I was asked more about Rovers in two months in Germany this Summer than over the past few days in cold DublinOriginally Posted by SwanVsDalton
The Model Club
Tell all the Bohs you know
that we've gone and won two-in-a-row
and it's not gonna be three
and it's not gonna be four
it's more likely to be 5-1.
Leaving the office at today I had one of the porters shout at me "Champione". I said to him on Friday that I wanted Shams to win. I mean super Shels weren't a threat.
Another of them has put up a Rovers poster behind their desk.
Will it survive United winning the epl? Who knows. I hope it does.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
I had a gem today, and think it will be hard to top it:
Work colleague: I see season tickets aren't allowed for the Bray match?
Me: Yeah, it's not a regular season game, so they don't apply.
WC: Ah feck that so, I'll wait and see if they lose, and go to the next one if they do
M: I did'lt know you had a United season ticket?
WC: Wha? Me? I don't.
M: So what's the problem, then.
WC: Ah, it's not fair on fellas that do, so I won't go
I was left staring blankly as he walked off. Still not sure what he meant.
"Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins."
"Homer Simpson, smiling politely."
That's kinda spectacular. Ive tried oh so hard to work through his logic. I've bits of brain seeping from my ear.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Bray don't allow season tickets for this match ---> Bray are greedy and don't respect the fans ---> I can use this as a valuable excuse to avoid attending said match, and instead focus on 'supporting' 'my' team from hundreds of miles away whose players I have never seen in the flesh.
One of the bosses lands out whilst I'm trying to follow the European draws on uefa.com
Him: What are you doing?
Me(Going for honest approach): Just seeing who the Irish sides got in Europe
Him: Oh right. I used to support Liverpool but I prefer Arsenal myself.
Me(Forgetting meself, and laughing): What? Are you serious?
Him: Yeah, why?
Me: Doesn't matter.
He must have mentioned Derry's financial demise every single time he sees me. Apparently we should run it like a GAA club, though when I asked him about examples of GAA clubs with a turn over of greater than €1m, he was somewhat stumped.....
I hate that tedious office football banter from uninformed, unimaginative, Brent-esque sorts that was a regular feature of work in Ireland. It's not so bad here in London- the people who support Arsenal or Chelsea do so because they live or lived near the club, and for every 'Big 4' club represented, there's two lower teams being supported. Monday mornings seem to involve Brentford, Leyton Orient, Millwall and QPR, as much as Arsenal, Man U, and Liverpool.
But in Ireland that faux-shocked noise people do when the new guy starts at the office and reveals he supports Liverpool/Spurs/Chelsea/Sunderland always makes my teeth grate: "Oh a Liverpool fan eh? How did they let you in the office!" "Arsenal fan? Ohhhhhhh God, you better not go near Dave in Accounts, he's a mad Spurs fan!!!!!!!!"
I understand it's part of office small talk but because it's so patently fake, full of artificially rivalries ("I hate Everton so much....sorry? No, I've never been to Merseyside actually, why'd you ask?" "Can't believe we lost to Wolves today, the lads in HR will be at me all day!" ) and because it concerns something that's so important to me I despise these little vignettes and everything they stand for.
Last edited by thischarmingman; 01/11/2010 at 6:52 PM.
You know Dave in accounts??
Here on a technicality.
Isn't there a Dave from Accounts in every office?
He's the one who's bloody mad!
Tell him season tickets don't apply for this match because the gate is split between both clubs.
That won't work. He'll get confused as to why Terryland needs new gates.
Was talking to my gf tonight about this and she thought I was an a.shole for my disdain.
Bear in mind I'm slowly working on convincing that she really loves sport.
Football and ice hockey are check. Soccer is taking a while.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
I recall when first I moved to Britain expecting to have to tell people that it was Waterford, not Watford I followed, and was very pleasantly surprised. Firstly there was the presumption that the club I followed was Irish, not English. Football following people would ask me how the Blues were doing (generally comiserating with me to be honest). One guy who came to fix the plumbing saw the Blues scarf and not only failed to presume it was Chelsea, as has happened in Ireland, but recognised that it was Waterford United, as he knew a guy from a few years back who followed them and recognised the crest. How many people in your home county know the colours of the nearest League of Ireland club and would recognise the crest on sight?
To add to this, the level of football appreciation was completely different, and very much as TCM suggested. One of the women in the office for example would say that she was not a big fan, but would go to Crystal Palace the odd week,, and generally had an idea what was going on with the management and ownership of the club that would embarrass those guys who rave about how great Chelsea or Arsenal or whoever are and laugh in turn at the thought of following an Irish club.
That was the thing. Unless your club was bitter rivals or soon to be playing the club the other person followed, there was generally a positive interaction between most fans I knew over there - similar to how things are in the league here. It was a form of kinship. Barring a few, most people's clubs are not doing as well as they would like, and the high point in a season may be grabbing a draw from a better team when you deserved to lose, or securing a good draw in the cup. The life of the football fan is generally one of prolonged disappointment, rooting for truffles of solace in the muck. Normally it is with those wearing the same colours, but often not. After all who else really understands this prolonged frustration other than another football fan. Of course there will always be rivalries, but aside from those rivalries, we are all there together, rooting in the dirt.
Except the glory hunting gloaters, sitting in their lofty chairs up in the nosebleeds at Old Trafford or Anfield. But then, pretty much every die-hard United or City or Rovers or whoever fan seems to really REALLY hate the people coming over to watch their club once or twice a year claiming a great connection and ultimately taking their seats and pricing the local fan out of the game. The fans who watched them when they were back in the old Second Division, and who made the trip to Rochdale to watch a reserves game on a Tuesday, and who has named one of their children for the guy who scored the goal that put them in the FA Cup semis for the first time back in the day, and the other for the man who still holds the record for most sendings off in the clubs history. Yeah, you gloating types. Keep working at it and you'll get rid of those fans with the tattoos who look at you funny as you walk into the club shop on your annual Champions League trip, while the wife goes off to watch Phantom of the Opera, and you both lament how the recent economic downturn means you'll only be able to do this two or three times a year any more.
Not that I'm bitter, of course.
That question was less stupid, though you asked it in a profoundly stupid way.
Help me, Arthur Murphy, you're my only hope!
I reckon he believes the game will be sold out, so he doesn't want to take a seat from a season ticket holder if they're not accepting season tickets. If Galway lose they'll be playing Waterford or Shels, so he might go to that, if they win, there won't be another game until next season.
To be fair, I wouldn't recognise most crests on sight no matter what the country. I think my knowledge of LOI crests is entirely down to them being so prominent on here. I wouldn't be able to visualise Chelsea or Arsenal's crest from memory.
That does tie in with what I've heard from other people here and immigrants from England. A lot of English people will come to Dublin or another city and adopt the local team. A bloke I work with is from Watford and supports Rovers as intensely as his hometown side.
On a semi-related note, I was talking to a journalist friend of my aunt's recently for a couple of hours. He grew up in Manchester during the 50s and 60s (remembers the Munich disaster obviously) and said his family had season tickets to both clubs and would alternate who they brought the kids to see - most Manchester people would support both. The rivalry between the two was really a product of certain managers during the 70s and 80s - until then Liverpool and Leeds were the Manchester clubs' main rivals. So perhaps the fraternity you described between fans of different clubs in England isn't far from the mark.
To me that just sounds like the normal thing to do. In the coming months I may have to move to Galway or Limerick for work and come next season I'll be nipping along to Terryland or Jackman when I can and obviously when Shels are in town.
One of my stipulations for visiting my mate in London next month is we visit his local team.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Reminds me of the time I was in Rome first (2007), and I found an Irish pub just down the road from where I was staying. Don't normally go into Irish pubs abroad, but this one was (is) very good; load of football scarves on the walls and what have you. Went up to the bar and the barman recognised my UCD jersey. He was Italian, but had spent time in UCD as a kid at a foreign language school. Not only did he give me a free pint in exchange for my scarf, but when I went back two years later, I got another free pint.
There's no real point to that story I suppose; certainly not in the context of the original post. But at least it shows that we're right.
To be honest, I don't think he has the intelligence to work that out for himself
"Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins."
"Homer Simpson, smiling politely."
Of course GAA club's don't have that kind of turnover, sure they hardly have any turnover (cough moneyfindsitswayintohiddenpocketsatgate cough) and are a wonderful amateur association that has no history of bigotry or discrimination or anything like that and is pure as the driven snow.
Sorry, bad morning!!
"Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins."
"Homer Simpson, smiling politely."
Hopefully your only visit to Terryland for a Shels match will be in the Cup!
"Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins."
"Homer Simpson, smiling politely."
The conversations that wind me up the most are when a Barstooler asks you who you support, and obviously id say Rovers and then comes the inevitable, but who do you "really support", as if my following Rovers was for charity of some sorts.
Its as if following the LOI isnt counted as being "real support".
In summary all barstooler west brit plastics must die.
Posting Permissions
Quote
Bookmarks