This Sunderland thing

Iang87 · 09-02-2009 04:21PM #1

Can someone explain to me this new thing that is the support for Sunderland?
This has probably been done to death but i've never seen it so i'm just wondering as to what the emphatuation is.

I mean in irish media and irish soccer fans just wondering what started it all and why it grew

_blank_ · 09-02-2009 04:26PM

Er..

Niall Quinn and the rest of his cronies owning the club, Roy Keane being the manager for a while and all the Irish players.

May have had something to do with it.

What sickens me the most is the "fans" heading off on weekend trips to see them, paying all that money to "support the Irish". :rolleyes:

Or people pretending to be interested in them because of the "Irish connection" or "I like to see Irish do well" or "I'd support anything Irish" - yeah, apart from actual Irish football teams that is.

Support the Irish at home ffs.

zAbbo · 09-02-2009 04:27PM

You're about 12-18 months late on this thread, as there's probably less support for Sunderland now, but a quick run down (and I'm sure you know this?)

Owned by an Irish consortium
Chairman is Irish
Manager was Irish
Had a number of Irish players on the books
Sponsored by an Irish company

Iang87 · 09-02-2009 04:28PM

Ya i know about the quinn and keane thing clearly but why people actually spend their money going to see them is the part that baffles me. Along with seeing people wearing sunderland shirts around.

Just confuses me as to why the irish went insane for them. Liverpool are owned by americans and sponsored by Danish. Why dont thousands of americans and danes come see Liverpool. similarly with united why dont they have huge american support.

I'm wondering as to why the irish went crazy for them 12 - 18 months ago

_blank_ · 09-02-2009 04:30PM

Iang87 wrote: »

Ya i know about the quinn and keane thing clearly but why people actually spend their money going to see them is the part that baffles me. Along with seeing people wearing sunderland shirts around

Actually.

I've probably seen one Sunderland jersey around the place. It was about a year ago, in Fairview, on a yunfella of about 15.

But yeah. I've seen and heard grown men going off on their little trips with their golf buddies.

It's actually hilarious how the marketing machine suckered them in.

I mean, Sunderland are shíte compared to the product they could be consuming over on the mainland.

zAbbo · 09-02-2009 04:30PM

Iang87 wrote: »

Ya i know about the quinn and keane thing clearly but why people actually spend their money going to see them is the part that baffles me. Along with seeing people wearing sunderland shirts around

Probably because when Sunderland got promoted to the Premier League, people were more willing to travel over to see them play Man U, Liverpool or Arsenal than championship teams - everyone likes to be part of a success.

Mr. Presentable · 09-02-2009 04:31PM

Iang87 wrote: »

I'm wondering as to why the irish went crazy for them 12 - 18 months ago

Lack of imagination

Call Me Jimmy · 09-02-2009 04:33PM

Because they are interested in Roy Keane/Niall Quinn/Andy Reid/David Connolly/having a 'second' premiership team etc. etc. It's quite simple really...

_blank_ · 09-02-2009 04:33PM

and a marketing campaign.

Quinner doing the rounds of LoI grounds under the guise of "helping out".

zAbbo · 09-02-2009 04:33PM

Iang87 wrote: »

Just confuses me as to why the irish went insane for them. Liverpool are owned by americans and sponsored by Danish. Why dont thousands of americans and danes come see Liverpool. similarly with united why dont they have huge american support.

You're being pedantic now, Carlsberg and AIG are global companies, while Boylesports are based in Dundalk and only had a national market.

Regardless, there is no affiliation to the sponsor, but why do you think there are so many Liverpool and ManU fans here in Ireland? because people have a connection with them, be it success, Irish players, proximity, relations etc.

ntlbell · 09-02-2009 04:33PM

Des wrote: »

Er..

Niall Quinn, the rest of his cronies, Roy Keane being the manager for a while and all the Irish players.

May have had something to do with it.

What sickens me the most is the "fans" heading off on weekend trips to see them, paying all that money to "support the Irish". :rolleyes:

Support the Irish at home ffs.

most are going to have a bit of craic, have a few pints and watch a decent game of football and get away for the weekend.

They're not going as a charity gig to Sunderland.

They don't get a % of the usually 0.01e on the ryanair ticket.

nor do they get a % of the very cheap hotel rates

nor do they get a % of the very cheap local beer.

Your constant bashing of people going around enjoying themselves but not doing it in this country! is getting very tiresome.

_blank_ · 09-02-2009 04:34PM

ntlbell wrote: »

watch a decent game of football

lol, just lol.

Sunderland are fúcking shíte.

GuanYin · 09-02-2009 04:35PM

Let us not go the usual EL vs. EPL route, it gets boring.

I would imagine the reason people go is to see EPL soccer, get a cheap weekend away and because of the hero worship for Niall Quinn and Roy Keane that exists/existed.

I do notice that the boards.ie support has dropped since Keane walked out (not sent home this time

).

ntlbell · 09-02-2009 04:38PM

GuanYin wrote: »

I do notice that the boards.ie support has dropped since Keane walked out (not sent home this time ).

there is no doubt about it.

it was really nothing to do with niall or any of the irish lads there

people were interested in roy there's nothing more to it.

if roy starts playing water polo for the ballygowan squad I'll go see him.

Gavin "shels" · 09-02-2009 04:52PM

It's called a bandwagon, and the majority of Irish football fans are top notch at jumping on and off such things.:rolleyes:

ntlbell · 09-02-2009 04:59PM

Gavin shels wrote: »

It's called a bandwagon, and the majority of Irish football fans are top notch at jumping on and off such things.:rolleyes:

Said one irish football fan to the other.

jaykay74 · 09-02-2009 05:11PM

I had one interest in Sunderland and that was to see how Roy Keane got on as a manager. I had no interest before Keane took over and I have no interest in how they do now since he left.

stovelid · 09-02-2009 05:19PM

When they beat Spurs on their return to the top flight, I watched the match in Sinnotts or somewhere like that. I had deep, deep fears for a new Ole-Ole Reich that day, looking at the amount of people there going nuts over them, but support definitely seems to have tailed off recently. The cancelled friendly against Rovers wasn't exactly oversubscribed.

Relegation battles, 7-1 hidings and Roy f*cking off isn't really part of the script for casual Irish football fans, I guess.

Quint · 09-02-2009 06:02PM

Gavin shels wrote: »

It's called a bandwagon

nail on the head!

djpbarry · 09-02-2009 06:40PM

Iang87 wrote: »

Can someone explain to me this new thing that is the support for Sunderland?

Bandwagon: a popular trend that attracts growing support.

GuanYin wrote: »

I would imagine the reason people go is to see EPL soccer, get a cheap weekend away...

Of course it’s cheap - it's fúcking Sunderland.

joe123 · 09-02-2009 06:56PM

Im not slating here or looking for an argument. But going over to watch EPL football you will get better quality football than you would in the loi.

Sunderland maybe ****e but theyd beat any loi side. I wish it was different but it aint.

+1 on the bandwagon thing too. Its really annoying. The Irish Rugby team become good everyone seems to love rugby. Munster win the Heiniken cup everyone starts supporting munster.

The Irish soccer team start doing bad no one can give a **** but of course theyl watch them if there playing Italy in the world cup.

Its annoying but that mentality will never change.

_blank_ · 09-02-2009 06:58PM

joe123 wrote: »

Im not slating here or looking for an argument. But going over to watch EPL football you will get better quality football than you would in the loi.

Sunderland maybe ****e but theyd beat any loi side. I wish it was different but it aint.

And nobody is saying any different, those that do are idiots.

ntlbell · 09-02-2009 07:03PM

joe123 wrote: »

Im not slating here or looking for an argument. But going over to watch EPL football you will get better quality football than you would in the loi.

Sunderland maybe ****e but theyd beat any loi side. I wish it was different but it aint.

+1 on the bandwagon thing too. Its really annoying. The Irish Rugby team become good everyone seems to love rugby. Munster win the Heiniken cup everyone starts supporting munster.

The Irish soccer team start doing bad no one can give a **** but of course theyl watch them if there playing Italy in the world cup.

Its annoying but that mentality will never change.

why does it annoy you tho?

Why is how someone who has no corrolation to you enjoying their life the way they want to harm you in anyway?

you don't have to be a fanatic to enjoy something.

It's the same as when wibledon used to come on TV and then every second road in the country has kids on it playing tennis (prob not as much now)

your putting it in peoples mind's there's a lot of hype generated etc.

Rugby becoming popular is good for the sport i would have thought?

I know I have watched a lot more rugby in the last few years it has nothing to do with munster or ireland I just slowly learned more about it and started to find it enjoyable and will now watch an occasional match were before I wouldn't how is this a bad thing?

people coming together and enjoying sport etc for whatever the reasons is only a good thing.

nothing bad can come of it.

If people want to go away for a weekend and enjoy a few nights out and a game of ball in another country fair fu*ks to them.

can someone explain why people jumping on a bandwagon having a bit of craic and enjoying themselves is a negative thing?

i'm all ears.

ctrl-alt-delete · 09-02-2009 07:06PM

They are no longer owned by an Irish Consortium in any case, a Texan is now the major shareholder - one of the reasons why Keane walked out.

I go over there a lot - because my girlfriend is from the area and is a season ticket holder. I enjoy going to the games - and one of the main reasons is the atmosphere, i've never experienced anything like it - and ive been to many a sporting event on both sides of the water.

Id much rather go over and watch most premier league teams than stay t home here and watch an irish club team.

For those saying it's a Marketing thing - at least it is one that works -
the League at home here has never made a success of marketing itself, and to shoot down success at drawing fans across the water to watch a team, when irish league clubs cant get the numbers up with fans only having to walk or hop on a bus is a bit stupid.

I knew we'd have the same old irish league fans in here saying it was a bandwagon and to stay at home and be a "real" fan - it's that kind of ****e that makes me have no interest in the set up over here. It's a terrible league across the board.

_blank_ · 09-02-2009 07:18PM

Excellent post, and there are some things which I'll take from it, if you don't mind

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

I go over there a lot - because my girlfriend is from the area and is a season ticket holder.

So, you have some link to the area.

If it wasn't for the other half, you probably wouldn't have ever went, right?

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

I enjoy going to the games - and one of the main reasons is the atmosphere, i've never experienced anything like it - and ive been to many a sporting event on both sides of the water.

OK, this is fairly subjective.

I've been on Hill 16 during a Dublin championship run.

I've been to Ireland games in the early 90s.

I've been regularly (full season) to Sydney FC games in the A-League.

I've been at single football matches all over the world (in fact, I'm going to Berlin in May to see a game, so people "going foreign" to watch football is not something I disagree with, not in the slightest).

I'm a regular at Tolka Park.

I much prefer the atmosphere in Tolka Park to anything else I've ever experienced. That is the truth, even with 500 people there, it just feels better.

Why? Becasue I am a part of it, I am this club. It affects me if they win, in ways people who watch their team on the TV don't understand. The people around me know me, I know them.

Now people can call bullshít on that, but it's the way I feel.

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

Id much rather go over and watch most premier league teams than stay t home here and watch an irish club team.

If I was travelling to the mainland on a regular basis to watch football, I'd choose the best product on offer, Manchester United, Arsenal.

Sure, the whole of the EPL is a better "product" than the LoI, but I don't go to the LoI for product.

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

For those saying it's a Marketing thing - at least it is one that works -
the League at home here has never made a success of marketing itself, and to shoot down success at drawing fans across the water to watch a team, when irish league clubs cant get the numbers up with fans only having to walk or hop on a bus is a bit stupid.

One hundred percent, bang on, the LoI is a fúcking shambles at the moment, and I hate it. Falling from one fúck up to the next, I wouldn't encourage anyone to get into it right now. It would be nice if people did, it might make some of the financial problems go away, but the way it is run by those incompetent gobshítes in Abbotstown, with their propaganda and lies, I don't blame a single soul for not coming near it.

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

I knew we'd have the same old irish league fans in here saying it was a bandwagon and to stay at home and be a "real" fan - it's that kind of ****e that makes me have no interest in the set up over here. It's a terrible league across the board.

But it is a bandwagon, of course it is.

Dun laoire · 09-02-2009 07:23PM

The truth is nobody ever went to Sunderland. Instead they fecked off up to Newcastle and did bold things to their women. Sunderland was just a smokescreen.

Diabhal Beag · 09-02-2009 07:41PM

I'm a Sunderland fan.

A. My father was from Newcastle and supported them.

B. Kevin Kilbane played some great football there.

C. I'm the world's biggest Sean Thornton fan.

D. Roy Keane

I don't understand the dislike shown to us. Sunderland came to Ireland 2 years ago and played 3 clubs ( I think). If you're going to start accusing anyone of supporting ****e teams why don't you go after Irish Bolton fans.

ntlbell · 09-02-2009 07:41PM

Des wrote: »

Why? Becasue I am a part of it, I am this club. It affects me if they win, in ways people who watch their team on the TV don't understand. The people around me know me, I know them.

Now people can call bullshít on that, but it's the way I feel.

I call BS on it for the simple fact you can't claim to know how other people feel when a team win/loses/draws regardless of where they watch the match.

des wrote:

But it is a bandwagon, of course it is.

again i ask why is it a bad/negative thing?

joe123 · 09-02-2009 07:42PM

ntlbell wrote: »

why does it annoy you tho?

Why is how someone who has no corrolation to you enjoying their life the way they want to harm you in anyway?

you don't have to be a fanatic to enjoy something.

It's the same as when wibledon used to come on TV and then every second road in the country has kids on it playing tennis (prob not as much now)

your putting it in peoples mind's there's a lot of hype generated etc.

Rugby becoming popular is good for the sport i would have thought?

I know I have watched a lot more rugby in the last few years it has nothing to do with munster or ireland I just slowly learned more about it and started to find it enjoyable and will now watch an occasional match were before I wouldn't how is this a bad thing?

people coming together and enjoying sport etc for whatever the reasons is only a good thing.

nothing bad can come of it.

If people want to go away for a weekend and enjoy a few nights out and a game of ball in another country fair fu*ks to them.

can someone explain why people jumping on a bandwagon having a bit of craic and enjoying themselves is a negative thing?

i'm all ears.

No im all for sport I love most forms of it apart from my growing dislike for the gaa simply because of the red neck attitude here in the west regards to that and the "foreign sports".

Apart from that Im delighted to see Rugby do well.

And ive no problem at all with people going over watching games etc sure im a massive Liverpool fan and i admit ive little interest in the loi but thats simply down to not really having a local club or being brought up in the loi environment.

But what annoys me is when you have these "bandwagoners" who used be massive football fans and you ask them are they going watching the georgia game and they reply with a what game? or a "yeah I might". They dont give a ****e even though its such an important game. Yet if were playing in a more high profile match or tournament theyl be the biggest fans known to mankind.

Itl happen with the rugby too. Once the star starts to fade and times get tough theyl move on to something else. A supporter at the end of the day is there to support. Through thick and thin.

Id happily admit I dont know alot about rugby but id def watch the games as its Ireland involved and would have more interest now than i would if we were really struggling but I wouldnt act as if I was always a whole hearted fan of the sport.

ntlbell · 09-02-2009 07:46PM

joe123 wrote: »

No im all for sport I love most forms of it apart from my growing dislike for the gaa simply because of the red neck attitude here in the west regards to that and the "foreign sports".

Apart from that Im delighted to see Rugby do well.

And ive no problem at all with people going over watching games etc sure im a massive Liverpool fan and i admit ive little interest in the loi but thats simply down to not really having a local club or being brought up in the loi environment.

But what annoys me is when you have these "bandwagoners" who used be massive football fans and you ask them are they going watching the georgia game and they reply with a what game? or a "yeah I might". They dont give a ****e even though its such an important game. Yet if were playing in a more high profile match or tournament theyl be the biggest fans known to mankind.

Itl happen with the rugby too. Once the star starts to fade and times get tough theyl move on to something else. A supporter at the end of the day is there to support. Through thick and thin.

Id happily admit I dont know alot about rugby but id def watch the games as its Ireland involved and would have more interest now than i would if we were really struggling but I wouldnt act as if I was always a whole hearted fan of the sport.

right so you have a low threshold for morons.

everyone does.

but it's nothing to do with sport really

people are like that about everything.

djpbarry · 09-02-2009 07:59PM

Des wrote: »

One hundred percent, bang on, the LoI is a fúcking shambles at the moment, and I hate it. Falling from one fúck up to the next, I wouldn't encourage anyone to get into it right now.

Hang on there now Des. Granted, many Irish clubs have been run in an unsustainable manner in the last number of years. But if that were to be used as a valid excuse not to support a team, then most sides in England would have crap attendances. I could be wrong, but if I remember correctly, there were 3 sides in League 2 who began this season with a negative points total. But of course, it’s not the Premiership, so these things don’t get noticed.

This Sunderland thing

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