Best fans in the world

fullstop

RoboKlopp wrote: »

GAA trumps soccer at underage level in large parts of the country.

The LOI doesn't do much for promoting their league, not enough imo. The GAA is very community focused, soccer not so much. Might be different in the cities.

At times you'd wonder which of the two is the amateur sport tbh .

The LOI doesn't do enough to promote itself?! None of the clubs have any money FFS. The GAA funds clubs and counties (some very more generously than others), while the FAI give out something like 100K for the winners of the LOI while fining clubs for everything and everything and paying their CEO 400K per year to go on the piss with the fans abroad.

Dirty Dingus McGee

The Talking Bread wrote: »

Oh come on, look at the population of the UK, and cricket is played on a much more casual level in ratio to soccer.
It is also a predominantly summer sport.

Again read basketball in Spain and Italy for example, soccer is far more popular and, again, vast population difference.

Russia, ice hockey- population.

Only Finland and Norway could be considered in this respect really ice hockey and Greece with basketball.

Gaelic is our national sport comprising of two separate sports.. 75% of young men play hurling, for example to a mid serious to serious level at some stage and further beyond in Pkilkenny. I can't think of any notable kilkenny soccer players in last 20 year. (open to correction)

GAA is so well organised in Ireland and most young men who choose a team sport will play same. Soccer is low level, badly institutionalised and with no infrastructure at all compared to GAA. Every community has a team, pitch, proper dedicated coaches, underage structure, school teams, governmen grants.
It's all but professional at this stage. It's community based and pride of parish stuff. It's far more personally rewarding than soccer for most Irish men.

Most soccer teams have badly maintained pitches (if any) prefabs, barely any financial contributions and badly organised leagues.

To say GAA doesn't dominate our sporting culture is nonsense.

Thats' fine but it's still a bit of cop out for the FAI and if you already have a ready made excuse before you start then you'll never succeed.

I'm well aware that the GAA has a huge impact in this country but the way some people go on you'd think we were the only country in the world that had competing sports.

monkey9

Irish_rat wrote: »

Here I posted that I had no problem with the lads having a good time over there at all.

It's just this latest video with the baby is ridiculous, cringe and attention seeking. I didn't like the the nun video either. It's just silly but the rest I've enjoyed immensely :-)

Fair enough.

Coillte_Bhoy

con89 wrote: »

Standard of LOI is poor.

Limerick FC lost at home on Friday to junior club side Carew Park.
Probably the first game they've lost all season, they're coasting in the first division.

Of all the countries in this years euros I'd imagine only Iceland, Albania, Wales & the north have a poorer standard of domestic league.

We're actually just behind Iceland in Albania in the UEFA clubs coeffiecient

monkey9

Deleted User wrote: »

Again, for my part, it's not begrudgery to point out that the coverage of our fans by many media outlets is just awful.

It doesn't bother me if 3 lads change a tyre. Good luck to them. I certainly do not begrudge them their tyre changing. I don't know why they felt it was worth recording, but I would have thought that any news outlet should tell them their story wasn't really newsworthy. But nope, these guys took the video of themselves and of course Joe.ie or Balls.ie snapped it up because it confirms that we are loved and we are gas. Why? What is this fixation with ourselves? Is it some post colonial hangover, some national need for reassurance after centuries of abuse? Maybe it has become news, has anyone seen fans from any other country change a tyre? Maybe it's an indictment of the way in which news is gathered, some fellows efforts to harvest likes on social media gets picked up and they didn't seek such national acclaim. But would they have received such acclaim in other countries, would it have had such a receptive audience?

That made me laugh in fairness.

I think you have a point to an extent, Conor, that a large part of our DNA, of who we are is because of what we have suffered through the centuries and what we had to fight against. It's in our genes and it has formed us as a people, there's no doubt about that.

But what the fans are doing over in France, it's not a football thing, it's not even just a 21st century thing, it's just what the Irish have always done.

When they emigrated to America during the famine, they were writing songs back then about it, having dances and drinking, the craic in New York etc, it's just what the Irish have always done.

This isn't all directed at yourself Conor, just my general views.

Some are saying that the Irish are going over there and desperately trying to be liked, to seem friendly. Well.....yeah!! That's what you should do as an Irish citizen abroad. I know whenever i go away, i'm always very proud of where i'm from and i try to promote my country whenever i can. So i really see nothing wrong with the fans over there continuing with what those before them have done. And i'm seeing plenty of positive news stories about the Irish fans on foreign news stations from the likes of Sky News, French news to Al Jazeera. If they're making a good impression on the French people (and the fans of other nations over there) the same way the established good relations with the Polish in 2012, then good for them.

As for the video and vines etc, look, this is the 21st century. This is the world now of social media and online newsites. People are encouraged to send in their videos.

The bloody TV3 weather are showing drawings from kids and shout outs to Nan, who's 83 today. The Irish Independent encouraged everyone to take a photo of what they were doing on a particular date in April or May i think it was and send them in so we could have a photographic snapshot of Irish life on that day.

In regards to the fans, the likes of Balls.ie have a particular Euro 2016 forum for everyone to send in their stories, photos, videos etc of the tournament experience. That's where a lot of these are coming from. Everything is documented these days, we can actually see what is going on in all nooks and crannys of the tournament rather than just hearing of the tales.

I loved hearing the fans stories from previous tournaments, of the craic they had, the people they met, just going over with nowhere to stay and not really caring. Well now i love watching the videos, getting a taste of what it's actually like over there.

This is all nothing new. In 1990, we had people jumping into fountains and dancing with guards during the World Cup in Ireland etc. Acting the eejit is not a new phenomenon.

I didn't see anything from after the Belgium match, but i notice some on here not happy that some Irish fans were enjoying themselves afterwards, that they weren't real fans. Firstly, i saw plenty of shots of Irish fans unhappy in the stands during the second half. If there were fans mixing with Belgians afterwards, so what. Each to their own.

Of course there are going to be fans over there who are just on the jolly, who don't usually go to games. But you could probably say that about every set of supporters.

I had a load of mates who went to the Euros in Poland and who had never even set foot in Lansdowne before whereas i had gone to all the qualifiers but didn't go to Poland. I was slagging them calling them bandwagoners etc, but it was all just banter. I was delighted to see them go over which brings me back to the social media side of things. I was looking at all the videos they were putting up on the WhatsApp group and laughing at their antics. It's the same now with the Irish fans in general over there.

If people are getting annoyed at the Irish fans in France, just don't watch the videos. Don't click on the site or press play. It's really not a big deal.

monkey9

monkey9 wrote: »

That made me laugh in fairness.

I think you have a point to an extent, Conor, that a large part of our DNA, of who we are is because of what we have suffered through the centuries and what we had to fight against. It's in our genes and it has formed us as a people, there's no doubt about that.

But what the fans are doing over in France, it's not a football thing, it's not even just a 21st century thing, it's just what the Irish have always done.

When they emigrated to America during the famine, they were writing songs back then about it, having dances and drinking, the craic in New York etc, it's just what the Irish have always done.

This isn't all directed at yourself Conor, just my general views.

Some are saying that the Irish are going over there and desperately trying to be liked, to seem friendly. Well.....yeah!! That's what you should do as an Irish citizen abroad. I know whenever i go away, i'm always very proud of where i'm from and i try to promote my country whenever i can. So i really see nothing wrong with the fans over there continuing with what those before them have done. And i'm seeing plenty of positive news stories about the Irish fans on foreign news stations from the likes of Sky News, French news to Al Jazeera. If they're making a good impression on the French people (and the fans of other nations over there) the same way the established good relations with the Polish in 2012, then good for them.

As for the video and vines etc, look, this is the 21st century. This is the world now of social media and online newsites. People are encouraged to send in their videos.

The bloody TV3 weather are showing drawings from kids and shout outs to Nan, who's 83 today. The Irish Independent encouraged everyone to take a photo of what they were doing on a particular date in April or May i think it was and send them in so we could have a photographic snapshot of Irish life on that day.

In regards to the fans, the likes of Balls.ie have a particular Euro 2016 forum for everyone to send in their stories, photos, videos etc of the tournament experience. That's where a lot of these are coming from. Everything is documented these days, we can actually see what is going on in all nooks and crannys of the tournament rather than just hearing of the tales.

I loved hearing the fans stories from previous tournaments, of the craic they had, the people they met, just going over with nowhere to stay and not really caring. Well now i love watching the videos, getting a taste of what it's actually like over there.

This is all nothing new. In 1990, we had people jumping into fountains and dancing with guards during the World Cup in Ireland etc. Acting the eejit is not a new phenomenon.

I didn't see anything from after the Belgium match, but i notice some on here not happy that some Irish fans were enjoying themselves afterwards, that they weren't real fans. Firstly, i saw plenty of shots of Irish fans unhappy in the stands during the second half. If there were fans mixing with Belgians afterwards, so what. Each to their own.

Of course there are going to be fans over there who are just on the jolly, who don't usually go to games. But you could probably say that about every set of supporters.

I had a load of mates who went to the Euros in Poland and who had never even set foot in Lansdowne before whereas i had gone to all the qualifiers but didn't go to Poland. I was slagging them calling them bandwagoners etc, but it was all just banter. I was delighted to see them go over which brings me back to the social media side of things. I was looking at all the videos they were putting up on the WhatsApp group and laughing at their antics. It's the same now with the Irish fans in general over there.

If people are getting annoyed at the Irish fans in France, just don't watch the videos. Don't click on the site or press play. It's really not a big deal.

Spot on

Canadel

Yeah, complaining or whining is pointless. But that's different from making points about the situation. It's quite a sad reflection on those performing all these acts more than anything really; that these people think this kind of stuff is something worthy of achieving. Worse still are the thousands who lap it up back home and think it in some way admirable or entertaining. The kind of behaviour which just appeals to the most boring and basic instincts. It's just all rather uninspiring.

I can get the appeal if you're maybe 17 or 18 and in school or started college, but most of the people engaging in this stuff seem to be well into their 20s and 30s. I guess I just don't get it. If someone paid me to be there I'd politely decline. Much rather be watching a local match here or playing myself than that carry on.

Muahahaha

RoboKlopp wrote: »

GAA trumps soccer at underage level in large parts of the country.

The LOI doesn't do much for promoting their league, not enough imo. The GAA is very community focused, soccer not so much. Might be different in the cities.

At times you'd wonder which of the two is the amateur sport tbh .

When I was a kid playing both football and GAA our changing rooms were often shipping containers. Nowadays most GAA clubs have fine buildings and infrastructure but you'll still see shipping containers at the side of some football clubs pitches.

Its very difficult to build a community focused club when the only thing to sit around is a feckin' shipping container.

Moist Bread

Muahahaha wrote: »

When I was a kid playing both football and GAA our changing rooms were often shipping containers. Nowadays most GAA clubs have fine buildings and infrastructure but you'll still see shipping containers at the side of some football clubs pitches.

Its very difficult to build a community focused club when the only thing to sit around is a feckin' shipping container.

I remember when we first got our shipping container. Thought it was ****ing brilliant. Climbing on top of it afforded a good view of the pitch too. I sound like my granfather going on about walking to school in his barefeet. He said he was lucky to even have feet and how all of us are spoilt with our fancy shoes. Getting old is horrible.

Beefy78

maximoose wrote: »

I haven't the slightest clue about Guyana but from Wiki:

Deleted User wrote: »

Part of the Windies in cricket.

Chanderpaul and Sarwan have played for Guyana and captained the West Indies in recent years. So seems to make sense to me.

I had no idea of that! Wow. Fair play.

thebaz

got to say the support tonight by our friends up North , was pretty special - they never stopped - was certainly up ther being tops

raze_them_all_

Muahahaha wrote: »

When I was a kid playing both football and GAA our changing rooms were often shipping containers. Nowadays most GAA clubs have fine buildings and infrastructure but you'll still see shipping containers at the side of some football clubs pitches.

Its very difficult to build a community focused club when the only thing to sit around is a feckin' shipping container.

PLayed for a club in kilkenny called Deen Celtic, fecking was spoilt, club is amazing, two pitches, astroturf, proper club house the works. Always hated going to away games

Maireadio

Beefy78 wrote: »

I'm about to show up some staggering ignorance but what is that South American country in red on that map? I'm not aware of any South American nations where cricket is the dominant sport.

EDIT - Is that Guyana? Think so. I'd question the validity of that map.

Yes, and apparently baseball is the dominant sport in Japan?

Bounty Hunter

Maireadio wrote: »

Yes, and apparently baseball is the dominant sport in Japan?

Thats true about Baseball it is the main sport in Japan.

One of Irelands issues is that it has too many other big sports as competition of course but it is no excuse for the low standard of the Irish league when you compare it to some other very small countries who have a similar number of active players / potential players. The fact that a poster above listed Iceland who have a population of 323,002 as having a better UEFA clubs coeffiecient than us highlights the problem massively.

largepants

Maireadio wrote: »

Yes, and apparently baseball is the dominant sport in Japan?

Or wrestling maybe.

Chivito550

maximoose wrote: »

I would say it has a far bigger impact than the likes of Basketball/Cricket do. They may be more popular in other countries but they are still dwarfed by football, not the case in Ireland.

Bit off topic but there is no way football is more popular than athletics in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Also cricket is not number 1 in Australia unless you count people having a knock about in the park over a BBQ and beers. Australian Rules is the biggest sport there.

dan1895

Chivito550 wrote: »

Bit off topic but there is no way football is more popular than athletics in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Also cricket is not number 1 in Australia unless you count people having a knock about in the park over a BBQ and beers. Australian Rules is the biggest sport there.

Aussie Rules is massive in the South with Rugby League being the most popular sport in the North. This may cancel each other out and make cricket the most popular sport on a national level.

Chivito550

dan1895 wrote: »

Aussie Rules is massive in the South with Rugby League being the most popular sport in the North. This may cancel each other out and make cricket the most popular sport on a national level.

Maybe. I lived in Melbourne for 3 years and footy was all people talked about so that may distort my view.

Aussie Rules is the biggest sport everywhere except NSW and Queensland where rugby league is number one. Cricket is not number one in any individual state.

Kev_2012

Well I only recently returned home from the Euros and I've a video of all the French fans singing "Thank you Ireland" to us for singing with them and all the other stuff we done to be sound.

Hmmmm... Maybe we should start being pricks instead? :rolleyes:

Dr Crayfish

The North fans were amazing. Seriously, never seen anything like it. The Belgians were more colourful and boisterous than us. We really need to up our game and have some more uplifting chants. The f**king Fields of Athenry is a death knell lately. I'm turning off the TV later if we're 2 or 3 nil down and they start with the bloody song. A song about famine and banishment, really going to get the players going.
We get all the press for drunken antics but inside the stadium I think we're pretty poor. England fans against Slovakia were amazing too. The Croats... list goes on.

fullstop

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

The North fans were amazing. Seriously, never seen anything like it. The Belgians were more colourful and boisterous than us. We really need to up our game and have some more uplifting chants. The f**king Fields of Athenry is a death knell lately. I'm turning off the TV later if we're 2 or 3 nil down and they start with the bloody song. A song about famine and banishment, really going to get the players going.
We get all the press for drunken antics but inside the stadium I think we're pretty poor. England fans against Slovakia were amazing too. The Croats... list goes on.

Ah but did they destroy a car and video themselves pushing a few €10 notes in the door by way of compensation or sing "baguettes for the boys in red"?

con89

I know there are a lot of reasons for a lot of people here not supporting a LOI/First Division club (rural area, no local team, follow the GAA instead etc) but the fact is....

In the Republic of Ireland approximately 30,000 support their local club (go to most home games etc), out of a population of 4,500,000

In Scotland approximately 250,000 support their local club (population 5,200,000)

Best fans in the world??

sjb25

monkey9 wrote: »

That made me laugh in fairness.

I think you have a point to an extent, Conor, that a large part of our DNA, of who we are is because of what we have suffered through the centuries and what we had to fight against. It's in our genes and it has formed us as a people, there's no doubt about that.

But what the fans are doing over in France, it's not a football thing, it's not even just a 21st century thing, it's just what the Irish have always done.

When they emigrated to America during the famine, they were writing songs back then about it, having dances and drinking, the craic in New York etc, it's just what the Irish have always done.

This isn't all directed at yourself Conor, just my general views.

Some are saying that the Irish are going over there and desperately trying to be liked, to seem friendly. Well.....yeah!! That's what you should do as an Irish citizen abroad. I know whenever i go away, i'm always very proud of where i'm from and i try to promote my country whenever i can. So i really see nothing wrong with the fans over there continuing with what those before them have done. And i'm seeing plenty of positive news stories about the Irish fans on foreign news stations from the likes of Sky News, French news to Al Jazeera. If they're making a good impression on the French people (and the fans of other nations over there) the same way the established good relations with the Polish in 2012, then good for them.

As for the video and vines etc, look, this is the 21st century. This is the world now of social media and online newsites. People are encouraged to send in their videos.

The bloody TV3 weather are showing drawings from kids and shout outs to Nan, who's 83 today. The Irish Independent encouraged everyone to take a photo of what they were doing on a particular date in April or May i think it was and send them in so we could have a photographic snapshot of Irish life on that day.

In regards to the fans, the likes of Balls.ie have a particular Euro 2016 forum for everyone to send in their stories, photos, videos etc of the tournament experience. That's where a lot of these are coming from. Everything is documented these days, we can actually see what is going on in all nooks and crannys of the tournament rather than just hearing of the tales.

I loved hearing the fans stories from previous tournaments, of the craic they had, the people they met, just going over with nowhere to stay and not really caring. Well now i love watching the videos, getting a taste of what it's actually like over there.

This is all nothing new. In 1990, we had people jumping into fountains and dancing with guards during the World Cup in Ireland etc. Acting the eejit is not a new phenomenon.

I didn't see anything from after the Belgium match, but i notice some on here not happy that some Irish fans were enjoying themselves afterwards, that they weren't real fans. Firstly, i saw plenty of shots of Irish fans unhappy in the stands during the second half. If there were fans mixing with Belgians afterwards, so what. Each to their own.

Of course there are going to be fans over there who are just on the jolly, who don't usually go to games. But you could probably say that about every set of supporters.

I had a load of mates who went to the Euros in Poland and who had never even set foot in Lansdowne before whereas i had gone to all the qualifiers but didn't go to Poland. I was slagging them calling them bandwagoners etc, but it was all just banter. I was delighted to see them go over which brings me back to the social media side of things. I was looking at all the videos they were putting up on the WhatsApp group and laughing at their antics. It's the same now with the Irish fans in general over there.

If people are getting annoyed at the Irish fans in France, just don't watch the videos. Don't click on the site or press play. It's really not a big deal.

This x1000 for god sake everybody over there having a bit of fun and being liked at the same time what's the problem better than pissing and moaning sulking coz they are not wining every match as said above if it annoys you don't bloody watch it I for one wish I could be over in the middle of it all as

Rightwing

The Irish soccer fans are p!ssing me off. They remind me of Enda Kenny, trying to be the best boys in Europe.

Why not grow a pair ..like the rugby fans and just go out and enjoy yourselves. Put away the youtubes, the snapchats, the facebook likes and enjoy France.

Clowns.

Lex Luthor

Rightwing wrote: »

The Irish soccer fans are p!ssing me off. They remind me of Enda Kenny, trying to be the best boys in Europe.

Why not grow a pair ..like the rugby fans and just go out and enjoy yourselves. Put away the youtubes, the snapchats, the facebook likes and enjoy France.

Clowns.

Killjoy

Good noise from the fans tonight

Peist2007

Rightwing wrote: »

The Irish soccer fans are p!ssing me off. They remind me of Enda Kenny, trying to be the best boys in Europe.

Why not grow a pair ..like the rugby fans and just go out and enjoy yourselves. Put away the youtubes, the snapchats, the facebook likes and enjoy France.

Clowns.

Innit

eagle eye

The fans were pretty awesome tonight. They never stopped backing their team, never gave up.

Peist2007

Brilliant support given tonight. Absolute scenes after the match at the end. COYBIG

LaGlisse

Bad result last night for the killjoy begrudgers on here, at least 4 more days of Joe.ie greatest fans overkill to enjoy!

Cantona's Collars

Irish fans are the best panel beaters in the World now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHPcg8MeWUQ

I did stuff like the craic in France before social media,it isn't a new phenomenon,just because it's being recorded now we have a small army of begrudgers.
People have paid a lot of money to got to France,let them enjoy themselves.

Panthro

Check out @FootyFansChants's Tweet: https://twitter.com/FootyFansChants/status/746020765754101760?s=09

LaGlisse

LaGlisse wrote: »

Bad result last night for the killjoy begrudgers on here, at least 4 more days of Joe.ie greatest fans overkill to enjoy!

Tough night all right, especially with the noise the fans made last night!

ShooterSF

Was at the game the other night. Only getting my voice back now. Singing from the train station to the stadium and back again! Some poor chap going in ahead of us was pickpocketed including his ticket. Luckily 2 lads were trying to sell a spare in category 1 where we were and just gave him the ticket so he could at least enjoy the game. Whatever you want to say about our fans I really enjoyed the night with them.

smileyj1987

Seems a group of england fans tried to attack a group of irish fan last night that has no place at all in a tournament like the euros

Moist Bread

smileyj1987 wrote: »

Seems a group of england fans tried to attack a group of irish fan last night that has no place at all in a tournament like the euros

Bad mouthing the English fans here will land you in hot water.

NIMAN

smileyj1987 wrote: »

Seems a group of england fans tried to attack a group of irish fan last night that has no place at all in a tournament like the euros

Heard nothing of that, could be made up for all we know.

Kobe248

smileyj1987 wrote: »

Seems a group of england fans tried to attack a group of irish fan last night that has no place at all in a tournament like the euros

Not really a surprise

As big a group of idiots the Irish lads are, they arent really a bad lot

They are making the English look bad with their scumbag carry on

smileyj1987

NIMAN wrote: »

Heard nothing of that, could be made up for all we know.

Well its all over Facebook and most of the red top papers are running with the story ! They say it was anti IRA chanting and the likes try to get a re action and well the police got rid of them with pepper spray and tear gas

hufpc8w3adnk65

http://m.independent.ie/sport/soccer/euro-2016/police-forced-to-intervene-with-pepper-spray-as-english-fans-try-to-provoke-irish-in-lyon-34832651.html


Indo reporting it.

Beefy78

Drunk **** acting like drunk ****

Ardillaun

CSF wrote: »

Somebody get this chap off the internet.

I love soccer forums. Had a great laugh at that remark.

Francie Barrett

MrMac84 wrote: »

http://m.independent.ie/sport/soccer/euro-2016/police-forced-to-intervene-with-pepper-spray-as-english-fans-try-to-provoke-irish-in-lyon-34832651.html


Indo reporting it.

There must be some sort of misunderstanding, it's an impossibility that an English fan could cause trouble according to this forum. Must have been Irish fans pretending to be English in order to make them look bad. Or something.

MrMac84

MrMac84 wrote: »

http://m.independent.ie/sport/soccer/euro-2016/police-forced-to-intervene-with-pepper-spray-as-english-fans-try-to-provoke-irish-in-lyon-34832651.html


Indo reporting it.

I think we have found a new low in newspapers desperate for stories.

"Irish fans sing song"! "Fans kick football"! And now, "eyewitness says drunk English fans said mean things"!

Zebra3

zerks wrote: »

Irish fans are the best panel beaters in the World now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHPcg8MeWUQ

I did stuff like the craic in France before social media,it isn't a new phenomenon,just because it's being recorded now we have a small army of begrudgers.
People have paid a lot of money to got to France,let them enjoy themselves.

Let people damage private property?

Right....... Sure the craic, the banter, the Facebook likes, etc.......

Thanx 4 The Fish

Zebra3 wrote: »

Let people damage private property?

Right....... Sure the craic, the banter, the Facebook likes, etc.......

They paid to allow the damage be repaired and in fact repaired it themselves as well.

gimmick

Damage a car for the boys in green

Repair the car for the boys in green

Sure aren't we great crack for the boys in green.

HalloweenJack

MrMac84 wrote: »

http://m.independent.ie/sport/soccer/euro-2016/police-forced-to-intervene-with-pepper-spray-as-english-fans-try-to-provoke-irish-in-lyon-34832651.html


Indo reporting it.

This "One Ireland fan" sounds like an honest and trustworthy guy. Throw in a stock photo of police and it's a totally believable story.

LiamoSail

Beefy78 wrote: »

Drunk **** acting like drunk ****

English fans acting like English fans

mattser

Welcome home guys. Looking forward to seeing you all on the terraces at St. Pat's, Cork City, Dundalk etc.
The charade is over. Long live the charade.