Italia 90 or 2009 Grand Slam

Amirani

Seasan wrote: »

Couldn't agree more.

Ireland's Call is not our national anthem-end of story.But if that is the only significance of the song being played,I'm still baffled-because the unionists on the team still will not "answer Ireland's Call",will they?

It should be left at Amhrán Na bhFiann.If they are playing for Ireland,then that is the anthem that they should be hearing.It is played for our soccer team,even though some of our players are not fully Irish.(having said that,Mick McCarthy and Kevin Kilbane,both bred in England,always sang Amhrán na bhFiann out loudly)

That's because the football team represents the nation of Ireland. The rugby team represents the island. They have a separate flag and anthem which is fair enough.

Mal-Adjusted

2009, no question

GLaDOS

Well I was only a week or two old for Italia 90, and I don't have any interest in rugby. So it's a draw I guess :P.

That said I watched more matches from Italia 90, even though I don't remember it

Yamanoto

Seasan wrote: »

I'm still baffled-because the unionists on the team still will not "answer Ireland's Call",will they?

It should be left at Amhrán Na bhFiann.If they are playing for Ireland,then that is the anthem that they should be hearing.It is played for our soccer team,even though some of our players are not fully Irish.(having said that,Mick McCarthy and Kevin Kilbane,both bred in England,always sang Amhrán na bhFiann out loudly)

Jesus wept.

c_man

Italia 90 or 2009 Grand Slam

For the country as a whole, there's no debate there at all. I freely admit I'm not a rugby man, but you'd have to be deluded to think that nationally there was the same excitement for the Grand Slam as the WC.

Jimoslimos

Italia 1990:
P5 W0 D4 L1

GS 2009:
P5 W5 D0 L0

1990 fell at a good time for Ireland, one of the strongest Irish teams, players at top clubs, fall of Communism was beginning to impact on some of the Eastern European nations, African football still in infancy.

That said soccer was and still is undoubtedly the more widely played sport and can be argued that even reaching a major tournament is a great accomplishment given the level of competition worldwide.

However that argument can be made for any sport. Is an Olympic gold medal in women's boxing as much an achievement as a silver in 5000m on the track? England's cricket team get honours from the Queen for beating a single nation. The US goes crazy over sports little played or followed outside their borders. It would be a boring world if the only sports we were interested in were the most "popular" ones

melekalikimaka

Grand Slam, WC was great and all, but the Grand Slam, was some mighty party, football has lost its sheen in recent years, probably looking on it less favourably as a result

omega666

The Rugby no question.

Italia 90 was massively overrated.
We got 4 draws and scored a grand total of 2 goals and that's the highlight
of our football history!
Scraping our way to the Quarter Finals is hardly a big achievement.
Even Northern Ireland have done that and they have one third of our population.

At least in the Rugby we actually won something.

Two Tone from Limehouse

Was growing up in London during Italia 90,supporting Ireland(and England). Git way more pride out if Irish performance than winning grand slam. That said, where I grew up was not a rugby hotbed!!! Still like to watch it though. As somebody said earlier there are about 8 competitive teams playing international rugby, far more playing football. Eg if you put All Blacks playing say, Romania in World Cup, it's gonna be a hammering, whereas Spain versus Romania in a football match us gonna be far more competitive

weser777

Italia 90 - we won nothing, but it brought the country together with excitement...the opportunity for a Grand Slam comes around every year, the world cup every 4!

who_me

NiallSparky wrote: »

Grand slams are incredibly common though, there's been 37 of them. 8 since the year 2002.

Edit: Also worth pointing out that every country except for Italy has won at least one. Only 20 or so teams have progressed further in the World Cup than the Quarter Finals.

So football is a sport in which a small number of teams dominate? Kinda like rugby so.

The_Kew_Tour

Tin Foil Hat wrote: »

It's just you. Support for rugby has been on the increase since the start of the century.

BS

I remember watching a game against England in 1996 and there was only handful people in pub who was watching it.

Same in 2000 when Ireland beat France me and basically one other person.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

I don't understand why one has to choose between the 2, both were great sporting achievements, but getting to and performing well in a WC in the most played sport in the world will always trump a win in a 6 team tournament in a rugby.

For me however, your local GAA club doing well tops everything. I've been lucky enough to see my county win 2 AI's, see Ireland at the WC in '02 and see every minute of Ireland's Grand Slam campaign, but none of those came close to the feeling I got when Salthill won the club AI in '06. The more involved you feel in something, the better it is.

Skid X

Italia 90 was unreal. We are unlikely to ever see anything like it again in Ireland.

I've never seen everybody so happy - people who never watched a match before or since were delirious with happiness.

The Grand Slam was great, but I suspect people from Leinster, Munster and Ulster remember their respective Heineken Cup wins with equal happiness (if not more).

ArnoldJRimmer

I assumed it was trolling when I saw the thread title. A sport played by every country in the world and a tournamenet thats extremely difficult to qualify for every 4 years. Our first time, and although it wasn't pretty we made it to the last 8 against all the odds

And a sport taken seriously by around 10 countries in the world, where we won a competition held annually, only for the 2nd time. Fair play to Drico and the lads, I was glad they won it, but I would put the Junior B2 Dublin league handball medal I won in the same year as a greater achievement.

The Heineken Cup victories by the provinces are to be celebrated as its a difficult completition to win

Jimoslimos

ArnoldJRimmer wrote: »

I assumed it was trolling when I saw the thread title. A sport played by every country in the world and a tournamenet thats extremely difficult to qualify for every 4 years. Our first time, and although it wasn't pretty we made it to the last 8 against all the odds

You could also argue that until recently, outside of Europe and South America soccer wouldn't have been close to being the most popular sport in many countries.

diomed

Jimoslimos wrote: »

You could also argue that until recently, outside of Europe and South America soccer wouldn't have been close to being the most popular sport in many countries.

FIFA rankings go from 1 to 207.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Jimoslimos wrote: »

You could also argue that until recently, outside of Europe and South America soccer wouldn't have been close to being the most popular sport in many countries.

But Europe and South America account for a huge portion of the world, so that's an utterly pointless statement.

That, and you're also forgetting Africa.

Jimoslimos

diomed wrote: »

FIFA rankings go from 1 to 207.

IRB rugby rankings go from 1 to 100. Point being? Doesn't mean rugby is played seriously in all those 100 countries - same applies for the 207 member countries of FIFA.

THFC wrote: »

But Europe and South America account for a huge portion of the world, so that's an utterly pointless statement.

That, and you're also forgetting Africa.

Yes but what about North America & Asia (including China, Japan, India, Pakistan Indonesia & Bangladesh).

I'm not forgetting Africa - but at the time of the WC in 1990 African countries were regarded as whipping boys. Only two of the the 24 nations competing were African, compared to 15 European. In that regard, Cameroon were the surprise team of the tournament - not Ireland

Amirani

who_me wrote: »

So football is a sport in which a small number of teams dominate? Kinda like rugby so.

Haha. 20 teams isn't a small number of teams. Relative to the number of countries playing football maybe, but relative to the number of countries who are any good at rugby, it's ****ing massive.

Pherekydes

Jimoslimos wrote: »

IRB rugby rankings go from 1 to 100.

And how many could stay with New Zealand for 5 minutes? There are 8, or maybe 10 at the outside, competitive countries in Rugby.

Pang

Italia 90. I don't remember much about the games etc... as I was a child but I remember the buzz and how happy everyone seemed.

I'm not mad into soccer but I find rugby quite insular.

jack presley

Pherekydes wrote: »

And how many could stay with New Zealand for 5 minutes? There are 8, or maybe 10 at the outside, competitive countries in Rugby.

Most of the time Ireland can't stay with NZ and we're considered one of the elite countries.

cena

Usa world cup. I remember the hole family watch it. That was the best Irish team ever.

Inner City Hedgehog

How many people went out to welcome the Irish football team home in 1990?

How many people went out to welcome the Irish rugby team home in 2009?

GAA and association football are the games that really matter to most people in this country.

Mint Sauce

As much I loved the Grand Slam, Italia 90 all the fcuking way. Even if I was only 12 years old.

Rightwing

Agricola wrote: »

Rugby will never have the same impact as soccer. The rugby lads could win the 6 Nations 3 years on the trot and there would still be more excitement if the soccer team just qualified for a major finals and then got tanked, as they did last year.

Plus Billo and the Dunph are just so much more charismatic that Tom McGurk n Hook.

The problem with rugby is when we play the bog boys like the All Blacks,,,we get thrashed, have never beaten them, only the Munster boys could do that.

Italia 90 was great,,,,but the world cup in japan/korea 2002 was even better.

Overall though rugby is a vastly superior game to soccer.

Amirani

Rightwing wrote: »

Overall though rugby is a vastly superior game to soccer.

Hence its far superior popularity worldwide.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Rightwing wrote: »

The problem with rugby is when we play the bog boys like the All Blacks,,,we get thrashed, have never beaten them, only the Munster boys could do that.

Italia 90 was great,,,,but the world cup in japan/korea 2002 was even better.

Overall though rugby is a vastly superior game to soccer.

If fairness Munster only beat a hungover Kiwi B team. :pac:

Rightwing

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

If fairness Munster only beat a hungover Kiwi B team. :pac:

The national team can't even manage that.....losing by 60 odd points only last year :eek:

DEFTLEFTHAND

Rightwing wrote: »

The national team can't even manage that.....losing by 60 odd points only last year :eek:

Aye when they roll in top flight like they did that night the gulf in class to us and them is stark. However the week before we caught them on the hop and came very close to turning them over. I say we probably will do it one day.

Rightwing

NiallSparky wrote: »

Hence its far superior popularity worldwide.

I would suggest it's down to paupers. Any pauper can play soccer.

Amirani

Rightwing wrote: »

I would suggest it's down to paupers. Any pauper can play soccer.

And all the better for it.

Rightwing

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Aye when they roll in top flight like they did that night the gulf in class to us and them is stark. However the week before we caught them on the hop and came very close to turning them over. I say we probably will do it one day.

Absolutely, what are the chances of doing it this year ?

RikkFlair

Jimoslimos wrote: »

Italia 1990:
P5 W0 D4 L1

GS 2009:
P5 W5 D0 L0

We had to qualify for Italia 90... P8 W5 D2 L1

I don't recall Ireland having to qualify for the 6 nations.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Rightwing wrote: »

Absolutely, what are the chances of doing it this year ?

Very slim I'd imagine, Although with the home crowd and them coming off the back of a long season it could be the moment. We can only hope.

Al_Coholic

1990 for me although i didnt see Toto Schillacis goal live at the time as i was only 10 yrs old and my mother decided to drag me to mass.

Rightwing

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Very slim I'd imagine, Although with the home crowd and them coming off the back of a long season it could be the moment. We can only hope.

home crowd will make no difference anyway, that's for sure. last time i was at an All black match,,,the crowd seemed more afraid of the haka than the players,,,,,,and some of the players seemed to get the scutters!

the long season could be a factor alright

Lapin

Galway's All Ireland hurling victories. 1980, 87 & 88.

Greatest sporting moments in the history of the world for all sports everywhere.

Everyone agrees with this.

FACT

Augmerson

Italia '90, has to be. Just the feeling around the country. Everybody got carried away. I was pretty young at the time but still remember kids playing football out on the street long into the evening with those plastic balls that stung the **** out of your hands or shins.

PTH2009

Lapin wrote: »

Galway's All Ireland hurling victories. 1980, 87 & 88.

Greatest sporting moments in the history of the world for all sports everywhere.

Everyone agrees with this.

FACT

like us in Waterford its going to be another while before we can experience winning an all ireland hurling title again

Sunglasses Ron

who_me wrote: »

So football is a sport in which a small number of teams dominate? Kinda like rugby so.

Not necessarily. For a world cup of 32 nations, while the current favourites to win next year would be Brazil (home advantage) Spain, Germany and Holland, with Italy and Argentina falling just outside the top favourite ranking, realistically it is not impossible for former strong contenders/ winners to reach the final, such as France, Portugal, England, even Belgium are likely to be dark horse contenders for a quarter or even semi final berth next year after years in the doldrums. Whereas, with Ireland, if we had a clued up manager picking players on merit rather than personal disputes, cutting donkeys like McShane and Green, not alienating some of our better young players constantly, we have a squad that with a bit of luck could reach the quarters with the right gaffer at the helm and a bit of luck avoiding certain teams. No manager in the world could have Ireland take Germany or Spain at tournament level, but some of the rest would be open for an upset.

Compare that to the rugby world cup. Japan, Georgia and Russia are in attendance but nobody ever expects them to do more than make up the numbers do they?

dfx-

I'd rather re-watch Romania v Ireland and McCarthy kicking Hagi in the relentless heat, than watch any of the 2009 games. Ireland v Egypt, that would be closer..

And I'm not the national team's biggest fan.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Lapin wrote: »

Galway's All Ireland hurling victories. 1980, 87 & 88.

Greatest sporting moments in the history of the world for all sports everywhere.

Everyone agrees with this.

FACT

Still though probably the greatest underachievers of all time when you compare them to KK Cork and Tipp. The state of the Connacht hurling championship when it was still played obviously hindered them but I always thought they still should have won more on the big stage. Especially considering the quality minor teams they produced in the 90s. The Qualifier draws when the Connacht championship was discontinued in the eartly part of the century didn't seem to spark them either, they'd still come in to the big games cold.

I reckon though their current setup in Leinster will lead to them breaking their duct soon.

Jimmy Iovine

Italia '90 for me.

The Six Nations was fantastic but I wouldn't even put it as the best occasion of that day. Bernard Dunne's epic 11-round fight for the World title was better.

Sunglasses Ron

THFC wrote: »

But Europe and South America account for a huge portion of the world, so that's an utterly pointless statement.

That, and you're also forgetting Africa.

Actually there are only 53 odd UEFA teams, and what, about a dozen countries in S America?

The only countries where football is not the most popular sport are Oz, NZ, US, Canada, the Philippines and the Indian subcontinent. In pretty much every other country it has dominated for decades,

Aidric

Given that I was in the millenium stadium for the grand slam I'd have to plump for that. The party in Cardiff after the game and the smiles on the faces of the Irish fans milling about is a cherished memory.

matthew8

Sunglasses Ron wrote: »

Actually there are only 53 odd UEFA teams, and what, about a dozen countries in S America?

The only countries where football is not the most popular sport are Oz, NZ, US, Canada, the Philippines and the Indian subcontinent. In pretty much every other country it has dominated for decades,

Apart from Indonesia, Japan, China and Madagascar.

RobertKK

Italia 90 was the best.

It is not everyday that Ireland reaches the world cup quarter finals after winning a thrilling penalty shoot-out.

Far easier win a grand slam as it is played every year.

WesternZulu

Italy 90 is by far the greater achievement.

I don't remember a single second of it but even if I watch that Dave O'Leary penalty I get a lump in my throat.

In saying that, the day that Mayo win an All-Ireland (it's surely got to happen sometime hasn't it? :pac:) will top both of them!