Virtual fandom explained

CiaranC

premierstone wrote: »

Well this will really feed the anger and bitterness of the LOI brigade but I am a very proud Celtic supporter :eek:, and when watching the premiership I would allways follow Arsenal because Liam Brady was the greatest player to ever come from these shores imo off course :P

haha, Celtic of course. How could I have left them out?

Amazing how the large majority of Irish fans follow teams who just happen to be at the top of their foreign division, isnt it? Where are all the Irish Hibernian fans?

SectionF wrote:

I think most LoI supporters follow two teams.

I think football fans take an interest in football elsewhere, but they wouldnt say they support two teams equally. Thats against what being a football fan is about IMO.

In fact, people couldn't have been more welcoming.

Funny, I havent found the folks who normally frequent Dalymount that welcoming really....

SectionF

CiaranC wrote: »

Funny, I havent found the folks who normally frequent Dalymount that welcoming really....:p

You must be standing/sitting in the wrong place to see us waving at you.

stovelid

premierstone wrote: »

which while i did enjoy the experience I always felt there was a certain element of supporters there who would frown upon so called ''outsiders'' just because I hadnt supported Bohs all my life and was actually there just wanted to see live football

How exactly did they express this? Not having a go, just curious.

I can understand that perhaps in places like club forums, you might get cliques and there is always a tiny minority of where were you when? fans at any club, but how would you notice it at games? The overwhelming majority of LOI fans would love to see more people at games. And many of them take an interest in other clubs, whether EPL, SPL, whatever.

dor83

CiaranC wrote: »

Interesting. How did you come to support Inter? Are you of Italian extraction?

To be honest I don't really remember, I have followed them for as long as I can remember. It probably had something to do with watching football Italia on channel 4 when I was a young kid and the fact that I couldn't choose an english team because my family all support Man Utd and it was the only english team I was allowed to support(yes I support Utd too). Maybe this doesn't make a lot of sense but for whatever reason I would consider myself to be a true Inter supporter.

Trilla wrote: »

How in Gods name was that targetted at you if you followed a team and regulary watched them live in a stadium? It was targetted at the "package deal" "barstool" supporters when there is football at their doorstep on their own soil.

My reasoning behind this is that I have supported Inter for many years and couldn't afford to go to games when I was younger, or now that I'm in NZ, so that would put me in the category of "barstool" supporters. I don't think that anybody can say that somebody isn't a real supporter of a club because they don't go to many games, after all not many people can afford to go to see their favorite team every other week.

I have also attended many Bohs games in my time but I just don't have any affiliation with them and prefer to go to see Inter for a couple of reasons 1: I don't enjoy football as much when I'm a neutral and 2: The atmosphere in a stadium with 80,000 people is a hell of a lot better than in small stadiums, theres nothing like the noise, feeling the stadium move under your feet when the crowd starts to jump, things that I can't find at a LOI game. By the way my first live game was a Bohs game when I was a kid, don't remember who they played though. I just don't feel any affiliation to them, even though I grew up in the area and went to school in St. Peters(right next to Dallymount, we used to watch games from the window of the school of Friday nights when we were supposed to be playing table tennis).

DSB

Is there really a shame in supporting a junior team anyway?

Nalz

premierstone wrote: »

I always felt there was a certain element of supporters there who would frown upon so called ''outsiders''

Never witnessed this to be honest. I find the Dubs funny at times with their culchie chants etc but thats as far as it goes (which isnt far at all). Few scoaby joes alright like every other soccer club. Heck they're goin to the ruggah games now too

premierstone

stovelid wrote: »

How exactly did they express this? Not having a go, just curious.

Yeah its a fair question and tbh it was no particular incident or anything, but I went with a mate who was a die-hard Bohs man and was kind of introduced as ''yerman from tipp and oh yeah he supports Celtic'' now if they had have slagged me and all that it would have been fine i was kind of expecting that but the response was more like ''oh right one of them are you, here to take the piss'' and was just basically ignored from then on, apart from the odd ''jaaysus bud you wudn see that in the SP feckin L wud ya''

stovelid

premierstone wrote: »

Yeah its a fair question and tbh it was no particular incident or anything, but I went with a mate who was a die-hard Bohs man and was kind of introduced as ''yerman from tipp and oh yeah he supports Celtic'' now if they had have slagged me and all that it would have been fine i was kind of expecting that but the response was more like ''oh right one of them are you, here to take the piss'' and was just basically ignored from then on, apart from the odd ''jaaysus bud you wudn see that in the SP feckin L wud ya''

Either it's banter that you're taking too much to heart. Or your mate (and his mates) have a bit of a chip. I can honestly say they're not representative of all fans. As I said before, I know plenty of LOI fans who like SPL/EPL clubs. Most of the negativity that you get here is about people ignoring/running down the local game while supporting foreign clubs. Not about people who do both.

Certainly wouldn't put me off going again.

premierstone

stovelid wrote: »

Either it's banter that you're taking too much to heart. Or your mate (and his mates) have a bit of a chip. I can honestly say they're not representative of all fans. As I said before, I know plenty of LOI fans who like SPL/EPL clubs. Most of the negativity that you get here is about people ignoring/running down the local game while supporting foreign clubs. Not about people who do both.

Certainly wouldn't put me off going again.

Nah i can take a bit of banter it was more than that tbh.

I will accept that they were not representative of all fans, but you have to admit that there is alot of guys on here with serious chips on their shoulders when it comes to domestic football, I was actually watching an interview with Joe Gamble last night and alot of people would do well with heeding he's advice he was basically saying that the LOI needs to stop complaining and dreaming and to be more realistic and work with what they do have and try and sustain it, I do understand peoples grievances but personally i think their anger is misplaced and should be directed more at the FAI who have treated the league disgracefully, people like myself who support a team in a foreign league are not the problem but merely a knock on affect of the problem, Mr Delaney and he's predecessors are the real problem.

It wouldnt put me off either when the opportunity would arise as i do enjoy live football and there really is no comparison, but at the same time i wouldnt go out of my way to go to a LOI match if you know what i mean.

stovelid

premierstone wrote: »

but personally i think their anger is misplaced and should be directed more at the FAI who have treated the league disgracefully, people like myself who support a team in a foreign league are not the problem but merely a knock on affect of the problem, Mr Delaney and he's predecessors are the real problem.
.

Two separate, very real problems.

The F.A.I are clowns, but they (or the clubs) can't magically create a 'superior product' (to use the beloved buzzword) and facilities based on chronically low attendances. And that's a problem that stretches back decades.

Funnily enough, the F.A.I/'hoofball'/crap facilities didn't put off the 25,000 fans that turned up to watch Shels/Deportivo.

Fair play to you for heading along to the game, however, no matter what the F.A.I or the clubs do to make the local game more appealing, a significant number of potential fans here will have to take the plunge (like fans of Liverpool and Newton Heath did many moons ago) and not wait for a fully-formed, super-duper product to fall into their lap.

SectionF

Another insight into live v television football, from William Barr, who toured League Two, and also very relevant to the Irish game

Nobody can deny that the Premier League has an enormous amount to offer. The football played by the young Arsenal team is breathtaking in its skill and adventure. The skill shown by Cristiano Ronaldo is as amazing as anything that has ever been seen on a football field. I know that most, if not all, Premier League clubs do good work in their communities, and yet it simply does not feel right.

This has been around for a while, but I missed it. Sorry if it's already been covered... Anyway, I think it addresses the misplaced notion expressed by some in this thread that it's an Irish football v British football debate. It's about real football v something different that has emerged in recent years, and it's a discussion that is happening within English football too.