I can't believe there are still Northern Irish people like this.

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

Eddie Irvine used the tricolour until his family got death threats from Loyalists.

Not quite, the Union Flag was used initially, but on one of his early races the Irish Tricolour was used by mistake. He asked for a neutral flag (like Barry McGuigan used) to be flown but the FIA refused. I thought too that his family were intimated by loyalists over this issue, but I can't find a reference at the mo. He certainly didn't want to use the Tricolour all the time, however; another possibility was alternating flags.

Rory McIlroy snubbed the tricolour and the red hand flag.

I have seen footage of his father waving the red hand flag - probably best to avoid that really - flag waving like that isn't good for his image.

Richard wrote: »

Not quite, the Union Flag was used initially, but on one of his early races the Irish Tricolour was used by mistake. He asked for a neutral flag (like Barry McGuigan used) to be flown but the FIA refused. I thought too that his family were intimated by loyalists over this issue, but I can't find a reference at the mo. He certainly didn't want to use the Tricolour all the time, however; another possibility was alternating flags.



I have seen footage of his father waving the red hand flag - probably best to avoid that really - flag waving like that isn't good for his image.

Lucky for Rory though, there is a freedom to be able to hold what flag you want. Hopefully he isn't intimidated to abandon his political views.

Protestant behind enemy lines wrote: »

Lucky for Rory though, there is a freedom to be able to hold what flag you want. Hopefully he isn't intimidated to abandon his political views.

No, but whatever your political feelings, political wisdom is going to tell you that waving the Ulster Banner is going to alienate some of your fans.

Imagine the outcry that there would be if another Northern Irish golfer or his family started waving the tricolour about.

briany wrote: »

Not as likely to happen because golf's a relatively cultured game and the people involved in it not so apt to be drawn into sectarianism which is lucky because when the bullets run out, a 9 iron could be used as a weapon.

How exactly is that sectarian?

A bad choice maybe, but certainly not an expression of sectarian views.

Some great whataboutery going on now?

Going back to the OP, why is OWC.co.uk a private site? Ybig.ie is public to everyone and anyone to view!

true wrote: »

Never opened your ears dring a match against rangers or England? During the troubles, I sometimes heard comments like " another black protestant b****d gone" expressed with glee by some nationalists / republicans / PIRA sympathisers if/when they heard another UDR or RUC man was shot. Everyone else heard sectarian comments from some nationalists, especially after a few pints.

I know of and Ireland v England game in the 5 nations in 1972 where the Irish crowd gave England a standing ovation before the game even started. And rightly so, under the threat of violence from the PIRA the England team still travelled unlike their Scottish and Welsh counterparts.

Also the title to the thread is can't believe there are still people like this today.

Going back to the OP, why is OWC.co.uk a private site? Ybig.ie is public to everyone and anyone to view!

I think the members are worried people will get to read their views or perhaps they just dont want to be trolled by their nationalist counterparts? I am not sure!

Either way, the views on that site seem to bother people. Maybe the IFA should look into it.

briany wrote: »

Posters on YBIG regard NI with casual disdain and/or regard them as insignificant except for their underage setup sometimes providing RoI with quality players and discussions about NI are relatively few while the subject of the RoI team is never far from the fingertips of posters on OWC who are burning up over the question of player eligiblity and frequently accuse the FAI of openly carrying out a sectarian campaign to destroy football for all in NI so I'm not surprised there are some more extreme opinions on that site but to be fair, could we say that it wouldn't be the same on YBIG if the show were on the other foot?

Whatever way you look at it... There are more important things in life than soccer. Any attempts to block someone's right to choose their nationality should be an issue for the Northern Ireland assembly. This site is a forum for people to create an atmosphere where people think its ok to dictate the rights of others to choose their nationality.

I don't care about them slagging the ROI team, that is natural enough. The very same as Ireland fans attitude to France after the playoff incident or Holland, Belgium or Turkey after the playoff incidents...

I don't think you would find anyone insulting the French, Dutch, Belgian or Turkish or for that matter British people on ybig.ie...

I am confident the Irish people are a legitimate target on owc... That's a step beyond acceptable in my view. Sites like this and obviously if there are counter Irish supporter sites they should be policed.

The Internet is a great tool for bigots and prejudiced people all over the world to air their disturbing views. I'd rather Seán Sherlock et al focused on this rather than copyright infringement...

Deedsie wrote: »

Whatever way you look at it... There are more important things in life than soccer. Any attempts to block someone's right to choose their nationality should be an issue for the Northern Ireland assembly. This site is a forum for people to create an atmosphere where people think its ok to dictate the rights of others to choose their nationality.

I don't care about them slagging the ROI team, that is natural enough. The very same as Ireland fans attitude to France after the playoff incident or Holland, Belgium or Turkey after the playoff incidents...

I don't think you would find anyone insulting the French, Dutch, Belgian or Turkish or for that matter British people on ybig.ie...

I am confident the Irish people are a legitimate target on owc... That's a step beyond acceptable in my view. Sites like this and obviously if there are counter Irish supporter sites they should be policed.

The Internet is a great tool for bigots and prejudiced people all over the world to air their disturbing views. I'd rather Seán Sherlock et al focused on this rather than copyright infringement...

Yes it's true the issue of a person's right to choose their nationality goes far beyond the remit of a soccer forum although I wouldn't say posters on OWC were trying to block anything because they have no power to, they were and are having a big moan about it though. It is also true that there are things bigger than soccer which is why the NI assembly shouldn't question a player's right to identify as an Irish citizen if he so chooses although I think the issue of the FAI/IFA dispute was raised there at least once and it's an issue that could lead down some thorny avenues.


A lot of NI fans talk about football for all, their pride in it, maybe their own personal role in it and then take a very negative stance toward the RoI team. That isn't smart because some of what they say will feed into that idea of a team that only represents one side of the community and it will not help to entice nationalist/catholic players to the NI team if they're showing a lot of bitterness and vitriol toward the team many of those said players have grown up supporting to an extent. It would be better to take a policy of neutrality toward the RoI team/FAI as much as possible and channel that energy into trying to sort grievances through official channels.