Why don't the Irish support their local teams?

I've seen em a couple of times WP but they dont set me alight, it'd be handy if I could just 'decide' to support a team some day but I cant. I was brought up watching Utd and they're the only team for me.

As for the future, hopefully my kids (if & when) will support the Youths and it will grow as a club over time. The only problem with that is that the quality is god awful (look at what a preseason Utd side did to a mid season selection of the Airtricty Leagues best players), and if kids are choosing to go watch sport live the Irish League will always struggle for crowds when the choice is between top class GAA or Rugby and fourth rate soccer.
 
The league is likely to get revamped (again :rolleyes:) in the coming years. They're saying that there will be a 16 team Premier for 2012, with the top six in the First Division all going up next year. That could well include the Youths. Supposedly we're going back to winter football too.
 
The ultimate problems will remain the same WP, the best players will still go to England as its a better place to learn their trade and earn a living, and the quality of the local game will not be good enough to compete with other sports that are played at a higher level and which have support which is generations old.
 
fredthered said:
Thats not the point I am making.

The point I am making is Irish people have no more historical claim to be United supporters than anyone else. There is no "historical" reason why Irish folk should follow United any more than any other team.
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For a start, I was answering the original question. Nothing to do with what you posted.

And secondly, there is a huge Irish support for United cos of Munich, family connections, all the great Irish players who signed for United down the years, the style of football that United are known throughout the world for, the cultural links between Manchester & Ireland because of emigration.

So many do have "historical reasons" for supporting United.

Many have the same reasons for following Liverpool.

It's the way it is. For people above the age of 35, it's pretty much nothing to do with the premiership, trophies, Sky, success, England, Irishness.... it's just a fact of life.

For a lot of modern kids, it's now based on saturation coverage of English football by Sky. But they're only kids so why begrudge them supporting whoever they want.

Does anyone really give a feck?
 
fadas said:
I'll field that one B, as it appears someone else has just said you're talking through your hole.....
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You're an odd sort. I make a comment about it not being important how you come to follow this football club, using an example showing my own 'credentials' come from what some would consider historic links, others would consider a bloke turning up to watch a side because his mates did, most likely because they were the most popular team in the area. And you get so defensive you try to make out I'm playing the 'I've more right to support United than you' card? And that I'm apparently talking through my hole?

You sensationally must have let the point I was making pass you by completely
 
"Sensationally"? :lol:

Ah who cares though. As sure as there's a gold buckle on me shoe we'll all be leppin' and a jumpin' at the crossroads tonight.
 
Eyepopper said:
Manchesters links to Ireland are a bit of a myth? Right, go read up on it Brad because its not. They actually do in part explain why there are so many Irish United supporters, and also why there are so many Irish Liverpool supporters, I also know a good few Irish Everton supporters, again due to historical links, family working there or whatever.

Another side of it is the history of Irish players at Utd, as has been said, most Irish people follow the national team and ended up supporting the team their favorite player played for. That might have been a generation or two ago and have provided the spark for Utd support to become the family tradition. You have kids in Ireland whose Dad passed it down to them and their Grandad passed it to their Dad, why did their grandad support Utd to begin with? Who knows, who cares, the point is the current generation didn't wake up one day and decide to support Utd.

Obviously there are cases where people did just decide to support utd because they were successful, personally I'm like you, it doesn't bother me a jot, but its not the case for everyone, I don't know anyone that just 'decided' to support Utd yet its the prevailing generalisation, and I consider it a bit of an insult when everyone is tarred with the same brush, particularly as, like you say, it implies that I and others like me would walk away if the success faded. My Dad supported Utd right through from the 50's, he's seen his fair share of runs with no success, my earliest memories of Utd are from the early 80's, we weren't exactly setting the world alight at the time yet still all my mates were still mainly either Utd or Liverpool supporters.

If its all about the glory why are there so many people my age and older who've supported Utd since they were kids?

As I say of course its true in a lot of cases, but its also not true in a lot of cases, its a simplistic generalisation, and as with all generalisations its not accurate.

It has nothing to do directly with the thread but you asked why people were being defensive.
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Historic worker links with Ireland sure, show me a place that doesn't have that! But with the football club? Hands up if I'm wrong, but it's my impressing there are multiple thousand more United Irish supporters to City for instance. And now you would expect for the current generation that would change as City become more successful. It's not a dirty concept, in fact its really rather natural. Once that choice has been made, whatever the reason, it's then going to be passed down the family chain of course

I'd just take a question on its merit. Some have brought prior history to this thread which has made them looked very defensive, in the face of a reasonably sensible and inquisitive opening post. Even if folk in the past have questioned you, or over generalised... feck em, who cares what they think?
 
fadas said:
"Sensationally"? :lol:

Ah who cares though. As sure as there's a gold buckle on me shoe we'll all be leppin' and a jumpin' at the crossroads tonight.
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You're not doing yourself any favours with all this you know. It's been a reasonable thread and you're doing more than anyone to turn it into nonsense, making it personal and derailing it
 
Plan M said:
This isn't a criticism but an honest question

Why don't Irish people support their local teams? I've lived in Wales for a few years now (unfortunately) and they are crazy about Swansea or Cardiff City, depending on which town you visit. Everywhere I go, I see the kids/grown men/even the women wearing their jerseys with pride. When I went to Scotland a few years back, the city was full of people wearing Rangers/Celtic/Aberdeen jerseys and all the talk was about Scottish footy.

However, the Irish always seem to support either Celtic, United or Liverpool. Why is this? Or am I being too general?
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Seriously PLAN M! Are you just not the brightest or what? Its so feckin obvious. So you are from Wales and lets go to Snooker for an example - You are telling me that everyone in Wales supported the great bore Terry Griffiths in snooker back in the day just because he was Welsh instead of supporting someone like Jimmy White or Alex Higgins? Bollox to that. Id say White and Higgins had more fans in Wales than Terry Griffiths every had!

Anyways thats just one tiny stupid example.

All I will say to you is..........Do you honestly think people in Dublin would be supporting Man Utd if Ronaldo and Messi were playing for Dublins Shamrock Rovers in the Champions League every week against big teams in Europe? I tell you the answer, Absolutely no F@#!ing chance. Irish people like Man Utd because we love football and some of our best players have been some of Man Utds best players while Man Utd have a history of playing excellent attacking football. Why do you think people in Japan go crazy for Man Utd? I think I know why! Now that Cardiff and Swansea are doing well for a change are you trying to rub your pride in everyones face with this post? Thats what it seems like to me.
 
B Cantona said:
And you get so defensive you try to make out I'm playing the 'I've more right to support United than you' card? And that I'm apparently talking through my hole?
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It seems to be the trend. It happened in the other thread too. I didn't think the OP was having a go, merely asking why irish football isn't very popular in a country that loves football, and he got loads of people jumping in with "how dare you" and making up things about the Irish flag and United's kits ...It's odd. The Caf's on uber defesive alert of late it seems.
 
Mockney said:
It seems to be the trend. It happened in the other thread too. I didn't think the OP was having a go, merely asking why irish football isn't very popular in a country that loves football, and he got loads of people jumping in with "how dare you" and making up things about the Irish flag and United's kits ...It's odd.
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I think you & a few others are making a mountain out of a molehill, i see you said on that other thread some went a bit spastic, no one went spastic & loads of people didn't go on the defensive either.
 
B Cantona said:
You're not doing yourself any favours with all this you know. It's been a reasonable thread and you're doing more than anyone to turn it into nonsense, making it personal and derailing it
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Fat arse is making as much sense as anybody else, to be sure to be sure.
 
B Cantona said:
Historic worker links with Ireland sure, show me a place that doesn't have that! But with the football club? Hands up if I'm wrong, but it's my impressing there are multiple thousand more United Irish supporters to City for instance. And now you would expect for the current generation that would change as City become more successful. It's not a dirty concept, in fact its really rather natural. Once that choice has been made, whatever the reason, it's then going to be passed down the family chain of course

I'd just take a question on its merit. Some have brought prior history to this thread which has made them looked very defensive, in the face of a reasonably sensible and inquisitive opening post. Even if folk in the past have questioned you, or over generalised... feck em, who cares what they think?
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If you look back I took the question at face value and I've done my best to explain why I think people dont support local teams in Ireland.

But you commented on people being defensive so I've been trying to explain why people seem defensive, I'm not saying they should be defensive but I understand where it comes from.

Personally I dont give a shit what people think, I know why I support United and don't feel any reason why I should have to justify it, I also dont feel any need to judge anyone elses support (which I think is the oddest thing of the lot), like it or not having to justify your support is how a lot of people see these types of thread because for one reason or another thats where they end up going.
 
The Black Pearl said:
I think you & a few others are making a mountain out of a molehill, i see you said on that other thread some went a bit spastic, no one went spastic & loads of people didn't go on the defensive either.
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Really?

Plan M said:
This isn't a criticism but an honest question

Why don't Irish people support their local teams? I've lived in Wales for a few years now (unfortunately) and they are crazy about Swansea or Cardiff City, depending on which town you visit. Everywhere I go, I see the kids/grown men/even the women wearing their jerseys with pride. When I went to Scotland a few years back, the city was full of people wearing Rangers/Celtic/Aberdeen jerseys and all the talk was about Scottish footy.

However, the Irish always seem to support either Celtic, United or Liverpool. Why is this? Or am I being too general?
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OP...

Spoony Youngblood said:
You don't support your local side, do you?
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Decotron said:
When does the trial end?
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Decotron said:
If someone born and raised in Salford doesnt understand the historical connection between United and Ireland it tells its own story really.......
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golden_blunder said:
what a fecking ignorant thread

perhaps you should read the history of the clubs then think about it
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Pogue Mahone said:
If you had a kid, would you bring him up as a United fan?
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golden_blunder said:
I could go on or i could create a thread "why is Plan M such as Anus?"
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Responses on just the first page accusing him of having a go ...

Don't think I am. Answering the OP (or the one in the other thread) required no need to justify why people support or how good certain types of fans are. And yet both have descended into exactly that.
 
Because thats how people see them. Invariably its where these threads end up, often thats the intention.....
 
Mockney said:
It seems to be the trend. It happened in the other thread too. I didn't think the OP was having a go, merely asking why irish football isn't very popular in a country that loves football, and he got loads of people jumping in with "how dare you" and making up things about the Irish flag and United's kits ...It's odd. The Caf's on uber defesive alert of late it seems.
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I remember once posting in a thread that I didn't think people whowerent at a game had much right to complain about the support from the crowd when they werent there or involved in it themselves. I then got ranted at for 20 mins off about 5 people because I hated everyone in the world who doesnt have an M postcode.
 
Mockney said:
Then surely that's their own insecurities projecting Doctor Pops? Hit me with some Physc bruh
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Or they're just overly defensive because they're sick of constantly being generalised.

If I constantly accused you of being a plastic supporter because you're from London and have never seen a period during which we've actually struggled, brought it up every week, or insisted on footnoting everything you said with it as if it were some sort of black mark, do you think over the course of time you've get a bit bored and defensive about it?
 
Mockney said:
Actually it looks like the complete opposite. He's actually just owned someone in a debate about fandom. This should be worrying for us all.
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Yes. To be fair, Fred knows his onions.....sometimes.

As for this thread. I don't care, I'm a Manc, so stuff all y'all plastic cnuts!
 
Eyepopper said:
Or they're just overly defensive because they're sick of constantly being generalised.

If I constantly accused you of being a plastic supporter because you're from London and have never seen a period during which we've actually struggled, brought it up every week, or insisted on footnoting everything you said with it as if it were some sort of black mark, do you think over the course of time you've get a bit bored and defensive about it?
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Well I do get that a lot. And I don't feel the need to attack everyone who says it. Especially if they haven't even said it yet.

It's also precisely that reason I find it weird that they feel the need to do it to me (in the other thread). I'm the last person to be slagging someone off for being OOT, I'm just capable of admitting I'm an OOT and not treating it like a taboo subject we shouldn't mention
 
Me too... but it takes all sorts, I'm just explaining why people get defensive.
 
The Irish do support their own teams but with England being so big and the league being so popular it's hard not to support a team there. Same down here in Australia its on the news here all the time and has great support despite being on the other side of the world. We support our own a league teams but everyone supports a epl team as well.
 
Wonder Pigeon said:
Well, most do. Some haven't made their way over there from here yet, and some over here are better than some over there but just don't go/have gone and didn't do well for whatever reason. I know thats nitpicking, but still.
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I was talking about the best Irish players. Obviously there are players in the Airtricity League who could make it in England and are better than current Irish pros over there, but they are not of the quality of the likes of Given, Dunne and Duff. The very best Irish players play abroad, and obviously 90% of those play in England.
 
B Cantona said:
You're not doing yourself any favours with all this you know. It's been a reasonable thread and you're doing more than anyone to turn it into nonsense, making it personal and derailing it
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Er, I didn't do that at all... you're acticng like it's a sociological thesis when you're talking out of your arse and contradicting yourself. I was joking with my last post as a way of leaving it as it's getting excruciating listening to the absolute rubbish.

As for "doing myself any favours"... it's a message board... am I in some sort of competition that I was unaware of?

fecking hell, you didn't get to your 40 million posts by accident, did you. (that's rhetorical by the way)

Also, read my first post in this thread.... it was not personal, nonsense or derailing.
 
Mockney said:
Really?



OP...













Responses on just the first page accusing him of having a go ...

Don't think I am. Answering the OP (or the one in the other thread) required no need to justify why people support or how good certain types of fans are. And yet both have descended into exactly that.
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Eh? The only poster you quoted who comes across as defensive is GB. Which explains why you quote him twice.

The other posts (including one from Spoony, who's a manc so not defensive in the slightest) are various different ways of explaining why someone born in Ireland might support United (the question in the OP)
 
Pogue Mahone said:
The other posts (including one from Spoony, who's a manc so not defensive in the slightest) are various different ways of explaining why someone born in Ireland might support United (the question in the OP)
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Which wasn't actually the question. Proving my point nicely there Pizzle.

The OP was asking why Irish football isn't as heavily supported as English football, not asking for the credentials of the Irish supporters.
 
Mockney said:
Which wasn't actually the question. Proving my point nicely there Pizzle.

The OP was asking why Irish football isn't as heavily supported as English football, not asking for the credentials of the Irish supporters.
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Are you high? Re-read the last para in the OP. You even quoted it yourself!

With the website that's in it, he wasn't going to get many opinions from Celtic or liverpool fans, was he?
 
So, we've worked what out in this thread then?

The Irish dont follow local football because its a bit shit and lots of them have higher levels of interest in teams in the English league for one reason or another. They are also quite defensive about having to justify why this is the case.

5 pages.... sheesh.
 
Eyepopper said:
So, we've worked what out in this thread then?

The Irish dont follow local football because its a bit shit and lots of them have higher levels of interest in teams in the English league for one reason or another. They are also quite defensive about having to justify why this is the case.

5 pages.... sheesh.
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..and Pogue Mahone refuses to admit this defensiveness, defensively.
 
So, Eyepopper: how do you reconcile the idea of the LOI being not worth watching because "its a bit shit" and the idea that you would continue watching United even if the success dried up and the good football went away.
 
The defensive stance comes from the fact that the question is often loaded. It's often a cowardly way to tell the paddies to go 'home'.

I went to the cup final today as did 35,000 or so others and it was shit, people left at 90 mins beside me. They didn;t stay for the extra time.

Now you can say what you like about them but they made the effort to go and fecked off, it's actually rubbish ... and this brings the whole idea of 'Ireland' as the only place this happens in quuestion. How many people that attented home games this weekend in the premeirship didn't pass a club on the way from their house, or weren't born near another non prem, football league club. Most I would say.

Also 35,000 at the cup final as a percentage would equal 600,000 at Wembly next May. So leave us be, we're tiny and although 'soccer' takes up a large part of our psyche it's not the main spectator sport on a very small island. I prefer 'soccer' to GAA but the I prefer GAA to rubbish soccer if I have to pay money and stand in the cold. Unless you are a player or have connections it's entertainment and the bottom line is as entertainment goes it's awful value for money.
 
Mockney said:
Which wasn't actually the question. Proving my point nicely there Pizzle.

The OP was asking why Irish football isn't as heavily supported as English football, not asking for the credentials of the Irish supporters.
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Then the simple answer is there's more people in England.
 
Wonder Pigeon said:
So, Eyepopper: how do you reconcile the idea of the LOI being not worth watching because "its a bit shit" and the idea that you would continue watching United even if the success dried up and the good football went away.
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I'm talking about the LoI's ability to attract supporters, shit football wont attract a crowd, particularly when there are alternatives being played at a high standard.

Once you're a fan of a particular team you (or I at least) wont stop supporting them simply because they're not successful..... thats what makes someone a glory hunter.
 
Mockney said:
It seems to be the trend. It happened in the other thread too. I didn't think the OP was having a go, merely asking why irish football isn't very popular in a country that loves football, and he got loads of people jumping in with "how dare you" and making up things about the Irish flag and United's kits ...It's odd. The Caf's on uber defesive alert of late it seems.
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As Irish people of a certain age, being referred to as a paddy and asked 'politley' why you don't support a 'local' team has been a veiled attempt at something a bit more sinister than merely OOT support. We went through the 70's and 80's to grounds around England and endured heavy racist abuse, so that legacy has implications that might have filtered down. Asking a paddy why he doesn't stay at home and support Shamrock Rovers has had a heavier backdrop than suggesting Brad should support Rochale or Mockney Fulham.

That might exlain the reaction somewhat.
 
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