Can I support a different county hurling team?

TheLoneGunmen · 27-06-2012 7:29pm #1

Can a person support a team from a county other than their own? For example, can a person from Offaly support Kilkenny? And if not, why not?

celt262 · 27-06-2012 7:40pm

TheLoneGunmen wrote: »

Can a person support a team from a county other than their own? For example, can a person from Offaly support Kilkenny? And if not, why not?

Course you can sure a person from Cavan can play for Kildare so i dont see why someone cant support another county.

Hammer Archer · 27-06-2012 8:33pm

TheLoneGunmen wrote: »

Can a person support a team from a county other than their own? For example, can a person from Offaly support Kilkenny? And if not, why not?

Of course you can, but why would you? As the saying goes, the GAA is about where you're from, not who you like.

Mountainlad · 27-06-2012 10:03pm

TheLoneGunmen wrote: »

Can a person support a team from a county other than their own? For example, can a person from Offaly support Kilkenny? And if not, why not?

No. When we're born the doctor inserts a micro chip inside our right arm (has to be the right arm, wouldn't work with the left) with a serial number unique to each County.

When you got through the grounds of any Senior Inter-County game (Christy Ring et al included) it reacts if you are wearing a County jersey that does not correspond with the serial number. It is able to do this as each County jersey has a matching serial number attached to the right shoulder, which is invisible to the human eye.

Now, you may think that that's grand, you'll just wear a normal t-shirt. Wrong, it's not grand. The GAA employees several operatives (secret agents if you will) to mingle in with the crowds at matches. They are highly trained individuals, and no how to tell a Cork man from a Kerry man, a feat that deserves to be treated due recognition and caution. If they feel someone is in breach of Code 62 (that's what the GAA refer to this operation as) they confront them and ask them some questions, relevant to their own County (not necessarily relevant to the GAA, as often supporters have no idea of what their County's history was like). They also strategically place themselves in toilets and behind shops, as well as disguising themselves as stewards in an attempt to suss out accents that don't belong at the match they're attending. This last one sometimes has repercussions as evidenced last Sunday in Cork. It appears to many deep-cover agents were let in and it tipped the enforcer-steward equilibrium to one side. In other words, these agents had no idea how to perform the functions of a normal steward, leading to chaos for run of the mill supporters.

I must warn you that while some cunning folks have managed to evade the authorities and support a County not of their birth, few succeed. The GAA's operatives have been briefed to eliminate any persons in breach of Code 62, quietly and discreetly. They are replaced with kinder, quieter people of identical appearance, who will stay loyal too their own County.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 27-06-2012 11:29pm

Whether your from Carlow or Kilkenny I think you should always get behind your own team. Its a mark of a true supporter to stand by your own through thick and thin. There's an element of bandwagonery in Irish sport that I don't want to see creep into the GAA.

deisedude · 28-06-2012 12:11am

I was born and raised a few miles inside the Cork side of the Cork-Waterford border. Despite this I have always supported Waterford. My father is from Waterford and my grandfather played for Waterford and I have been going to Waterford games for as long as i can remember. Can't bring myself to even cheer for Cork because you can't have your cake and eat it! :pac:

Fentdog84 · 28-06-2012 12:21am

Its a free country you can support who you want. But I think if i walked into my local wearing a Cork or Tipp jersey I dont think my life would be worth living. But i suppose if your from a non hurling county, and you enjoy hurling and you want to support one of the top teams, cant see much harm in that, really.

TheLoneGunmen · 28-06-2012 12:54am

@mountainlad: that's funny.

soccymonster · 28-06-2012 12:57am

deisedude wrote: »

I was born and raised a few miles inside the Cork side of the Cork-Waterford border. Despite this I have always supported Waterford. My father is from Waterford and my grandfather played for Waterford and I have been going to Waterford games for as long as i can remember. Can't bring myself to even cheer for Cork because you can't have your cake and eat it! :pac:

Kinda the same as you :P Well not really, kinda, I dunno..
But I've lived in Clare for a good proportion of my life but my dad brought me to all the Limerick matches since I was a young 'un coz he's from there so I support Limerick :P

But ya like, it's good to support your own. I wouldn't really see how you could support fulltime a different county tbh unless you've good reason to. It just wouldn't feel right like..

Syferus · 28-06-2012 1:12am

Connacht hurling support in the All-Ireland championship is a case-study in this - the rest of Connacht defaults to supporting Galway, if anyone. I know I'd love Galway to win as it's the only way the Liam McCarthy is ever going to cross the Shannon.

The poetic hilarity of the inter-provincial starting 15 being made up of the Galway team in Connacht jerseys is lost on no one.

Mountainlad · 28-06-2012 1:13am

soccymonster wrote: »

Kinda the same as you :P Well not really, kinda, I dunno..
But I've lived in Clare for a good proportion of my life but my dad brought me to all the Limerick matches since I was a young 'un coz he's from there so I support Limerick :P

But ya like, it's good to support your own. I wouldn't really see how you could support fulltime a different county tbh unless you've good reason to. It just wouldn't feel right like..

If you ask me, sounds like you should be supporting Clare!

soccymonster · 28-06-2012 1:22am

Mountainlad wrote: »

If you ask me, sounds like you should be supporting Clare!

And if you ask me, you should be supporting your geographical home county. But you don't

Pot, kettle, black!

Mountainlad · 28-06-2012 11:32am

soccymonster wrote: »

And if you ask me, you should be supporting your geographical home county. But you don't
Pot, kettle, black!

I'll link you a map sometime, then we'll see who supports their geographical home county :P

BigFatGiant · 28-06-2012 11:37am

TheLoneGunmen wrote: »

Can a person support a team from a county other than their own? For example, can a person from Offaly support Kilkenny? And if not, why not?

No you can't. What joy would you get from another county winning? This isn't the premiership.

bullpost · 28-06-2012 2:08pm

Wee bit parochial down there are we?

mouthinlad wrote: »

I think that Waterford should have 2 different county teams. One from the West and one from the East. It would be nice to get all the eastern influence out of the Waterford team, but for now I think this is the only option. I think that a team made of purely western players and no eastern rif raf would be brilliant, as the west is best.

whatnext · 28-06-2012 2:26pm

You can't choose who to support, you are what you are and you support your own county, end of.

But then....... My daughter is born and currently living in Dublin, still only a baby, but if I see a Dublin jersey on her I will seriously have to consider her inheritance... She will be brought up as a Meath woman.

My wife on the other hand is English. She wanted to follow Meath, but I explained that that is simply not how it works. I gave her 3 choices: 1. Lancashire, where she is from, 2. Donegal, her mothers county. 3. Mayo her fathers county. She chose Donegal.

So I've contradicted myself twice, in a way.

But one thing is for sure you can never change, ever.... Well apart from Seanie Johnson, Larry Tomkins, Shay Fahy, etc, etc,

I've given myself a lot to think about there, time to put the gaff on the market and start commuting from Meath... The thought of rearing a Dub... I feel sick :-)

MrJoeSoap · 29-06-2012 2:09am

Syferus wrote: »

Connacht hurling support in the All-Ireland championship is a case-study in this - the rest of Connacht defaults to supporting Galway, if anyone. I know I'd love Galway to win as it's the only way the Liam McCarthy is ever going to cross the Shannon.

The poetic hilarity of the inter-provincial starting 15 being made up of the Galway team in Connacht jerseys is lost on no one.

But Galway is in Leinster...

Personally, I'm born and bred in Dublin but follow Waterford almost as much as I do the Dubs. Spent all my summers in Dunmore East as my grandfather was from there (not a hurling town, I'll admit) and from '98 on I supported the Waterford hurlers through the "glory days". Have always followed the Dubs and get to most Dublin hurling games these days, and would always cheer for them against Waterford, but in any other situation I'll shout for Na Déisi.

Radharc na Sleibhte · 29-06-2012 4:35am

Im living in sligo 28 years out of 29, we moved here when i was a baby, but ive been goin to meath games since i was 5 yrs old, i couldnt just stop supportin meath. Its part of me. Id still like to see sligo do ok, as long as it doesnt impact on the royals!

John37 · 29-06-2012 6:55am

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

But Galway is in Leinster...

Personally, I'm born and bred in Dublin but follow Waterford almost as much as I do the Dubs. Spent all my summers in Dunmore East as my grandfather was from there (not a hurling town, I'll admit) and from '98 on I supported the Waterford hurlers through the "glory days". Have always followed the Dubs and get to most Dublin hurling games these days, and would always cheer for them against Waterford, but in any other situation I'll shout for Na Déisi.

Do you go to Waterford matches in the leage or champo. I am in the same situation in that I was born in Dublin but my father and all my relations on his side are from Limerick and he used to bring me to Limerick hurling games as a young lad. I also spend my summers in Limerick as a youngster and have followed them ever since aswell as the Dublin hurling team;)

MrJoeSoap · 29-06-2012 11:34am

John37 wrote: »

Do you go to Waterford matches in the leage or champo.

Both wherever possible, but it's mostly not possible because the league games are played the same days (or same weekend) and I work weekends as it is, so my time is mainly spent following the Dubs during the league. Was down in Fraher Field this year for the meaningless match this year though, and have been to Munster Finals, Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals, AI Qualifiers, Quarters and Semi-Finals to see Waterford also.

Clareman · 29-06-2012 11:44am

I'm a Clare supporter first and foremost, but Galway would be my second team once Clare are out of the Championship, mainly cause I went to college there and my mother is from there.

The_Kew_Tour · 29-06-2012 11:48am

I used to remember every Dub I met was a Kilkenny Hurling Supporter a few years ago.

Seems to have died a little now.

dastardly00 · 29-06-2012 11:57am

I could never support another county hurling team, but I am blessed to be from Kilkenny.
I've lived in Galway now for over 7 years now, but I have not gained any affection for the Tribesmen.
I go to a few inter county matches not involving KK throughout the year but I would remain neutral.
If Tipp are playing, I do hope the other team will win (sorry, it's the rivalry bred into me

).
I have three young nephews who are from Tipperary, and the eldest, who is six, is showing a great interest in hurling. His father is out pucking the ball with him most evenings at the moment and the team he plays for has had a training session with Eoin Kelly and John Mullane recently. The nephews have pedigree in them in that their father played for Tipp minors and their great-grandfather played in goal for KK seniors.

God knows what I'll I'll do if he ends up playing for Tipp or if any of his younger brothers do :eek: :eek:
Blood is thicker than water eh?

MrJoeSoap · 29-06-2012 12:02pm

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

I used to remember every Dub I met was a Kilkenny Hurling Supporter a few years ago.

Seems to have died a little now.

Supporter or admirer? Big difference between the two.

A2LUE42 · 29-06-2012 12:17pm

As an Irish person replied when asked if they would now support England after Ireland had been knocked out of EURO 2012,

I would support them, but I wouldn't want them to win.

The_Kew_Tour · 29-06-2012 12:26pm

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

Supporter or admirer? Big difference between the two.

Supporter

MrJoeSoap · 29-06-2012 12:50pm

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Supporter

Well I live in Dublin and have followed hurling for years, have never met a Dub who owned a KK jersey or travelled to see them with any sort of regularity. Plenty of people would go and see them in Croker against whoever, but I wouldn't call them supporters.

We're clearly hanging in different circles.

The_Kew_Tour · 29-06-2012 4:22pm

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

Well I live in Dublin and have followed hurling for years, have never met a Dub who owned a KK jersey or travelled to see them with any sort of regularity. Plenty of people would go and see them in Croker against whoever, but I wouldn't call them supporters.

We're clearly hanging in different circles.

Maybe. I knew guys who had The KK Jersey and they were Dubs and went down to Nolan park.

Im not just talking couple people either. My mates who lived in Dublin would say the same at the time. We used to find it funny that they would not support their own.

It has changed little since Dublin became good again.

RockyRainbow · 30-06-2012 9:21pm

Now that's funny. Fair play bud.

Clareman · 30-06-2012 9:24pm

Welcome to boards RockyRainbow and thanks for taking the effort to register to post something positive.

RockyRainbow · 30-06-2012 9:40pm

Clareman wrote: »

Welcome to boards RockyRainbow and thanks for taking the effort to register to post something positive.

Thanks...I don't actually know what I'm doing, tis daunting, I'm fairly sure people are judging me...

Clareman · 30-06-2012 9:50pm

It's the internet, everyone thinks they are better than everyone else

Have a look around the place, different forums have different rules so try to familarize yourself with the Charter (rules) of the forums you visit.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 30-06-2012 10:06pm

RockyRainbow wrote: »

Thanks...I don't actually know what I'm doing, tis daunting, I'm fairly sure people are judging me...

Hon Tipp, Rocky.

rpurfield · 01-07-2012 9:46am

whatnext wrote: »

You can't choose who to support, you are what you are and you support your own county, end of.

But then....... My daughter is born and currently living in Dublin, still only a baby, but if I see a Dublin jersey on her I will seriously have to consider her inheritance... She will be brought up as a Meath woman.

My wife on the other hand is English. She wanted to follow Meath, but I explained that that is simply not how it works. I gave her 3 choices: 1. Lancashire, where she is from, 2. Donegal, her mothers county. 3. Mayo her fathers county. She chose Donegal.

So I've contradicted myself twice, in a way.

But one thing is for sure you can never change, ever.... Well apart from Seanie Johnson, Larry Tomkins, Shay Fahy, etc, etc,

I've given myself a lot to think about there, time to put the gaff on the market and start commuting from Meath... The thought of rearing a Dub... I feel sick :-)

our twins were born in holles st and ive been getting a lot of stick off the sister in law about them being dubs.she seriously told the wife she was buying the twins dublin jersies and i told her in all seriousness theyd go straight in the bin i wouldnt even return them to the shop.as far as im concerned the lads will be coming to games as soon as they are old enough and theyve meath jersies already and ill probably have them down st pats nursery next year.

interestingly i work with a scottish man whos cheers for ireland over scotland and lives in navan but goes to dublin games!!

flanders1979 · 01-07-2012 4:30pm

I suppose you could have a favourite second team without being an oddball. Usually a team without any rivalry to your own county. For example, I can't see many people in Meath supporting the Dublin hurlers.

Stinicker · 01-07-2012 6:24pm

I'm from Kerry why would I need to support another county? Still I always support any team playing Cork and so do most true Kerrymen as was evident when we watched Mayo dump them out last year the same day as Kerry saw off a strong Limerick challenge.

Duiske · 01-07-2012 7:14pm

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Hon Tipp, Rocky.

We'll see. :P

Will always support Kilkenny, but to be honest I love watching Munster hurling. Leinster hurling has gotten ridiculously boring, and given a choice between watching KK vs any leinster team at Nowlan Pk or watching any 2 Munster teams clash in Semple, I'd take the Munster game in a flash. With a Limerick team heading in the right direction and Cork only a year or two away from being great again its only going to get better in Munster.

RockyRainbow · 08-07-2012 2:23pm

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Hon Tipp, Rocky.

Tiobraid Arann abu

RockyRainbow · 09-07-2012 7:41pm

Duiske wrote: »

We'll see. :P

Will always support Kilkenny, but to be honest I love watching Munster hurling. Leinster hurling has gotten ridiculously boring, and given a choice between watching KK vs any leinster team at Nowlan Pk or watching any 2 Munster teams clash in Semple, I'd take the Munster game in a flash. With a Limerick team heading in the right direction and Cork only a year or two away from being great again its only going to get better in Munster.

Yes, there's never an unexpected outcome in Leinster hurling, is there?;) I'm joking, but really, fair play to Galway, their backs held ye off well.

[-0-] · 09-07-2012 9:05pm

No maternity hospital in Clare for a while now. Does that mean I support Limerick because I was born there? No. I support Clare because that's where I was raised. I spent 5 years in Kerry and 4 years in Galway as well, but I don't support either of those counties.

This weekend if Limerick beat Clare, I won't mind too much. I would rather be beaten by Limerick than anyone else actually.

09-07-2012 10:29pm

Supporting any one other than Tipperary (in hurling or football) for me comes as natural as loving any children i may have in the future. Might be easy for me to criticise anyone for not staying loyal to their county given we have the population and thus generated revenue to challenge for honours more regularly down here. Still i think counties will only get stronger if people get up off their arses and get behind them. These are amateur athletes doing their very best and putting in the hours. Perhaps some arent training as smart as others but its fair to say all are training hard.

MrJoeSoap · 09-07-2012 10:54pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Supporting any one other than Tipperary (in hurling or football) for me comes as natural as loving any children i may have in the future. Might be easy for me to criticise anyone for not staying loyal to their county given we have the population and thus generated revenue to challenge for honours more regularly down here. Still i think counties will only get stronger if people get up off their arses and get behind them. These are amateur athletes doing their very best and putting in the hours. Perhaps some arent training as smart as others but its fair to say all are training hard.

Spot on, and especially in hurling. I'd love to see counties like Westmeath, Laois, Antrim, Carlow etc... improve to a level where they can be competitive. It can only be good for the sport. In the most basic sense of the word, I would "support" these counties, but in the sports sense of the word I don't think I would actively cheer them on in a game.

Donnielighto · 09-07-2012 11:00pm

Galway lad here. Love beatin mayo jsut cos. Would support them against pretty much anyone else though, the poor tragic lads

Tombo2001 · 10-07-2012 1:43pm

Here is a map of GAA clubs in Ireland.

The Red ones are football only.

The blue are hurling and yellow are both.

http://www.gaainfo.com/articles/gaaclubs.php

You will fairly quickly spot that everything north of Athlone is more or less Red; as is more or less the entire Atlantic Coast line from Derry down to West Cork.

In other words, there are many counties where hurling is not played at a high level, or anything approximating a high level.

In this case, I dont think its fair to expect the young kids in these counties to have the Armagh/Longford/Cavan/Leitrim/Donegal/Meath/ Louth etc etc number ten as their hero, when they could have Shefflin or Lar Corbett instead.

So yes, I think its entirely reasonable if you are from Monaghan. Less so if you are from Tipp.

Stereomaniac · 10-07-2012 1:54pm

I was born in Waterford. But as a child I never knew that. I grew up and have spent the most part of my life in Kilkenny. My father is from here, and my mother is from Blackrock. I am always glad to see Dublin get a victory, provided that it is not over the cats. However, last year I moved to Waterford. I feel a sense of pride when I look at the Waterford team now. So in Munster I root for Waterford, but Kilkenny is where my allegiance truly lies, I feel. That link the abover poster put on here is very interesting. I have always found it amazing that Kilkenny are so dominant in hurling and they just don't go in for the football at all. I see that New York are ranked ahead of us in the listing there. Oh well, at least I can cheer for the Dubs when it comes to the football championship.

Tombo2001 · 10-07-2012 2:01pm

Stereomaniac wrote: »

I have always found it amazing that Kilkenny are so dominant in hurling and they just don't go in for the football at all. I see that New York are ranked ahead of us in the listing there. Oh well, at least I can cheer for the Dubs when it comes to the football championship.

First of all, Kilkenny is a dual county, but unlike all other dual counties, the second sport is handball. This is a long standing tradition in Kilkenny. The (arguably) greatest big alley handballers to come out of Ireland have been John Joe Gilmartin and Duxie Walsh, both Kilkenny men.

Handball is a much better complement to Hurling than Gaelic Football is, in terms of hand eye co-ordination, and other skills. But also because handball nowadays is mainly a winter sport, its a game to play in the hurling off-season.

Second, I often hear it said...."why doesnt kilkenny play football"......I never see that turned on its head and asked why doesnt "name any one of fifteen counties" play hurling.

Why is Tyrone so crap at hurling when they can put out such a top class football team.

Cause to my mind, and to be fair in the minds of most neutrals I know, Hurling is a much better game.

MrJoeSoap · 10-07-2012 2:06pm

Tombo2001 wrote: »

First of all, Kilkenny is a dual county, but unlike all other dual counties, the second sport is handball. This is a long standing tradition in Kilkenny. The (arguably) greatest big alley handballers to come out of Ireland have been John Joe Gilmartin and Duxie Walsh, both Kilkenny men.

Handball is a much better complement to Hurling than Gaelic Football is, in terms of hand eye co-ordination, and other skills. But also because handball nowadays is mainly a winter sport, its a game to play in the hurling off-season.

Second, I often hear it said...."why doesnt kilkenny play football"......I never see that turned on its head and asked why doesnt "name any one of fifteen counties" play hurling.

Why is Tyrone so crap at hurling when they can put out such a top class football team.

Cause to my mind, and to be fair in the minds of most neutrals I know, Hurling is a much better game.

Great post.

grenache · 11-07-2012 12:37am

For decades, people in Abbeyfeale used to support Kerry in the football, despite the town being on the Limerick side of the Limerick/Kerry border. I remember passing through the town in 1991 on my way to the Munster Final involving both counties in Killarney - hardly a green and white flag in sight, green and gold was everywhere :mad: Limerick had no football team to speak of that was deemed worthy of supporting.

Until, the early 00s, when we actually started to develop a decent team, and were quite unlucky not to win a Munster Final on at least three occasions in the last 10 years. Now you'll see the green and white flags in Abbeyfeale, the natives there seemed to have remembered which county they reside in

Conor_Sammon · 11-07-2012 1:56am

Gregos Traitorelli.

StephenHendry · 11-07-2012 11:18am

i would not only support tipp, first and foresmost despite not living there for nearly ten years. anyway i do go out and see other counties playing but would not be inclined to adopt them as my second team. i suppose people from laois or carlow might follow kk hurling team with interest but would rather see themselves be more competitive.

i knew a lad from athy, kildare who went to college with a mate of mine but he considered himself a true dubs supporter, the dubs seem to attract some bandwagon supporters

toxicity234 · 11-07-2012 11:58am

TheLoneGunmen wrote: »

Can a person support a team from a county other than their own? For example, can a person from Offaly support Kilkenny? And if not, why not?

Well, I'm from Offaly and I support Offaly. We had a barren spell over the last 12 years But in the 23 years before that we were awesome.
I live in Dublin and i would travel to all Offaly League and Championship Games.
I go to club games in the county as well, if there no club games on I’ll head to the club games in Dublin or Kilkenny.

Outside of Offaly I would go to any Championship game I can. No matter what County is involved.
I love to watch Kilkenny play because there skill level and there play off the ball in great. Now i have to say I love watch them getting beating as well. So last Sunday I was a happy neutral leaving Croke Park after seen a great game.

I find went I go to games that Offaly are not playing in I would normal support the underdog.

The only County i would never support is Tipp and that because i was brought up close to the border with Tipp and as a rival I just can't support them.

But now that i think about it i have a college friend from Leitrim that would goes to the Offaly hurlers championship games before he moved to New Zealand.
he even had an Offaly supporters Jersey and he start suporting Offaly around 2001 when he was 20. i often get e-mail from him asking about how the hurlers are doing and who's playing well.

Can I support a different county hurling team?

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