Great Article about EL from soccernet.com

KevIRL

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=308063&cc=5739

Good line here

"Even the Irish Prime Minister himself persuaded the local version of 'Match of the Day' to grant him an appearance on the show so he could wax lyrical about his love of Manchester United. Imagine, if you will, the reaction in England if Tony Blair appeared on national television to reveal to the country that he was a Bayern Munich fan and had no interest in local football!"

thejollyrodger

Irish eyes are smiling

Steve Bradley

The history of knockout competitions worldwide is littered with heroic feats of David versus Goliath. Most have turned out to be mere blips on the historical trajectories of the teams involved - the big guys dust themselves down and resume normal service; the little guys bask in the glory of their short-lived fame before returning to their proper place within the footballing food-chain. Rare is it that a vastly uneven pairing in important knockout competitions has served as a genuine turning-point for a club, let alone an entire country.

The Riazor Stadium. (TonyMarshall/Empics)

But when Referee Alain Hamer blows his whistle in the Raizor Stadium at 8pm GMT on Tuesday, he will bring the curtain up on what may just prove to be one of those milestones. Dublin side Shelbourne are 90mins away from the first ever appearance by an Irish club in the Champions League group stages. This is the single biggest game in the history of Irish club football, and ranks up there with key performances by the International team at the World Cup and European Championships as the most important game in Irish soccer.


To give the game its David v Goliath credentials, you need only look at the respective standings of Irish and Spanish club football. Spain has the No.1 ranked league in Europe, if not the world. Ireland is ranked No.40 - below the likes of Moldova, Belarus and Liechtenstein. Whilst Deportivo have a solid record in UEFA competitions - losing just one of their 13 home Champions League games to-date, and reaching the semi-finals last season - Shelbourne's record is mediocre, having managed wins in only 4 out of their 42 European outings to-date.

It would therefore be easy to dismiss Shels appearance in the 3rd round of the Champions League this year as a mere fluke. However, to those familiar with Irish club football there is a belief and a hope that this is no mere blip. Irish clubs have been slowly but surely laying the foundations for European success over the last number of seasons, with Shelbourne leading the way.

Last year, the domestic teams in Ireland switched to a Summer League - intended to place clubs in a better position to compete in European competition. At the same time a number of clubs have gone full-time and are exploring ways to increase their revenue.

The FAI, usually more prone to forgetting that it has any responsibility towards domestic football, has also done its bit. This year it introduced a licensing scheme for stadiums to ensure they meet UEFA standards for European club competitions. These and other changes have been made across Irish football, and all with the primary intention of improving performances in Europe.

Whilst it's early days yet, there are signs that these seeds are starting to grow. Although Bohemians and Longford Town disappointed in their European outings this year, Cork City became the first Irish team ever to progress to the 3rd leg of a European competition. They swept aside Malmo and NEC Nijmegen in the early rounds of the Inter-Toto Cup this summer, where they then drew with Nantes in the Quarter Final before finally exiting in the away leg.

Meanwhile, the build-up to Tuesday's game saw Shelbourne knock out Icelandic champions KR Reykyavik and out-play Croatian stalwarts Hadjuk Split, before taking a very creditable home 0-0 draw against Deportivo in a game that they could feasibly have won. The behind-the-scenes focus upon European success therefore appears to be paying early dividends for Irish clubs, though as Shels themselves admit, their current run has probably come a season or two early for even an ambitious club like them.

As the green shoots of UEFA success have begun to appear on the pitch, the knock-on effects on the Irish footballing public may likewise prove to have its own further impact upon future European success. Club football in Ireland is very much a poor relation in the eyes of both fans and the media. Whilst the Irish international team is praised for the passion, colour and behaviour of its fans when they follow their team around the world. The majority of these same fans are very dismissive of domestic football - preferring in the main to support English and Scottish teams from the comfort of a sofa or a barstool.

“ The behind-the-scenes focus upon European success therefore appears to be paying early dividends for Irish clubs. ”


Even the Irish Prime Minister himself persuaded the local version of 'Match of the Day' to grant him an appearance on the show so he could wax lyrical about his love of Manchester United. Imagine, if you will, the reaction in England if Tony Blair appeared on national television to reveal to the country that he was a Bayern Munich fan and had no interest in local football!

Any views on the Eircom League that can be solicited from Irish football fans are overwhelmingly negative and dismissive. With average crowds at club games in their low thousands, this view is, however, based less on actual experience of the home-grown product and more on a perception of its relative merits.

The public antipathy/antagonism towards domestic football is mirrored within the Irish media. Whilst pages and pages are given over to the English Premiership and SPL, many major national newspapers provide minimal coverage of the Eircom league, with results of games often going unreported. At least one major paper even has a policy of not covering the local game. TV coverage is likewise all-but negligent - with the domestic season currently two-thirds of the way through, only one game has been shown live to-date, whilst the teletext service of the national broadcaster often seems incapable of reporting results correctly.

However, just as the Republic of Ireland's international form in the 1988 European Championships awoke a nation that before then had only limited interest in the fortunes of their national team, Shelbourne's run in the Champions League has likewise caught the imagination of the Irish sporting public. For the first time ever a domestic club has made front page news across a number of papers, with numerous column inches inside also devoted to the clubs performances in Europe.

Victory over Hadjuk Split started the ball rolling, and gave Shels the confidence to gamble on switching the Deportivo game from their 10,000 capacity home stadium to Lansdowne Road. The gamble worked - a club that attracts an average crowd of only 2,000 to its home games saw all 24,000 tickets snapped-up within hours. For the first time ever ticket touts appeared in sizeable numbers at a game involving an Irish club side. But the public weren't just there to watch the Spanish team - sales of Shelbourne scarves and replica shirts rocketed, and the atmosphere in Lansdowne Road was electric.

Large numbers of people who'd never been to watch an Irish club side before in their life screamed and roared for Shelbourne as passionately as if they were at Anfield or Parkhead. Big time European football came to Dublin with an Irish team at the helm, and people wallowed in the experience. The Manchester United-loving Irish Prime Minister even put in an appearance to see the proudest night in the history of his home constituency club.

The match was televised live by the national broadcaster in direct competition to the Manchester United v Dinamo Bucharest game on another Irish channel. The impact the Deportivo game had upon the public imagination was confirmed when viewing figures for both matches were released: 55% more people opted to watch Shels rther than United's Irish trio of Roy Keane, John O'Shea and Liam Miller. In all, 10% of the entire population opted to watch Shels. For a nation where every other kid seems to own a Manchester United jersey, that statistic says it all.


Shelbourne's Ireland international Jason Byrne. (Photo/Empics)

thejollyrodger

So what of Shelbourne's chances tonight? It would be easy to dismiss talk of an upset as being purely within the realms of fantasy. Though the odds are firmly stacked against the Irish side, however, anyone who witnessed their performance in the first leg of the game would agree that it'd be foolish to rule them completely out of a cup tie where even a 1-1 draw would be enough to see them through. Shelbourne are approaching the end of the Summer league season in Ireland, and go into Tuesday's match top of their league with 30 competitive games under their belt. Deportivo have played only 1 competitive game this season - their draw against Shels.

With a less-than full house expected at the Riazor, the verbal presence of the hard-core Depor fans will be amplified. Should Shels make it through to half-time with the scores level, those fans will make their feelings known. The pressure is firmly upon Deportivo's shoulders, whilst Shels know that the worst outcome for them is an additional UEFA Cup adventure. It's ironic that Shelbourne - a team who's main financial backer in recent years made his fortune from the Fyffes banana company - should now provide such a huge banana skin to one of Europe's premier clubs.

The question remains however, when the dust finally settles on Shelbourne's epic 2004 European adventure, will it have signalled a new dawn for Irish club football or just another isolated battle in the war against football's Goliaths? The significant revenue generated to-date by Shelbourne from their Champions League run (up to €1m, for a club with a total annual income of only €2m) will help the club re-invest for future European success.

Further revenue will also flow from the guaranteed UEFA Cup 3rd round place that awaits should they lose. It is also hoped that some of the new fans caught-up in the euphoria of the games will have their view of domestic football challenged, with a hoped-for impact on attendances around the country. No-one expects the impact to be of the level, for example, that England winning the Rugby World Cup had upon English club rugby. But in a football-mad country where very few people support their local teams, the influence can only be positive.


History may therefore cast an eye back on Tuesday's match at the Riazor stadium as a milestone in the history of Irish club football. Only time will tell whether the combination of initiatives on and off the field at club-level will continue to build a credible presence for the country within European competitions. Meanwhile, if you can find a bookie who will offer you odds on an Irish side reaching the group stages of the Champions League within the next 3-5yrs, I strongly advise you to take them. And remember - you heard it here first.

Boro

Excellent article alright.

I am one of those football supporters with their eyes fixed firmly on the English and Scottish league, often dismissing the eircom league completley out of hand. The run of Cork City and Shelbourne definitely caught my attention though, and i watched the Shels matches. Cant say I am quite at the stage of going to an EL match but it cant be too far off!

Can only be good for the irish league, and further down the road, the national team.

Bateman

>Cant say I am quite at the stage of going to an EL match but it cant be too far off!

What would it take? Just out of interest.

Big Ears

Bateman wrote:

>
What would it take? Just out of interest.

he wants one Irish team in the Champions League proper and another doing well in the Uefa Cup before , he will reconsider his position on possibly jumping on the band-wagon .

Personnaly I think a little more media interest , would get people interested in the league , but media interest dosen't come without there being peoples interest .

Which is higher than they think , going by the last few times RTÉ have shown a LOI team play .
There is actually quite a bit of interest yet they probably (the media) seem to think its all a bit of a fad with Shelbourne fluking (im not saying they fluked anyting by the way) they're way to the third round of qualifying .

they think its a fad , I think they're fags .

Xterminator

Good line here.

"Even the Irish Prime Minister himself persuaded the local version of 'Match of the Day' to grant him an appearance on the show so he could wax lyrical about his love of Manchester United. Imagine, if you will, the reaction in England if Tony Blair appeared on national television to reveal to the country that he was a Bayern Munich fan and had no interest in local football!"

Of couse Kev, it does fail to mention that more people fly out of Irleand every weekend to watch ManU than turn up to Tolka, or any other EL ground.
And thats just those that travel! What about all the armchair ManU fans?

The fact is you cant compare Bertie's ManU fascination to Tony Blair being a fan of Bayern etc.

The situation in Ireland up to the last couple of years was if you wanted to be a professional footballer, England was the only place to go, and ManU would be at the top of the pyramid, due to their success, and due to its stong Irish connections.

The fact is not one EL player has realistically even held down a squad place for competitive internalional games, and if we want to follow the fortunes of our internationals we end up following the clubs they play for. And ManU currently have Keane, O Shea and Miller, who will proabably all start the first World cup qualifier later this year.

Even Shels players admit the likes of Wes Hoolihan will have to move on, in order to fulfil any international ambitions. (Just read the articles in the herald all week!)

This quote is a cheap dig, and one which does nothing for our domestic game.

X

Boro

BigEars wrote:

he wants one Irish team in the Champions League proper and another doing well in the Uefa Cup before , he will reconsider his position on possibly jumping on the band-wagon

Hey, you could be right!

If the domestic games had a higher profile, one that actually got the football watching public of ireland interested (like the depor game) then i would probably follow the rest of the sheep towards that wagon.

What I meant by my comment (it cant be too far off) was that i think the state of the game is improving, as is the media coverage, to the extent where ordinary man-u supporting joe soap is becoming aware that there is an Eircom League, and that it might be worth going to.

Plus its probably becoming a cool fashion statement to buy a Shels jersey and say "Oooh look at me! Im supporting the Irish League!" and have people say "Wow man, thats like totally crazy you know!". Umm... well maybe not

thejollyrodger

well Shels didnt make it through. But either did rangers so it just shows you where Shels have got to.

I cant see a massive amount of supporters heading out to watch the E.L games. Shels have an average of 2,000 supporters watching, 24,000 went to see them playing deportivo in Dublin. Well if they got 4,000 heading to Tolka throughout the year, they just doubled their gate receips and would be doing very well.

...., though as Shels themselves admit, their current run has probably come a season or two early for even an ambitious club like them.

It hasnt been long since they introduced the summer league and its already paying dividends. They have made a lot of progress in the last few years it has to be said. You can only look at thing positive in terms of development.

However, I think Bertie Ahern showing up on T.V fanitically supporting Man Utd yet and his token support for Shels is a disgrace. Also RTE's coverage to Shels on T.V is another disgrace. Talk about doing things on the cheap cheap.

kilkennycat2004

thejollyrodger wrote:

Irish eyes are smiling
Steve Bradley
To give the game its David v Goliath credentials, you need only look at the respective standings of Irish and Spanish club football. Spain has the No.1 ranked league in Europe, if not the world. Ireland is ranked No.40 - below the likes of Moldova, Belarus and Liechtenstein.
The match was televised live by the national broadcaster in direct competition to the Manchester United v Dinamo Bucharest game on another Irish channel. The impact the Deportivo game had upon the public imagination was confirmed when viewing figures for both matches were released: 55% more people opted to watch Shels rther than United's Irish trio of Roy Keane, John O'Shea and Liam Miller. In all, 10% of the entire population opted to watch Shels. For a nation where every other kid seems to own a Manchester United jersey, that statistic says it all.

Good article. As a GAA & soccer fan I have to admit being dubious of the summer soccer but if it improves the effort in Europe it has to be worthwhile. Really though our game should never have dropped below the likes of Moldova, Belarus and Liechtenstein as stated. Over time we should strive to emanate Austria & Norway so.
The Eircom league has a future. If you don't sit in a restaurant how can you complain about the food. Its the highest level of football we have. Give it a go sometime.

The Rooster

Its a "disgrace" that Bertie is one of the million (or whatever the number is) people in Ireland who have a big interest in the English Premier League!

What utter nonsense.

Its just a fact of life that English soccer is far more popular in Ireland than Irish club soccer. Its up to Irish club soccer to change. They know it and they're trying a few things. They need better marketing, more TV coverage, and most importantly success in Europe. Its a long road. But you cant expect people to support something that isnt successful. Its no coincidence that most Irish people support the successful (or were successful when they started) teams in England. Not too many pick Burnley, Colchester, Grimsby etc. as their team!

I am a massive supporter of all things sport. But I've never been to an Irish club game, or even considered going to one. One of my biggest problems is I have no idea who to support. I live in Fingal and am proud to be a Dub, but I have no idea who to choose between Shels, Bohs, Rovers, Pats or Dublin City. So I dont choose but like to see them all doing well!

Bateman

Fingal and Swords would be Bohs or Shels territory, the other 3 you could scratch, unless you fancy 1 hour round trips for home games.

In fairness, Rooster, that's a poor reason for not going to games though. It's OK to admit you just don't have the interest, because that's obviously your real reason. When you pay your money at the gate, no-one is going to ask you where you live. You could just go to ANY game in Dublin ANY Friday night you have the couple of hours to spare between 8 and 10, and just develop an interest before you pick a team to support. If you don't mind the hatred/not very PC behaviour that comes with live football all over the world, and more specifically in derbies, take the Bohs-Rovers game tomorrow night for example. Phibsborough isn't that far away from Fingal. If people have the interest, there isn't that much to stop them going to the games. Aertel have all the fixtures and previews, and all the Dublin newspapers have (short) previews and fixtures.

I take the point about there being too many teams in Dublin for the current setup to have any success in attracting people, but each club has its own history and tradition, so it's difficult to see how it's ever going to change.

Boro

So do many people from here actually go to EL games? And what teams?

LizardKing

I've gone to about 6 -7 shels home games in league and a few away , also went to all there home europe games so far , and went to bohs european game too

DerekD Goldfish

So do many people from here actually go to EL games? And what teams?

Im a pats fan

Mossy Monk

Boro wrote:

So do many people from here actually go to EL games? And what teams?

i would like to go to Waterford United games but work always seems to have me in when they play at home, shame as i am only a 10 minute walk from the RSC

KevIRL

Boro wrote:

So do many people from here actually go to EL games? And what teams?

Yep I get down to a good few blues (waterford utd) games. Never been to an away one yet though.....

Bateman

Away games are where you really start supporting your team. A good idea for a Waterford fan would be to take in n away game against Cork, it's a fierce passionate game from what I've heard, and usually draws decent crowds.

KdjaCL

Tbh away games are the single best reason to go to EL. For one its a cheap night out , train, drink all day, go game ,go nightclub fall into B and B works out cheaper than a night in Dublin.
And the added bonus that you dont live wherever you are ,means you can make an arse of yourself and not have to worry next morning

Only ground i havent been to is Station Road, been in all the other grounds at some stage.


kdjac

Boro

Maybe a boards night out to some game might encourage a few of us doubters to go along?

Big Ears

Boro wrote:

Maybe a boards night out to some game might encourage a few of us doubters to go along?

I can just imagine , Bohs and Sham supporters sitting side by side , talking calmly about the match as its happening :rolleyes: .

But seriously good idea .

Bateman

>Maybe a boards night out to some game might encourage a few of us doubters to go along?


That sounds like a seriously good idea. Perhaps a family friendly game, but at the same time one with a bit of needle, perhaps the next time Shels play Cork at home?

eirebhoy

Boro wrote:

Maybe a boards night out to some game might encourage a few of us doubters to go along?

If you have Setanta they'll be showing Eircom league matches starting with deferred coverage of Pat's v Rovers on Saturday morning. They'll also be showing 10 Setanta cup matches which consists of the top 3 from the Eircom league and the top 3 from the Irish league.

edit - Have just heard that the Bohs V Cork match in Dalymount Park will be shown live by RTE.

StickyMcGinty

i'm a shels fan (sig a giveaway) and part of the criteria for me new house is how close it is to tolka park.

i tihnk it was a mistake having the lille game in landsdown though!

thejollyrodger

part of the criteria for me new house is how close it is to tolka park.

Havent Shels plans to move to a new green field site in the next few years? I saw it on TV3. They reckoned Tolka would get a ripe price for housing and the grounds are too small for the needs of a growing club and there's the likely hood of further flooding :O

LizardKing

Yeah as far as I know Shels are gonna sell Tolka and move to somewhere else, one possible area mentioned was swords region. I think they have an agreement already with a developer on selling tolka in the next few years...

KdjaCL

Pats and Rovers this week , our season all wrapped up in one game MUST BEAT SCUM!

We at home i think


kdjac

DerekD Goldfish

We at home i think

hopefully we are down as away we seem to be doing better away from home this season.

eirebhoy

Something I heard today which suprised me is that Bohs have only won 1 more game than Pats. Bohs drew 12 games while Pats only drew 4.

KdjaCL

eirebhoy wrote:

Something I heard today which suprised me is that Bohs have only won 1 more game than Pats. Bohs drew 12 games while Pats only drew 4.

We dont go for that drawing ****e , tis win or lose for us taa raa!

If we win we go above them , season over we higher than scum , thats all that really matters.
kdjac

StickyMcGinty

shels are moving to finglas i heard! i reckon they should move back to d4

gimmick

Lads, some of the drivel in this thread is unreal.

Cant say I am quite at the stage of going to an EL match but it cant be too far off!

What, is there a criteria which makes you able to go to an eL game??? Its not like its that expensive. Probabbly about the price of 3 pints and a bag of crisps which most barstolers have during a game anyways.

I am a massive supporter of all things sport. But I've never been to an Irish club game, or even considered going to one.

A massive supporter? How do you define that? if you have never even considered going to an eL game, that cant make u a massive supporter of that particular sport???

One of my biggest problems is I have no idea who to support.

How did you choose your English team? Identity? Nicest Jersey? Lucky Bag?

In fairness, Rooster, that's a poor reason for not going to games though.

About the only bit of sense in this thread.

So do many people from here actually go to EL games? And what teams?

Cork City, every home game, and 3-4 away a season. Even met my girlfriend at the Cross.



The eL is slowly but surely moving up and up season by season. With those comments from that fool Bertie, they only serve to embarass the league, not to mention his token support for the 'novelty' of an Irish team progressing in Europe.

Bateman

Agreed; if people don't have the interest, they should just say so, and we can move on to another thread which lacks some of the watery drivel (and on the back of the Shels run, there has been buckets of it) posted in this one. :rolleyes:

thejollyrodger

I am a massive supporter of all things sport. But I've never been to an Irish club game, or even considered going to one.

HAHA

what kind of a supporter is that

Boro

Gimmick wrote:

What, is there a criteria which makes you able to go to an eL game??? Its not like its that expensive. Probabbly about the price of 3 pints and a bag of crisps which most barstolers have during a game anyways.

Well, if you were living in england say, and doncaster rovers were playing hereford would you go? Probably not unless you were a fan of either of those two teams. What I was saying is that at the moment i dont have much interest in the EL but that is changing. I am becoming more interested as the seasons go by. I dont think i could go to an EL match atm because
a) i have no attachment to any of the teams (from Tipp).
b) i havent a clue where any of the grounds are!
c) i dont have anyone to go with

The expens or whatever isnt a factor. The quality of football would be though, and that is definitely on the up from what ive heard.

I suggest that if people like you want to raise the profile of the domestic game, you try to cajole people like me (and im defintitely sure that i am not alone) to come along to a game and sample the crack/atmosphere. Some might even come back

How did you choose your English team? Identity? Nicest Jersey? Lucky Bag?

How did you choose your English/Scottish/Spanish/Italian team? Most people pick either teams that have a lot of irish players in them, successful teams or entertaining teams. Or they pick teams that they have relatives living near to, or that friends have made them watch. Its a slow transformation from a watcher of a team to a supporter but it does happen.

Most people not actually from dublin dont really have a lot of choice in what EL team to support - its a bit dublin heavy at the moment isnt it? Thats why you wont get as many fans - not until there is more country-wide participation in the EL.

Bateman wrote:

Agreed; if people don't have the interest, they should just say so, and we can move on to another thread which lacks some of the watery drivel (and on the back of the Shels run, there has been buckets of it) posted in this one.

Get used to it - a successful team (even moderately so) is a bandwagon waiting for people to jump on. If you dont want it, then you could always start hoping that Shels/EL teams start doing crap in europe again. Those people will quickly go away again!

KdjaCL

Boro wrote:

then you could always start hoping that Shels start doing crap in europe again.

I always want shels to do crap in Europe , Sure Martin Chukwu is my all time greatest player ever

As i said a millenia ago i cba if people dont watch or care for El , i aint gonna bother extolling the virtues of it. Most friday nights i have a great night out and saturdays we let loose outside the pale. Have been to England/Spain/italy for games and still have yet to enjoy myself as much as a Pats game (its cos i give a hit about that result).

And gotta love the New Shels fans expecting everyone to be supportive of them in Europe and then the following week want them to be slaughtered by our own teams, like its football we bloody hate you and all other EL teams cept Kildare never played them.


kdjac

LizardKing

KdjaC wrote:

I always want shels to do crap in Europe , Sure Martin Chukwu is my all time greatest player ever

As i said a millenia ago i cba if people dont watch or care for El , i aint gonna bother extolling the virtues of it. Most friday nights i have a great night out and saturdays we let loose outside the pale. Have been to England/Spain/italy for games and still have yet to enjoy myself as much as a Pats game (its cos i give a hit about that result).

And gotta love the New Shels fans expecting everyone to be supportive of them in Europe and then the following week want them to be slaughtered by our own teams, like its football we bloody hate you and all other EL teams cept Kildare never played them.

kdjac

Man your begrudgery against Shels knows no bounds , serious problem there . Also your use of the word "scum" for rovers fans , surely you're breaking a few soccer board rules there ???

Xterminator

To all the negative EL 'oldboys'!
You either want poeple to take interest in the EL or you dont.

It sounds to me like elitism, that with all the publicity and goodwill generated by Shels ongoing run in Europe (publicity man of you have cried out for) when a newbie dares to post about the EL you then knock them!

Support has to start somewhere. And despite some of the narrow-mindedness
that is displayed, there is no written rule you can only support a team from your parish, etc. It doesnt matter where your from, as long as you indentify (for whatever reason) with the club.

Take boards as an example, Its online community, and most of us can identify with being part of this community, no matter where we are posting from!
Welcome to the 21st century, when borders are vague, and idnetity is not soley based on your please of birth!

X

P.S. You would be far better served organising a sticky with where the EL grounds are, what trains/buses if any you can get to them, and ticket prices etc.

KdjaCL

LizardKing wrote:

Man your begrudgery against Shels knows no bounds , serious problem there . Also your use of the word "scum" for rovers fans , surely you're breaking a few soccer board rules there ???

Please explain why i should support them in anyway shape or form ? This should be funny. And Rovers fans are scum , go to a few games vs them you will soon find out why would be the same reason Millwall fans are considered scum.

Now i wonder when Man Utd played their CL Qualifier 2 weeks ago where all the Liverpol fans cheering for them so England would do well in Europe and have more teams in Europe. Well Shockingly they were not!!!!! They wanted Man Utd to lose and to lose badly , why? Because their Liverpool fans.

Kdjac

Big Ears

England already has a maximum amount of teams in Europe , getting higher up the Coeffiecients table (to 1st ) would do little good .

gimmick

Xterminator wrote:

You would be far better served organising a sticky with where the EL grounds are, what trains/buses if any you can get to them, and ticket prices etc.

www.ifgrounds.com

LizardKing

KdjaC wrote:

Please explain why i should support them in anyway shape or form ? This should be funny. And Rovers fans are scum , go to a few games vs them you will soon find out why would be the same reason Millwall fans are considered scum.

Now i wonder when Man Utd played their CL Qualifier 2 weeks ago where all the Liverpol fans cheering for them so England would do well in Europe and have more teams in Europe. Well Shockingly they were not!!!!! They wanted Man Utd to lose and to lose badly , why? Because their Liverpool fans.

Kdjac

.....
Ireland is a small nation in population and size, when any of our sportsmen or women or teams , do anything internationally the whole country usually gets behind them, Its a national pride thing, a proud to be irish notion where we drop our local rivalries for a while to put our support behind them. I can understand that some people cannot get over the local rivalry thing because they are small minded but I would say the majority would be hoping even a little that the rival team played well
.....
There may be a number of rovers fans who are troublemakers but to brand them all as "SCUM" is idiotic and naive..
.....
Britain is a massive nation who have been imperialists and taken over countries at the drop of a hat, they are a world power , a strong force. There sportsmen are also expected to do well, there football teams play at the very top levels in Europe every year, they get a number of teams into champions league and uefa cup every year, its not a big deal for them ...

Hope this clears a few things up for ya

KdjaCL

Clears up nowt tbh.

Only Shels fans expect support of rival clubs fans , when Bohs did well in Europe didnt see Pigman or Bateman begging for help here. When Pats did well I or any other Pats fan didnt expect others to support them (strangley all El fans hate St Pats dunno why ..lol ) . As they are their rivals like 99.9% of football fans who care not for their rivals ,why should EL fans be any different? Unless you assume cos we Irish and its such a cutsie small league with little clubs n stuff that we should.

About Rovers your right they not all scum only the ones who go to the games are.

And in case you missed it which its obvious you did , In England no Liverpool fan would ever want Man utd to win , under no circumstances because they are, shockingly Liverpool fans. I would agree to that , why the fook would i want Shels to win ? We safe from relegation , we beat Rovers and are ahead of them in the league , there is only one more game for us

kdjac

LizardKing

Right firstly .. I went to a bohs home european game and supported them , unfortuantely they lost however the announcer thanked the fans and underlined the fans from other eircom league teams, the rovers , shels ,pats fans etc. that went to the game ...

Its good for the morale of the irish teams to get bigger crowds and have more people cheering them on ...

In England this is not neccessary , the point I was trying in vain to get across, the english clubs you are comparing eircom league teams too are massive clubs with huge support worldwide, why would they need the support of rival fans early on in tournaments. However I think you'll find its different when english clubs get to finals in Europe , when the liverpools or Utd's get into European finals , they do get support from the whole country as its an honour for there country to have a team do well and win a European trophy, In the Eircom League we are nowhere near the stage of winning a European trophy and thats why even winning one or two European games is equivalent. Thats why they get support from rivals , as its beneficial for the eircom league status in europe...

St.Pats are safe from relegation this year , but are still nowhere near challenging for european places, maybe thats where your gripe is coming from, cos' you know it'll be the usual suspects next year who get the European games .....