Excellent Article about Barstoolers.

Madworld

http://www.football-corner.org/2010/04/18/irish-people-supporting-english-teams/

Ask 100 Irish people what football team they support and chances are, 99 of them will say they support an English team. Ask those 99 people who they want to win the World Cup this summer and chances are, 98 of them will say something along the lines of : “I just hope England don’t ****in’ win it.” It is one thing I have never understood as someone who goes to watch his favourite team, Bohs, play every Friday night. Why barstoolers, as they are more commonly known, “support” an English team week in week out, yet when it comes to the English national team, all they want to do is see them fail.
An Irish Manchester United “fan” would simply adore a player like Wayne Rooney every weekend by wearing their replica jerseys with “Rooney 10″ on the back, however when it comes to Rooney lining up in the white of England, they want to see him lose.
It is a sad fact of life that as thousands upon thousands of “football fans” in Ireland sit in the pub every Saturday afternoon to “support” their favourite team from behind a TV screen, the majority of League of Ireland clubs continue to struggle to attract more than 3,000 people to a game every Friday night.
The majority of barstoolers will blame the quality of the league as the reason why they don’t bother spending €15 to go and actually watch a game of football. “Ah, I watched a game on the telly last week and it was ****e” is something I hear quite a lot. These people think they know everything about the club they “support” from behind a TV screen. They refer to the likes of Liverpool as “we” and they go on talking about why Rafa has to be sacked for weeks on end.
The large majority of Irish people have absolutely no connection with the English club they “support” and yet they still refer to the English club as “we”. It really does sicken me when I scroll down through FaceBook on a Saturday evening looking at my friends status updates and I’ll I can see is : “Rooney, you absolute legend” or “Come on Liverpool, we have these pricks.”
I have no problem with an Irish person having a favourite English team but the thing that really gets to me is the fact they simply can’t be bothered getting of their arse on a Friday night to go and support our domestic league. I don’t understand how they call themselves football fans when the only time they ever actually watch a game of football is on the telly.
Barstoolers will never feel what a proper football fan feels. They will go over to Old Trafford or Anfield once a season and think they are great because they travelled so far to support their club but in actual fact they are just customers.
They will never feel the heartache of a real fan when his side concede in the last minute to be knocked out of the cup. They will never feel the jubilation of a real fan as he runs onto the pitch to celebrate with his heroes after his side have just won the league.
Even as a Bohs fan, I have far more respect for a Shamrock Rovers fan than I do for a barstooler.
The League of Ireland will survive for the simple reason that some people in this country actually enjoy going to watch live football and not just sit in a bar or sit at home, pretending to be a real fan.

Helix

Madworld wrote: »

The League of Ireland will survive for the simple reason that some people in this country actually enjoy going to watch live football and not just sit in a bar or sit at home, pretending to be a real fan.

itll survive because without the league of ireland theres no irish national team allowed to play in fifa/uefa sanctioned tournaments

CR 7

The use of 'excelent' being subjective of course. Was it part funded by the LOI?

Tusky

Madworld wrote: »

Ask those 99 people who they want to win the World Cup this summer and chances are, 98 of them will say something along the lines of : “I just hope England don’t ****in’ win it.” .

98% of them will respond with an answer like that ? Talk abut pulling a statistic out of your arse. I want to Spain or Holland to win, so I must be in the minority.

[edit] Its actually a really poor "article". It reads more like a post on a messageboard than a real journalistic article. Its seriously presumptuous and the writing style if fairly amateur.

Gavin "shels"

Alright article, nothing anyone doesn't know though.

Yakult

I think its a pretty crap article tbh. Just seems to be taking a hit on people who dont support the Irish league. Wouldnt call that "excelent" myself now.

Xavi6

What a load of drivel.

Basically another LOI fan with a massive chip on his shoulder. We've heard it all before.

monkey9

There's nothing in that article that hasn't been said before. It's just the same old sh!t

Melion

The reason people dont follow the LOI is because very few of them can feel a connection to the teams. How many counties in Ireland are represented by a team in either division? From what i can see, its mainly Dubs who give out about people not following the LOI, but its ok for them because they have 7-8 teams to choose from.

I go down to Jackman Park(Limerick) when i can but i just dont feel the same connection to the Super Blues as i do to Liverpool.

mayordenis

Poorly written, not really any point made other than a little houlier than thou wankfest, if that's how you get your jollies I feel very sorry for you.

deisedevil

"Excellent article"

I hope for your own sake you didn't write that and then try and make out you found an "excellent article".

Gavin "shels"

R_H_C_P wrote: »

I think its a pretty crap article tbh. Just seems to be taking a hit on people who dont support the Irish league. Wouldnt call that "excelent" myself now.

The article is on the League of Ireland, not the Irish League.:rolleyes:

Melion wrote: »

The reason people dont follow the LOI is because very few of them can feel a connection to the teams.

This always gets me, so John Joe from County Mayo has a connection to Manchester Utd!?

Xavi6

The sad thing is that these sort of articles do the league more harm than good.

Why would anyone pop along to their local ground if they're going to be met by attitudes like that?

The key is co-existence and a balance between the two leagues.

bullpost

The article makes sweeping assumptions about the followers of Irish sport. It doesn't take into account the Irish fans , who support English and Scottish occer teams, but at home play and follow other sports such as football and hurling. Those fans are going to experience the emotions the article talks about while supporting irish sports and enjoying the action of games played at the highest level.

Melion

Gavin shels wrote: »

The article is on the League of Ireland, not the Irish League.:rolleyes:



This always gets me, so John Joe from County Mayo has a connection to Manchester Utd!?

Ive been following Liverpool longer than i can remember. I went to my first game in Limerick about 3 years ago, i feel a much stronger connection to Liverpool.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

I live in Laois, which has no LoI team, the closest was Kildare and I hate the Kildare GAA team so there was no chance of me supporting the soccer team. I have a rugby father and a GAA mother, so there was no influence there. I have supported United since I was five, so of course I feel more of a connection with United than I do with Rovers, who I started supporting 9 months ago.

Mr. Presentable

Interesting to see who thinks it's a good article and who thinks it's typical drivel. I'm waiting for someone to make the "bitter" accusation.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

nipplenuts wrote: »

Interesting to see who thinks it's a good article and who thinks it's typical drivel. I'm waiting for someone to make the "bitter" accusation.

No one so far has said it was a good article, if the author is a journalist he should quit the profession, tbh.

RasTa

What the nicknames for fans who travel the massive 40min flight every weekend to see their team?

monkey9

baz2009 wrote: »

I live in Laois, which has no LoI team, the closest was Kildare and I hate the Kildare GAA team so there was no chance of me supporting the soccer team. I have a rugby father and a GAA mother, so there was no influence there. I have supported United since I was five, so of course I feel more of a connection with United than I do with Rovers, who I started supporting 9 months ago.

You support Man U and Shams??!! :eek: From now on, i shall refer to you as Satan!!:P

Mr. Presentable

RasTa wrote: »

What the nicknames for fans who travel the massive 40min flight every weekend to see their team?

Bandwagoners? I dunno............

Yakult

Gavin shels wrote: »

The article is on the League of Ireland, not the Irish League.:rolleyes:

oh wow.. Im so sorry.. :rolleyes:

Gavin "shels"

R_H_C_P wrote: »

oh wow.. Im so sorry.. :rolleyes:

Good lad, and you've even proved a point.:rolleyes:

Spiritoftheseventies

Article absolutely awful. And thing is OP there are some excellent league of ireland writers who do a lot of good work promoting the league.
One of the best articles I ever read was Sean Ryans piece on the Rovers team of the sixties.

podge018

RasTa wrote: »

What the nicknames for fans who travel the massive 40min flight every weekend to see their team?

Day-trippers. Despised by the locals and laughed at with their club shop carrier bag and camera.

Frisbee

podge018 wrote: »

Day-trippers. Despised by the locals and laughed at with their club shop carrier bag and camera.

Why would they be buying stuff in the club shop every home game?
In that case then surely every local fan might be doing the same.

Madworld

deisedevil wrote: »

"Excellent article"

I hope for your own sake you didn't write that and then try and make out you found an "excellent article".

Nope I was reading the Bohs forum and saw it there. I enjoyed it and decided to post it on a forum which represents the average Irish football follower (supporter/fans are terms which can only be used to people who attend football matches every week).

Xavi6 wrote: »

The sad thing is that these sort of articles do the league more harm than good.

Why would anyone pop along to their local ground if they're going to be met by attitudes like that?

Please elaborate why people wouldnt go due to the attitude of the aforementioned article. Firstly I would consider that article to be quiet a moderate one regarding his attitutde towards the average Irish football follower considering he doesnt have a problem with people following English/A Scottish team.

Also explain to me how anybody at a LOI match would know whether somebody "who pops along to their local ground" would be a barstooler or not? Surely if you were at the match Liverpool/Celtic would not come into the equation.

And do you honestly think that a LOI supporter would have a go at somebody who comes out and supports the league as opposed to the average Irish soccer follower who has never been at a real match in their life despite the fact they are "proper hardcore United fans".

bullpost wrote: »

The article makes sweeping assumptions about the followers of Irish sport. It doesn't take into account the Irish fans , who support English and Scottish occer teams, but at home play and follow other sports such as football and hurling. Those fans are going to experience the emotions the article talks about while supporting irish sports and enjoying the action of games played at the highest level.

So you are a Gaa player. Now assume your county is in the All Ireland final. Would you equate the atmosphere watching the match at home to that of actually be there and experiencing the buzz around Croke Park on the Day of the final?

R_H_C_P wrote: »

oh wow.. Im so sorry.. :rolleyes:

Whats the :rolleyes: for? The Irish League is the name of assocation football league played in Northern Ireland. It is a completly independent league to the League of Ireland that is played in this jurisdition. By calling it this you display a complete and utter disrespect for it. Would you call the SPL the EPL?

A 7 year old would have wrote a better article

Spiritoftheseventies

End of the day madworld you made a claim this was an excellent article rather than just coming out and saying this article represents how you feel about barstoolers. Again article doesnt bring up anything new.
Support your league but dont use it as a tool to put other followers down.

GLaDOS

podge018

Frisbee wrote: »

Why would they be buying stuff in the club shop every home game?

Because they're ****ing idiots?

Helix

podge018 wrote: »

Day-trippers. Despised by the locals and laughed at with their club shop carrier bag and camera.

far from despised by locals

the lads near my seat last season were very impressed that there were a few of us who headed over every week from ireland. its a hell of a lot more of a commitment than hopping on a train for 10 minutes to get to games

although that said, the flight didnt take too much longer than the time it took me to get to drogs games on a friday night

3hn2givr7mx1sc

podge018 wrote: »

Because they're ****ing idiots?

At least put some effort into your argument.

podge018

I'm not arguing. And that's an honest answer.

jesus_thats_gre

Ask 100 Irish people what football team they support and chances are, 99 of them will say they support an English team.

Correct

Ask those 99 people who they want to win the World Cup this summer and chances are, 98 of them will say something along the lines of : “I just hope England don’t ****in’ win it.”

Incorrect

SantryRed

Helix wrote: »

far from despised by locals

the lads near my seat last season were very impressed that there were a few of us who headed over every week from ireland. its a hell of a lot more of a commitment than hopping on a train for 10 minutes to get to games

although that said, the flight didnt take too much longer than the time it took me to get to drogs games on a friday night

Obviously they won't have a problem with yous who come over every game and have a season ticket. They do have a problem with the ones that come once every year.

Frisbee

podge018 wrote: »

I'm not arguing. And that's an honest answer.

Every Irish fan who makes the trip over to england almost every weekend to see their team is an idiot?

Spiritoftheseventies

podge018 wrote: »

I'm not arguing. And that's an honest answer.

Its a lazy one to be honest.

Helix

SantryRed wrote: »

Obviously they won't have a problem with yous who come over every game and have a season ticket. They do have a problem with the ones that come once every year.

thats not what podge said tho

podge018

Frisbee wrote: »

Every Irish fan who makes the trip over to england almost every weekend to see their team is an idiot?

yes.

SantryRed

Helix wrote: »

thats not what podge said tho

I know yeah, it's people like him who turn people off our league.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

podge018 wrote: »

yes.

I feel like such a lesser human being for supporting an English team.:rolleyes:

Pinturicchio

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Incorrect

Not 98% but a high proportion.

Helix

podge018 wrote: »

yes.

what about the ones who like live football so much that they go see their loi team on a friday, and and english game at the weekend

your logic dictates theyre better football fans than you for that surely, which is every bit as ridiculous as you calling them idiots

Frisbee

podge018 wrote: »

yes.

Why?

podge018

Im not backing any league here. If you have so little going on in your life that you go over to England every other weekend to watch football, wasting easily a day, possibly a whole weekend to watch a match you could see on television while spending the rest of your time with friends and family then, in my opinion, you're an idiot. A Sky Sports drone. A slave to a foreign entity.

Helix

podge018 wrote: »

Im not backing any league here. If you have so little going on in your life that you go over to England every other weekend to watch football, wasting easily a day, possibly a whole weekend to watch a match you could see on television while spending the rest of your time with friends and family then, in my opinion, you're an idiot. A Sky Sports drone. A slave to a foreign entity.

if you were a sky sports drone wouldnt you be happy to watch it on tv like you are?

SantryRed

podge018 wrote: »

Im not backing any league here. If you have so little going on in your life that you go over to England every other weekend to watch football, wasting easily a day, possibly a whole weekend to watch a match you could see on television while spending the rest of your time with friends and family then, in my opinion, you're an idiot. A Sky Sports drone. A slave to a foreign entity.

How are you a ''Sky Sports drone'' if you go every home game? I do personally have a problem with people who claim to support an English team but have never been or who've been once. But if these people go over every weekend well then fair fcuks to them tbh.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

podge018 wrote: »

Im not backing any league here. If you have so little going on in your life that you go over to England every other weekend to watch football, wasting easily a day, possibly a whole weekend to watch a match you could see on television while spending the rest of your time with friends and family then, in my opinion, you're an idiot. A Sky Sports drone. A slave to a foreign entity.

So you're aying if the AL/LoI was more televised that you would stay at home and watch it on tele rather than go to the game?

podge018

Im not talking about the LOI!! Someone asked what's the name for the people that go over every week.

Handsome Bob

I stopped reading after he straw-manned us "barstoolers" with the old "they support english teams but hate the english national team" bollocks.