They were there for the 'event' and as a result of the high end marketing. Middle class types, a mother with gangs of kids, women dressed like they were at a nightclub ...blokes wearing rugby shirts ffs . It was not what I would associate a Dublin football crowd to be. Like United and Bohs at Dalymount 20 years ago was just football fans, the same crowd that went to an Ireland match The United game this year was an eye opener for me, and the folk at it would never never attend a league of ireland game unless there was 40,000 at it and it was an 'event'.
Why don't the Irish support their local teams?
- Thread starter Plan M
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They were there for the 'event' and as a result of the high end marketing. Middle class types, a mother with gangs of kids, women dressed like they were at a nightclub ...blokes wearing rugby shirts ffs . It was not what I would associate a Dublin football crowd to be. Like United and Bohs at Dalymount 20 years ago was just football fans, the same crowd that went to an Ireland match The United game this year was an eye opener for me, and the folk at it would never never attend a league of ireland game unless there was 40,000 at it and it was an 'event'.
Why don't you start them? Is it not allowed to ask questions about the Irish now without first asking about the Londoners or Nordics?
Don't get me wrong, I think the question would be inappropriate coming from any red with any history knowledge of the club, but sadly this is not always the case.
On the other hand though, I think you getting into a fit over it is plain silly. It's a forum with members from all over the world so it is normal for people to ask all sort of questions, if you don't like some of them, well just don't get involved. Or you can always go somewhere else. You're not forced to stay here. Don't forget, this is not a democracy.
Aye, they are certainly more worried about marketing than the game, they gave us one mediocre middle sized astroturf pitch and a half built club house and a half finished pitch and they were all down getting their pictures in the paper. It's all material with the FAI, don't get me wrong it's nice to get the funding (well some of it) but they seem to think that giving us a new pitch is going to fix all the problems, they don't have a clue. But it looks nice in the paper.
Edit:It actually took a local man (Mick Wallace) to get some decent facilities in out of his own money (although he's in trouble financially now himself), most of the smaller clubs would use the astro-turf pitches he built training during the winter.
Ok I'm with you now - but as you already noted, I think that is more about the modern game in general rather than anything Irish specific.
Like I said, this issue is much bigger than a question about Ireland anyway - I have first hand experience of a whole variety of countries in where local football leagues are being completely ignored as fans rush to watch the English Premier League or La Liga. Only time will tell where the ramifications of this kind of global trend will take us ...
You're not forced to stay here. Don't forget, this is not a democracy.
Don't get sarcy with me
re-read the first post
Then do a search of every other topic along the same lines in the database
the scandinavians keep getting brought into this argument and having lived in scandinavia for 5 years now i can safely say that most scandis support at least two teams (one swedish and one from one of the big european leagues),quite a lot i have met even support three or more teams, a lot of this is down to when swedens football season starts and finishes (spring till autumn) and there is also a huge amount of foreign football shown on tv here.
Its a fair point. League of Ireland football is a 'summer' season. We've just had our cup final and the league is finished.
It is however, a reasonbly recent thing, and would only 'affect' new fans
Do you support a particular Irish team GB?
League of Ireland, my home team Derry City
CityWeb: Derry City Football Club Online
in the Irish League (NI) i have a soft spot for Coleraine
Here
https://www.redcafe.net/f6/article-irish-utd-fans-305379/
the last time this was discussed there just over 2 months ago. Again, the idea of the thread wasn't to have a go
https://www.redcafe.net/f6/article-irish-utd-fans-305379/
the last time this was discussed there just over 2 months ago. Again, the idea of the thread wasn't to have a go
Fair enough - I assume that a lot of Irish United/Liverpool/etc fans will still have a particular local team they follow?
Here
https://www.redcafe.net/f6/article-irish-utd-fans-305379/
the last time this was discussed there just over 2 months ago. Again, the idea of the thread wasn't to have a go
To be fair, that is an article where an Irish bloke is slagging off Irish fans who support United etc - so I dont really get what your point is?
Thats because its Con Murphy, a bit of a ridiculous journolist.
My point is that its a thread discussing the exact same thing so might be worth reading rather than going over old ground again and again and again.
My point is that its a thread discussing the exact same thing so might be worth reading rather than going over old ground again and again and again.
If they have a home team, yes. The problem with Ireland is that there are still lots of rural areas without clubs playing in the leagues. However, those fans will have access to SKY etc and follow the English league.
Actually i was watching the Irish cup final yesterday on telly and I noticed a few lads in the Sligo fans end wearing United hats or scarves along with their Sligo tops
It was an awful article, written by a total knob jockey, which Utd Heap latched upon to make his point that he "doesn't understand why Irish people follow United"
This is why my back gets up, there is a complete ignorance from some English United fans, despite Irish fans being involved with United for generations
Not necessarily, as has been said numerous times there are lots of areas that dont have a soccer team. Wexford, where I live is a reasonably big town (for Ireland), we didn't have a local team until 2007.
I thought that being a true supporter, you could only have one team...
I said i have a soft spot for Coleraine, based on the fact that i lived around that area for a few childhood years
Derry are my home team
United are my lifelong love
I was wearing a United hat. Only red thing I could lay me hands on.
The other thing about yesterday is that I went with 9 people, only 3 of whom actually supported either team, so the good will is there, just not the product to get them back. It's the wrong era to be building the sport when the TV beams the finished product and 2 hours standing around in the cold is not on most peoples agenda. Same as music, people have no time. The stupid bastards.
LOI didn't miss the boat, they were on it 30 years ago, they just never looked after it. The twats.
I have to say my vitriol for KK has waned, after all I'd play if someone kept picking me.
You haven't answered his point though.
Why do the Irish claim to have historical links with Man United, but not Manchester City ?
Why is it that in Liverpool Irish people claim to have historical links with Liverpool, but not Everton ?
If the two cities are entwined intrinsically with Ireland, as you say, then why isnt the Irish support equal amongst the teams ? Why is it that United is any more of an attraction to Irish fans than say Oldham.
Just because there are lots of Irish in Manchester it doesnt mean United is historically linked to Ireland. Manchester has one of the largest chinese populations in the UK. You don't see every Yank King Po running around saying the reason there are 20 million United fans in China is because of historical links.
Its utter nonsense. The irish support United pretty much for the same reasons as what the Polish, the Danes, The Dutch, the Iraqis and everyone else does. They have no more claim to have historical ties than any of those other countries, and suggesting you do is just simply laughable.
Does the same not apply to English fans who live nearer to a lower league team than they do to the club they support?
When I was living/working in England I knew a few people who went along to lower league matches fairly regularly but also had a Premier League team they followed as well.
My hometown team plays their 'home' games in a different county.
Actually my granda was an Everton fan, dont ask me why, he was dead before i grew up.
I guess the simple answer is the fact that so many Irish players have played for United over the generations. That always stirs interest
This has been discussed before and I think that old chesnut, religion, came into the discussion (just what this thread needs!)
Yeah, my problem is more with his selection that his talent, but I'll fight whatever battle is closest to me, if I'm honest.
Bit late for that seeing as this thread is already double of the size of that one !
So how far away are we talking for the nearest league team to Wexford before 2007?
Yeah, I closed it last night at 5 pages and said at the time I thought it would only go in circles with nothing new being added.
Brad wanted it reopened so I obliged.
Brad wanted it reopened so I obliged.
running with this why don´t Irish people support man city thing, the north manchester town i grew up in was split 50/50 between reds and blues, some of the blue lads at my school used to insult us reds by calling us fenians (this was the 70´s) i never really understood why they called us this as we all went to a church of england school (the catholic school was across the road).
even if there is no real historical link, a perceived link definitely has existed in the past.
even if there is no real historical link, a perceived link definitely has existed in the past.
Yeah, that's what I was referring to above.
I think the same applies to Liverpool/Everton but could be wrong.
interesting!
I support United because my old man did. He has 7 brothers, as was the style at the time, and among their ranks is and Everton fan, a City fan a Chelsea and 2 Leeds fans.
To be generalising across nations and decades with the same arrogance you use in matters you supposedly know about just makes you another internet clown.
And as for historical links, are you the only one who is allowed to define that?
As a kid with my Dad visiting Liam Whelans grave in Dublin everytime we went to see my Grandads grave was as much an inspiration for me who was born in 1973, to support United than all the recent success.
The modern football is a weird creature anyway, obsessed with stats, news, colour of boots, FIFA WPOTY, and new shirts, you are blurring two disticnt questions in your answer.
And on the bold bit .... yes it does surely. Unless they all went yesterday. Emigration for work is a historical link. It may not be unique but it's a link.
Yes there are people like that - I would say a minority though. I did watch my local nonleague team as a kid, although that was mostly in the time before I finally got through the waiting list and had my own United ST.
I was just wondering if in Ireland, nearly everyone has an Irish and English team they support?
It has been suggested that they dont as some areas dont have a team at all in Ireland.
This is what I was getting at with the structure of society and urbanisation and all that earlier. Outside of Dublin there are only the odd pockets of historical support for football. With various factors all needed to be in place for the club to exist as English clubs do and be to the fore of the community.
also when i was a kid it was quite popular if united were playing away that week to go watch one of the other teams local to manchester,not so much man city but teams like bury,bolton and oldham, you never really had the same passion for these teams but you did tend to have a soft spot for them.
now you come to mention it
Sorry I deleted mine in case people didn't get that it was you I was joking with.
I said I've done my best, I dont purport to be an out and out authority on it.
The question I was trying to answer was why dont Irish people watch the Irish league though, not why do so many Irish people support Utd.
In gerneral I dont know, in my case it was pure accident, when my Dad was in Manchester in the 50's his landlord took him to Utd, thats where it sprang from. I haven't really spent a huge amount of time thinking about City support tbh, I've heard what Pogues talking about before but I dont know enough about it.
Johnny Giles was interviewed on TV last night and summed up the scenario for a lot of Irish fans, when he was a kid he followed the national team, his favourite player was a United player so from the age of 12 he supported United. Obviously United have a long history of Irish players, I'm not sure City share this at the same level.
That said I know about the same number of City fans as I do Spurs, Villa and Arsenal.
My best mate and his entire family are Everton fans, I know tons of Everton fans so I'm not sure thats quite the same.
There could be a million reasons for that one, as with my Dad it was basically accident, in other cases maybe they didn't have as much access or exposure to city (if they were in the lower leagues) overall, while I know you want to say 'all Irish Utd supporters are basically glory hunters' thats not the case, as I asked yesterday, if its all about the glory, why are there so many supporters my age and older who started supporting Utd when we weren't winning?
Firstly I think you'd have to start by defining what you consider 'historical ties'.
Secondly if you think United have no more connection to the Irish than to Iraqis then you really are talking through your arse. At the most simple level how many Polish, Iraqi or Danes have played for United in comparison to Irish players? Not that I'm saying that makes the Irish 'better' fans, I think measuring stuff like that is a waste of time.