Ireland's biggest sporting embarrassment?

ColeTrain

What do you think is Ireland's most embarrassing moment on the sporting stage?

'Ireland's most successful Olympian' Michelle Smith and her doping gets my vote.

DeanAustin

John Delaney and the 33rd team debacle.

0ph0rce0

Sonia o sullivans last outing. think the race was over a good half hour and she was still going.

AboutaWeekAgo

Euro 2012 is the most recent one that comes to mind.

Starscream25

Drawing to The power house of international football Liecenstein in 95 I believe.

buyer95

Cyprus 5 Ireland 2. "Who is the gaffer?"

MightyMandarin

Losing 5-2 to Cyprus has to be up there

Edit: Dammit got there just before me

Duff

DeanAustin wrote: »

John Delaney and the 33rd team debacle.

Fixed that there for you.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

ColeTrain wrote: »

What do you think is Ireland's most embarrassing moment on the sporting stage?

'Ireland's most successful Olympian' Michelle Smith and her doping gets my vote.

What's embarrassing about that is the public refusla to accept that she was on anything at all.

dodderangler

ColeTrain wrote: »

What do you think is Ireland's most embarrassing moment on the sporting stage?

'Ireland's most successful Olympian' Michelle Smith and her doping gets my vote.

Cian o'connor and his junkie horse Waterford crystal "meths" losing gold medal for the fcuking HORSE being on drugs

NoMore MrNiceGuy

There was a shot putter who knocked down the cage at an Olympics once.

DeanAustin

Duff wrote: »

Fixed that there for you.

Good point well made. Just thought that particular incident encapsulated everything that should mean the man has no place in football.

buyer95

DeanAustin wrote: »

John Delaney and the 33rd team debacle.

murpho999

That mad priest Neil Horan who ran on to the Marathon course in Athens 2004 and cost the leader a gold medal.

I was embarrassed that he was Irish.

braddun

any world cup game

padd b1975

NoMore MrNiceGuy wrote: »

There was a shot putter who knocked down the cage at an Olympics once.

It was the hammer.

1984.

Not only did he flatten the cage once, delaying the whole schedule of events, he managed to do it a second time.

Our hero's name was Declan Hegarty.

pajor

murpho999 wrote: »

That mad priest Neil Horan who ran on to the Marathon course in Athens 2004 and cost the leader a gold medal.

I was embarrassed that he was Irish.

And the 2003 British GP. Now that was nearly suicide.

irishgeo

Saipan

The Irish Management not spotting that the Spanish were down to 10 men for the whole of the 2nd half of extra time.

foxy farmer

Plan B in Croke Park.

DeanAustin

sugarman wrote: »

Do you mind explaining why?

We got played off the park by the eventual winners, runners up and a very good Croatian side.

Being there alone was an achievement for a nation of our size.

There was nothing to be embarrassed about.

We live in a world where you are either brilliant or hopeless. In that context, Euro 2012 can only be viewed as hopeless.

Reality and common sense just go out the window. Most people think we should have passed Italy, Spain and Croatia off the park and battered them despite the fact we didn't have the players to really compete against those teams.

JaseBelleVie

A good few sprung to my mind:

-Michelle Smith-DeBruin
-Cian O'Connor and Waterford Crystal
-Ireland 2-5 Cyprus
-Dublin v. Galway, All Ireland Football Final 1983 ('The Game Of Shame')
-Saipan
-Euro 2012 (the manner of the defeats more than the defeats themselves)
-'The 33rd Team'
-Ireland 1-6 Germany (the manner of the defeat more than the defeat itself)

Dirty Dingus McGee

padd b1975 wrote: »

It was the hammer.

1984.

Not only did he flatten the cage once, delaying the whole schedule of events, he managed to do it a second time.

Our hero's name was Declan Hegarty.

Brilliant.

Is there a video of this anywhere on the internet?

Omackeral

Anytime Liverpool play Manchester United is embarrassing over here. Lads from Dublin/Cork/Wherever calling each other Scouse scum and Manc b*stards.

Iranoutofideas

The welcome home after the world cup with Joe Duffy onstage

Think it was the Phoenix Park.

Breffnigolfer

sugarman wrote: »

Do you mind explaining why?

We got played off the park by the eventual winners, runners up and a very good Croatian side.

Being there alone was an achievement for a nation of our size.

There was nothing to be embarrassed about.

Nonsense.
We were humiliated on the biggest stage. Our manager and players were an embarrassment.

"Being there alone" is such a defeatist attitude. No point going there if we cannot compete. Trapp, by sticking with older, established players and refusing to pick players in form, also seemed happy to just be there. Delaney's awarding of a contract to Trapp before the tournament was also a joke.

Dirty Dingus McGee

JaseHeath wrote: »

A good few sprung to my mind:

-Michelle Smith-DeBruin
-Cian O'Connor and Waterford Crystal
-Ireland 2-5 Cyprus
-Dublin v. Mayo, All Ireland Football Final 1983 ('The Game Of Shame')
-Saipan
-Euro 2012 (the manner of the defeats more than the defeats themselves)
-'The 33rd Team'
-Ireland 1-6 Germany (the manner of the defeat more than the defeat itself)

I think Mayo have lost enough All Irelands without needing to be given credit for losing one they didn't even play in.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Omackeral wrote: »

Anytime Liverpool play Manchester United is embarrassing over here. Lads from Dublin/Cork/Wherever calling each other Scouse scum and Manc b*stards.

Disagree.They clearly all have very close connections with those cities.

Ave Sodalis

JaseHeath wrote: »

Cian O'Connor and Waterford Crystal

I'm not a fan of Cian O Connor by any length. In his defence though, that was very unreasonable and not entirely his fault. Cian wasn't the only one who was taken out of the running. They were EXTREMELY strict that year. The trace of the drug found in Waterford Crystal was given to the horse months beforehand by a vet as a treatment and would ordinarily not have affected the results. Although the drug was in the system still, it would not have had any effect of the horse. Like I said, the FEI were very very very strict that year and have since apologised and admitted they made a mistake with the strictness of the drug testing.

Breffnigolfer

JaseHeath wrote: »

A good few sprung to my mind:

-......
-Dublin v. Mayo, All Ireland Football Final 1983 ('The Game Of Shame')
- .....

You're some man, remembering something that never happened. Mayo were not in AIF'83!

Jawgap

JaseHeath wrote: »

A good few sprung to my mind:

-Michelle Smith-DeBruin
-Cian O'Connor and Waterford Crystal
-Ireland 2-5 Cyprus
-Dublin v. Mayo, All Ireland Football Final 1983 ('The Game Of Shame')
-Saipan
-Euro 2012 (the manner of the defeats more than the defeats themselves)
-'The 33rd Team'
-Ireland 1-6 Germany (the manner of the defeat more than the defeat itself)

Think that was Galway not Mayo - not a great advertisement for the game either way. An early nod to 'puke football'

_dof_

DeanAustin wrote: »

John Delaney and the 33rd team debacle.

but a bit of embarrassment in return for 5 million quid from FIFA, not too shabby

uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/world-cup-fifa-bought-irish-silence-5m-pay-080222869--sow.html

anncoates

ColeTrain wrote: »

Ireland's biggest sporting embarrassment?

Bohemians

John Delaney in general - by a country mile.

rmchmufc

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

What's embarrassing about that is the public refusla to accept that she was on anything at all.

Pure head in the sand stuff alright

ClovenHoof

Iranoutofideas wrote: »

The welcome home after the world cup with Joe Duffy onstage

Think it was the Phoenix Park.

Oh yeah. That was everything wrong with Ireland and the Irish in one event.

anncoates

sugarman wrote: »

Being there alone was an achievement for a nation of our size.

Nonsense.

sugarman wrote: »

We got played off the park by the eventual winners, runners up and a very good Croatian side.

.....from Croatia which has the same population as us.

DeanAustin

_dof_ wrote: »

but a bit of embarrassment in return for 5 million quid from FIFA, not too shabby

uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/world-cup-fifa-bought-irish-silence-5m-pay-080222869--sow.html

You think he made the 33rd team request solely as a tactic to get paid off?

Grandeeod

1936.

Irish Free State V Germany in Dalymount park, Dublin.

The German lads do the oul Nazi salute during the anthems and then some of the Irish lads do it aswell for some unknown reason.

With hindsight, its up there with the embarrassment lark.

We won the match!

padd b1975

[qtime te="Dirty Dingus McGee;93533281"]Brilliant.

Is there a video of this anywhere on the internet?[/quote]

I'm not sure...

I remember watching it as a child with my dad on a Sunday evening and watching him slowly shake his head in embarrasment when the cage went down for a second ti (my dad that is, Declan barely batted an eye!)

I'm nearly sure we haven't competed in the event since....

padd b1975

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Brilliant.

Is there a video of this anywhere on the internet?

I'm not sure...

I remember watching it as a child with my dad on a Sunday evening and watching him slowly shake his head in embarrasment when the cage went down for a second time (my dad that is, Declan barely batted an eye!)

I'm nearly sure we haven't competed in the event since....

SEPT 23 1989

Grandeeod wrote: »

1936.

Irish Free State V Germany in Dalymount park, Dublin.

The German lads do the oul Nazi salute during the anthems and then some of the Irish lads do it aswell for some unknown reason.

With hindsight, its up there with the embarrassment lark.

We won the match!

The enemy of my enemy is my friend

Nib

padd b1975 wrote: »

It was the hammer.

1984.

Not only did he flatten the cage once, delaying the whole schedule of events, he managed to do it a second time.

Our hero's name was Declan Hegarty.

Doesn't seem to be a video of it anywhere.

Here's an article from the Indo: http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/a-love-affair-with-a-ball-and-chain-26878672.html

iDave

Louth fans

anncoates

Grandeeod wrote: »

1936.

Irish Free State V Germany in Dalymount park, Dublin.

The German lads do the oul Nazi salute during the anthems and then some of the Irish lads do it aswell for some unknown reason.
!

Because we now - in historical hindsight - associate that with Nazism and the holocaust but that was years before the denouement of Nazism and even 3 years before the outbreak of WWII even if anti-Semitic programs were in full swing in Germany. At that time in history though, the Irish state were presumably just going with the wishes of the guest team.

Venus In Furs

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

What's embarrassing about that is the public refusla to accept that she was on anything at all.

Totally.

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

The enemy of my enemy is my friend

What do you mean?

iDave

RTE pundits. Hook Dunphy Giles Spillane Brolly.

6541

Leave Mayo alone. Mayo for SAM 2015!!!

_dof_

DeanAustin wrote: »

You think he made the 33rd team request solely as a tactic to get paid off?

Not a chance, and it was cringeworthy at the time, but at least we got something out of it.. which is probably not the case for all the other embarrassments that will appear in this thread

downonthefarm

Michelle Smith roiding her way to victory

Bertser

We won, but the manner of the 2-1 victory in San Marino in 2007 was extremely bad. Another Staunton masterclass.

iDave

RWC 07 was some mess

CrabRevolution

While it was definitely embarrassing, I'd love to know what people actually expected from EURO 2012. We were in a group with the 2 previous World Champions who then went on to prove themselves as the best in the competition by reaching the final. Then there was Croatia, who would beat us more often than we'd beat them anyway. In comparison, we hadn't even qualified for the previous 5 tournaments.

I'm not saying we should have just been happy to be there, but losing all 3 games was a fairly probable outcome from the very start.