a pop concert - there's no need for all the bands and songs at every possible moment. Atmosphere is supposed to be spontaneous - generating atmosphere like the last two games defeats the point entirely.

Having said that, though, some respect is due to Fran Rooney, John Bellingham and whoever else organised the North Stand. That's the way to go for future matches, and maybe we can convert the bar-stool idiots rather than pander to them.

[patsh]

"You'll Never Walk Alone" was written by Rodgers & Hammerstein, as part of the finale of the musical "Carousel". This show was about a poor fishing community in North Eastern America, and the love story that happens there between an innocent local girl and a criminal fairground barker. He is killed in a robbery and is granted a chance by God to return to earth to try to advise his child, who he never saw, to do the right thing in life, no matter hard the path of righteousness is. The song comes about when the mother leads the entire town in a fairly emotional, but stirring rendition of the song. It is basically a call to remember God in your life and to look to him for guidance.
It was a hit by, I think, either by Gerry and the Pacemakers or the Merseybeats (I could be wrong). Thats how the Liverpool connection comes in.

What this has to do with Celtic, Rangers, FAI or the price of cabbage, I don't know, but I thought someone might like to know !!

[pete]

I think the FAI did a good job at short notice for the saturday game (can't comment on wednesday as wasn't there).

Theres much i could be cynical about but i think the FAI & Roonet should be given the benefit of the doubt to see if they can come up with some distinct irishness at future games.

btw if the eL section was in either of the stands it would have made a lot more noise with the roof to hold it in.

[@ndy]

Originally posted by elroy
The worst was I used to love her right before the 2nd half, like come on!!!

Feic, i thought that was great...i mean, we had to watch this crowd pretending to play their instruments singing feicin crap songs (that celtic one was a bit ott) and then a great song comes on, the atmosphere picks up immediately, but they stop it cos the football had to restart!

No, really, about the celtic entertainment man, i admire the lads for trying, but i'd much rather they just let the fans take it up themselves. The sea of green...excellent. Songsheets, another plus. Dance to tipperary? I think not thanks. To be perfectly honest, i missed the garda band.

[Bosco]

While I was in galway during the week I wandered into a well known sports store ELVERYS.I wandered over towards the Fai section and was happy to see Galway united jerseys on sale. Then I spotted the OFFICIAL Fai t-shirts (the ones with the fai crest and the umbro crest on the other side) and at the end of the shelf there was the same kind of t-shirt only with the celtic crest beside the Fai crest and the words "FOR CLUB AND COUNTRY" printed underneath.I had to check this about 10 times to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

I don't know if anyone else has seen these but I ask all El fans to buy these up and **** on them.