Interesting Article (Sindo)

Bateman

The Premiership game is your only man



The notion that National League followers are the 'real' soccer fans is a piety that must be challenged, writes Declan Lynch


FANS of Manchester United are said to be close to despair. They have just lost two Premiership matches in a row. And there's no Roy Keane in sight.


Even Alex Ferguson seems bewildered, speaking at some length during a press conference last week about an Israeli team which Man Utd were due to play in the Champions League. Except it was the wrong Israeli team of which he spoke. And with a gathering sense of doom, fans noted that he appeared relaxed.


The rest of us don't share this pessimism. We always assume that whatever happens to Man Utd for good or ill is in some way the work of the Horned One. Though privately, we can be heard suggesting that, like the Catholic Church, perhaps what United needs most is for its power to be diminished. And to this end, a bad run of maybe 15 years could immeasurably benefit all concerned.


Not two matches, 15 years. Then we'd all know where we stood. But in the meantime, I would like to ask disgruntled United fans a question: did you feel worse about United losing to Bolton and Leeds than about Ireland losing to Russia?


I extend the question to any of you who support a Premiership side which is currently going as badly as United. If I can think of one.


All right, a question for all you Aston Villa fans who now have Steve Staunton and Mark Kinsella in the side. Did you really and truly feel as bad when Russia slaughtered Ireland as when your boys committed spectacular hara-kiri in the local derby the other night?


If you like, I'll supply the honest answer. I suspect that Irish people who support Premiership teams feel worse on the whole about the reversals suffered by their clubs than their country. Most of the time at least.


Obviously you'll never feel worse in your life than when you see David Connolly stepping up to take a penalty for Ireland in the last 16 of the World Cup. But over the course of a long season, you will spend far more time fretting about The Red Filth or The Villa or whoever, than about McCarthy's Men.


And you shouldn't feel bad about this. You shouldn't think of yourself as a lesser football being. In fact what we are doing here is exploding the myth that the 'real' fans are those who exclusively support our own National League teams and McCarthy's Men, while the Premiership-supporting Sky Sports crowd is only along for the ride. In fact, in most instances, the precise opposite is the case.


Not only is it a popular piety that must be challenged, it is one of the most easily disprovable pieces of received wisdom. From our World Cup, we know that the Ireland team is heavily supported by women and children who actually dislike football in general, and corporate bozos and people who are simply drunk.


By what measure are these folk supposed to be more 'real' as football fans than someone who pays hundreds a year to a man he hates, Rupert Murdoch, in order to watch the best football available to humanity in these islands?


Furthermore, the mere arithmetic will tell you that the much-maligned 'armchair' fan watches about 60 live matches a year, plus the Champions League, while the 'real' fan of McCarthy's Men will be lucky to manage six. And of course the much-maligned ones will take in all the internationals as well, loudly and knowledgeably supporting their country, before returning, exhausted, to their clubs.


Meanwhile the 'real' fans have gone away, and will not be back until the next international against . . . whoever.


As for the most real of all the 'real' fans, the ones who support Bohs or Shels in the National League, no one can question their sincerity. I myself spent most of my youth watching Athlone Town. I know these people. They are my people.


But the majority of them also support Premiership clubs, guiltlessly. In fact there are many in 'rural Ireland' who have far stronger connections with Birmingham or Liverpool or Coventry than they ever had with Dublin. And the ones who would simply refuse to watch a Premiership match which is clearly superior on every level to anything they will see in Ireland, for all sorts of reasons, are not being 'real'. Just bonkers.


Either that, or they are displaying some rare and untreatable strain of anti-Englishness.


Yet they assume the moral high ground, just for being defiantly mad. And on the subject of Roy Keane, there's no way he would have quit United like he did Ireland, indicating that for him at least, this is a no-brainer: The Premiership is the real thing, where the real fans live.


The rest is lies.

Sposs

wtf are you on about? all this talk of "real" fans is aload crap a fan isnt just a fan because they follow their team all over the world or buy every bit of merchandising on offer.

As for saying people care more about club teams that their countries is ridulous,Their club team is their club team but their national team is thier People.

Bateman

>their national team is thier People.

Maybe not all of them. Its just interesting to wonder how this sort of shíte can be allowed to appear in a newspaper of such repute (in certain circles). [Irish] Club before country. Any day. But maybe thats just me.

BKtje

A lot of what was said is true tho imo.
Im in anguish when Man U lose a game, but that said i am also in anguish if ireland loose. To say only the supporters of irish football and internationals can be called real die hard fans, is tbh total rubbish.
Why am i not a 'true' fan of Man U just cos i live in a different country and can't attend their games week in week out. (i would buy a season ticket if i could afford the flight every week/2nd week.)

I don't like Eircom league football. i find it boring. I'm probably just spoilt with the premiership footie high level stuff but isn't that my right? Don't see why im less of a fan.

Obviously you'll never feel worse in your life than when you see David Connolly stepping up to take a penalty for Ireland in the last 16 of the World Cup.

So true !

Bateman

>Obviously you'll never feel worse in your life than when you see David Connolly stepping up to take a penalty for Ireland in the last 16 of the World Cup.

How about after he missed? Not that it compares to losing a cup final. Rather than get into a tedious debate about eircom league-Premiership rivalry, the notion that international fans and domestic fans are one and the same crowd is ridiculous.

And its precisely because "live in a different country and can't attend their games week in week out" that some people do not consider you a REAL fan. Do you not see the distinction between yourself and a lad who has grown up in Manchester and goes to every game, and makes sacrifices to attend away games, Euro games, etc etc? There is a distinction. Shouting at a television is not the same as shouting at a referee when he can hear you. To say its the same thing is idiotic.

Quite apart from that, its interesting to note how many Manyoo fans will take a bit of O/T and "give the game a miss" any day. Thats just my experience though. I dont know many people who are upset for more than a day or two after United lose. Domestic Irish supporters are just more passionate , that to me is a fact borne out hundreds of times from personal experience.

Yawn yawn, finished now. Boring day.