Who is/was Ireland's most famous sports star?

Augme

partyguinness wrote: »

I am referring to the fact Ireland in the 50s, 60s or 70s did not qualify for any international tournaments. Came close in 66 but lost a play off to Spain. Giles has lived in England since the late 1950s and still does plus he was one of the best midfielders in world football from about 65 to 75 but yet no chance of playing in the WC.

Giggs could have played for England and played in WCs etc multiple times.

Didn't think I had to spell that out.

You don't have to spell it out, you just have to stop getting it wrong.

Giles, giggs etc could still play international football for their respective counties.

keeponhurling

Muhammad Ali would be another good shout, he was very famous.
Irish ancestry.

keeponhurling

To my mind, mixed martial arts is a serious minority sport, where globally I would say most people never even heard of the sport, let alone the name of any participants.
McGregor was pretty much unknown out of these circles before the Mayweather boxing fight.

He became very famous in wider boxing circles, it was one if the highest earning fights ever.
But it was one fight , which he lost. Not sure if even boxing fans could recall his name in, say, 10 years time - they’ll remember Mayweather.

Anyways I just wonder is his fame globally over estimated. I know currently he is very popular in Ireland and the US.

pleas advice

Shaquille O'Neal

Del.Monte

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

I am not a full on rugby fan more of a casual when big games are on.
And I know about the Rugby residency rule for instance.

Thankfully a full on Irishman like McGregor is the most famous, despite all his faults he is sportsman who is Irish.
He even used to be fluent in Irish in his younger days.
Whereas the likes of CJ Stander wouldn't know what a fada is. He is just here for the money, it is a convenient Irishness nothing more.

Shame on you mentioning that scumbag and CJ in the same post.

Marcus Rashford

partyguinness wrote: »

Marcus Rashford wrote: »

Eh, his home country, Ireland, didn’t compete!

Your comparison is silly.

Who would blame John Giles, Ryan Giggs, or George Best playing for another country if Ireland/Wales/Northern Ireland didn’t play international football?

I am referring to the fact Ireland in the 50s, 60s or 70s did not qualify for any international tournaments. Came close in 66 but lost a play off to Spain. Giles has lived in England since the late 1950s and still does plus he was one of the best midfielders in world football from about 65 to 75 but yet no chance of playing in the WC.

Giggs could have played for England and played in WCs etc multiple times.

Didn't think I had to spell that out.

You did actually because it’s an utterly irrelevant and inaccurate point. The comparison isn’t valid at all.

Morgan couldn’t even play the sport, Test cricket, for Ireland. We didn’t compete.

Giles’ Ireland and Best’s Northern Ireland just weren’t that good.

Completely different and a ridiculous comparison.

partyguinness

Marcus Rashford wrote: »

You did actually because it’s an utterly irrelevant and inaccurate point. The comparison isn’t valid at all.

Morgan couldn’t even play the sport, Test cricket, for Ireland. We didn’t compete.

Giles’ Ireland and Best’s Northern Ireland just weren’t that good.

Completely different and a ridiculous comparison.

Oh right so cricket and Test cricket according to your reckoning are two completely different 'sport'- yeah that makes a lot of sense.

They are still both cricket. Cricket and baseball are two different sports. Cricket and rugby are two different sports.

I think that's the sound of straw clutching I hear.

Kudos on the novel argument though and throwing out something akin to the Chewbacca Defence.

D9Male

WTF, that is not a "novel argument".

Eoin Morgan wanted to play Test cricket. He couldn't do so for Ireland. It was impossible.

So he had to play for another country.

These aren't even arguments, they're facts. I don't get the big deal.

A similar thing happens in football. A number of Kosovans weren't able to play for Kosovo as they didn't exist in international football, so they played for Albania or Bosnia.

Lorik Cana is Kosovan. He was born in Pristina and is arguably the greatest footballer ever from Kosovo.

He played a number of FIFA-sanctioned friendlies for Kosovo during his playing career. But he represented (with pride) Albania in full internationals as that was his only realistic option to play at the highest level of international football. Admittedly the whole Kosovan - Albanian relationship is a lot tighter than the Ireland - England one, but the point still stands.

I would argue that you are making a novel argument as the Eoin Morgan situation is fairly widely understood in the world of cricket.

jmayo

pleas advice wrote: »

Inspired by another thread here, who do you think would make the list?

I'd have Roy Keane at the top, followed by Rory McIlroy and Brian O'Driscoll, who else would make the top 5?

I would say fook all in the grand scheme of things know O'Driscoll.

This isn't about the most successful in the world but the best known.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

No way a cricket player is the third most known Irish celebrity, especially one that doesn't play for Ireland. Zimbabwe are in the top 10 of cricket, that's worse than rugby for global audience! Think it's only popular in pockets of England and its former colonies really (bar India where it is legitimately big).

Sheamus in the WWE would be more well known.

Ehh India population over 1.3 billion.
Pakistan population over 193 million
Bangladesh 162 million

Morgan has captained England at World Cup and played in Indian Premier League and Pakistani Super League.

Just because people in Ireland don't know him and he isn't on every other American talk show or on CNN/Fox News coming out of latest court appearance doesn't mean he isn't well known.

RocketRaccoon wrote: »

Just recently McGregor has:

Lead the Chicago paddys day parade
Appeared on Jimmy Fallon
Gave pre game speech in the locker room of the Boston bruins
Did similar with the dallas cowboys
Was a guest of Putin at the World Cup in Russia
Been parodied on SNL

When another Irish sports person gets that kind of attention then they can claim to be as famous as him.

Ehh all American.

You must be American if you think the world is just America.

Granted appearing as Putin's mate gets you noticed as well.

partyguinness

D9Male wrote: »

WTF, that is not a "novel argument".

Eoin Morgan wanted to play Test cricket. He couldn't do so for Ireland. It was impossible.

So he had to play for another country.

These aren't even arguments, they're facts. I don't get the big deal.

Eoin Morgan could have stayed playing cricket for Ireland and with the hope and expectation that they would progress to Test cricket but he said 'No- I'll just jump across and play for England. Easier option'

Fine good luck to him.

Likewise with my Giggs analogy. 'Do I want to play at the WC and EC? Yes of course every footballer does. Won't happen with Wales so I'll just throw in my oar with England.'

But no Giggs for example said I will play for my country and the love of my country.

Shame Eoin Morgan is not built with similar moral fibre.

It's the exact same logic with Declan Rice and Jack Grealish in recent times and declaring for England. They are backing the better horse with their heads. Fine.

jmayo

partyguinness wrote: »

Eoin Morgan could have stayed playing cricket for Ireland and with the hope and expectation that they would progress to Test cricket but he said 'No- I'll just jump across and play for England. Easier option'

Fine good luck to him.

Likewise with my Giggs analogy. 'Do I want to play at the WC and EC? Yes of course every footballer does. Won't happen with Wales so I'll just throw in my oar with England.'

But no Giggs for example said I will play for my country and the love of my country.
Edit: probably still is?

Shame Eoin Morgan is not built with similar moral fibre.

It's the exact same logic with Declan Rice and Jack Grealish in recent times and declaring for England. They are backing the better horse with their heads. Fine.

Actually I think it might also have something to do with salary as well.
Morgan was on much better salary as English international, he is similar to rugby international contract AFAIK.

Most people in Ireland would not have realised a few years ago he was one of the best paid Irish sportsmen.

I think Morgan is converse of Rice and Grealish.
They had been born and bred in England, declared first for another country until their country of birth arrived and then jumped ship whereas Morgan first played for country of birth and then jumped ship.
Also he played hurling FFS.
Grealish only played football.

Now Morgan did hold a British passport since birth through his mother and he admits he always wanted to play for England.
Not sure if the other two numpties have Irish passports or not ?

TomasMacR

partyguinness wrote: »

Eoin Morgan could have stayed playing cricket for Ireland and with the hope and expectation that they would progress to Test cricket but he said 'No- I'll just jump across and play for England. Easier option'

Fine good luck to him.

Likewise with my Giggs analogy. 'Do I want to play at the WC and EC? Yes of course every footballer does. Won't happen with Wales so I'll just throw in my oar with England.'

But no Giggs for example said I will play for my country and the love of my country.

Shame Eoin Morgan is not built with similar moral fibre.

It's the exact same logic with Declan Rice and Jack Grealish in recent times and declaring for England. They are backing the better horse with their heads. Fine.

I don't know anything about cricket...but is it not very different in Eoin Morgans case. With Giggs, Rice, Grealish, Bale etc. they can choose which country to represent and make a packet either way. With Eoin Morgan is not a case of earn sweet f-all representing one country (potentially even struggle financially?) but a lot with another.

seems so...

http://tsmsportz.com/cricket/ireland-cricketers-salaries/

http://tsmsportz.com/cricket/england-cricketers-salaries/

highest paid here $75k vs what hes getting £900k hes on.

wouldn't be belting out God Save the Queen or anything but its a no brainer, good luck to him.

D9Male

partyguinness wrote: »

Eoin Morgan could have stayed playing cricket for Ireland and with the hope and expectation that they would progress to Test cricket but he said 'No- I'll just jump across and play for England. Easier option'

Fine good luck to him.

Likewise with my Giggs analogy. 'Do I want to play at the WC and EC? Yes of course every footballer does. Won't happen with Wales so I'll just throw in my oar with England.'

But no Giggs for example said I will play for my country and the love of my country.

Shame Eoin Morgan is not built with similar moral fibre.

It's the exact same logic with Declan Rice and Jack Grealish in recent times and declaring for England. They are backing the better horse with their heads. Fine.

Are you just completely ignoring my post above and those of others?

It is a lot more nuanced than that. Test cricket is different from one day cricket. Morgan couldn't reach the top of his profession with Ireland.

partyguinness

TomasMacR wrote: »

I don't know anything about cricket...but is it not very different in Eoin Morgans case. With Giggs, Rice, Grealish, Bale etc. they can choose which country to represent and make a packet either way. With Eoin Morgan is not a case of earn sweet f-all representing one country (potentially even struggle financially?) but a lot with another.

seems so...

http://tsmsportz.com/cricket/ireland-cricketers-salaries/

http://tsmsportz.com/cricket/england-cricketers-salaries/

highest paid here $75k vs what hes getting £900k hes on.

wouldn't be belting out God Save the Queen or anything but its a no brainer, good luck to him.

Oh yeah there is no doubt he has done it for his own personal wealth and glory and I'm sure he doesn't give a flying monkeys have anybody else thinks. Across all sports it comes down to money.

blade1

Declan Burns and Gerry Loftus.
They were Superstars after all.

Officer999

pleas advice wrote: »

Inspired by another thread here, who do you think would make the list?

I'd have Roy Keane at the top, followed by Rory McIlroy and Brian O'Driscoll, who else would make the top 5?

So if Roy Keane walked down Manhattan or the strip in Vegas you're saying he would be more recognised and get flocked by more people than McGregor?

TCM

Del.Monte wrote:

Shame on you mentioning that scumbag and CJ in the same post.

CJ's not a scumbag, is he?

D9Male

Why is Vegas the metric here? Why not Mumbai, or Sydney or Cape Town?

I do think the answer is McGregor, but the above argument doesn't mean anything.

Officer999

D9Male wrote: »

Why is Vegas the metric here? Why not Mumbai, or Sydney or Cape Town?

I do think the answer is McGregor, but the above argument doesn't mean anything.

Who said it was?

I'm using examples just like you are.

blade1

If Roy Keane and Conor McGregor walked through Manchester I reckon more would recognise Keane.

TomasMacR

jmayo wrote: »

Most people in Ireland would not have realised a few years ago he was one of the best paid Irish sportsmen.

That's because he wouldn't be, not even close to it. Not going by that link I've put up. Even the championship players, top Irish jockeys would trump that. And if you are including those that are still involved in sport but not playing damian duff, etc then he wouldn't even feature. his net worth is 4million apparently.

jmayo

TomasMacR wrote: »

That's because he wouldn't be, not even close to it. Not going by that link I've put up. Even the championship players, top Irish jockeys would trump that. And if you are including those that are still involved in sport but not playing damian duff, etc then he wouldn't even feature. his net worth is 4million apparently.

I am not talking net worth but best paid, as in how much annual salary is.
Average salary for championship player is less than £400,000 as far as I know.
Now some will be on more, but how many top players did we have in England in premiership or championship ?

Of course those like Mcilroy, mcgregor are way ahead of the rest, but £900,000 is not bad.
How many Irish rugby players (the best paid indigenous sportsmen) are on over 1million euro ?
Top couple of jockeys would probably be on a fair whack, likewise the Aidan O'Briens, but 1million a year would still be a fair whack to make out of racing.

EDIT: forgot Irish FAI salaries in that list

Marcus Rashford

Re the Eoin Morgan point, a reasonable comparison would be 7s and Test rugby. I wouldn’t begrudge someone wanting to play for (say) Wales if (say) Ireland only played 7s (which we don’t).

The fact that it’s England is clouding people’s views I believe.

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

The number of results on Google is probably a good proxy for how famous someone is.

Conor McGregor: 53,200,000 results
Rory McIlroy: 8,110,000 results
George Best: 3,410,000 results
Roy Keane: 2,000,000 results
Pádraig Harrington: 831,000 results
Brian O'Driscoll: 686,000 results
Alex Higgins: 447,000 results
Sonia O'Sullivan: 194,000 results

So it's McGregor by a huge margin, according to that metric.

TomasMacR

jmayo wrote: »

I am not talking net worth but best paid, as in how much annual salary is.
Average salary for championship player is less than £400,000 as far as I know.
Now some will be on more, but how many top players did we have in England in premiership or championship ?

Of course those like Mcilroy, mcgregor are way ahead of the rest, but £900,000 is not bad.
How many Irish rugby players (the best paid indigenous sportsmen) are on over 1million euro ?
Top couple of jockeys would probably be on a fair whack, likewise the Aidan O'Briens, but 1million a year would still be a fair whack to make out of racing.

EDIT: forgot Irish FAI salaries in that list

Darren randolph, john egan, darren lenihan, conor hourihane, richard keogh, james mcclean, o dowda...to name a few, all championship and on a lot more than morgan. some of them on multiples of what he is on. That's just one league in one sport.

my point was never that eoin morgan wasn't on good money, it was that he is not one of the best paid Irish sportsmen.

odyssey06

Alexis Lazy Cellist wrote: »

The number of results on Google is probably a good proxy for how famous someone is.

Conor McGregor: 53,200,000 results
Rory McIlroy: 8,110,000 results
George Best: 3,410,000 results
Roy Keane: 2,000,000 results
Pádraig Harrington: 831,000 results
Brian O'Driscoll: 686,000 results
Alex Higgins: 447,000 results
Sonia O'Sullivan: 194,000 results

Interesting list.

For what it's worth Robbie Keane has 1,200,000 results & Katie Taylor has 1,450,000.

Given that Best has been famous for six decades (and was more famous in the past) and is still getting that much attention, in my book that would put him ahead of McIlroy - though McIlroy likely has a long career ahead of him.

Google became the number one search engine after 2002, so Roy Keane would likely be higher otherwise.

Doc07

My 2Cs

Just back from meeting in germany. (Medical and science geeks, not usual pub sports fans)
Had dinner with some delegates from central& Eastern Europe and Russia. McGregor was well known, they knew more about him than me.
Similar experience in USA.

IMO he is an order of magnitude more famous than Keane, O’Driscol, Harrington(my favorite).

George Best might be next.

Morrison J

Doc07 wrote: »

My 2Cs

Just back from meeting in germany. (Medical and science geeks, not usual pub sports fans)
Had dinner with some delegates from central& Eastern Europe and Russia. McGregor was well known, they knew more about him than me.
Similar experience in USA.

IMO he is an order of magnitude more famous than Keane, O’Driscoll, Harrington(my favorite).

George Best might be next.

O'Driscoll isn't anywhere near the rest. Rugby literally played on one and a half continents. Be a total unknown in Asia and Africa which takes up 75% of the worlds population.

Rugby has extremely little relevance on a global scale.

Marcus Rashford

What about Sheamus?

salmocab

Morrison J wrote: »

O'Driscoll isn't anywhere near the rest. Rugby literally played on one and a half continents. Be a total unknown in Asia and Africa which takes up 75% of the worlds population.

Rugby has extremely little relevance on a global scale.

I’d say a few people in Africa have heard of him

odyssey06

Marcus Rashford wrote: »

What about Sheamus?

Coleman?

Never played in a World Cup or Champions League campaign... Google says 600,000.

partyguinness

Alexis Lazy Cellist wrote: »

The number of results on Google is probably a good proxy for how famous someone is.

Conor McGregor: 53,200,000 results
Rory McIlroy: 8,110,000 results
George Best: 3,410,000 results
Roy Keane: 2,000,000 results
Pádraig Harrington: 831,000 results
Brian O'Driscoll: 686,000 results
Alex Higgins: 447,000 results
Sonia O'Sullivan: 194,000 results

So it's McGregor by a huge margin, according to that metric.

Are those figures to do with Anglo centric Google or worldwide Google?

Marcus Rashford

odyssey06 wrote: »

Marcus Rashford wrote: »

What about Sheamus?

Coleman?

Never played in a World Cup or Champions League campaign... Google says 600,000.

No, WWE Superstar Sheamus.

On a more serious note, Ronnie Delaney won the Olympics’ blue ribband event at that time.

The Google stuff, whilst interesting, has a bias towards present day.

It can also be skewed; for example, if a high profile sportsperson ended up murdering someone else, he or she would probably fly up the rankings.

In terms of stature within an actual sport, I think McIlroy is No 1, albeit he is not “Irish” in the ROI sense of the word.

Morrison J

salmocab wrote: »

I’d say a few people in Africa have heard of him

A tiny percentage though really.

Population of Africa is 1.2 billion.
Population of South Africa is 56.72 million. 40% of South Africa is lower class.

Don't think BOD would have many issues walking through Cape Town tbh.

_Brian

“Famous” is a stupid measure for a sportsperson.

The don’t become elite athletes to be “famous”.

partyguinness

Morrison J wrote: »

.

Don't think BOD would have many issues walking through Cape Town tbh.

I'd think he'd have a lot of issues walking through Cape Town especially at night time and it ain't his autograph he'd be handing over.:D

odyssey06

Marcus Rashford wrote: »

The Google stuff, whilst interesting, has a bias towards present day.
It can also be skewed; for example, if a high profile sportsperson ended up murdering someone else, he or she would probably fly up the rankings.

Yes I was only using Google results for an indicative comparison of contemporary (non-murdering!) sportspersons. Totally unreliable for pre-2002, and not sure how reliable it is for India & China.

BailMeOut

Alexis Lazy Cellist wrote: »

The number of results on Google is probably a good proxy for how famous someone is.

Conor McGregor: 53,200,000 results
Rory McIlroy: 8,110,000 results
George Best: 3,410,000 results
Roy Keane: 2,000,000 results
Pádraig Harrington: 831,000 results
Brian O'Driscoll: 686,000 results
Alex Higgins: 447,000 results
Sonia O'Sullivan: 194,000 results

So it's McGregor by a huge margin, according to that metric.

Baidu (Chinese Google)

Conor McGregor: 1,120,000 results
Rory McIlroy: 1,050,000 results
George Best: 8,400,000 results
Roy Keane: 1,320,000 results
Pádraig Harrington: 206,000 results
Brian O'Driscoll: 621,000 results
Alex Higgins: 23,700 results
Sonia O'Sullivan: 528,000 results

Katie Taylor: 7,560,000

Deebles McBeebles

Wow that's a lot of George Best searches in China!

salmocab

Morrison J wrote: »

A tiny percentage though really.

Population of Africa is 1.2 billion.
Population of South Africa is 56.72 million. 40% of South Africa is lower class.

Don't think BOD would have many issues walking through Cape Town tbh.

Well I don’t think BOD is as well known as others mentioned but you said he would be unknown in Africa and I was just pointing out that he wouldn’t, the problem with this discussion is people have their own bias about certain people and sports resulting in broad statements.
Even you had to go and google the populations of Africa and South Africa after making a sweeping statement.

B_ecke_r

McGregor then Roy Keane

upinsmoke

A kid from Dublin with more than a dream
He knew one day he'd be the king of the UFC
With a group of fighting Irish not to be pushed over
Not here take part they were here to take over
From the start John Kavanagh by his side whoever though they'd be known worldwide
After 60g's baby and a contracts to sign leaving his old life and the social welfare behind
And after two years came the featherweight champion of the world
And Conor said he's make him look like a little girl it only took ten seconds to show his talk wasn't cheap
As he connected with the left, and put Also to sleep
There's only one Conor McGregor, and there's no fighter better
And he's going to knock out Floyd Mayweather
So Floyd watch out 'cause the Irish are coming
You can talk all you want, buy you'll do nothin'
There's only one Conor McGregor, and there's no fighter better
And he's going to knock out Floyd Mayweather
So Floyd watch out 'cause the Irish are coming
You can talk all you want, buy you'll do nothin'
The lightweight belt was next in store
To do what no other fighter had ever done before
Became the first same time double champ in history
And took the chance to apologize to absolutely nobody
And came from working on a building site to getting million dollar pay cheque
From Dana White and his money, his cars and his clothes he flaunts
'Cause the double Champ does what the **** he wants
Mayweather, your old and your small and the is that you'll do feck all
'Cause precision beats power and timing beats speed
Why have you got a school bag Floyd you can't even read
There's only one Conor McGregor, and there's no fighter better
And he's going to knock out Floyd Mayweather
So Floyd watch out 'cause the Irish are coming
You can talk all you want, buy you'll do nothin'
There's only one Conor McGregor, and there's no fighter better
And he's going to knock out Floyd Mayweather
So Floyd watch out 'cause the Irish are coming
You can talk all you want, buy you'll do nothin'
Well he dress to kill, buys Lamborghinis at will
Can get inside your head like he was Dr. Phil
And if you call him out, have a good reason why
Or he'll turn around and say who the **** is that guy
And on the twenty-six of August we're taking over Vegas
The Irish invasion you can't mistake us
Singing songs day and night 'til our voices are sore
Because when one of us goes, we all go to war
There's only one Conor McGregor, and there's no fighter better
And he's going to knock out Floyd Mayweather
So Floyd watch out 'cause the Irish are coming
You can talk all you want, buy you'll do nothin'
There's only one Conor McGregor, and there's no fighter better
And he's going to knock out Floyd Mayweather
So Floyd watch out 'cause the Irish are coming
You can talk all you want, buy you'll do nothin'
You'll do ****in' nothin'

B_ecke_r

upinsmoke wrote: »

'

There's only one Conor McGregor, and there's no fighter better
And he's going to knock out Floyd Mayweather

He lost, mate.

upinsmoke

B_ecke_r wrote: »

He lost, mate.

He'll always be a winner in my book Hun xx

partyguinness

Does anyone over the age of 21 follow UFC?

DavyD_83

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Three most famous by a long distance are
(i) McGregor
(ii) McIlroy
(iii) Eoin Morgan.

No-one else comes close to these.

I genuinely don't know who Eoin Morgan is

partyguinness

DavyD_83 wrote: »

I genuinely don't know who Eoin Morgan is

An English cricket player.

odyssey06

DavyD_83 wrote: »

I genuinely don't know who Eoin Morgan is

Morrison J

salmocab wrote: »

Well I don’t think BOD is as well known as others mentioned but you said he would be unknown in Africa and I was just pointing out that he wouldn’t, the problem with this discussion is people have their own bias about certain people and sports resulting in broad statements.
Even you had to go and google the populations of Africa and South Africa after making a sweeping statement.

He's definitely unknown in Africa as a whole. I think if only .005 of the population (number would be even lower if you include class) are into rugby then "unknown" is more than fair. Hardly a sweeping statement when the numbers do back it up either.

salmocab

Morrison J wrote: »

He's definitely unknown in Africa as a whole. I think if only .005 of the population (number would be even lower if you include class) are into rugby then "unknown" is more than fair. Hardly a sweeping statement when the numbers do back it up either.

But if your just going off % of the population that knows who someone is then almost everyone being talked about here is unknown.