Man City to play Limerick FC at Thomond Park

Kess73

tommy249 wrote: »

Eh - it's the top story on both the Limerick Leader and 95fm websites...............

Long after it was a headline piece in Britain, France, and Germany. Would you not think that local news should be reported first on the local formats rather than being able to read about it since last night on the BBC site and being able to hear about on 90elf (a German station)?

It only became the top story on Live95FM in the last two hours or so because it was not on their site before that, likewise the Leader.

But better late than not at all, and with luck it will help get those involved caught.

Cartman78

I was hugely disappointed to hear about the racist incident(s) this morning - once again Limerick has it's name dragged through the mud by a tiny minority of total scum.

Really don't know what can be said/done at this stage....have lived in Limerick for almost 15 years and this kind of thing (ie. a minority of moron-scum ruining the city and the quality of life in it) seems to happen on a frequency that you just don't see in the likes of Cork, Galway etc.

Anyway, would be nice if the culprits are found & publicly shamed (I know it won't change them or make them see the light but might make everyone else fell a tiny bit better) and hopefully the mayor or someone of similar stature can make some kind of apology/gesture to the player involved :mad::(

Cartman78

Kess73 wrote: »

That is very true, but the two things that people in all the other countries that the story is being circulated in will see is Racism and Limerick.


Some people in England, France, Germany or wherever may never have heard of Limerick before, but in the future if they ever hear the name Limerick again they may associate the name with racism thanks to a few ignorant scummers who are in no way a true reflection on the majority of people in Limerick.


Like it or not mud sticks. Which is why I would love to see an example made of anyone found guilty, and let everyone know who they are. They thought they were big funny men with their racist gesture, well let them be the same big men and take whatever punishment the courts can throw at them along with whatever the media wants to throw at them.

Yep...this was the second lead story on the Guardian Football website this morning so basically anyone with an interest in non-tabloid football journalism will be making that association right now.

Really can't describe adequately how p1ssed off I am about this whole thing tbh

Brian Lighthouse

supackofidiots wrote: »

was at the game last night.

really enjoyed the first half, second half was crap. limerick were useless, i'd love to see the possession stats.

re: the incident, I didn't see it but my mate said it to me and I thought he was joking.

there was some amount of scum at the game, may who probably don't give two ****s about soccer.

there was a group of absolute idiots behind me, who kept shouting the most regressed comments that they thought were hilarious.

evry time lescott got the ball the circus master of the group in his limerick twang would shout ''lescott with your big fat forehead''.

and ''where's kettleneck tevez'' was another one.

his comrades thought he was the funniest person in the world, they were adamant ''lescott's gonna climb over the barrier and dig the brains off you i swear''.

and of course every one of them was an expert on soccer as well.:rolleyes: probably never kicked a ****ing ball in their lives.


the banana incident is disgusting, I'm a limerick native and it seems to be 90% of people are doing the best to improve the place and then 10% of arseholes just can't move past their regressed and uneducated ideology. a lot of it is product of environment, the people doing this **** live in shit estates and have shit lives and have little to no education. I don't expect any other team to come back here again though.

The pieces of text that are italicised in bold, are prejudiced and contain no fact. It is opinion and conjecture.

The underlined segments of text - I will accept - are your personal reviews of the game that took place.

I am unhappy that your post has allowed to remain "up" for so long. I am saddened that a moderator has not seen it fit to remove or edit your comment.
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1989/en/act/pub/0019/print.html

By the way; could you tell us all in which percentile, you described, do you see yourself in?

Many thanks in advance
Brian

phog

Jofspring wrote: »

I was told that the lads that do it were remove about ten minutes after doing it and handed all information handed over to the gardai. They have been banned from thomond park and limerick games for life and now it's up to the gardai whether they bring it further which they should.

.

I hope that's true and that the gardai have or can get enough evidence to prosecute these people, there's no place for in society in general and in sport in particular. I hope Thomond Park have some video evidence of the incident to back up any evidence given by stewards or other supporters that witnessed the incident.

Kess73 wrote: »

It has been reported in the French media as well today as the player who had the banana thrown at him, Clichy, tweeted about it.


In England you see people who make racist gestures and remarks at football grounds getting charged by the police, as well as being named and shamed. I hope the idiot/idiots involved have the same happen to them here in Ireland.

My thought exactly, there's only one way to deal with this sort of unsavory incidents and thats prosecute the offenders.

Itsdacraic wrote: »

It's always a tiny minority in soccer

It's always a tiny minority. Full stop. But it's up to the majority to make the minority uncomfortable and to conform.

FutureGuy

I rang Henry Street today and told them what I saw. They seem very eager to hear from other people at the game. There was plenty of CCTV and TV footage on the night so it's just a matter of narrowing down the section.

If anyone saw where the bananas were thrown from, I'd urge you to call Henry Street on 061-212400. Ask for someone dealing with the investigation.

When the bananas hit the ground they didnt really bounce of skim off the surface so they were thown from somewhere close to where they landed.

Did anyone actually see where they came from?

Edit: Just reading the posts above...I though they removed them last night too because the fans in the area were signing "cheerio" a few mins into the second half. However, Live 95 seemed to state that they were still investiating the matter.

tonymontana82

Brian Lighthouse wrote: »

The pieces of text that are italicised in bold, are prejudiced and contain no fact. It is opinion and conjecture.

The underlined segments of text - I will accept - are your personal reviews of the game that took place.

I am unhappy that your post has allowed to remain "up" for so long. I am saddened that a moderator has not seen it fit to remove or edit your comment.
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1989/en/act/pub/0019/print.html

By the way; could you tell us all in which percentile, you described, do you see yourself in?

Many thanks in advance
Brian

Brian the lad was only explaining his opinion, there was alot of scumbags there last night as almost everyone else here has said aswell.
What exactly is your problem with his comment?

IsaacWunder

Brian Lighthouse wrote: »

The pieces of text that are italicised in bold, are prejudiced and contain no fact. It is opinion and conjecture.

The underlined segments of text - I will accept - are your personal reviews of the game that took place.

I am unhappy that your post has allowed to remain "up" for so long. I am saddened that a moderator has not seen it fit to remove or edit your comment.
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1989/en/act/pub/0019/print.html

By the way; could you tell us all in which percentile, you described, do you see yourself in?

Many thanks in advance
Brian

The incitement to hatred act only applies on grounds of race, religion, nationality, or sexual orientation. Calling disgusting bigots scum is not illegal. People deliberately going out of their way to cause offence and disgrace our city deserve to be called a lot worse. As someone who was at the match, he's correct in his analysis. It was a brilliant event, that was overshadowed by the actions of a few idiots. There's a lumpen in Limerick that regularly shame us, and we need to stand up to them and let them know this behaviour will not be tolerated.

liammur

I see RTE have it up on their text in the news and sports section. Strange they hadn't a mention of the game up until this.

Jofspring

supackofidiots wrote: »

really enjoyed the first half, second half was crap. limerick were useless, i'd love to see the possession stats.

Irish amateur first division team in being useless against Premier League champions and multimillion euro football club shocker. :rolleyes:

Don't forget Limerick also made 13 changes in the second half finishing with a team that averaged probably close to the age of 19.

There was a meeting on in Thomond Park yesterday afternoon regards the incident. Hopefully the person is named and shamed. From what I believe they think they have pin pointed the person but I would suggest we leave it at that for now till the full investigation goes through.

I feel bad for Pat O Sullivan myself, he has come in and backed soccer in this city and is trying to do what he can, then some idiots decide to show up and pull a stunt like the one they did.

I have only once ever experienced racism at a Limerick match in the past and it was in Hogan park about 7 or 8 years ago. Someone in the stand there made a racist comment towards a Galway United player but was told very quickly were to go by the rest of the crowd in the stand. That was the first and last time I experienced it. This sadly also has been heard at GAA matches in this country to Jason Sherlock and most recently a Wexford GAA player. It's usually the same idiots who show up to games (in whatever code) once in a blue moon thinking they are big funny men and cause problems for all the regulars. The same type of scum turned up when we played Shamrock Rovers in Hogan Park causing nothing but trouble, not even attending the game but looking to start fights outside after it because they wanted to look hard.

Cossax

Jofspring wrote: »

Irish amateur first division team in being useless against Premier League champions and multimillion euro football club shocker. :rolleyes:

Don't forget Limerick also made 13 changes in the second half finishing with a team that averaged probably close to the age of 19.

There was a meeting on in Thomond Park yesterday afternoon regards the incident. Hopefully the person is named and shamed. From what I believe they think they have pin pointed the person but I would suggest we leave it at that for now till the full investigation goes through.

I feel bad for Pat O Sullivan myself, he has come in and backed soccer in this city and is trying to do what he can, then some idiots decide to show up and pull a stunt like the one they did.

I have only once ever experienced racism at a Limerick match in the past and it was in Hogan park about 7 or 8 years ago. Someone in the stand there made a racist comment towards a Galway United player but was told very quickly were to go by the rest of the crowd in the stand. That was the first and last time I experienced it. This sadly also has been heard at GAA matches in this country to Jason Sherlock and most recently a Wexford GAA player. It's usually the same idiots who show up to games (in whatever code) once in a blue moon thinking they are big funny men and cause problems for all the regulars. The same type of scum turned up when we played Shamrock Rovers in Hogan Park causing nothing but trouble, not even attending the game but looking to start fights outside after it because they wanted to look hard.

Are the Limerick lads semi-pro or totally amateur?

TBH, the team that finished looked better to me than the team that started (except maybe the 4 who came on for 5) but then again I know nothing about football - maybe that's because they conceded fewer goals!

Jofspring

Most the players would be amateur with maybe a handful of semi-pro and maybe two pros. Ya Guthrie came on for Purcell at the back. Was delighted to see Purcell come off to be honest, last thing we need is him injured.

FutureGuy

I thought it was a great result for Limerick. Apart from Nasri (who didn't seem to really care to be there), Mancini left all his stars on until at least the hour mark.

Limerick made a raft of substitutions thoughout the game and they were punished for a few individual mistakes. Losing 4-0 to the Premier League champions...no disgrace there.

Itsdacraic

FutureGuy wrote: »

I thought it was a great result for Limerick. Apart from Nasri (who didn't seem to really care to be there), Mancini left all his stars on until at least the hour mark.

Limerick made a raft of substitutions thoughout the game and they were punished for a few individual mistakes. Losing 4-0 to the Premier League champions...no disgrace there.

Indeed. Sure didn't they beat United 6-1

Alonso77

Raiser wrote: »

I remember seeing Jason Sherlock playing for Shamrock Rovers v Limerick FC in their home ground at Rathbane around 1998 getting subjected to 90 minutes of sustained and disgraceful racial abuse by the inbred scum of Limerick from beneath a cloud of hash smoke with no attempt made by the club to act in any way.

- Haven't been back to a Limerick match since and certainly wouldn't bring a child to one as long as that filth are still going, even though they are obviously a minority, I didn't like the clubs ignorance and apathy either......

That was the 2nd leg of the Play off against UCD, I remember the abuse he got that day, it was embarrassing but he got the last laugh, he pretty much tore us apart and UCD went up. Ray o 'Halloran scored a cracker at the shed end that day

phog

From the Irish Times

GARDAÍ ARE trying to identify a spectator alleged to have thrown a banana on to the pitch in an alleged racist incident at a match in Thomond Park, Limerick.

Manchester City defender Gaël Clichy mentioned the incident on Twitter after Sunday’s friendly match, which gave his club a 4-0 victory against Limerick FC.

“How sad to see bananas thrown on the pitch tonight . . . Knowing people around the world need food. #nowordsforthis,” the French international player said.

Gardaí said no complaint had been made to them about the incident.

“We’ve secured CCTV footage but we don’t have any complaint. Without a complaint there is no investigation,” Chief Supt David Sheahan of Limerick’s Henry Street Garda station said yesterday.

So, the gardai cant seem to take this any further without a complaint. :eek:

Kess73

phog wrote: »

From the Irish Times



So, the gardai cant seem to take this any further without a complaint. :eek:

And I suppose in order to make a proper complaint one would have have to have seen the person throwing the banana rather than just seeing the banana hit the pitch?


Given that the person was ejected from the ground by match officials, and given that the gardai seem to have actual footage of him doing what he did, then they should be able to have a word with him regarding the footage and the fact the officials wanted him out of the ground because of his actions.


Surely if there is no complaint against the guy by the match officials that threw him out of the ground, then he could claim that he was thrown out for no reason?

vkid

saw another tweet from him


hi to all the Irish football Lover, limerick and Munster fans. I will never put you guys in the same basket of this/those people.

Could be worse.

Soulcrew09

Raiser wrote: »

- Haven't been back to a Limerick match since and certainly wouldn't bring a child to one as long as that filth are still going, even though they are obviously a minority, I didn't like the clubs ignorance and apathy either......

Well thank God in the 14 years since you have been a lot has changed. The lads running the club now are the same fans who were disgusted at the way the club was run in the 90's and instead of moaning, complaining and bad mouthing the club they have at least tried to do something about it.

Another thing I would like to point out was the scumbags who thought it was ok to come onto the North Terrace after the game and try take the flags that were hung for the game, what the hell is wrong with people in this town?

irishproduce

Kess73 wrote: »

And I suppose in order to make a proper complaint one would have have to have seen the person throwing the banana rather than just seeing the banana hit the pitch?


Given that the person was ejected from the ground by match officials, and given that the gardai seem to have actual footage of him doing what he did, then they should be able to have a word with him regarding the footage and the fact the officials wanted him out of the ground because of his actions.


Surely if there is no complaint against the guy by the match officials that threw him out of the ground, then he could claim that he was thrown out for no reason?

I think the complaint would have to come from Gael Clichy is what they mean.
Someone should go to his twitter page and ask him to make a complaint to see the issue dealt with.
I don't use twitter.

Stab*City

Event was excellent. Incident was total disgrace. Match programme was disgrace too.

Racism is a huge underlying problem in Limerick. But that's for another time.

I thought Limerick didn't do too bad. They must have been very proud to play against the prem champs. Kids loved it too. Got a nice lim vs man scarf too. I'd love to see a lot more events at TP. I for one would go to any other decent events like that.

As for Clichy he played a great match so I guess he got last laugh too.

FutureGuy

Onto a few lesser mentioned positives...

The two under-7 matches at half-time (they were running simultaneously) were an absolute joy to watch. The whole crowd were cheering them everytime there was a goal chance as if we were at a World Cup final

One midfielder played a really decent ball through the defense to his team mate who was onside. The only problem was that he was too busy looking at his family in the crowd to realize the ball had been played to him!

There was also a 1-on-1. It took the kid about 20 secinds to run from halfway to the goal with everyone cheering him on. Eventually, he got a shot on target which the keeper saved to the disappointed "aahhhhss" in the crowd. Then the goalkeeper immediately spilled the ball allowing the striker to get another shot in. Superb entertainment, and honestly I enjoyed that 10 minutes more than alot of the actual game.

Also, at half time, they showed the mens 100m on the big screen. Dzeko and SantaCruz were in the centre circle and were like bould school children who were avoiding going back to class after the bell had rang to end lunch. They were keeping an eye out for Mancini as the race was going on in case they got caught. Eventually Mancini noticed them and they went back in smiling.

Soulcrew09

Stab*City wrote: »

Match programme was disgrace too.

A disgrace? its a programme, what were you expecting?

Cossax

Stab*City wrote: »

Event was excellent. Incident was total disgrace. Match programme was disgrace too.

Racism is a huge underlying problem in Limerick. But that's for another time.

I thought Limerick didn't do too bad. They must have been very proud to play against the prem champs. Kids loved it too. Got a nice lim vs man scarf too. I'd love to see a lot more events at TP. I for one would go to any other decent events like that.

As for Clichy he played a great match so I guess he got last laugh too.

Meh, dunno about that. Crowd was rubbish (even leaving out the unfortunate element who turned up), only heard one sustained chant (from the East Stand FFS), game wasn't great either but perhaps I'm biased as I don't generally watch/enjoy football.
Also, getting in was an issue, dunno if it's Thomond Park to blame or TicketMaster but plenty of tickets weren't scanning at all - I've been to 20+ matches in the new Thomond at this stage and I've never had an issue like that and there were a distinct lack of stewards at the turnstyles to manually scan and let people through.

For what it's worth, it seems a lot of Munster fans weren't too impressed with the reputational damage done and who knows if Thomond Park Stadium will be keen on more football events like that.

Soulcrew09

20k+ is a fine crowd for a friendly imo. It proves if you had a Man Utd/Liverpool team over it would probably sell out, Munster not being happy is understandable but the fact remains they need as many events in TP as they can get. No concerts this year and with Munster being in Leinsters (and Ulster maybe?) shadow they will be left with a lot of empty seats for a lot of games again this year.

Cossax

Soulcrew09 wrote: »

20k+ is a fine crowd for a friendly imo. It proves if you had a Man Utd/Liverpool team over it would probably sell out, Munster not being happy is understandable but the fact remains they need as many events in TP as they can get. No concerts this year and with Munster being in Leinsters (and Ulster maybe?) shadow they will be left with a lot of empty seats for a lot of games again this year.

Don't want to drag this off topic but Munster don't make money from TP - I believe Munster technically rent TP from Thomond Park Stadium Ltd. (who are jointly owned by the Munster Branch and the IRFU) and Munster would get a payment from TPS if they make a profit, a payment that goes to pay off the IRFU's loan for the rebuilding of TP. I think!

Besides, a new season with a small clear-out of players and a new coaching staff (about frigging time!) will, I hope, mean more bums on seats.

They do need to get more events in: concerts, conferences, other sports but if they get bad press, it'll hurt them getting other events in future.

Aidric

Stab*City wrote: »

Racism is a huge underlying problem in Limerick. But that's for another time.

What study are you basing that view on or are you just throwing out generalisations?

Stab*City

Soulcrew09 wrote: »

A disgrace? its a programme, what were you expecting?

Well I wasn't expecting the ads section of the limerick post for 4€

I'm basing my view on personal experience as regards racism in Limerick. We enjoyed the event I guess probably because I was actually more interested in the game than the amount of a certain element that was present.

Beaver1

lads there only one reason they cant act on it, its because the Irish Law is an ass, that's why the country is in the state it is.

Kess73

As someone who had a pop at the various Limerick media earlier in the thread, I have to say well done to the Chronicle for their headline today. Was exactly the kind of headline I hoped to see.

afro man

Cossax wrote: »

Meh, dunno about that. Crowd was rubbish (even leaving out the unfortunate element who turned up), only heard one sustained chant (from the East Stand FFS), game wasn't great either but perhaps I'm biased as I don't generally watch/enjoy football.
Also, getting in was an issue, dunno if it's Thomond Park to blame or TicketMaster but plenty of tickets weren't scanning at all - I've been to 20+ matches in the new Thomond at this stage and I've never had an issue like that and there were a distinct lack of stewards at the turnstyles to manually scan and let people through.

For what it's worth, it seems a lot of Munster fans weren't too impressed with the reputational damage done and who knows if Thomond Park Stadium will be keen on more football events like that.

so why did you go to game then if you dont watch / enjoy football lets be honest of the 20,000 fans there 19,000 plus did not support man city or limerick probally just went along to see premier league players & man city so it was always going to be hard to get any great atmosphere going as for game not being great you are talking about a multi millon pound team playing a part time team in the 2nd division league in ireland so no surprise about quality of game. i have been at plenty of games in thomond when munster playing at the atmosphere / crowd have been poor, also the policy for most rugby games is for spectators to manually scan themselves in to ground at a least one turnstile on all entrances

Beaver1

Cossax wrote: »

For what it's worth, it seems a lot of Munster fans weren't too impressed with the reputational damage done and who knows if Thomond Park Stadium will be keen on more football events like that.

well its not up to the munster fans to decide, if they want thomand park to survive they need other functions going on there and that includes soccer, heres one for the munster supporters that dont like soccer on there, maybe they should go to the magners league games and support that then maybe they wouldnt need soccer to be played there.

also I heard if Limerick get promoted to the premier div, they will be using Thomand park as the markets field and Jackman park are not up to premier standard

Cossax

afro man wrote: »

so why did you go to game then if you dont watch / enjoy football lets be honest of the 20,000 fans there 19,000 plus did not support man city or limerick probally just went along to see premier league players & man city so it was always going to be hard to get any great atmosphere going as for game not being great you are talking about a multi millon pound team playing a part time team in the 2nd division league in ireland so no surprise about quality of game. i have been at plenty of games in thomond when munster playing at the atmosphere / crowd have been poor, also the policy for most rugby games is for spectators to manually scan themselves in to ground at a least one turnstile on all entrances

I wanted to support Thomond Park and by extension, Munster.

I've been to Thomond dozens of times and can't remember a game where there was such a lack of atmosphere, maybe the Munster u20s game v Ulster u20s a few years ago which was a trial run for opening the full ground up.

The issue was the turnstyles weren't manned by stewards with hand scanners, as they often are at rugby games just in case (certainly on the West Terrace). Thus people who couldn't scan in via the turnstyles weren't able to use it at all and had to go to a gate.

Beaver1 wrote: »

well its not up to the munster fans to decide, if they want thomand park to survive they need other functions going on there and that includes soccer, heres one for the munster supporters that dont like soccer on there, maybe they should go to the magners league games and support that then maybe they wouldnt need soccer to be played there.

also I heard if Limerick get promoted to the premier div, they will be using Thomand park as the markets field and Jackman park are not up to premier standard

I'm a season ticket holder so you might want to address that whinge at someone else.
It's not been the Magners for a season, it's the RaboDirect Pro12 now.

Yeah, the fans that support the sport that owns the stadium wouldn't have any influence on the decision for the potential for more football games being held there after a internationally reported incident of racism. :rolleyes:

I'd be surprised somehow if that happened, even only opening the terraces it'd seem like an expensive undertaking - a little over 600 odd people on terraces that handle 11k surely wouldn't cover costs. Even if you only opened one of the ET/WT, that's still 4k or more spaces.

phog

Beaver1 wrote: »

well its not up to the munster fans to decide, if they want thomand park to survive they need other functions going on there and that includes soccer, heres one for the munster supporters that dont like soccer on there, maybe they should go to the magners league games and support that then maybe they wouldnt need soccer to be played there.

also I heard if Limerick get promoted to the premier div, they will be using Thomand park as the markets field and Jackman park are not up to premier standard

It's Thomond

Beaver1

Cossax wrote: »

I'm a season ticket holder so you might want to address that whinge at someone else.
It's not been the Magners for a season, it's the RaboDirect Pro12 now.

Yeah, the fans that support the sport that owns the stadium wouldn't have any influence on the decision for the potential for more football games being held there after a internationally reported incident of racism. :rolleyes:

I'd be surprised somehow if that happened, even only opening the terraces it'd seem like an expensive undertaking - a little over 600 odd people on terraces that handle 11k surely wouldn't cover costs. Even if you only opened one of the ET/WT, that's still 4k or more spaces.

that statement is at the 10,000 so called fans that dont go to the Magner league games. maybe if they did Thomand park wouldnt rely on the soccer,

also there was 1 raciest at the game out of 20,000 and yes 1 is 1 too many and no-one condones that. should soccer be stopped because of 1 person and the story on the Limerick supporters page on facebook is that he is not even Irish let alone from Limerick,.

if soccer is stopped because of 1 ejit, then this raciest has won and probably achieved his goal, what ever that was because he brought the banana to the stadium for the purpose of throwing it on the pitch.

Raiser

The Beaver makes a 'Dam' good point!

Ask the average 'rugby mad' Munster fan with the Munster socks, headband, jocks and matching kids jersey what an AIL match is and you'll see one confused little consumer!!!

- Same cnuts can be heard yelping through place kicks in the new Thomond Park now too unfortunately

Clareman

I don't know why this is going down the lines of complaining about people shouting during place kicks in a rugby match, but I thought I'd throw in my own 2 cents.

Limerick has a brilliant sporting tradition, in fact I would go as far as to say that it's probably the most sporting mad city in the country, we've Munster rugby, a brilliant junior soccer setup, 2 competitive GAA teams, a horse and greyhound track, all of which make up the city and it's people. 1 numpty going to a match with the sole purpose as to try to be "funny" shouldn't distract from the fact that this was a great occasion, a great show put on by the organizers and something that should be encouraged to be repeated over and over. Personally I can't fathom what kind of imbicile would think it a good idea to throw a banana at someone, it might have been a good idea over 30 years ago when someone did it to John Barnes, if you want to try something, think up something original.

In regards to some other gripes that people are coming out with, most of these preseason friendlies are competitive for the first hour and then the flood gates open cause both teams empty the benches and that means the stronger team normally finishes the stronger, Man City has a team full of internationals who are just back from the European Championships so they would have taken the game more seriously than normally. Programs for events like this are usually ~70% advertising as it's a great way for the club to make money, go to every business in town and get a couple of quid off them for an ad is a great money making spinner, if you thought it was bad at this game I wouldn't recommend picking up a lot of local GAA programs, usually they have 2 pages of team news, 1 page of county board notices, the front page and then 4 pages of ads.

I just hope that the events from this games doesn't mean that other teams don't come to Limerick for games, it'd be a shame to have the actions of an individual impact the whole area.

Kess73

Clareman wrote: »

I don't know why this is going down the lines of complaining about people shouting during place kicks in a rugby match, but I thought I'd throw in my own 2 cents.

Limerick has a brilliant sporting tradition, in fact I would go as far as to say that it's probably the most sporting mad city in the country, we've Munster rugby, a brilliant junior soccer setup, 2 competitive GAA teams, a horse and greyhound track, all of which make up the city and it's people. 1 numpty going to a match with the sole purpose as to try to be "funny" shouldn't distract from the fact that this was a great occasion, a great show put on by the organizers and something that should be encouraged to be repeated over and over. Personally I can't fathom what kind of imbicile would think it a good idea to throw a banana at someone, it might have been a good idea over 30 years ago when someone did it to John Barnes, if you want to try something, think up something original.

In regards to some other gripes that people are coming out with, most of these preseason friendlies are competitive for the first hour and then the flood gates open cause both teams empty the benches and that means the stronger team normally finishes the stronger, Man City has a team full of internationals who are just back from the European Championships so they would have taken the game more seriously than normally. Programs for events like this are usually ~70% advertising as it's a great way for the club to make money, go to every business in town and get a couple of quid off them for an ad is a great money making spinner, if you thought it was bad at this game I wouldn't recommend picking up a lot of local GAA programs, usually they have 2 pages of team news, 1 page of county board notices, the front page and then 4 pages of ads.

I just hope that the events from this games doesn't mean that other teams don't come to Limerick for games, it'd be a shame to have the actions of an individual impact the whole area.

Why the hell would a racist gesture be a "good idea" at any time? A racist act/gesture is never a good idea and whether or not it was an original thing to do simply does not come into it.

If a tiny minority of ignorant people do something like what happened at Thomond Park, then those that do have a public voice (local media, local politicians etc etc) should always be quick to speak out against the action and be quick to ensure that non local media and non local people hear that such behaviour is not acceptable in Limerick and that it disgusts Limerick folk.

The action was done by an ignorant person, but the international media will put, as I said earlier in this thread, two things into the minds of those that read the story.

Limerick and Racism.

The act is done and cannot be changed, but it would be much better for Limerick if what gets reported turns into "Limerick disgusted at Racist act" rather than "Racist act in Limerick"


The John Barnes incident did a hell of a lot to highlight racism, and Digger's classy response on the pitch and the even classier way the man has discussed racism in the 24 years that followed the incident speaks volumes about the man.

For those unfamilar with the incident it involved another ignorant person, like the guy in Thomond Park, throwing a banana at John Barnes during a game whilst a group around him chanted "Everton are white". The throwing of a banana at a black player is basically an act to try an demean by comparing a black player to an ape.

On that day the banana was flung at Digger and rather than get angry, shout or anything else Barnes backheeled the banana off of the pitch as he jogged by. Basically treating the idiots as if they were not even there.

Hooked

I fail to see what all the fuss is about? Sure, one racist idiot has Limerick in the headlines for all the wrong reasons...

But we're talking about soccer here... The English Premiership winners. This sort of 'abuse', racial or personal is intertwined in the mentality of supporters up and down the length of England and Scotland.

Fans chant and write songs about players personal lives, skin colour, the loss of a baby, bedroom antics and a whole lot more. Movies have been made based on hooliganism... Major tournaments marred by misbehaviour.

And we're all getting our knickers in a twist over one fcuking idiot? We're worse for making this non story a story at all.

And as for the 'scum' element at our beloved thomond park? Wake up!!! Its everywhere nowadays. Thats the result of parenting this new generation. And it's visible all over this city and many more. broken glass from underage drinking, dog shīt from irresponsible owners, general smart comments and threatening behaviour up and down the length of the city. Lazy teens getting pregnant and signing up for the dole and allowances instead of working and being safe.

Christ I'm ranting now... This city, no... This country is gone to the absolute dogs!!!

I'm only 34 and I have younger brothers and cousins that have no idea what it is to earn money or respect. I fear for my young nieces and nephews and what's down the road for them...

Anyway... Here's Katy to distract me for a bit.

jonski

Hooked wrote: »

Thats the result of not parenting this new generation.

I fixed that for you

Cossax

Raiser wrote: »

The Beaver makes a 'Dam' good point!

Ask the average 'rugby mad' Munster fan with the Munster socks, headband, jocks and matching kids jersey what an AIL match is and you'll see one confused little consumer!!!

- Same cnuts can be heard yelping through place kicks in the new Thomond Park now too unfortunately

I'm somewhat confused as to why someone who supports Munster has to support an AIL team?
Does someone who supports a senior club have to support a junior club too?
It'd be great for the financial health of AIL clubs if more people went to AIL club games but not everyone can get to two games in a weekend or is in an area served by a AIL club or feels it's value for money (€10 in to see some AIL games where it's two amateur to semi-pro teams in a field compared to €15 in to see two pro teams in a very nice stadium).

Anyway, getting very off topic here and don't want to bring the mod(s) down on me!

Kess73

Hooked wrote: »

I fail to see what all the fuss is about? Sure, one racist idiot has Limerick in the headlines for all the wrong reasons...

But we're talking about soccer here... The English Premiership winners. This sort of 'abuse', racial or personal is intertwined in the mentality of supporters up and down the length of England and Scotland.

Fans chant and write songs about players personal lives, skin colour, the loss of a baby, bedroom antics and a whole lot more. Movies have been made based on hooliganism... Major tournaments marred by misbehaviour.

And we're all getting our knickers in a twist over one fcuking idiot? We're worse for making this non story a story at all.

And as for the 'scum' element at our beloved thomond park? Wake up!!! Its everywhere nowadays. Thats the result of parenting this new generation. And it's visible all over this city and many more. broken glass from underage drinking, dog shīt from irresponsible owners, general smart comments and threatening behaviour up and down the length of the city. Lazy teens getting pregnant and signing up for the dole and allowances instead of working and being safe.

Christ I'm ranting now... This city, no... This country is gone to the absolute dogs!!!

I'm only 34 and I have younger brothers and cousins that have no idea what it is to earn money or respect. I fear for my young nieces and nephews and what's down the road for them...

Anyway... Here's Katy to distract me for a bit.

That is a very ignorant sounding comment and pretty offensive to be honest. I could make just as sweeping a generalisation about the Irish or supporters of one Irish league or another.

I hate to burst the bubble of any preconceived notion you might have about those that attend games in England or Scotland, but the vast majority don't shout racist abuse and the vast majority don't shout personal abuse during or after games.

I grew up in Liverpool, and started going to Liverpool FC games from a young age and continued to do so right up to now. I have yet to use a racist insult at a game and know that I will not in the future. I also don't get involved with chants about disasters or chants about player's wives or whatever. There are tens of thousands just like me in scores of grounds every weekend that the league goes on for. Yet you are happy to say that racist abuse is just something that is part of the mentality of being a footballer supporter in England.


The reason why racism and it's ilk stands out (be it in England, or Ireland) is because it is done by a minority and it sticks out like a sore thumb amongst groups of people who are not doing so. It should never be treated like it is not a big deal imho, and it should never be swept under the carpet or worse still be seen as acceptable in any way.


As to why what happened in Thomond Park should be a big deal. Well people go on about how great Limerick is a lot, or on about how great Limerick could be, but one racist idiot whose actions were getting into papers and onto tv station in a number of countries within hours of the final whistle has the potential to see Limerick and Limerick folk tarred with the one brush, much ion the manner that you have done with people like me who have grown up going to football matches in England. You were happy to say that racist abuse is "intertwined in the mentality of supporters up and down the length of England" and pretty much stereotype hundreds of thousands of people and people reading the report of the game in Limerick may just as easily decide to stereotype the good people of Limerick as having a racist undercurrent based on not fully knowing what they are talking about.

afro man

Cossax wrote: »

I wanted to support Thomond Park and by extension, Munster.

I've been to Thomond dozens of times and can't remember a game where there was such a lack of atmosphere, maybe the Munster u20s game v Ulster u20s a few years ago which was a trial run for opening the full ground up.

The issue was the turnstyles weren't manned by stewards with hand scanners, as they often are at rugby games just in case (certainly on the West Terrace). Thus people who couldn't scan in via the turnstyles weren't able to use it at all and had to go to a gate.

cossax, i'm lost here how can going to watch a soccer match in thomond is supporting thomond park & munster the night was all about limerick fc & limerick as a city , we must have been to different rugby games then as if have been at a few were atmosphere was rubbish but will admit when its a good night the atmosphere is brilliant..