Herald Says "best fans in the world" a myth * Mod Note #53 *

dreamers75

http://www.herald.ie/sport/soccer/tallaght-snub-shows-best-fans-label-a-complete-myth-3189022.html

JUST a quick question for the tens of thousands of Irish supporters, 'the best fans in the world', who travelled to Poland to see an Irish team play last June.

Just where were you all at 7.45pm last night? Were you plonked in front of the TV watching Liverpool play in Belarus? Watching the Olympics?

It's a pity, then, that there were so many empty seats at a game in Dublin when St Patrick's Athletic represented this country in the Europa League.

Only 4,236 punters turned up at Tallaght Stadium last night to see Pats lose 3-0 to Hannover. With around 1,000 of those coming from Germany, that left just over 3,000 people who were bothered enough to get off their backsides and come to a real, live game involving a classy looking side who had nine senior internationals in their starting XI, on a night when there was not much else to do of a sporting nature in Dublin.

Last night's attendance at Tallaght Stadium knocks a hole in the theory that we have the best football fans in the world. We don't. If we did, Tallaght Stadium would have been packed to the rafters, if only to see an impressive side like Hannover.

Top marks to the Pats fans, and the supporters of other LOI clubs, who also came along, and kudos to the supporters from Germany, who lustily sang their way through the 90 minutes and more. But Ireland as a nation once again turned its back on proper football, just opened another can of beer and stayed in front of the TV. Shameful, too, that once again the Irish management team of Giovanni Trapattoni and Marco Tardelli snubbed Irish football by not attending last night's game.

Pats had 11 Irish-born players in their team last night. And apart from Dundee United, who had no less than six Irish players involved against Dinamo Moscow, not a single eligible Irish player was involved in any other competitive football of any description last night.

But still no sign of the international team management who clearly had more pressing engagements.

A lazy snubbing of a domestic game would scarcely be tolerated in any other country.

ohhhh the fields of ath.....

Meh i was there and so was every Pats fan i know...and we (pats) are the best fans in the world.

Pj!

A lazy article by Aidan Fitzmaurice.

BOHtox

Rag journalism of the highest standard. I'd expect better rants from drunken posters on here.

Soups123

Not this **** again

Jesus Wept

lol out loud

BOHtox

Deleted User wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJl5eTtQ5aQ

darced

This post has been deleted.

dreamers75

Deleted User wrote: »

Dunno about that......this is pats fans at 2.0 down vs a far superior team. And we just missed a golden chance.....

I swear to god Boards.ie soccer forum will never ever get what it means to be a part of something from a laptop,pc,barstool.

You will never understand what went on in that video....we ****ing knew we were getting beaten but we played well.....we go to our teams games win lose or draw.....and we follow them......

Xavi6

He's right

/runs

monkey9

I have to say though, never mind the LOI vs the barstoolers nonsense, if Hannover 96 are playing in Dublin in the Europa League and their stand is half empty, it says a lot about this country's love of football!

I think what it says is and i'm genuinely not trying to be a troll here, but Irish football fans would rather watch a match on tv than actually go to a game.

This is being proven as a fact.

Paully D

Out of interest, how much were the tickets last night?

Owen_S

And if people did turn up, the LOI purists would label them plastic, glory-hunting fans who only turn up for the European games...

Ebbs

Not even the best fans in Dublin

monkey9

Paully D wrote: »

Out of interest, how much were the tickets last night?

15 euro.

monkey9

Owen_S wrote: »

And if people did turn up, the LOI purists would label them plastic, glory-hunting fans who only turn up for the European games...

And the 'LOI purists' would be proved right!

dreamers75

Owen_S wrote: »

And if people did turn up, the LOI purists would label them plastic, glory-hunting fans who only turn up for the European games...

omg people saying things about me on the internet....makes me feel bad.

you 12?

or just another made up excuse not to go......that 30 second video is all you need to know about Pats.....

dreamers75

dreamers75 wrote: »

I swear to god Boards.ie soccer forum will never ever get what it means to be a part of something from a laptop,pc,barstool.

You will never understand what went on in that video....we ****ing knew we were getting beaten but we played well.....we go to our teams games win lose or draw.....and we follow them......

You obviously didn't notice the 3D glasses.

stovelid

Hard to disagree, even if it is Fitzgypo.

This post will be probably be lost in the avalanche of reflexive, ironic popcorn pictures that always crop up when this sort of embarrassing searchlight gets shone into the soul of Irish football support.

darkman2

I find the support of the English game in Ireland embarrassing to be honest. I find it silly when some person who lives in Waterford, for example, when referring to Manchester United refers to them as "we" - i.e I hope we get that player or another player. I am sure Manchester City Boroughs are absolutely delighted with your support for that city in the UK. It's dosh to them. Pitty some don't realise LOI is only ****e because so many prefer to support English teams and defacto England both sportingly and financially. I think it is a hangover from when British rule was in Ireland - an inferiority complex.

batistuta9

BOHtox wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJl5eTtQ5aQ

neither is family guy

Paully D

monkey9 wrote: »

15 euro.

Very reasonable in fairness.

dreamers75

stovelid wrote: »

Hard to disagree, even if it is Fitzgypo.

This post will be probably be lost in the avalanche of reflexive, ironic popcorn pictures that always crop up when this sort of embarrassing searchlight gets shone into the soul of Irish football support.

I got my point accross and happy with that, shame noone will read that and instead go all " LOI is ****e " and thread will be locked.

Was quite happy my 30 second video pretty much summed us up, and we played quite well.

its boards.ie soccer forum.......youtube commenters have better knowledge of football and what it means to be part of something that anyone is free to join.

monkey9

Paully D wrote: »

Very reasonable in fairness.

Honestly, for a neutral football supporter to see Hannover 96 in Dublin and they don't show up?? It makes a mockery of their claims as to why they don't go to games!!

"Oh but there's no toilets and seats are bad and the standard is terrible etc etc etc". How about shutting up and admitting you view football like you'd view a tv show or the news or an event. Yes, that's right. From the likes of a barstool!!


Hannover 96, football fans!!! Fourth in the Bundesliga and quarter finalists in the Europa League last season only to be knocked out by eventual winners, Atletico Madrid.

dreamers75

monkey9 wrote: »

Honestly, for a neutral football supporter to see Hannover 96 in Dublin and they don't show up?? It makes a mockery of their claims as to why they don't go to games!!

"Oh but there's no toilets and seats are bad and the standard is terrible etc etc etc". How about shutting up and admitting you view football like you'd view a tv show or the news or an event. Yes, that's right. From the likes of a barstool!!


Hannover 96, football fans!!! Fourth in the Bundesliga and quarter finalists in the Europa League last season only to be knocked out by eventual winners, Atletico Madrid.

Monkey your getting angry now, they dont go to their own teams games they are certainly not going to go to ours.

Suck it up and accept it.

batistuta9

monkey9 wrote: »

I have to say though, never mind the LOI vs the barstoolers nonsense, if Hannover 96 are playing in Dublin in the Europa League and their stand is half empty, it says a lot about this country's love of football!

I think what it says is and i'm genuinely not trying to be a troll here, but Irish football fans would rather watch a match on tv than actually go to a game.

This is being proven as a fact.

it really depends on who the other team playing are, i'd say.

if it was bayern or dortmund more people probably would have went along, hannover aren't well known a team over here/have much meaning to people - a mid table club mostly.

and expecting fans of the other LOI clubs to go along is stupid as well i think, not that you said that but some people think they should. Why? you'd hardy expect a load of everton fans to go to the liverpool - gomel game at anfield

you can make the point LOI fans should want all LOI teams doing well to help coefficents yes, but that doesn't mean they need to go to the game if the don't want, giving rivals more money from the gate.

eagle eye

As regards the LoI and all this stuff that goes on here and that rubbish article.

If you have a product that you want to sell its up to you to sell it. Its not a case of saying that people won't give it a chance or anything like that. You have to go out and make people want to buy your product.

Pride Fighter

The article makes a good point. I was there last night, and despite the loss, it was a good night and both teams played good football on the deck.

Better than over half the premier league games I've seen on the telly.

dreamers75

eagle eye wrote: »

As regards the LoI and all this stuff that goes on here and that rubbish article.

If you have a product that you want to sell its up to you to sell it. Its not a case of saying that people won't give it a chance or anything like that. You have to go out and make people want to buy your product.

Stupidest question in the world is did you see the match last night?

monkey9

batistuta9 wrote: »

it really depends on who the other team playing are, i'd say.

if it was bayern or dortmund more people probably would have went along, hannover aren't well known a team over here/have much meaning to people - a mid table club mostly.

and expecting fans of the other LOI clubs to go along is stupid as well i think, not that you said that but some people think they should. Why? you'd hardy expect a load of everton fans to go to the liverpool - gomel game at anfield

you can make the point LOI fans should want all LOI teams doing well to help coefficents yes, but that doesn't mean they need to go to the game if the don't want, giving rivals more money from the gate.

I don't agree with this. Hannover 96 are a top German side who finished above so called bigger clubs last season. So where are all the so called football fans???

If Hanover 96 were playing Shels in Tolka, i'd go if i got a ticket.

Irish football fans are lazy bastards. This is a proven fact!

stovelid

batistuta9 wrote: »

ia mid table club mostly.
.

Got to love Irish people.

Casually disregarding a foreign club (ranked 65th in 453 European clubs) from one of the top European leagues as 'mid-table'.

It's actually like we have genuinely hallucinated ourselves into a country with one of the 3 top-ranking leagues in Europe.

Unless, of course, Ireland are playing and then we become the plucky alcoholic underdogs clashing swords with countries we **** over in the pub every weekend.

The majority of the people on this forum are fucking morons when it comes to football, let's be fair. It's all playstation stats and recycling pundit cliches - often while the fuckiing match is actually on.

monkey9

stovelid wrote: »

Got to love Irish people.

Casually disregarding a foreign club (ranked 65th in 453 European clubs) from one of the top European leagues as 'mid-table'.

It's actually like we have genuinely hallucinated ourselves into a country with one of the 3 top-ranking leagues in Europe.

Unless, of course, Ireland are playing and then we become the plucky alcoholic underdogs clashing swords with countries we **** over in the pub every weekend.

You know that thread about the best fans in the world? I had absolute no issue with the fans over in Poland, none whatsoever!!

But there was some craic between the Pats and Hannover fans, yet that will never get reported on!!

batistuta9

stovelid wrote: »

Got to love Irish people.

Casually disregarding a foreign club (ranked 65th in 453 European clubs) from one of the top European leagues as 'mid-table'.

It's actually like we have genuinely hallucinated ourselves into a country with one of the 3 top-ranking leagues in Europe.

Unless, of course, Ireland are playing and then we become the plucky alcoholic underdogs clashing swords with countries we **** over in the pub every weekend.

The majority of the people on this forum are fucking morons when it comes to football, let's be fair. It's all playstation stats and recycling pundit cliches - often while the fuckiing match is actually on.

i said they were a mid table club mostly, look at their finishes since promotion back to the bundesliga:

02/03 - 11
03/04 - 14
04/05 - 10
05/06 - 12
06/07 - 11
07/08 - 8
08/09 - 11
09/10 - 15
10/11 - 4
11/12 - 7

have they not finished mostly mid table?

you think every one in the country watches the bundesliga or something?

bayern, dortmund, werder bremen, schalke, hamburg, even stuttgard probably mean more to most casual football fans in ireland than hannover

Xavi6

monkey9 wrote: »

Irish football fans are lazy bastards. This is a proven fact!

I disagree, laziness isn't the issue.

Irish people are event junkies. It's why everyone went to Poland but won't go to the Aviva for a game against a 'minnow'. It's why there's an exodus to the Premier League/SPL every weekend but the doorstep football is ignored.

And it's not just football either, the Gah and rugby supporters are the exact same. Just the way it is sadly.

stovelid

batistuta9 wrote: »

i said they were a mid table club mostly, look at their finishes since promotion back to the bundesliga:

02/03 - 11
03/04 - 14
04/05 - 10
05/06 - 12
06/07 - 11
07/08 - 8
08/09 - 11
09/10 - 15
10/11 - 4
11/12 - 7

have they not finished mostly mid table?

you think every one in the country watches the bundesliga or something?

bayern, dortmund, werder bremen, schalke, hamburg, even stuttgard probably mean more to most casual football fans in ireland than hannover

I'm off to bed before I get the ban that this post richly justifies.

Mr.Nice Guy

Who cares about who has the 'best fans'? It's entirely subjective. I watch football for enjoyment, not so I can feel like I am superior to others. I'm loving the Olympics for what it's worth.

But Ireland as a nation once again turned its back on proper football, just opened another can of beer and stayed in front of the TV.

How is this 'proper football' exactly? And if people found entertainment at home rather than at the ground, isn't that the crux of the problem? The lack of entertainment they perceive they will have there in contrast to their own home?

Articles and opinions like this smack of a real inferiority complex. They contain no logic. They bemoan the symptoms of the problem rather than addressing the issue.

It's the equivalent of Alan Partridge standing at an empty stall in a station yelling at passers-by for not stopping to buy his book.

dreamers75

batistuta9 wrote: »

i said they were a mid table club mostly, look at their finishes since promotion back to the bundesliga:

02/03 - 11
03/04 - 14
04/05 - 10
05/06 - 12
06/07 - 11
07/08 - 8
08/09 - 11
09/10 - 15
10/11 - 4
11/12 - 7

have they not finished mostly mid table?

you think every one in the country watches the bundesliga or something?

bayern, dortmund, werder bremen, schalke, hamburg, even stuttgard probably mean more to most casual football fans in ireland than hannover

haven met their fans they are seriously proud of their EL record. Seriously ****ing proud...Alt Leibe......


but you know more cos you go to games and stuff.

boards.ie soccer forum, if you want to know what fcuktards think.

batistuta9

stovelid wrote: »

I'm off to bed before I get the ban that this post richly justifies.

no answer then so

batistuta9

dreamers75 wrote: »

haven met their fans they are seriously proud of their EL record. Seriously ****ing proud...Alt Leibe......


but you know more cos you go to games and stuff.

boards.ie soccer forum, if you want to know what fcuktards think.

did i say they weren't proud of their EL record?

monkey9

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Who cares about who has the 'best fans'? It's entirely subjective. I watch football for enjoyment, not so I can feel like I am superior to others. I'm loving the Olympics for what it's worth.



How is this 'proper football' exactly? And if people found entertainment at home rather than at the ground, isn't that the crux of the problem? The lack of entertainment they perceive they will have there in contrast to their own home?

Articles and opinions like this smack of a real inferiority complex. They contain no logic. They bemoan the symptoms of the problem rather than addressing the issue.

It's the equivalent of Alan Partridge standing at an empty stall in a station yelling at passers-by for not stopping to buy his book.

Every Irish football fan's reason for not going to see a LOI team last night was struck down. Completely struck down.

There's no excuses anymore. If you prefer to watch matches on tv rather than go to them,then that's fair enough!

dfx-

monkey9 wrote: »

There's no excuses anymore. If you prefer to watch matches on tv rather than go to them,then that's fair enough!

So you'll be going to Tallaght on Monday night then..meet up with dreamers75 somewhere on the way too.



No excuses remember..

Mr.Nice Guy

monkey9 wrote: »

Every Irish football fan's reason for not going to see a LOI team last night was struck down. Completely struck down.

There's no excuses anymore. If you prefer to watch matches on tv rather than go to them,then that's fair enough!

The Olympics are clearly going to be a big draw, particularly for sports fans. Many people are obviously supporting Irish competitors at the games. I would have thought logically it would make sense to support this situation if the ultimate goal is to get Irish people interested in local football? Attacking people for supporting Irish athletes in what are normally poorly supported sports seems rather counter-productive, does it not?

I have a lot of respect for those who attend LOI games, more than I did in the past as a result of things like Monaghan Utd leaving the league. Clearly LOI fans are doing more for the game here than most, myself included. In the last few months I have found my interest in the LOI growing with the exposure of the sport on T.V with shows like MNS. I must say though that my own interest in the league has stemmed not from name-calling or from a desire to feel superior to other fans but simply because I like the sport of football. Surely that has to be the goal: to highlight the sport and to increase interest around it. I never heard of a product succeeding through criticism of the consumers.

I would liken it to the Irish language. I would like to see the language prosper myself. I admire people like Bernard Dunne for making an effort. I've been making an effort myself to improve my knowledge. I wouldn't however slag off those around me who don't make a similar attempt, nor would I question their Irishness either. This isn't going to do any use. It the language is to improve it needs to be viewed as important and worthwhile by the general populace, young people need to take an interest in it etc. and the old hardened perceptions against it need to be changed.

It's about changing people's mindsets and attitudes and appealing to them on a human level. This isn't going to happen through people like Mr. Fitzmaurice lashing out at all and sundry for not sharing their particular viewpoints.

pistolpetes11

I love the superiority complex that some of the LOI fans have in this thread ,

You support a club from Ireland , well lets be having a medal for the lot of you , grow up.

People are free to make there own opinions and decisions without pleasing your good selfs , shock horror .

I support Chelsea because my ol man did , he used to avidly follow Shamrock Rovers until the debacle with there home ground , this was before my time so I have grown up knowing only Chelsea ,

Where I live now , there is not a team worth giving up MY hard earned money and time to go and watch , get over it lads and get off your high horse,

People are entitled to spend there money how they see fit , even if it does not agree with your ethos or superior knowledge because you fancy watching a couple of amateurs hacking it about the park.

cianisgood

I would just like to say one thing. I honestly had no idea this game was even played. LOI is shoved to the back of the sports section behind the Olympics , GAA and English soccer. If you watch the news this would probably be tacked on to the end on the day of the actual match no information about, tickets, times or even the opposition apart from their name. The fact of the matter is that every sports fan in the country knows when the national team are playing but people like me who are only marginally interested in the sport (but probably would have gone because of the occasion), and young kids getting into the spot know noting about these fixtures.

CiaranC

eagle eye wrote: »

If you have a product that you want to sell its up to you to sell it. Its not a case of saying that people won't give it a chance or anything like that. You have to go out and make people want to buy your product.

What a cop out. Pats were playing a Bundesliga side in a spanking new UEFA 3 star stadium and they got four thousand. Yet you want us to throw away our money selling football to people who couldnt be bothered going to that. **** off

CiaranC

The average poster on here is ****ing clueless about football, its cringeworthy

batistuta9

CiaranC wrote: »

What a cop out. Pats were playing a Bundesliga side in a spanking new UEFA 3 star stadium and they got four thousand. Yet you want us to throw away our money selling football to people who couldnt be bothered going to that. **** off

how exactly are you going to get people supporting LOI teams or at least going to the games?

CiaranC

batistuta9 wrote: »

how exactly are you going to get people supporting LOI teams or at least going to the games?

By developing roots in our local areas, schoolboy football, summer camps, kids programmes, family incentives for tickets, schools programmes. Its a long game, and taking money from our meagre budget for this to use for "selling football" to the sort of gob****e that populates boards.ie soccer is throwing money away

eagle eye

CiaranC wrote: »

What a cop out. Pats were playing a Bundesliga side in a spanking new UEFA 3 star stadium and they got four thousand. Yet you want us to throw away our money selling football to people who couldnt be bothered going to that. **** off

I never even knew it was on. Now I don't live in Dublin anymore but still I had no idea that they were playing a German Bundesliga team. In fact I don't even know where to find out about LoI games tbh.

I'm a long time removed from going to LoI games and tbh I won't be going back because there is no team in my locality and I won't travel to a neighbouring county to support a team. I am involved in my local amateur club though and spend a lot of time on that as well as other non-football sports which I put a good bit of time into too.

There is an attitude from some of the guys that go to games that would put others off. They look on those that don't support the LoI as lesser fans of soccer which is totally wrong. What they should be doing on this site is encouraging everybody to go along, thats what you do if you really love a club.

Now while we are at it. What sort of an idiot booked this game for the middle of the Olympics? I mean thats the sort of stupidity that I'd expect from people involved in this league many years back, I'm talking about those people that made Louis Kilcoyne the FAI president. If they had that before the Olympics started or after it finished I expect they would have at least 500-1000 more at it. If it was well advertised I think they would have gotten a lot more too.

And all this moaning and saying the Irish people won't go to games is not good enough. If you really love a club you will never talk negatively to or about your potential audience. Get all those guys that come on here to get up off their behinds and do a bit of PR work for their club. Come back to me in a year's time or so and tell me how much things improved because I can guarantee you they will.

batistuta9

CiaranC wrote: »

By developing roots in our local areas, schoolboy football, summer camps, kids programmes, family incentives for tickets, schools programmes. Its a long game, and taking money from our meagre budget for this to use for "selling football" to the sort of gob****e that populates boards.ie soccer is throwing money away

i wasn't suggesting the LOI teams do that but a bit publicity won't harm it, does the league have to pay RTE to show live games & MNS or is that bullshít?

like your saving about promoting it locally & aiming for the kids, which i think is probably the only way to grow the support realistically as you'll not turn the majority of adults who don't support the LOI teams into fans or even regular attendees, but even that's going to be difficult as you'll need the parents to bring them or at least pay for them to go - they'll need to have some interest in it or give into the kids nagging them.

ireland couldn't be the only country in europe where the majority of people support teams from another league, could it?

I don't know what age you are but you might know if it's gotten worse here for it or were the english clubs always better supported

batistuta9

eagle eye wrote: »

Now while we are at it. What sort of an idiot booked this game for the middle of the Olympics? I mean thats the sort of stupidity that I'd expect from people involved in this league many years back, I'm talking about those people that made Louis Kilcoyne the FAI president. If they had that before the Olympics started or after it finished I expect they would have at least 500-1000 more at it. If it was well advertised I think they would have gotten a lot more too.

the game was scheduled by UEFA, the qualifying rounds are at the same dates every year roughly and need to be complete & they'll hardy want to be working their competitions around other sports, so it's hardly anyone's fault, it wasn't a friendly