Barstooler face offs?

[pól-dcfc]

not irish they're are british pay taxes to the queen and all the other stuff that comes with being part of britain,

Can I not be Irish though?

Celtic fans really **** me off though.

[endabob1]

Ah every few months this crops up, I know I'll regret it but here goes.
I grew up in Offaly, it was early 80’s I was seduced by the delights of English Football on MOTD & the Big Match.
Spurs were my team, 2 reasons, Glenn Hoddle was a genius in my eyes and they had Galvin & Hughton as an Irish connection, also My sister went to White Hart Lane and I got the ticket as a souvenir. I’ve always supported them they are my team and nothing has or will ever change that, despite several broken promises to myself that I will give them up!
Athlone Town were the nearest LOI side and we would get taken about once a year to see them, when I went to make my own way in the world I ended up in Athlone RTC, I used to go to St Mels occasionally (semi-regularly depending on state of grants & girlfriends!) to watch them I remember some great games and some awful ones but for the most part I remember the enjoyment of watching live sport. I love watching live sport whether it’s Sunday League Football or a Six Nations game in front of 80,000.
When I graduated from AthloneI moved to London, finally I got the chance to watch Spurs regularly, I was a member for 3 years & a season ticket holder for 2, unfortunately my time in London co-incided with the Gross, Francis, Graham era’s but going to Wembley in 99 to watch Spurs win the League Cup was one of the highlights of sport watching life. After a couple of years on the move in sunnier climes I returned to the UK a few years back and I now go to watch my local Conference North side (Conference Proper next season thanks to a 3-0 win over Telford on Saturday) and despite the gulf in class I get a huge amount of enjoyment watching the games, there’s something great about leaving home at 2:45 for a 3pm kick off, handing over cash at the gate and watching football for pure pleasure, ducking into the social club behind the stand for a swift pint before getting home by 5:30 In many ways it’s a similar experience to watching Athlone all those years ago, I see familiar faces when I go and there is a proper sense of community.

My point is this, watch the football you can and enjoy it for what it is, support who you like and tell anyone who mocks your choices to go away and mind their own business.

[Aaron]

There is a certain generation in Derry you will find support clubs across the water because of the time we were without senior football in this City, thats a reason why alot here support foreign teams

[boovidge]

I returned to the UK a few years back and I now go to watch my local Conference North side (Conference Proper next season thanks to a 3-0 win over Telford on Saturday) and despite the gulf in class I get a huge amount of enjoyment watching the games, there’s something great about leaving home at 2:45 for a 3pm kick off, handing over cash at the gate and watching football for pure pleasure, ducking into the social club behind the stand for a swift pint before getting home by 5:30

see you next season, I'm a Lewes fan

[pól-dcfc]

Droylsden

[endabob1]

Droylsden

Indeed, Kettering fans are very concious of not doing a Droylsden although to be fair I think there is a much better balance to the Kettering side to anything I've seen in the last 3 years of conference North football. I'd be very surprised if they came straight back down.
Sorry if we've drifted off topic

[Erstwhile Bóz]

Liverpool was formed as a protestant, anti-irish club too and it has masses of Irish fans.

Liverpool was formed out of a Methodist club (named Everton) who had a fight with their brewer landlord, you eejit. The religious support of the teams became polarised, suiting the local religious idiots down to the ground, after a prominent local Catholic (English) personality joined the Everton board at the turn of the century and all the Catholic Irish bigots followed like thick sheep. Honest John McKenna, non-Catholic Irishman and Liverpool's manager for twenty-odd years, was renowned for not giving two flying fecks about that divide when it came to buying footballers for Liverpool.

And by the time Irish people (here) got on the Liverpool gloryhunt in the late '60s, the Kop was as split as the terrace of any other English club whose supporters chanted "Celtic"/"Rangers" to one another during boring matches.

By all means berate the idiot who claims to be supporting Liverpool because of the spurious claim to (Catholic) Irish links, but get it right! There's enough ammunition to refute such a moron without over-egging the pudding and saying they were formed as an "anti-Irish club".

[Réiteoir]

Indeed, Kettering fans are very concious of not doing a Droylsden although to be fair I think there is a much better balance to the Kettering side to anything I've seen in the last 3 years of conference North football. I'd be very surprised if they came straight back down.
Sorry if we've drifted off topic

Worcester City here (due to living in Worcester for the past 25-odd years)

Our coach got bricked by some Redditch Schooligans last night - they did a bloody good job of it tbh - even slashed all four tyres.

All this as a result of us beating them 1-0 in the 1st Leg of the Worcestershire Senior Cup Final.

The mind boggles...

(Anyway - making the 520 mile round trip to Blyth on Saturday - game in the afternoon then a night out in Newcastle - will be over at the Bohs vs Derry game in a couple of weeks though )

[Hibernian]

Liverpool was formed out of a Methodist club (named Everton) who had a fight with their brewer landlord, you eejit. The religious support of the teams became polarised, suiting the local religious idiots down to the ground, after a prominent local Catholic (English) personality joined the Everton board at the turn of the century and all the Catholic Irish bigots followed like thick sheep. Honest John McKenna, non-Catholic Irishman and Liverpool's manager for twenty-odd years, was renowned for not giving two flying fecks about that divide when it came to buying footballers for Liverpool.

And by the time Irish people (here) got on the Liverpool gloryhunt in the late '60s, the Kop was as split as the terrace of any other English club whose supporters chanted "Celtic"/"Rangers" to one another during boring matches.

By all means berate the idiot who claims to be supporting Liverpool because of the spurious claim to (Catholic) Irish links, but get it right! There's enough ammunition to refute such a moron without over-egging the pudding and saying they were formed as an "anti-Irish club".

On that topic were Man Utd a Catholic club in there early days. I think they were close to being called Manchester Celtic.

Anybody know anymore??

[Erstwhile Bóz]

On that topic were Man Utd a Catholic club in there early days. I think they were close to being called Manchester Celtic.

Anybody know anymore??

Apparently so, insofar as there was any divide in Manchester. Can't remember whether the phrase "the Catholic Church at play" was meant to be said about Everton or Man. United, but it was one of them!

Matt "Knight Commander of St. Gregory" Busby happily played for Protestant City, though. (And was subsequently made club captain -- presumably through some kind of administrative error -- of Protestant Liverpool in the thirties.)

Don't think there was any English clubs, even if their fanbase came to be associated with one religion over another (mainly due to the presence of ignorant Irish immigrants), who operated a x-religion-only policy similar to that of Rangers, for example, which is the reference point most people would think of when you say "Protestant club". It doesn't seem to have been the same situation, even on Merseyside, where there was huge Catholic/Protestant tension (thanks to the Irish again -- hurray).

[pól-dcfc]

Apparently so, insofar as there was any divide in Manchester. Can't remember whether the phrase "the Catholic Church at play" was meant to be said about Everton or Man. United, but it was one of them!

Matt "Knight Commander of St. Gregory" Busby happily played for Protestant City, though. (And was subsequently made club captain -- presumably through some kind of administrative error -- of Protestant Liverpool in the thirties.)

Don't think there was any English clubs, even if their fanbase came to be associated with one religion over another (mainly due to the presence of ignorant Irish immigrants), who operated a x-religion-only policy similar to that of Rangers, for example, which is the reference point most people would think of when you say "Protestant club". It doesn't seem to have been the same situation, even on Merseyside, where there was huge Catholic/Protestant tension (thanks to the Irish again -- hurray).

Manchester City would strike me as a Protestant club, in so much as I used to get frequently abused for being Irish when I worked in a bar frequented by City fans. Several City fans I know were also told from a young age to follow Rangers, and some can even be heard belting out "**** the Pope and the IRA" on occassion, often directly in my face while I handed them over another pint of that filthy dishwater they call Lager (that'd be Carling so).

[Erstwhile Bóz]

Manchester City would strike me as a Protestant club, in so much as I used to get frequently abused for being Irish when I worked in a bar frequented by City fans. Several City fans I know were also told from a young age to follow Rangers, and some can even be heard belting out "**** the Pope and the IRA" on occassion, often directly in my face while I handed them over another pint of that filthy dishwater they call Lager (that'd be Carling so).

I remember in that programme about the win over England (the year before the Hungarians) one of the lads was talking about joining City, and he said he "should have joined United because they were the Catholic club" ( ) and he mentioned that in the boardroom they had loads of Freemason gear around the place.

The Pope/IRA abuse you got would just be par for the course for most English scumbags, though, wouldn't it? The last time I got it was from football types in Stoke-on-Trent, but I didn't place Stoke City into my mental "Prod" compartment.*








*This mental compartment may or may not exist.

[Jerry The Saint]

I remember in that programme about the win over England (the year before the Hungarians) one of the lads was talking about joining City, and he said he "should have joined United because they were the Catholic club" ( ) and he mentioned that in the boardroom they had loads of Freemason gear around the place.

The Pope/IRA abuse you got would just be par for the course for most English scumbags, though, wouldn't it? The last time I got it was from football types in Stoke-on-Trent, but I didn't place Stoke City into my mental "Prod" compartment.*








*This mental compartment may or may not exist.

If it did exist, would it be a compartment for Mental Prods, or would the compartment itself be mental

[pól-dcfc]

The Pope/IRA abuse you got would just be par for the course for most English scumbags, though, wouldn't it? The last time I got it was from football types in Stoke-on-Trent, but I didn't place Stoke City into my mental "Prod" compartment.*

Quite possible I suppose yeah. I worked in another bar after the one I was talking about, and one of the bouncers was a big (the man must be about 40 stone, no word of a lie - I've seen him drink over 40 bottles of Orange WKD in a single sitting) City fan. He told me it was until recently a very Man City 'thing' to be anti-Irish Catholic.

[superfrank]

Manchester City would strike me as a Protestant club, in so much as I used to get frequently abused for being Irish when I worked in a bar frequented by City fans. Several City fans I know were also told from a young age to follow Rangers, and some can even be heard belting out "**** the Pope and the IRA" on occassion, often directly in my face while I handed them over another pint of that filthy dishwater they call Lager (that'd be Carling so).

I remember reading the first page of Jeff Winters' autobiography (I stopped after that, it's a pile of crap) and in it he claimed to have been stabbed by a Celtic-shirt wearing Man City fan when he was at Maine Road for a City-Boro match. Apparently Boro were identified as a Rangers club and that's why he got it.