FAI - our Association or Celtics?

Hyzepher

I have been to every Ireland home fixture for quite a while now. And one thing has been steadily creeping in more and more each match. Now before I start I am neither a Celtic fan or Rangers fan and have no real interest in Scottish soccer at all.

It seems to me that the FAI/Irish team is becoming more and more associated with Celtic FC. Take last night -

1) Booing at ex-rangers players
2) Celtic MC doing the presenting at half time - why not a guy from the Eircom league?
3) Chanting of typical Celtic songs etc.
4) Wearing of Celtic shirts instead of Irish ones.
5) On Staurday we even had a band playing who's claim to fame is that they released the Celtic UEFA Final song.

Now I have no problem with fans who are Ireland & Celtic fans who want to support both teams either at ireland or Celtic games. What I do have a problem with is the FAI who are making this more official.

Hyzepher

KdjaCL

€€€€€€€€

Its an easy way to make money by getting these fans in.
Sickens me to see rangers players being booed at an irish match as i have seen Irish Celtic fans boo irish players.
And thats why i dont go to Irleand matches anymore.

kdjac

s8n

Irish Celtic fans boo irish players

can you expand on this???

who was been booed??

Morpheus

last night a section of wan*ers in the crowd booed the georgian striker "Shota Arveladze" every time he touched the ball, its sickening, there are some great supporters of both ireland and celtic out there, but christ, cant you see in this day and age,
hooliganism and racism are not aspects we want associated with irish soccer. No longer will we be made welcome in other countries if this sh*te continues.

If you were a booing fan, grow up for f*ck sake you godforsaken eegit or else f*ck off and dont come to any more irish games, simple way to stop the crap is to tell them to shut the f*ck up if theyre beside you, otherwise all that will occur is a banning celtic shirts from irish games.

Its ireland your here to watch, not some scottish premier side, have some national pride and respect for other countries players.
So you retards realise that there are irish protestants living in ireland? or are you so backwards that you think we are a completely catholic country? In every town in ireland there is a protestant community, thats why we have a tricolor of green whate and ORANGE. im sure some of the irish protestants at the game supporting their national team were disgusted. it doesnt matter their religion, they are IRISH and have a right not to be treated to your crap.

Times have changed, the days of hunger strikes and pipe bombings should be behind us. religion is not an issue or at least should not be, in soccer. we dont want you at our games, so please just p*ss off you stupid nazi scumbags. heres a bit of history for you to swallow about that tricolor you wrapped around yourself while shouting abuse at the ex rangers player.....

The irish flags history....

The green represents the older Gaelic and Anglo-Norman element in the population, while the orange represents the Protestant planter stock, supporters of William of Orange. The meaning of the white was well expressed by Meagher when he introduced the flag. 'The white in the centre,' he said, 'signifies a lasting truce between the 'Orange' and the 'Green' and I trust that beneath its folds the hands of the Irish Protestant and the Irish Catholic may be clasped in heroic brotherhood.'

you fools really dont have a clue do you? :rolleyes:

Hyzepher

Morpheus

Well said!

At Ireland games we should be supporting the Irish, not some hate relationship between two clubs from a different country.

Hyzepher

gandalf

I wonder what will happen if a Irish international player ever played for Rangers would the bigots boo him as well :rolleyes:

So much for the Irish being the best supporters in the world with idiots like those that booed Shota Arveladze last night or Tore Andre Flo etc in the past we'll soon lose that mantel.

Gandalf.

Morpheus

Il bet if we look at irish soccer history, some of the lads who've played for us were protestant too!

Waylander

The booing of rangers players by Irish fans is unquestionably bigotry, and totally unneccessary at Lansdowne road. But Morpheus it is neither Hooliganism or Racism, and calling the people who do it w*nkers is likely to be an ineffective way of getting them to stop. I personally think that it is being blown out of all proportion, particulary seeing as the Georgian fans saw fit to throw knives at our players. I don't think it would be a big deal if the Irish media and other fans did not make such a fuss about it. In a way you are aiding the people who do the booing by publicising what they do after every match.

Hyzepher

Waylander

It may not be Hooliganism or Racism but it's a start. Booing at a player because of his ties with a protestant team can, and in my opinion will lead to more serious issues.

After all the Irish in general do not have a good track record off the pitch when it comes to immigrants etc. If this is let go on without any opposition I guarantee that more serious incidents will follow.

Hyzepher

SprostonGreen

Its a big deal over nothing. A lot of Celtic fans are skangers, skangers have no comprehension or morals or ethics, they'll never learn.

Its not like theres any fighting going on. Football is a tribal and you are always going to get booing or some kind partisan chanting.

Look at Turkey or Windsor Park, its nowhere near as bad as that, get over it.

And for the record, I dont necessarily agree with it and dont support Celtic.

Waylander

That is a guaruntee that simply cannot be made. It will not lead to Hooliganism. I tis mostly just gobsh*tes stirring and lapping up this type of response. Also they are not booing him because he is a prodestant. I would bet there was not one person booing who could say with any certainty what religion the guy is. There is a good chance he is catholic or Russian Orthodox. In a way religion is not why he was being booed, it is because of the club he is associated with. As i said, I do not like what these people do, but I just think this kind of reaction is why they do it. They get their kicks from hearing people on the radio and in the papers going mad about it.

Hyzepher

Firstly - I didn't say he was being booed because he was potestant - I said it was because he plays for a protestant team.

Answer me this - the fans doing the booing last night are skangers, right? What would have happened if I had stood up and asked them to stop booing. I would of probably got a face full of abuse. Now if I told you I was black - do you think there would be any comments made about this? I think so - Racism.

Now what would of happened if one of those fans decided that he didn't want to be told to stop booing and decided to land a punch on me! Maybe not a situation that might happen everytime but there is always one.

Hyzepher

TCP/IP

Hello Everybody,

As a member of the Church of Ireland and also a life long Ireland fan I was at the game last night and the only reason the crowd was booing was simply because the player in question plays for rangers. I find this is be typical Irish mentality. What in the name of god does Ireland have to do with Celtic answer nothing, but Irish catholics are brought up that you have to support Celtic, hate Rangers and think that anybody different in thinking is wrong. In this day and age it is a disgace that religion is brought is anything but it is even worse when it involves sport.

Another question why would you wear a different football teams strip to an Ireland game it makes no sense at all. Remember people it is not 1916 anymore it is the year 2003 and we are supposed to me educated europeans. Well maybe that goes for everybody except football fans.

Waylander

There are links between Celtic and Ireland people. Always has been and always will be. It is willingly acknowledged by both parties. Not every Irish catholic is brought up to hate rangers, in fact I would say it is a fairly small percentage that do.

Hyzepher you are now guilty of Hypocrisy after the generalisations you made in your last post. Because they booed they are skangers, because they are skangers they are racists, and because they are racists they are mindless violent thugs. That is a bullsh*t argument. As I previously said, most of the people booing are wind up merchants and you are the sucker rising to the bait. All they are guilty of is a bit of bad mouthing, you are falsely accussing several thousand fans of being violent thugs!

Hyzepher

Originally posted by Waylander
Hyzepher you are now guilty of Hypocrisy after the generalisations you made in your last post. Because they booed they are skangers, because they are skangers they are racists, and because they are racists they are mindless violent thugs. That is a bullsh*t argument. As I previously said, most of the people booing are wind up merchants and you are the sucker rising to the bait. All they are guilty of is a bit of bad mouthing, you are falsely accussing several thousand fans of being violent thugs!

Thats not what I meant - i did clarify that it only takes one idiot out of the thousands. My last post was a 'what if' and I dont think it is that unreasonable. I'll admit that the chanting is harmless at the moment but if let go and hunam nature as it is - I fear that it could develop into something bigger

Hyzepher

growler

Many of my scottish , celtic mates were in the pubs last night to watch the irish game, many are second . third generation irish and have an enduring affinity with ireland. can irish people not reciprocate with an affinity for celtic the main team of the scots irish without being labelled bigotted hoolingans ?

I was quite happy to shout abuse at Arveladze last night, out of force of habit , i'm not a bigot or a hooligan, I also laughed heartily when slovakia scored as did most of the irish in my local irish boozer (in London btw) and i get loads of fun out of england losing as i can then wind up my many english mates.

booing isn't sectarian, does not lead to harder drugs ooops sorry football violence, people are perfectly entitled to boo anyone they want, and if there was no singing of celtic songs then we would have some very quiet matches. personally i think the links between ireland and celtic are a good thing, gives us greater support internationally and makes more money for the FAI which can go back into the irish game.

quote from Morpheus : "all that will occur is a banning celtic shirts from irish games"
yes, i can sooooo see that happening
:rolleyes:

gandalf

Originally posted by growler
I was quite happy to shout abuse at Arveladze last night, out of force of habit

Funny that I'm a Arsenal fan and I didn't feel the urge to shout abuse at Robbie Keane & Gary Doherty even thou they play for Arsenals bitter rivals but then I suppose thats because they play for ireland. I wonder would you and the third generation Scottish-Irish brigade hurl abuse at a Irish international who happened to play for Rangers (please answer this without the usual dismissive "that will never happen" response, humour me ).

Gandalf.

growler

ah , but if you were a newcastle fan would you shout at kilbane ?
lol

if an irish international played for rangers , i'd be happy to applaud his everymove for the irish team and to regularly deride him for his poor judgement and team selection in the SPL ;-)

i don't have the same vitriolic hatred that some seem to have, but 99% of supporters of any team are a decent enough bunch IMO and the people who seem to think that booing leads to hooliganism are detached from reality , football is an emotional game that causes fans and players make irrational decisions, it's part of the game and singing / slagging / booing / jeering / hand gestures are all part and parcel of it.

DaithiSurfer

I have to say i was bitterly dissapointed to see the crowd look like Celtics home crowd.
I'ld like to see Irish supporters wear Irish Jerseys and irish flags, not a foreign teams colours even if the team has links with the irish(second or third generation).

I think the players should speak oput about this and ask for irish people not to wear other teams jerseys at thier matches.

Waylander

Thats not what I meant - i did clarify that it only takes one idiot out of the thousands. My last post was a 'what if' and I dont think it is that unreasonable. I'll admit that the chanting is harmless at the moment but if let go and hunam nature as it is - I fear that it could develop into something bigger

I would say it is safe enough to assume that there were people on the crowd who feel as strongly about this as you do and asked fellow supporters to stop booing. Yet no punches thrown by any skangers. Obviously I cannot prove that people were asked but realistically I would say there where several instances where people were asked to stop. I think you have a fairly bleak outlook at human nature if you think a bit of banter or harmless mouthing will lead to a fight or more.

SprostonGreen

Originally posted by DaithiSurfer
I think the players should speak oput about this and ask for irish people not to wear other teams jerseys at thier matches.

I'd rather they ask for no painted faces and stupid wigs, its not a circus !!

Waylander

I have to say i was bitterly dissapointed to see the crowd look like Celtics home crowd.

I don't know if you watched the UEFA cup final but if you did you will have noticed that there was only one scottish flag in the stadium. The rest were all Ireland flags and I would go so far as to say there were thousands of them. There were also thousands of Ireland Jerseys. The teams have the same colours and in many cases, although not mine, as I am not actually a celtic fan, the fans are interchangeable and have very close associations. I think you are being a bit too sensitive in this instance, especially considering the cost of a soccer jersey.

DaithiSurfer

Ireland do not have hoops on their jersey.
And if they ever get them i'm defecting to England

I stand by my point, if you are ata stadium to support a team then you should net be wearing the jersey of another team.
If you can't afford one fine, don't wear it, but don't wear another teams jersey.

The same goes for ireland kit at a Celtic match, it shouldn't be worn.

growler

what about the one who wear an irish rugby jersey to a soccer game?

hanging is too good for them i reckon.

BKtje

Now lads jesus we are going to extremes now surely.

If a jersey makes you feel more part of the atmospehere then by all means wear one. Its a semi free country is it or is it not.
Now i dont agree with booing as it can actually cause harm but just wearing a shirt doesnt harm anyone surely?

Your all getting a bit over sensitive in here lately

Benbaz

Gandalf, Gandalf, Gandalf, as the Moderator of the Soccer Forum can you please put an end to all these Celtic/Rangers/Ireland political debates cos to be honest they've all been done to death.

Every time Ireland or Celtic play a match this Forum turns into a big political debate with all the same old opinions being mulled over and over!!! Please, and I'm begging you, something I don't do that often!! for the love of God make all this sh1te stop!!! Please???

B.

Waylander

Daithi I am aware of what the Ireland jersey looks like, I said they were composed of the same colours, not that they were identical jerseys. And your point is not a point it is an opinion, which obviously is not shared by a huge amount of people.