Regards from Poland

St.Spodo

The argument about the state of the local game, while important and topical, shouldn't be for here. The fans in Poland were a credit to the country and made great friends with the Polish, by all accounts. That alone is deserving of recognition.

Bad Panda

Samich wrote: »

Contrary to popular opinion, Ireland have not got the best fans in the world.

They're champions when it comes to self indulgence.

Team would've been booed off the park at Landsdowne.

MatMc

There is a news on TVN24 about James Nolan:
http://www.tvn24.pl/wiadomosci-z-kraju,3/nadal-szukaja-irlandczyka-plakaty-rozlepili-w-calym-miescie,259500.html

I found some interesting informations about our common history:
http://translate.google.pl/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=pl&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fm.sport.pl%2Fsport-poznan%2F1%2C124838%2C11947920%2CIrlandczycy_spiewali_o_wielkim_glodzie__Czy_pamietaja_.html

Trigger13222

People don't bother yourself's replying to Samich , he is one of those creatures that live under a bridge.Just read he's post's in the soccer form.

Doc Ruby

Hank_Jones wrote: »

Strange how a friendly gesture turns into a bunch of negative arguments.

Come on now, you're showing us up in front of the foreigners.

This place is a veritable magnet for northern unionists and similar shrieking creatures for whom any expression of pride in Ireland or Irishness is an offence against their very being and prone to inciting them to a biblical fit of the vapours. Typically the same sorts you'll find complaining about immigrants and gay marriage.

Funny part is nobody in the Republic could really give a tinkers damn about them. Most people are barely aware they exist. Its like watching someone smear themselves in their own waste products and run headfirst into a wall, embarrassing and painful for them but mildly entertaining for everyone else.

And yet they persist.

AngeGal

Patrick Cleburne wrote: »

What other choice did they have though? The Irish national team is awful and negative. Roy Keane was right. Only turning up for the craic, no serious mentality among the fans or the players.

Dead right you are sir. The fans need a much more professional mentality. Paying a few thousand to go over there and then they have the audacity to have a few beers and sing when we're losing? Bloody cheek of it... They should have booed the team off the field and went immediately back to the campsites without stopping for dinner. If only they had a winners attitude like yourself or Roy, we could win the world cup.

For what its worth, my job takes me abroad a lot, this week I have been in Germany, Belgium and now Luxembourg. In each country, at least two people have said to me something about the Irish support being incredible, one german guy even explained to me how watching our fans against Spain convinced him Ireland would recover and have a strong economy again. "People with such spirit cannot be down for long".

Anything that raises our reputation internationally is fine with me, fair play to every last one of our fans in Poland.

Captain Havoc

If only he posted here two minutes later, the OP would have post of the day as his first post.

The_Thing

MatMc wrote: »

Hello,
I would like to thank football fans from Ireland.
Dear Irish people, I admire your spirit, the dignity you sang "The fields of Athenray" I'm really glad we could host you in Poznan. I'll remember the Euro 2012 because of you. Respect!
I was so happy to sing "Polska bialo-czerwoni" with you together in the Old Market.
Thank you!

best regards from Poznan
- Mateusz

And thanks also to the Polish people who have sent us lots of their beautiful women to keep us Irish men happy.

Jay D

would the absolute w*nkstain moany c*nts on here go back home to mammy and get a good suck of her nipple and get her to sing you ba ba black sheep or something. Maybe it's better you hear something you like. and everyone else would like to thank Mateusz for his kind regards and also the welcome shown to Ireland in Poland, it was extremely nice to see and i can only see our relationship becoming ever stronger.


dziękuję bardzo

Jay

cartell_best

I don't speak Irish at all but I just wanted to say to our OP..."Cead mile go raibh maith agait". And I had to use an online translator for this "Sto tysięcy dziękujemy za"

You're country has brought our spirit out and you welcomed us with open arms and kept us with a sincere embrace. May we grant and continue to return the very same.

arse..biscuits

Article from Canada

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/touch/sports/story.html?id=6794398&rel=

IrishAm

MatMc wrote: »

There is a news on TVN24 about James Nolan:
http://www.tvn24.pl/wiadomosci-z-kraju,3/nadal-szukaja-irlandczyka-plakaty-rozlepili-w-calym-miescie,259500.html

Ah, bollix. First I heard of this. Puts our teams performance in perspective. Hope he is found soon. My thoughts are with his friends and family.

languagenerd

Ah lads does it really matter whether the people who went to Poznan go to LoI matches?? I understand that the whole "best fans in the world" thing is annoying some people, but can ye not see the positives of this too?

I don't agree with Roy Keane at all - I think the supporters in Poznan realised that the team were doing terribly but decided to make the most of a bad situation. I think a lot of Irish people have that attitude in general (despite our pessimistic appearance :P) - "Feck it, it's going to be crap, so let's just enjoy ourselves anyway!". Isn't sport supposed to be about experience anyway? Yeah, we lost. But the people who spent all that money to get there still enjoyed the matches, they still embraced the sport and they threw themselves into the tournament anyway.

And if it gives us Irish a better image/reputation abroad, then why the hell is that a problem?!

languagenerd

languagenerd wrote: »

Ah lads does it really matter whether the people who went to Poznan go to LoI matches??

No

ArmaniJeanss

Cheers, MatMc.
I had a great week and everyone was incredibly friendly. Little things were special, for example the owners of the apartments we booked in Poznan and Gdansk insisted on collecting us and our luggage for free from the airports and train stations rather than make us getting taxis; and the fridges were packed full of complimentary food and beer.

Enjoy the rest of the competition.

IrishAm

I hope James Nolan is dining with his family this Sunday.

Ive been there and I was lucky. Horrible experience.

Latchy

Originally
Ah lads does it really matter whether the people who went to Poznan go to LoI matches??

No ...nobody begrudges anybody supporting their country away even if the football wasn't the prettiest to watch

Lionel Messy

There's an Irish lad who has been missing since saturday/sunday. According to the papers, he's 21 and from Blessington. I hope he is safe as sound and returns to his family soon!

TeddyTedson

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Cheers, MatMc.
I had a great week and everyone was incredibly friendly. Little things were special, for example the owners of the apartments we booked in Poznan and Gdansk insisted on collecting us and our luggage for free from the airports and train stations rather than make us getting taxis; and the fridges were packed full of complimentary food and beer.

Enjoy the rest of the competition.

But, but, that wasn't for you:eek:

dfx-

Samich wrote: »

Contrary to popular opinion, Ireland have not got the best fans in the world.

And this post nicely sums up why:)

Doc Ruby

dfx- wrote: »

And this post nicely sums up why:)

You lads are missing the point - they were there to support the country and have a bit of craic, not express solidarity with the sport. Its not "what makes football great", its what makes Ireland great. Other than that why would most people care?

Darius.Tr

dfx- wrote: »

And this post nicely sums up why:)

Well Irish fans were definatly the best fans in Euro 2012, they were there purely to support their team and have a bit of craic....i'd say they behaved 100 times better than russian/polish/spanish/italian/croatian fans , these countries come to mind when thinking of who's caused most of the damage.

Doc

Darius.Tr wrote: »

Well Irish fans were definatly the best fans in Euro 2012, they were there purely to support their team and have a bit of craic....i'd say they behaved 100 times better than russian/polish/spanish/italian/croatian fans , these countries come to mind when thinking of who's caused most of the damage.

Unless your talking about kidney damage.

Montrealer

Darius.Tr wrote: »

Well Irish fans were definatly the best fans in Euro 2012, they were there purely to support their team and have a bit of craic....i'd say they behaved 100 times better than russian/polish/spanish/italian/croatian fans , these countries come to mind when thinking of who's caused most of the damage.

Agreed about Croatian fans. They've got to be the worst in this tournament. :mad: As if throwing fireworks/firecrackers onto the field was not bad enough, Croatian fans topped it off with racist chants against Balotelli and apparently threw a banana onto the field as well.. Disgusting and disgraceful behavior. I am not a big fan of penalizing a country's team for the behavior of its fans, but in this case, I think the Croatian team should've been penalized more heavily. A ban on participation in the next major tournament would've sent the message home more clearly than a small fine.

Shane-KornSpace

Samich wrote: »

Contrary to popular opinion, Ireland have not got the best fans in the world.

thats true. I believe Carlsberg has the best fans in the world.

martingriff

Mr.Crinklewood wrote: »

A team from the top division in Ireland had to withdraw from the league today not even half way into the season.

At some home games they had less than one hundred fans in attendance. If you are near an Irish fan now ask them who this club is, I doubt they will know. Ask them who is currently second in the league, I doubt they will know.

Hardly the action of the greatest fans in the world.

Why does this have to allways be a p1ssing competion between LOI fans and non fans (started by LOI fans) You know you can support the Irish and not the LOI (and yes I know some went for the party athmosphere). The FAI and the LOI need to really do major improvments with the league and how its run. Also the attitude of the high and mighty fans here need to change too.

Edit Thanks OP for the kind thank you

Answer 1 Monaghan Utd (due to financial reasons even though the LOI do an assessment for tems each year)
Answer 2. St. Patricks Athletics

martingriff

RoundyMooney wrote: »

Because soccer competes with two other mainstream sports (three if you count GAA as two) and the population base cannot support all three.

When you consider that, and the amount of volunteerism and dedication that goes into the local pursuit of hurling, football, soccer, and rugby, across the length and breadth of the country, you can see why the LOI, and soccer in general suffers.

We could try a couple of things-actually get a manager that supports the youths, the local clubs, instead of one that flies in for a couple of weeks a year with Manuela, pockets the couple of million, babbles a few incomprehensible phrases, and disappears again. Get rid of John Delaney, who is a soulless accountant rather than an incisive personality at the head of the FAI.

For now, we could take a welcome compliment with good grace, thank Mateusz for taking the time to come and say hi, and leave the nitpicking to another time.

Do not speak ill of the beautifull lady

buck65

martingriff wrote: »

Why does this have to allways be a p1ssing competion between LOI fans and non fans (started by LOI fans) You know you can support the Irish and not the LOI (and yes I know some went for the party athmosphere). The FAI and the LOI need to really do major improvments with the league and how its run. Also the attitude of the high and mighty fans here need to change too.

Edit Thanks OP for the kind thank you

Answer 1 Monaghan Utd (due to financial reasons even though the LOI do an assessment for tems each year)
Answer 2. St. Patricks Athletics

#

Athletics!!

Wow....

Mr.Crinklewood

martingriff wrote: »

Why does this have to allways be a p1ssing competion between LOI fans and non fans (started by LOI fans) You know you can support the Irish and not the LOI (and yes I know some went for the party athmosphere). The FAI and the LOI need to really do major improvments with the league and how its run. Also the attitude of the high and mighty fans here need to change too.

Edit Thanks OP for the kind thank you

Answer 1 Monaghan Utd (due to financial reasons even though the LOI do an assessment for tems each year)
Answer 2. St. Patricks Athletics

Other posters made similar points, I have answered these in the post already.

In the thread I asked the Polish OP to ask those questions to a nearby fan.

You are correct in saying that the "attitude of the high and mighty fans here need to change too", fans follow Man Utd ( as do i ), Arsenal, etc and watch their heroes of Rooney and Walcott, but yet ridicule and are against them when they play for their national team.

This was one of the things that I deliberately did not mention to the OP, as I did not want to totally bore him, however you pointed it out so fair play.

As already stated these people were fantastic ambassadors for Ireland. Not going to repeat myself further, please flick through the post yourself.

martingriff

buck65 wrote: »

#

Athletics!!

Wow....

and Thats there name okay take of the "s"

pickarooney

Mr.Crinklewood wrote: »

You are correct in saying that the "attitude of the high and mighty fans here need to change too", fans follow Man Utd ( as do i ), Arsenal, etc and watch their heroes of Rooney and Walcott, but yet ridicule and are against them when they play for their national team.

Why do people make out like this is a thing? Even players who are best mates at their club become fierce rivals when they play against one another. How can anyone be so obtuse as to make this point?

Gone Drinking

"Polska bialo-czerwoni"

Haha, we were singing that because is sounds like "Polska, via Germany" and that's how most of us got to Poznan!

We did wear red/polish tops when the Polish were playing though. Great craic! :pac:

Mr.Crinklewood

That's going off topic a bit. I was just replying to the guy before me.

To put it into GAA terms. I'm from Mayo, in my youth I spent an odd weekend in Cork watching St.Finbarrs play. As a result of this I follow their results in the Cork Championship. As a result of this I follow Cork in the All-Ireland ( unless they play Mayo )

Patser

Mateusz,

Dziękujemy Poland!
Dziękujemy Poznan!

Just on a ferry now as part of my trip home from Poznan and I have to say I was blown away by how friendly the city was. I was lucky to make friends with some Poles there who brought me off exploring the city (out to the Soviet Graveyard where I got to climb on a T34, through the city and out to an urban beach to drink beer and watch the sunrise from worn out leather armchairs ). Just a fantastic time was had by all. We also had great fun with our Flag which we wrote Jak sie masz Koteczku? on

Gone drinking - we made a worse mistake and sang 'Polska, We hate Germany' for a few days before being corrected:o

And for the begrudgers, remember for many this is the 1st of a lifetime chance for a trip like this. Japan was too far for most, USA also very pricey and almost 20 years ago, so you can be sure a large supporters group would travel. Am I a LoI supporter, no not really, I'm more into the GAA - however I will support the National team, have travelled to ther games (home and away) and do the same for Rugby. Does that make me a Plastic Paddy in your eyes, well Ok, I'll try remember that the next time I'm stood on Hill 16. But for now I can say I travelled, I supported and I partied.

And again OP, thank you and your City for the reception, your friendliness and all the Zapiekankis!

MatMc

Thank you for together's beer :-) my adress is <snip>

"Polska biało-czerwoni" - as a matter of fact we wondered, did you know, what you sing :-)
I found a news that it is planned to make a friendly match Ireland-Poland :-)
"Let 's get as many supporters as possible to organize a match Poland - Ireland in Poznan.
We hope to continue friendship beetwen Poland and Ireland."

Are you interested in?
More informations you can find on FB:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Poland-Ireland-after-Euro-2012-lets-make-a-friendly-match-xxxx2012/186636648120682

On TVN24 I found:
"Representatives of UEFA Euro 2012 in Poznan ensure that they didn't know about the initiative. But they are delighted with the idea."