Shame of the Irish sunshine supporter

applehunter

I think its like smoking.

After the 1st 10 disgusting packs, something grows on you. Soccer whatever team you support need partisan following.

Hard to watch a match when you have dont care who wins or loses. Find your team

DSB

Mikeyt086 wrote:

Whats wrong with supporting both? I head down the Carlisle Grounds whenever i can, and have done since my dad took me when i was 6, but at the same time im United till i die.

Don't think anyone sees anything wrong with supporting both.

SectionF

Mikeyt086 wrote:

Whats wrong with supporting both? I head down the Carlisle Grounds whenever i can, and have done since my dad took me when i was 6, but at the same time im United till i die.

I don't think anyone is suggesting there's anything wrong with supporting both. That's probably the most natural position to take. Sweeney's swipe is aimed at those who go out of their way to treat Irish football as if it doesn't exist.
Of course the Sunderland lads enjoyed the Bohs game the best. They know how it works, which is more than one can say for An Taoiseach...

Zebra3

The Muppet wrote:

Your point is, assuming you have one?

I would assume his point is that the last two occasions Man United and Chelsea have played each other, the matches have been crap which is relevant as you spoke about product quality.

Do we assume then you do not support/watch the Irish national team and "support" Brazil or Argentina seen as you are so pickey on the "product quality" front?

bohsman

Its already been decided that the Irish national team can be rubbish but nationality kicks in and they have to be supported while England suddenly turn into the team we have to love to see lose.

bohsman

DSB wrote:

Pretty

Are you calling Pigman pretty?

micks

irish1 wrote:

LOL Ah I love those rants about how all soccer fans should support the EL because its Irish and supporting PL clubs is awful, although they don't normally mention that the EL standard of football isn't much better than most Sunday Leagues and considering the number of people that play in those leagues every week I'd say Local Irish soccer is well supported.

I suppose the fact I'm a sports fan and Irish I should be out cheering my County in GAA as well.... wait I'm from Carlow I have an excuse.

Xterminator wrote:

The customer is always right.

Isnt that a rule of customer service?

If there was an irish chipper and an italian one near each other and the irish chipper sold crap chips and poor quality burgers, while the italian chipper sold lovely food; id say 99% of people would go to the italian.

Its the same with footie. Yes we're fans, but we're also the customers. And the customer are voting with their feet. Celtic, liverpool, Sunderland and Man U are attracting more irish a weekend than attend the average Eircom league match.

The FAI dont market their product. there was nearly no advertising of the european ties. Why not? And week in week out, theres next to no advertising, no raising awareness.

Not that the product is that great. We could do with an all ireland football league, that can support a professional top tier of professional clubs that are not only a bad decision away from insolvancy. A celtic cup with scottish and welsh teams, would also catch the imagination and get media coverage.

I dont buy ****e food, and i dont pay to watch irish leage football. (Well not regulalry anyway). and i am the customer.

X

For me these 2 posts sum up the whole arguement re EL vs EPL etc.

Whether you like it or not the EL is not well enough supported. For me there are many reasons
- Its not the same as in GAA where " I support my club" attitude gets them a long way.I live in Dublin but dont find any urge to support any EL club
I support my local club in ways that many EL supporters would never do for "their" EL club . This week alone i gave some 30 hrs to my local club. They play in the LSL,DDSL,SDFL & DWSL leagues.Not eircom league. But my son who plays for this club and watches senior men's LSL matches every week while wearing his Liverpool jersey is wrong because he doesn't travel 5 miles down the road to watch EL.

What have these EL clubs ever done to deserve support - ie what have they done for the communities around them, 10 or so years ago the majority of EL clubs didnt even have schoolboy sections and if it weren't part of the UEFA licencing many still would not some didnt even bother just form an "alliance" with a local schoolboy club.
EL fans seem to think their clubs have a divine right to be supported "because its the highest standard in the country" personally i'd rather watch DDSL premier from U13 ->U16 much better football.

Ever think where all the so-called fair weather supporters get their tickets for the Ireland matches - maybe through their local DDSL/LSL/AUL etc clubs
How many EL clubs look after their fans by getting them tickets for Ireland games?

Whether you agree with the chipper analogy or not you have to work for the right to gain support. Some may come with the likes of the recent high profile friendlies or CL exploits and end up staying. But very few EL try and attract player with advertising, yes the likes of rovers for example have regular ads in papers but how many EL clubs actually go into schools or local football clubs with players and talk to kids ? or do a few training sessions with local school or clubs.Half the DDSL clubs in dublin seem to be attached to an EPL club and get coaches etc over yet the EL clubs on their doorsteps ignore them but complain when their players support EPL teams!
Having a better product is one way of gaining custum but their are many others and the advertising IMO is seriously lacking from the EL
I actually think looking in from the outside that things have improved with the FAI coming in eg passes given out to kids on their summer camps.There is so many simple ways that the EL could highlight their league and attract new fans but they dont.

To bring the logic behind the argurment over to England then you'd have every football fan in england supporting the EPL teams and ignoring the lower and non league teams because the EPL is the best standard in the country.

Sorry but for me the EL would have to move mountains to get me to give up supporting my local club - financially,with time,involvement and support.
ps after my local club next is liverpool

bohsman

It has happened in England - Have you never seen Irish Liverpool fans slag Irish Man U fans about their fans not coming from Manchester. Recently more and more fans have been going back to their local clubs as the EPL has become more and more about money and theres less sense of community.

ciaran76

Most lads I know play football and would rather give their time to their own tean and next would be to watch Premiership.

I goto a good few LOI games mainly Bohs as its my local team but if I am a litle broke that wek I could miss the game
as I dont want to pay for drinks and taxi/bus as I have to leave the car for my gf.

LOI/FAI dont do much to promote the league some teams have ads in papers which is goo
d I hope for that team but in general most people in this country reckon €15 is too much to watch football that they unaware of what level its at.

I am not trying to start an arguement or anything but just statring what people have said to me. I have converted a few mates to goto games with me and they love it but Friday nights are also very akward with work parties and people leaving etc etc. So there are many influences on why people don't/wont go to games.

micks

bohsman wrote:

It has happened in England - Have you never seen Irish Liverpool fans slag Irish Man U fans about their fans not coming from Manchester. Recently more and more fans have been going back to their local clubs as the EPL has become more and more about money and theres less sense of community.

Yes I've noticed the attendances nose dive in the EPL :rolleyes:

Dont see how irish fans slagging each other is comparable to issues being talked about.I've also heard many English fans of EPL clubs giving out about OOT's. But I've never heard of EPL supporters giving out about fans that dont support the EPL teams in favour of smaller clubs have you ?
Because that's what's happening here.

applehunter

You have me totally confused with that few sentences.

DSB

Me too.

Galvasean

I think he means why should people go out of their way to support an EL team when their local teams are of more interest to them.

SectionF

micks wrote:

For me these 2 posts sum up the whole arguement re EL vs EPL etc.
I support my local club in ways that many EL supporters would never do for "their" EL club . This week alone i gave some 30 hrs to my local club. They play in the LSL,DDSL,SDFL & DWSL leagues.Not eircom league. But my son who plays for this club and watches senior men's LSL matches every week while wearing his Liverpool jersey is wrong because he doesn't travel 5 miles down the road to watch EL.

This is the tragedy of Irish football. There is a power struggle in FAI between schoolboy/junior football and eL clubs, and many schoolboy players are taught to despise eL as a result.
I think your post is honest and intelligent, but...
1) If LSL or schoolboy soccer is so much better, why don't they regularly beat eL teams in cup competitions?
2) Given the explosion in the numbers of kids playing football in recent years, where are they going to play as adults? Someone once mentioned that a schoolboy player setting out on his career has a one in 30,000 chance of making the English Premiership. And those odds are lengthening as the net is cast further. Surely a reasonable sporting aim for a talented youngster should be to play at the top level in his own country, in front of crowds that include people other than their fathers and uncles.
3) I think you are right, to an extent, about eL clubs neglecting their communities. But now Bohemian FC employs two people to go into the community, schools etc., runs open days, has kids-go-free promotions, and has a youth director. I see EPL clubs make marketing trips to Ireland, but I don't see them doing much community work here and they don't seem to be punished for it.

CiaranC

The Muppet wrote:

Product Quality

What a perfect illustration of how the barstool brigade view football, as a 'Product'. Pathetic.

micks

SectionF wrote:

This is the tragedy of Irish football. There is a power struggle in FAI between schoolboy/junior football and eL clubs, and many schoolboy players are taught to despise eL as a result.

This is a big problem with soccer in ireland - far too many associations all with their own ego's and agenda's and the FAI has no real control over them, unlike the stranglehold the GAA has over its association from top to bottom. Maybe not quite the same control required but there is maybe a middle ground.

I cant agree with kids being encouraged to despise the EL ? TBH i have never experienced this.

1) If LSL or schoolboy soccer is so much better, why don't they regularly beat eL teams in cup competitions?

I never said the LSL is up there in quaility. Top level schoolboy teams in ireland are IMO the top level of quaility and regulary beat EL underage teams. A lot of premier DDSL players go to england, admittedly most coming home soon after but many then go onto EL. I doubt many of the EL players are home produced ie played underage for EL clubs but i stand corrected if wrong. I believe that DDSL teams won most if not all the FAI underage cups this year.
Summer soccer ended the likes of the LSL teams' FAI cup exploits. Even this year most teams that got into the round with the big boys, had mostly finished their seasons by at least a month and its very hard to raise yourself for a big game after stopping for a month. I think there'd be a few shocks if this round of the FAI cup was played in jan.

2) Given the explosion in the numbers of kids playing football in recent years, where are they going to play as adults? Someone once mentioned that a schoolboy player setting out on his career has a one in 30,000 chance of making the English Premiership. And those odds are lengthening as the net is cast further. Surely a reasonable sporting aim for a talented youngster should be to play at the top level in his own country, in front of crowds that include people other than their fathers and uncles.

Maybe i am giving the wrong impression i am not anti EL i just think its everyone to their own. Most lads that dont go to england end up with EL of some sort senior or U21.The U21 was a great initiative and gives lads a way to play at a good level that maybe are not quite ready for senior EL.

3) I think you are right, to an extent, about eL clubs neglecting their communities. But now Bohemian FC employs two people to go into the community, schools etc., runs open days, has kids-go-free promotions, and has a youth director. I see EPL clubs make marketing trips to Ireland, but I don't see them doing much community work here and they don't seem to be punished for it.

I am sure there are clubs doing what you say Bohs have done. But not enough.Every time i open a local paper - there is a picture of a few dublin players in some gaa club showing off the leinster trophy. It wouldn't take a lot for example pats to go to a local team with 2 or 3 players and do a few sessions would it?