Do you support any British sports teams?

Fighting Irish

No

Sky Sports, that is all!

stovelid

No

fryup wrote: »

ah but wait when Shamrock Rovers take over europe....you'll all be jumping on the bandwagon:D

Myself and a lot of friends like the EPL and it's good to see new fans but you would die if some of the worse type of EPL/Galactico/"football product" mongos started turning up at games.

sh__93

No

Camackaze wrote: »

We do though. We have a national league, with real actual teams competing in it. It's possible to support both Liverpool and a domestic side!

I didn't say i didn't support a domestic side. I just said i supported liverpool!

dundalkfc10

Pride Fighter wrote: »

I dont know how anyone can support Celtic over an Irish team seeing as Shamrock Rovers are further than them in Europe and proving what I've been saying for years, that the Irish league in terms of fooballing standard is equal to about SPL and championship level.

If even 10% of people who buy jerseys off teams in the leagues I mentioned and went to 1 game a year the Irish league would be so much better. People only have to look past the journalistic bias and general bias of the barstooler.

We'll never have a league as good as England's premier league, but no reason we cannot be roughly level with the Belgian, Norwegian and Danish leagues.

:eek: There at the same stage

Sonnenblumen

No

sh__93 wrote: »

Yes. I support Liverpool. We ave nothing like it here at home so i don't see the problem

Good on ye, they need all the support they can get.......






...............but it will never make any difference.

sh__93

No

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

Good on ye, they need all the support they can get.......






...............but it will never make any difference.

haha. was waiting for a response like this.. All the more reason to support them i think
And just to make it clear i'm not dissing anyone who doesn't support a foreign team. Fair play to them actually

Guinny

I don't support any teams/not interested in sport

jive wrote: »

God I hate this argument. Every other week some gob shíte on here thinks he's copped something genius and that all these lads supporting English teams are hypocrites. Let my rant begin

To kick things off, not all people who support English teams 'hate' England. The quality of football is much better in the premiership and thus makes it more entertaining to watch for the majority of people. I think everyone supports their local team to some extent but to be honest I don't want to pay to stand in the pissing rain in crap stadiums in the middle of an Irish winter.

The premiership is televised every weekend and matches that aren't televised can be found online. Not only that but Match of the Day is on every Saturday and Sunday night not to mention that Sky Sports News covers the premiership every day of the week. Do you get that level of coverage for any Irish teams? No and for a large number of reasons you never will. Premiership teams also get to play against other European teams in various cup competitions. The fact that you can get all these matches online means you don't even have to have a TV to follow English teams (or you can go down to the pub if you support one of the bigger teams). It actually works out cheaper to follow an English team than an Irish one.

TL;DR
English teams get more coverage, better coverage, more matches, play against other European teams, can be watched online, better standard of football and it's cheaper.

To me this is in no way shape or form supporting a team. It seems you would do anything but attend an actual match. Even the barstooler congregates with fellow football fans in the pub, but this form of football viewing is largely focused with online participation.

For me a football fan actually goes to matches. People may give out about the standard of the League of Ireland and there is no way it can compete with the Premership, but it can just be as enjoyable. To me Friday nights are about going to Oriel Park, meeting my mates at the same spot in the ground, buying the programme, doing the half time quiz, booing the ref & opposition players, cheering on my own team, the buzz when we score and more importantly win. It’s accessible, local and something I can identify with. I kinda also follow Liverpool, but to be honest I don’t really have a connection and love for Liverpool as I do with my local team Dundalk and how can I.

To say it’s cheaper is ridiculous. That’s like saying it’s cheaper to listen to youtube than go to a gig. Watching a match in the flesh is a completely different experience than watching a match via a TV screen in a pub or in your sitting room or via a computer. Even if you go to a pub then you would probably spend more on pints than entrance into a game, unless you drink tap water. Then if you actually decide to go and visit your beloved team, you are going spend a fortune getting to the game, accommodation, spending money, match day tickets. The Irish Times said on average it costs €884.64 to go to one Premiership match. My season ticket for the year cost €140, that’s €7.78 per match.

Media coverage of the league of Ireland could be better. But go to http://extratime.ie/ and that gives a great service to all League of Ireland fans. My own team Dundalk has a great website and our programme is better would match a lot of Premiership clubs programmes. Okay all clubs are not the same. Instead of Match of the Day we have Monday Night Soccer, which in my opinion is a good show. Also believe it or not League of Ireland clubs do compete in Europe, most teams get through at least one round, and this year the big break through of Shamrock Rovers into the group stages of the Europa League. I agree facilities at the league could be better, but without the fans the income to build great stadia is going be hard plus the FAI is more interested in the national team. But for some reason I don’t think this is a big issue here, because from reading this post it seems you have little or no interest in actually going to a match.

P.S. The league of Ireland is a summer league and it also rains in England.

niallo27

No

Guinny wrote: »

To me this is in no way shape or form supporting a team. It seems you would do anything but attend an actual match. Even the barstooler congregates with fellow football fans in the pub, but this form of football viewing is largely focused with online participation.

For me a football fan actually goes to matches. People may give out about the standard of the League of Ireland and there is no way it can compete with the Premership, but it can just be as enjoyable. To me Friday nights are about going to Oriel Park, meeting my mates at the same spot in the ground, buying the programme, doing the half time quiz, booing the ref & opposition players, cheering on my own team, the buzz when we score and more importantly win. It’s accessible, local and something I can identify with. I kinda also follow Liverpool, but to be honest I don’t really have a connection and love for Liverpool as I do with my local team Dundalk and how can I.

To say it’s cheaper is ridiculous. That’s like saying it’s cheaper to listen to youtube than go to a gig. Watching a match in the flesh is a completely different experience than watching a match via a TV screen in a pub or in your sitting room or via a computer. Even if you go to a pub then you would probably spend more on pints than entrance into a game, unless you drink tap water. Then if you actually decide to go and visit your beloved team, you are going spend a fortune getting to the game, accommodation, spending money, match day tickets. The Irish Times said on average it costs €884.64 to go to one Premiership match. My season ticket for the year cost €140, that’s €7.78 per match.

Media coverage of the league of Ireland could be better. But go to http://extratime.ie/ and that gives a great service to all League of Ireland fans. My own team Dundalk has a great website and our programme is better would match a lot of Premiership clubs programmes. Okay all clubs are not the same. Instead of Match of the Day we have Monday Night Soccer, which in my opinion is a good show. Also believe it or not League of Ireland clubs do compete in Europe, most teams get through at least one round, and this year the big break through of Shamrock Rovers into the group stages of the Europa League. I agree facilities at the league could be better, but without the fans the income to build great stadia is going be hard plus the FAI is more interested in the national team. But for some reason I don’t think this is a big issue here, because from reading this post it seems you have little or no interest in actually going to a match.

P.S. The league of Ireland is a summer league and it also rains in England.

If someone gave me 884 euro, im sure i could stretch it to 6 maybe 7 trips to liverpool

don ramo

No

niallo27 wrote: »

If someone gave me 884 euro, im sure i could stretch it to 6 maybe 7 trips to liverpool

maybe on flights no problem, say 100 yoyos per flight and youll have 25 left, match ticket is gonna be 40 if not 50, your shy at least 15 quid per game, thats the bare minimum your gonna pay,

the breakdown doesnt justify it, for the cost for me to see 1 UTD game on a day trip, without eating or buying a program, just flights and tickets, translates to a season ticket for a LOI club,

what justifies is it the love you have for the club, i love my local club, i follow man utd, and i like barcelona, ive never seen barcelona play thats why i only like them, i say i follow man utd cause ive seen them play on mutiple occasions, and i love my local club, they are the number 1 team that i follow, ive seem them play hundreds of games, i have traveled up and down the country following them, been there when they got promoted and relagated, and now im just waiting for there iminent demise due to the simple lack of support for the club, it annoys me that the other club i follow has so many supporters here in ireland and that my clubs clubhouse has been full many a saturday evening with people watching utd play in the late game, which finnishes about 30 minutes before my team kicks-off there saturday evening game, yet 85% of the people in the clubhouse head home for some dinner and a nap before they head out again,

ive no problem myself following an english team, i dont consider myself a better fan for following my local team, i just dont consider people who sit at a barstool for 5 decades of there lives "supporting" a team that they have never seen play live, i just dont get it, id say they really really like the them there watching alright, but there not supporters,

it doent matter how close sky say you are to the action, your team cant feel your support through the TV weather its 3D or not,

Guinny

I don't support any teams/not interested in sport

niallo27 wrote: »

If someone gave me 884 euro, im sure i could stretch it to 6 maybe 7 trips to liverpool

Are you swimming over?

CiaranC

I don't support any teams/not interested in sport

Kev_ps3 wrote: »

Alot of people inc myself see supporting a English team as entertainment only, its like watching an American film or eating Chinese food, it doesn't mean you support the county or its politics. Im a United fan and I couldn't care less about Manchester.

Haha, brilliant.

Sheeps

No

I support Mclaren

Sheeps

No

not many Irish teams in f1 anymore

starviewadams

My late uncle was a huge Liverpool fan and used to tell me about all their great players from years gone by when I was a youngster,so I'll watch them if they're on the telly or if there's a story about them in the paper.

Don't have any of their jerseys or anything like that though and I don't refer to their rivals as scum or stuff like that,a few of my mates are Manchester Utd fans and when they play Manchester City they say things like 'We're going to put one over on the scum etc..' which sounds a bit odd coming from a lad from Dublin who's never been to Manchester in his life.Each to their own though I suppose.

jive

Guinny wrote: »

To me this is in no way shape or form supporting a team. It seems you would do anything but attend an actual match. Even the barstooler congregates with fellow football fans in the pub, but this form of football viewing is largely focused with online participation.

For me a football fan actually goes to matches. People may give out about the standard of the League of Ireland and there is no way it can compete with the Premership, but it can just be as enjoyable. To me Friday nights are about going to Oriel Park, meeting my mates at the same spot in the ground, buying the programme, doing the half time quiz, booing the ref & opposition players, cheering on my own team, the buzz when we score and more importantly win. It’s accessible, local and something I can identify with. I kinda also follow Liverpool, but to be honest I don’t really have a connection and love for Liverpool as I do with my local team Dundalk and how can I.

To say it’s cheaper is ridiculous. That’s like saying it’s cheaper to listen to youtube than go to a gig. Watching a match in the flesh is a completely different experience than watching a match via a TV screen in a pub or in your sitting room or via a computer. Even if you go to a pub then you would probably spend more on pints than entrance into a game, unless you drink tap water. Then if you actually decide to go and visit your beloved team, you are going spend a fortune getting to the game, accommodation, spending money, match day tickets. The Irish Times said on average it costs €884.64 to go to one Premiership match. My season ticket for the year cost €140, that’s €7.78 per match.

Media coverage of the league of Ireland could be better. But go to http://extratime.ie/ and that gives a great service to all League of Ireland fans. My own team Dundalk has a great website and our programme is better would match a lot of Premiership clubs programmes. Okay all clubs are not the same. Instead of Match of the Day we have Monday Night Soccer, which in my opinion is a good show. Also believe it or not League of Ireland clubs do compete in Europe, most teams get through at least one round, and this year the big break through of Shamrock Rovers into the group stages of the Europa League. I agree facilities at the league could be better, but without the fans the income to build great stadia is going be hard plus the FAI is more interested in the national team. But for some reason I don’t think this is a big issue here, because from reading this post it seems you have little or no interest in actually going to a match.

P.S. The league of Ireland is a summer league and it also rains in England.

With regards to paragraph one then our opinions differ with regard to supporting a team. You don't have to go to matches to support a team. You can support a team financially, if you so choose, by buying their merchandise. Teams also get money for televised matches and thus by paying to view the games I am supporting them financially along with other clubs.

Going to matches isn't exactly viable if you support a foreign team. Like I've already said, the quality of the football is much poorer over here. I don't get any enjoyment out of that standard of football. Many Irish games are held mid week so even then it wouldn't be viable for me to watch my local team as they rarely play at the weekend. Not that it matters because I have no interest in watching that standard of football as I have said already. I'm sure I'm not alone with that opinion.

With regards to the figures you've quoted I can already tell you that you are way off. Are you incorporating travel expenses to your €140 season ticket? No, you're not. So why are you including both travel expenses and accommodation in the one premiership match ticket? My friends often go to games in England and the price typically ranges from ~€90-200 depending on the match/venue. I'm not saying that it's cheaper to go to the games though am I?

How many LOI matches are televised for a full 90 minutes? Or first division games? Very few. The likes of United/Arsenal/Liverpool/City/Chelsea are on every weekend on sky. That is my point. If I wanted to watch Monaghan play how could I without going to the match? I couldn't. So in that respect, yes it is cheaper to support the English teams.

League of Ireland clubs rarely compete in Europe. They compete in the qualifiers with the minnows of Europe without making it to the tournament proper. Unless you're lucky enough to be a Shamrock Rovers fan then yet again everyone else in the country has missed out. This year was the first year an Irish club actually got into Europe and even so it's just the Europa League. A great achievement for an Irish club but we all know they are merely a filler team for that competition and won't make a dent on the group that they've been put in as much as I'd like them to do well.

I have little or no interest in going to Irish football matches solely due to the standard of football. I've been to a few but I've no intention on returning. I gave it a fair go and can't say I miss it all that much since I've stopped going (for now it would be impossible for me to go due to my schedule clashing with most kick offs). I'm not doubting that the atmosphere may be great in some stadiums around the country and I'm not doubting the passion. But for me, and many others, it isn't worth travelling to and paying to see. Many people go and many people love it but they are a minority in comparison to those who watch English teams every weekend.

I understand a lot of what you said apart from the inaccurate ticket prices you've stated. I understand where you're coming from but as someone who doesn't enjoy Irish football we'll have to agree a difference of opinion.

PS. I already mentioned the fact that it was a summer league because I knew someone would pick up on me saying Irish winter. That was more of a stab at Irish weather. The difference between England and here is that English stadiums are all stands, you can't say the same for here unfortunately.

im invisible

i'd watch the Lions if they were playing in the rugby all-right,
id cheer on McDowell, Clarke and McIlroy in the golf aswell, (tho thats not usually a team sport...), i actually follow Poulter aswell, for some reason.

flas

I don't support any teams/not interested in sport

its funny seeing the same old excuses on here for people just not going to actually watch football... the standard is too low? well the Irish football team play a terrible game to watch, Spain play a lovely one! im guessing from your own twisted logic if Ireland were playing Spain then you would all support Spain as they play the best football?

its missing the fundamental aspects of being a supporter of a club, which is supporting your team no matter what, win lose or draw...if everyone just went around shouting for the biggest and best in everything what a sad and dull world we would live in!

barcelona and real madrid are miles ahead of the clubs from the english premier league in terms of technical ability and skill, why doesnt everyone just support them!? what would the football customers of the likes of man utd and liverpool do if they got relegated to the blue square premier and stayed there, where they would not get to see them every weekend in their local pubs do? would they just pick another team randomly that will be playing a higher standard of football!? i would love this to happen just to see what it would be like after say 5 or 10 years! just as an experiment!

OPENROAD

No

flas wrote: »

its funny seeing the same old excuses on here for people just not going to actually watch football... the standard is too low? well the Irish football team play a terrible game to watch, Spain play a lovely one! im guessing from your own twisted logic if Ireland were playing Spain then you would all support Spain as they play the best football?

its missing the fundamental aspects of being a supporter of a club, which is supporting your team no matter what, win lose or draw...if everyone just went around shouting for the biggest and best in everything what a sad and dull world we would live in!

barcelona and real madrid are miles ahead of the clubs from the english premier league in terms of technical ability and skill, why doesnt everyone just support them!? what would the football customers of the likes of man utd and liverpool do if they got relegated to the blue square premier and stayed there, where they would not get to see them every weekend in their local pubs do? would they just pick another team randomly that will be playing a higher standard of football!? i would love this to happen just to see what it would be like after say 5 or 10 years! just as an experiment!

No chance!! no attachment to Spain.

Arsenal could get relegated to the Blue Square and I would still go to watch them, Man !!!! give me an Arsenal corner over a world cup win.

flas

I don't support any teams/not interested in sport

OPENROAD wrote: »

No chance!! no attachment to Spain.

Arsenal could relegated to the Blue Square and I would still go to watch them, man !!!! give me an Arsenal corner over a world cup win.

if your irish and live in ireland the irony is pretty funny...

OPENROAD

No

flas wrote: »

if your irish and live in ireland the irony is pretty funny...

And??? I can't have an attachment with another city, cause I'm born here

How does that work with the English born players playing for Ireland then.

By the way I go to matches and standard of football is not an issue for me.

dfx-

No

Yes, their test cricket side, especially in Australia or India, Somerset in their domestic game for being eternal runners up recently..

Also wanted Hill to beat Villeneuve and Schumacher before him..

flas

I don't support any teams/not interested in sport

OPENROAD wrote: »

And??? I can't have an attachment with another city, cause I'm born here

How does that work with the English born players playing for Ireland then.

By the way I go to matches and standard of football is not an issue for me.

no you can, if you live, have lived there for a period of time. but its not with a city we are talking about, its with a football club, of which there are hundreds in london, most of which are not playing to the same standard of football as arsenal, so why was it arsenal? i dont know, you could have a very valid reason, like living beside the stadium!? or your father playing for them or some family member or friend!?

the english born players playing for ireland is being weeded out thank God, it was always just a way for the majority of them to further their careers! you can name a starting irish 11 of players who have played in the loi now...

OPENROAD

No

flas wrote: »

no you can, if you live, have lived there for a period of time. but its not with a city we are talking about, its with a football club, of which there are hundreds in london, most of which are not playing to the same standard of football as arsenal, so why was it arsenal? i dont know, you could have a very valid reason, like living beside the stadium!? or your father playing for them or some family member of friend!?

the english born players playing for ireland is being weeded out thank God, it was always just a way for the majority of them to further their careers! you can name a starting irish 11 of players who have played in the loi now...

I have lived in the city, why Arsenal? a number of reasons, definitely a big thing for me was that it was a London club, other reasons included one player(David Rocastle) I took a liking to, Highbury was the first football stadium I went to and fell in love with the place immediately.

Never lived beside the stadium, so you probably won't be impressed with my reasons I am a ST holder and normally miss very few matches and to be honest it's the social side of going to games that has got me hooked, getting to know people, beers before the game etc... don't go to many away games, do the odd away trip, always nice meeting up with people and meeting new people, so the social aspect is quite important to me

flas

I don't support any teams/not interested in sport

OPENROAD wrote: »

I have lived in the city, why Arsenal? a number of reasons, definitely a big thing for me was that it was a London club, other reasons included one player(David Rocastle) I took a liking to, Highbury was the first football stadium I went to and fell in love with the place immediately.

Never lived beside the stadium, so you probably won't be impressed with my reasons I am a ST holder and normally miss very few matches and to be honest it's the social side of going to games that has got me hooked, getting to know people, beers before the game etc... don't go to many away games, do the odd away trip, always nice meeting up with people and meeting new people, so the social aspect is quite important to me

ha, no, perfectly valid reasons, but with the amount of people in this country who go on about we and us, when only having set foot in the city of the club they proclaim to support once for a weekend trip away you can never be too sure!

Fromthetrees

No

I support a lot of teams in a lot of sports in a lot of countries, I just think many people take it too seriously, it's all just a game. I don't support England in international sporting games the same way I don't support Peru or Japan or Armenia.....

Speak Now

No

im invisible wrote: »

i'd watch the Lions if they were playing in the rugby all-right,
id cheer on McDowell, Clarke and McIlroy in the golf aswell, (tho thats not usually a team sport...), i actually follow Poulter aswell, for some reason.

McDowell and McIlroy are representing Ireland in the World Cup.

A Primal Nut

No

I grew up watching the premiership. So stands to reason I support a premier league team. I also grew up watching NBA and supported an NBA team back then. Nothing unusual about it.

I'd have as much in common with the average Arsenal fan as the average LoI fan anyway.

dan1895

I don't support any teams/not interested in sport

niallo27 wrote: »

If someone gave me 884 euro, im sure i could stretch it to 6 maybe 7 trips to liverpool

What about the other 12 or 13 home games a season?
What about away games?
What about cup games?
What about games in Euro.......oh no wait!

Davidth88

No

Hi

I am English from West London living in Ireland now 10 yrs , support Chelsea and England.

Followed Chelsea home and away for many years , have only been to about 5 Chelsea games since I moved here . I also went to many England games ( lived short distance from Wembley )

I have been to many LOI games ( Kildare County when they were around and others ) and been to quite a few Ireland matches.

Nothing , but nothing beats being at a live match.

I find it sort of difficult when I am sitting watching say Chelsea v Manure or Rottenham and someone in the pub starts saying ' we are doing well ' when they have never been to a game , and know nothing about the ' culture ' of the team . For example , why do certain supporters hate other seemingly random teams ( Chelsea and Birmingham for example ) , why are certain songs sung etc. These things are really only learnt if you go to games on a regular basis.

Saying that I have met many people in Ireland who go to more PL games than I have ever been to and are ' true ' supporters .

I really enjoyed going to the LOI games when I could , I would gladly go to any live game and would follow a local side happily.

PS , I do find taking a slagging when watching an England match from someone wearing a Manure shirt rather ironic and funny, it't the main reason I never watch England in a pub in Ireland.

stovelid

No

Why bother with the conversion attempts. Would you really want these types of mongos showing up at domestic games?

Leave them in the pubs of Ireland with their hilarious manc and scouser banter.

They're an embarrassment to the actual supporters of those clubs in England too.