Two nations one team!

ELM327

ELM327 wrote: »

We are useless at soccer

People assume because the one nation rugby team is good then the one nation soccer team would also be.
Interestingly, the IRFU predated the partition and remained a one nation team. The original "Ireland" soccer team was actually Northern Ireland and the IFA. The FAI and "ROI" team was created after partition. If there were to be "one team" again, it would be the northern team.

We are currently useless but we were not always as bad as now.

Today's talent problem arise from mismanagement and misuse of financing at a strategic level. Our national team has reaped what the FAI board has sown.

Galwayhurl

I think if the LOI restructured to have a county system similar to the GAA, more people would support the league.

• Dublin clubs such as BOHS, St. Pat's remain the same.
  
• Counties such as Cork, Galway have county teams.
  
• Smaller counties amalgamate e.g. Sligo/Leitrim/Roscommon and call it "SLR FC".
  
• Make it mandatory that the players come from that county/area á la GAA. That would bring pride and interest and proper rivalry into it.

Lost Ormond

Galwayhurl wrote: »

I think if the LOI restructured to have a county system similar to the GAA, more people would support the league.

• Dublin clubs such as BOHS, St. Pat's remain the same.
  
• Counties such as Cork, Galway have county teams.
  
• Smaller counties amalgamate e.g. Sligo/Leitrim/Roscommon and call it "SLR FC".
  
• Make it mandatory that the players come from that county/area á la GAA. That would bring pride and interest and proper rivalry into it.

I dont see why county teams would get more people to support the league. Sligo are fairly well supported and changing identity to include Leitrim or anyone else would disenfranchise fans not likely gain so many more.

Making it mandatory for players to come from that area goes against all in soccer and again stops signings from abroad/hurts a lot of sides.

cdeb

I find the suggestions to merge and amalgamate clubs usually come from people who don't support the league now and wouldn't support the league even if their suggestions were taken on board.

Montage of Feck

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

So what? The Soviet Union Football Federation split into entities such as the Ukraine Football Association and the Football Federation of Belarus amongst others. Do you want all of those to join up and play together under Moscow again too?

Putin would.

osarusan

Galwayhurl wrote: »

I think if the LOI restructured to have a county system similar to the GAA, more people would support the league.

• Dublin clubs such as BOHS, St. Pat's remain the same.
  
• Counties such as Cork, Galway have county teams.
  
• Smaller counties amalgamate e.g. Sligo/Leitrim/Roscommon and call it "SLR FC".
  
• Make it mandatory that the players come from that county/area á la GAA. That would bring pride and interest and proper rivalry into it.

Maybe we should allow players to use their hands and introduce points as well as goals while we are at it.

Patrick2010

Galwayhurl wrote: »

I think if the LOI restructured to have a county system similar to the GAA, more people would support the league.

• Dublin clubs such as BOHS, St. Pat's remain the same.
• Counties such as Cork, Galway have county teams.
• Smaller counties amalgamate e.g. Sligo/Leitrim/Roscommon and call it "SLR FC".
• Make it mandatory that the players come from that county/area á la GAA. That would bring pride and interest and proper rivalry into it.

This idea of the LOI being county based is daft usually made by people who know nothing about the LOI and wouldn't even bother going to a match if it changed.

Looking at the suggestion above Dublin clubs would remain the same (no mention of the current league champions btw) but could only sign Dublin born players?
Dundalk and Drogheda would merge and only play Louth born players?

blanch152

Junkyard Tom wrote: »

Ireland is the home of the Irish Nation. It's even in our constitution, maybe you should familiarise yourself with it.

Article 2

It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish Nation.

Yes, that is what the Article says, but there are two significant implications that you have missed.

(1) Not everybody on the island is required to be part of the Irish Nation, thereby distinguishing between the territory and the nation. People born on the island can equally opt to be British, and in the future, this will include Northern Irish.

(2) The distinction between territory and nation also allows for the nation to include people not born on this island, hence the distinctive language.

realdanbreen

downcow wrote: »

Yeah. Sorry misunderstood you.
..and another problem would be that I don’t think our fans would tolerate a game against Qatar no matter what money they offered.
We have a few principals left.

Few being the operative word!
BTW it's "principles".

happyoutscan

Omackeral wrote: »

I would love if more people did that. The games seldom clash and the teams would rarely meet. If we were truly the best fans in the world like we sometimes think we are or others think we are, we'd support our own teams week in and week out. That shouldn't be controversial to say.

Here's the thing, most people don't have a team here.

I've never had a team here, there was no team in Mayo growing up. There was no attachment to any other team (Galway/Sligo/Athlone) to the best of my memory. When the LOI was horrifically promoted how was a young 'me' supposed to get involved with it? Didn't even know it existed.

In fact, the first LOI game I was ever at was watching my much older cousin play for Longford Town in the mid-80s. I was even sat on the subs bench, how amateurish is that? No idea how many were at it but I don't think it was many.

It was easy to become a Liverpool fan though, for obvious reasons which I shouldn't have to explain to you.

Of course you're going to say the 10yr old me is responsible for the **** state of the LOI.

Donald Trump

happyoutscan wrote: »

Of course you're going to say the 10yr old me is responsible for the **** state of the LOI.

Yeah. It is your fault. I hope you are happy. happyout. happyoutscan

happyoutscan

happyoutscan wrote: »

Here's the thing, most people don't have a team here.

I've never had a team here, there was no team in Mayo growing up. There was no attachment to any other team (Galway/Sligo/Athlone) to the best of my memory. When the LOI was horrifically promoted how was a young 'me' supposed to get involved with it? Didn't even know it existed.

In fact, the first LOI game I was ever at was watching my much older cousin play for Longford Town in the mid-80s. I was even sat on the subs bench, how amateurish is that? No idea how many were at it but I don't think it was many.

It was easy to become a Liverpool fan though, for obvious reasons which I shouldn't have to explain to you.

Of course you're going to say the 10yr old me is responsible for the **** state of the LOI.

You’re not to blame but that bolded bit is a big part of it, and still is.

That said, for the most part we’re a weird glory hunting sort of people here, moreso than most. Not sure what it comes from but look at rugby union since success or how many flock to croke park or to the soccer when things are good. How many one week rowing or hockey experts have we had in the last few years? Maybe something so small as the LOI will never take off in modern Ireland.

cdeb

Of course he's to blame. Not just 10-year-old him, but today him too.

The FAI are to blame too of course. It's a mix of variety of factors, weighted differently.

No point codding yourself otherwise. You mightn't care it's your fault to some small level, and that's fine of course.

happyoutscan

cdeb wrote: »

Of course he's to blame. Not just 10-year-old him, but today him too.

The FAI are to blame too of course. It's a mix of variety of factors, weighted differently.

No point codding yourself otherwise. You mightn't care it's your fault to some small level, and that's fine of course.

Codding myself? That's a bit rich but you are entitled to your opinion, irregardless of how bloody daft it is.

cdeb

Not daft at all.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

It's hard to see how you're part of the solution, so...

That also feeds into how poor the national team has become (along with bigger issues such as coaching and criminal CEOs)

dirtyden

downcow wrote: »

Rangers didn’t ask to get joining Celtic five years ago, nor did Man City ask to join united during the barren years. Scotland and Wales didn’t even ask to join England when the could achieve nothing, and not only are they on the same small island but they are recognised by the UN as the same nation state.
So getting back to the op, it certainly is all three ie offensive, laughable but most of all just plain sad.
I think you should have the courage and pride to plough your own furrow.

I am though very encouraged by the attitude of most of the posters.

We (ni team and fans) had/have two little mottos worth considering
In the tough times, ‘Keep believing’
And in the better times, ‘Onwards and upwards’

Most sensible people who know anything about the types who follow Norn Iron would not want to be within 50 miles of Windsor on a match day.

Lucy8080

downcow wrote: »

Rangers didn’t ask to get joining Celtic five years ago, nor did Man City ask to join united during the barren years. Scotland and Wales didn’t even ask to join England when the could achieve nothing, and not only are they on the same small island but they are recognised by the UN as the same nation state.
So getting back to the op, it certainly is all three ie offensive, laughable but most of all just plain sad.
I think you should have the courage and pride to plough your own furrow.

I am though very encouraged by the attitude of most of the posters.

We (ni team and fans) had/have two little mottos worth considering
In the tough times, ‘Keep believing’
And in the better times, ‘Onwards and upwards’

I find it hard to believe that you are a genuine "sports" fan. George Best was in favour of an all Island team. We (both north and south) had some fantastic players who could have done so much together back in the late 60's and through the seventies.

This thread is just a "flegger" thread , or am I wrong?

Lucy8080

Lucy8080 wrote: »

I find it hard to believe that you are a genuine "sports" fan. George Best was in favour of an all Island team. We (both north and south) had some fantastic players who could have done so much together back in the late 60's and through the seventies.

This thread is just a "flegger" thread , or am I wrong?

Yes you’re wrong. People are allowed have a different opinion to you, or George Best for that matter.

Lucy8080

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Yes you’re wrong. People are allowed have a different opinion to you, or George Best for that matter.

Of course people are allowed to differ in opinion. I'm with George on this one. This thread seems to have come in the wake of R.O.I. losing to LUX....but I do not believe for a moment it is based on the sporting merits of an all island team vs. two separate teams.

Convince me otherwise!

downcow

dirtyden wrote: »

Most sensible people who know anything about the types who follow Norn Iron would not want to be within 50 miles of Windsor on a match day.

You want to come out of the dark ages. You have such a skewed idea of Windsor

downcow

Lucy8080 wrote: »

I find it hard to believe that you are a genuine "sports" fan. George Best was in favour of an all Island team. We (both north and south) had some fantastic players who could have done so much together back in the late 60's and through the seventies.

This thread is just a "flegger" thread , or am I wrong?

I find it hard to believe you are a genuine sports fan if you think the whole idea is just to get the biggest group of united countries together to achieve success.
This is madness. Spain and Portugal would make some team if they were unitised. And I guess you would like a british lions team and just do away with the five nation teams based on the british isles?

downcow

downcow wrote: »

You want to come out of the dark ages. You have such a skewed idea of Windsor

I don’t think it’s skewed at all. Windsor on a match day is one of the most rabid hubs of loyalism of all. A match day is something I’d compare to the 11th and makes even the few loyalists that live placid lives come out of their shell and let loose. Would be a very dangerous place for an Irish person.

downcow

Lucy8080 wrote: »

I find it hard to believe that you are a genuine "sports" fan. George Best was in favour of an all Island team. We (both north and south) had some fantastic players who could have done so much together back in the late 60's and through the seventies.

This thread is just a "flegger" thread , or am I wrong?

George was brilliant on the pitch, but he said and done a few rare things off the pitch. You maybe should have watched some of his appearances on chat shows before quoting him as your words of wisdom lol.
O wait I understand, there is only him and derek dougan to wheel out as supporters of your position out of the hundreds who have played for ni. Ask capt Stevie D or the last games capt big Kyle and see what they think lol

whisky_galore

Another brain fart brought to you by the Senate.

mehico

It is understandable that George Best's aspiration for a single Ireland football team would not sit well with some folk but his view was based on common sense.

downcow

mehico wrote: »

It is understandable that George Best's aspiration for a single Ireland football team would not sit well with some folk but his view was based on common sense.

This is a meaningless post unless you are going to tell us a little more

It is common sense to give everyone in the world the vaccine tomorrow!

mehico

downcow wrote: »

This is a meaningless post unless you are going to tell us a little more

It is common sense to give everyone in the world the vaccine tomorrow!

I'm not trying to speak for George but I believe the reason he wanted to see a single Irish football team was that the pool of players to pick from would automatically increase and this is the common sense part but I understand some may disagree for various reasons.

cdeb

Miguel Delaney, a very respected Irish football journalist, disagrees anyway - see an article here.

Basically extra population while coaching methods are still horribly outdated just means you have more crap players to choose from, not that you get a better team.

The argument may have made sense in the 70s when we weren't so far behind everywhere else.

Fionn1952

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

I don’t think it’s skewed at all. Windsor on a match day is one of the most rabid hubs of loyalism of all. A match day is something I’d compare to the 11th and makes even the few loyalists that live placid lives come out of their shell and let loose. Would be a very dangerous place for an Irish person.

In fairness, Windsor isn't nearly as bad as it used to be. I wouldn't going for a dander through some spots near it in an Ireland jersey if we were playing NI, but the team's recent (relative) success has started to dilute down some of the hard-core Loyalist fan base. Like most things in NI, it is improved compared with the 70s and 80s anyway.

It certainly isn't the sunshine and rainbows happy place some NI fans might suggest, sectarian chanting is still very much a thing, but there really isn't anything on the same level as there was.

I did attend a game a few years back with a few friends of mine who were big supporters.....some of the chanting was uncomfortable, but I didn't actually feel unsafe at any time.

Cilldara_2000

Galwayhurl wrote: »

I think if the LOI restructured to have a county system similar to the GAA, more people would support the league.

• Dublin clubs such as BOHS, St. Pat's remain the same.
  
• Counties such as Cork, Galway have county teams.
  
• Smaller counties amalgamate e.g. Sligo/Leitrim/Roscommon and call it "SLR FC".
  
• Make it mandatory that the players come from that county/area á la GAA. That would bring pride and interest and proper rivalry into it.

There was such a LOI team in Kildare back in the day. It didn't work out. I don't know why anyone would expect it to be different now.

I don't think anyone has mentioned IFAB yet in here. Literally the only thing standing between football and total FIFA nonsense. How would the IFA seat on this play out in the event of a merger between IFA and FAI? I bet FIFA would try to use the opportunity to abolish it or some other form of skullduggery.