Spotlight

[lopez]

England don't either

It's GSTGL. She's the queen of England and the rest of Britain is her domain. If she was Queen of Britain she'd QE1 not QE2. English and British culture and history is so intertwined that I doubt that you could really distinguish between an English and British anthem. Hence too what our Northern friends, if the would allow me to term, 'superprods' - don't want to be called a bigot - of the Billy Hutchinson, Johnny Adair, Grugg Greig type supporting England. The two things are to them interchangeable.

[citizenerased]

They aren't from Great Britain. Great Britain is an island. .

No need to be pednatic you know what i meant...united kingdom, britain..etc

They don't have an anthem as they havent fought a war, which is when anthems tend to get written..

Oh so what famous battle did wales win then when they penned The Land Of My Fathers. or scotland when the sing flower of scotland.. ?shot yourself in the foot there..

Her Madge is their head of state...

She is also the head of state for wales and scotland, but they dont bleet on about it the whole time..'Her madge' ur havin a laugh zac..

Its Ireland because we call it so. The next people inhabitting it could return to calling it Hibernia, or maybe make up something new. Gnarknar, maybe?
You don't like democracy, no?...

No ireland is the island of ireland..some NI fans despise being called Irish..democracy..have you done your history son? plantation is democracy? gerrmandering ?, civil rights violations?

Yes you do. You don't think they're Irish, while im sure most of them would realise that been born on the island of ireland makes you irish, by definition of what "irish" is. You've made all the arguments yourself, son.

yeah i believe that but, SOME NI fans dont participate in that notion, they would rather be acknowledged as ulstermen , ulsterscotsmen or subjects of her majesty...

[citizenerased]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comme...451206,00.html


Get our teeth into that..obviously according to EGs logic this journo is a bigot also!!

[Hibernian]

P.S. You might want to try a little bit of punctuation in your posts. Unless, of course, you are conducting some sort of subversive protest against "the Queen's English"...[/QUOTE]

Cheers for the english lesson. You sound just like my old school teacher fool of s*it

[EalingGreen]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comme...451206,00.html


Get our teeth into that..obviously according to EGs logic this journo is a bigot also!!

Henry McDonald is a perceptive and informed journalist, for whom I personally have a lot of time. I would never call him a "bigot" (or even "biggot"), if for no other reason than that he doesn't appear to make up lies or recall inaccurate and offensive tales told to him by a "mate".

As for what he wrote here, I prefer to take his report as a whole, including the bit where he wrote:
"The young Dubliner [O'Callaghan] was gracious a few days later on BBC's Talkback radio programme when he stressed that the overwhelming majority of Northern Ireland fans were well-behaved and untainted by the sectarianism of the few"

Of course, O'Callaghan's considered words don't surprise me in the least, since it exactly reflects the behaviour of the 6,000 (genuine) NI fans with whom I went to Old Trafford for the match he is describing.

Consequently, I wasn't in the Bot. However, having seen an account which I trust by someone who was there, it seems that the overwhelming majority of people were having a great time - especially when the girl with the mighty bazookas finally "got them out for the lads" (and the TV cameras!) - only for the atmosphere to be temporarily spoiled when a couple of ****ed-up wee spides seized their opportunity to achieve their 15 seconds of fame by singing their sectarian filth. I say "temporarily" since, as I understand it, they were chucked out by the bouncers almost straightaway.

Anyhow, shouldn't you be researching the geneology, behaviour and background of the NI players, not the fans, seeing as how your previous posts on them have been so comprehensively dismantled?

Or were you hoping we might forget...

[kingdomkerry]

Im not suprised by that article. Ive read and heard simular stories recently. Even if Sectarianism has been toned down in Winsor Park it is as vile as ever in Pubs around before and after games. And as for away games, i wont even go there.

And there will be an AI team in the long run. Demographics will see to that. As the reporter said having too teams on such a small island is lucricous

[boovidge]

It's GSTGL. She's the queen of England and the rest of Britain is her domain. If she was Queen of Britain she'd QE1 not QE2. English and British culture and history is so intertwined that I doubt that you could really distinguish between an English and British anthem.

I disagree. The monarch was King/Queen of England and Scotland before the two Kingdoms merged. Therefore if the Union split she'd still be the Queen of Scotland. So as the anthem represents Scotland, Wales and NI too, England doesn't have it's own anthem. Hence why the English nationalists want Jerusalem or some other song at England games instead of GSTQ. They don't see Englishness and Britishness as the same thing.

[Ireland4ever]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comme...451206,00.html


Get our teeth into that..obviously according to EGs logic this journo is a bigot also!!

Henry McDonald is a perceptive and informed journalist, for whom I personally have a lot of time. I would never call him a "bigot" (or even "biggot"), if for no other reason than that he doesn't appear to make up lies or recall inaccurate and offensive tales told to him by a "mate".

...

Well if you're going to be that annoyingly pedantic EG i think someone should correct you, its bigot, not biggot.

[EalingGreen]

P.S. You might want to try a little bit of punctuation in your posts. Unless, of course, you are conducting some sort of subversive protest against "the Queen's English"...

"Cheers for the english lesson. You sound just like my old school teacher fool of s*it"[/QUOTE]

It wasn't a lesson, it was a suggestion. And if the teacher to whom you refer was your English teacher, you might have been better advised to listen to him/her, since your original post was illiterate to the point of being incomprehensible.

Speaking of which, have you any comment on the reported remarks by Neil Lennon, or do you not consider these relevant to the point which (I think) you were making about, ahem, Neil Lennon?

[EalingGreen]

Well if you're going to be that annoyingly pedantic EG i think someone should correct you, its bigot, not biggot.

I wasn't being pedantic; if you had read the earlier post to which I was referring, you'd see I was being sarcastic.

P.S. The "i" after EG (above) should be capitalised. Now that's pedantry for you!

[LeviathanNI]

Oh for the love of God.. the next thing we will have Mr Parker on here with a complete chronological list of all our linguistic failings.

[EalingGreen]

Im not suprised by that article. Ive read and heard simular stories recently. Even if Sectarianism has been toned down in Winsor Park it is as vile as ever in Pubs around before and after games. And as for away games, i wont even go there.

KK,
Have you been to many pubs in NI on matchdays? Have you visited many NI pubs on non-matchdays? Or even one?

And have you ever been to any NI away matches?

Do you believe everything you read?

And there will be an AI team in the long run. Demographics will see to that. As the reporter said having too teams on such a small island is lucricous

Just as it is ludicrous for an even tinier little island like Hong Kong to imagine it could keep its own, separate international football team, even after it had reverted to being part of by far the largest and most populous country in the world.

Oh wait, it has...

[gustavo]

Im not suprised by that article. Ive read and heard simular stories recently. Even if Sectarianism has been toned down in Winsor Park it is as vile as ever in Pubs around before and after games. And as for away games, i wont even go there.

And there will be an AI team in the long run. Demographics will see to that. As the reporter said having too teams on such a small island is lucricous

A

Ask Drogs fans what kind of reception they get when they go up there

[cheifo]

Im not suprised by that article. Ive read and heard simular stories recently. Even if Sectarianism has been toned down in Winsor Park it is as vile as ever in Pubs around before and after games. And as for away games, i wont even go there.

And there will be an AI team in the long run. Demographics will see to that. As the reporter said having too teams on such a small island is lucricous

And what anthem would be acceptable to both traditions in this AI team.Obviously not our one or GSTQ so that would leave.....Irelands Call
Maybe Fatboy Slim can do something with it for us.
The new flag acceptable to both sides could just have a picture of the chuckle brothers with big Ian playing the Harp and Martin sucking on a tin whistle.
New manager will be special K after he resigns from Newcastle with Dana as his assistant.

[LeviathanNI]

A

Ask Drogs fans what kind of reception they get when they go up there

Ask any Southern clubs the reception they get.. any we have played anyway.

[Blanchflower]

BACKTOWALSALL

If they lock northerners into playing for NI it will end up in a very messy court case in Belfast between FIFA and someone who wants to play for ROI U-21s or something

What would be the grounds for this court case?

Co.DOWN GREEN

Was speaking to a guy who helps run one of the Ireland supporters clubs in Belfast yesterday. He got wind of the programme a couple of weeks ago and contacted the BBC about taking part, he never received a reply.

Maybe they couldn’t understand the relevance of a rugby supporter wanting to be interviewed on a programme about football?

HOLIDAYSONG

I watched the show with my flatmate from Lisburn. He is a Northern Ireland fan and agreed that the FAI should be allowed call up players from Northern Ireland due to the GFA.

What’s it got to do with the GFA?

LOPEZ

She's the queen of England and the rest of Britain is her domain.

Nonsense. The Kingdom of England ceased to exist on 1st May 1707. You’re only 301 years out of date.

[geysir]

Only a few more years to go to get to King Billy.

The Eligibility threads are like a play where the lines in scenes 2 and 3 are word for the word the same as was spoken in scene 1.

[gspain]

I watched the show with my flatmate from Lisburn. He is a Northern Ireland fan and agreed that the FAI should be allowed call up players from Northern Ireland due to the GFA. I don't agree with the FAI asking only players from one community in Northern Ireland. Asking young players from Derry and not from Lisburn to play for the ROI shows sectarianism on the part of the FAI in my opinion. Obviously, a lot of players from Lisburn aren't going to choose to play, but they should be asked. The same goes for the IFA, they should ensure that players from Derry are asked to play for Northern Ireland and not give the FAI a chance to make the players minds up for them. What struck me most from the show was that players want to be given an opportunity and whoever asks them first might be the most successful.

Why do you think the FAI wouldn't pick somebody from Lisburn? Since 1946 2 players who grew up in NI have played for us at senior level - Darron Gibson and Alan Kernaghan - one from a nationalist background and one from a unionist background.

[gspain]

Im not suprised by that article. Ive read and heard simular stories recently. Even if Sectarianism has been toned down in Winsor Park it is as vile as ever in Pubs around before and after games. And as for away games, i wont even go there.

And there will be an AI team in the long run. Demographics will see to that. As the reporter said having too teams on such a small island is lucricous

Maybe you should try attending games and see for yourself. Having attended Setanta Cup matches, Irish Cup finals and NI Internationals at WP in recent years the above is complete rubbish. I have a very obvious southern accent and was never in the least bit concerned re talking to anyone. I've also drank in a number of pubs before and after some of these games without a problem. There was one sectarian song sung by a small group at the Setanta Cup final. Linfield also had the ground covered in anti sectarinism posters. There clearly is a small minority still intent on prolonging it but hopefully they will be weeded out as well. This minority element appears to have been weeded out of the NI home support. I can't comment on away games.

[carloz]

Well this thread has turned into a load of bull****. Why must eve thread that involvesz Northern Ireland be completly and utterly boring