Overly passionate sports fans

flas · 02-09-2013 11:12PM

GorillaRising wrote: »

Well that's the thing - in most cases it's not just a random team.

People grow up with members of their family watching/going to games of certain clubs. You get involved, emotionally invested - as silly as it sounds and you care. Simple as that.

You could be talking about people who have followed a team for maybe 10 - 50 years of their lives.

Also, what's geography got to do with it? It's like saying I don't watch Breaking Bad because it's set in another country. What connection do I have to New Mexico?

As it happens I love Breaking Bad and I'd call someone a tool if they said it was rubbish having not even watched it. What I'm saying is, I'd defend as I would a player I liked for example.

The 'geography' thing is not a good argument. People's emotions are farther reaching than borders. I think you'd be cheating yourself if you let that stand in your way for some reason or another.

but football is not a tv show,no matter how much sky are trying to make it so...

meoklmrk91 · 02-09-2013 11:13PM

I wouldn't class myself as a sport fan, I watch hurling matches that my county is in and watch matches that Ireland play in, soccer usually, sometimes rugby. I'm sorry but I don't understand people who support English soccer clubs unless they live in England, a lot of people who get tattoos, spend money on jerseys have never even been to the city that the club they support is from and they would consider themselves diehard fans, I suppose it would be like someone from Leeds getting tattoos, wearing a jersey and sulking when Kerry looses in the all Ireland football final, I just find it a not odd, each to their own I suppose, it's a pity more people wouldn't support their local Irish soccer club.

On the note of OTT fans, my father once told me about a friend of his who wouldn't sleep for nights before a match his county was in because he was so worried about the outcome, he would cry and sulk for days if they lost and even had his vehicle donned in the county colours. Nothing wrong with enjoying sport but when something like a match effects your sleep or puts you in a mood because they lost then you really need to start re-evaluating your life.

timthumbni · 02-09-2013 11:19PM

GorillaRising wrote: »

Well that's the thing - in most cases it's not just a random team.

People grow up with members of their family watching/going to games of certain clubs. You get involved, emotionally invested - as silly as it sounds and you care. Simple as that.

You could be talking about people who have followed a team for maybe 10 - 50 years of their lives.

Also, what's geography got to do with it? It's like saying I don't watch Breaking Bad because it's set in another country. What connection do I have to New Mexico?

As it happens I love Breaking Bad and I'd call someone a tool if they said it was rubbish having not even watched it. What I'm saying is, I'd defend as I would a player I liked for example.

The 'geography' thing is not a good argument. People's emotions are farther reaching than borders. I think you'd be cheating yourself if you let that stand in your way for some reason or another.

Does breaking bad have its own set of hooligan fans running around beating the lamps out of random Trekkie fans though?

The Trekkies would deserve it right enough. Lol

You have actually reminded me the next B Bad episode is waiting for me on netflix. Happy days.

JoseJones · 02-09-2013 11:23PM

timthumbni wrote: »

Does breaking bad have its own set of hooligan fans running around beating the lamps out of random Trekkie fans though?

The Trekkies would deserve it right enough. Lol

You have actually reminded me the next B Bad episode is waiting for me on netflix. Happy days.

Where do I sign up?

MJ23 · 02-09-2013 11:33PM

"us" and "we" from lads who have never even been to the country that their beloved team are from.
Idiot lemmings.

anncoates · 02-09-2013 11:44PM

GorillaRising wrote: »

Also, what's geography got to do with it?

Ask a supporter of the national football or Rugby team or a GAA supporter the same question.

I think it's only fanboys of the EPL and the likes that talk about it like buying a plasma TV or brand of jacks roll.

entropi · 02-09-2013 11:46PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f27IqVo5-Oc

Lapin · 02-09-2013 11:47PM

Ava_e wrote: »

Lamest thing I've seen, when in a bar an Ireland V England rugby match was on the big screen TV, O' Gara was going for a conversion kick and someone tried to shush everyone in the bar into silence (like they do in the actual stadium, so the kicker won't lose concentration). Goon.

He must have just done it for the crack.

Wattle · 02-09-2013 11:48PM

anncoates wrote: »

Ask a supporter of the national football or Rugby team or a GAA supporter the same question.

Yeah but a lot of Irish soccer players play in England and elsewhere. Also Johnny Sexton now plays his rugby in France. Should we stop supporting these players just because they moved abroad?

anncoates · 02-09-2013 11:58PM

Wattle wrote: »

Should we stop supporting these players just because they moved abroad?

I supported Irish players abroad no matter who they played for when I was 12.

Had a duvet set and everything.

JoseJones · 03-09-2013 12:22AM

FTA69 wrote: »

I never understood Irish people who actually cream themselves over English private limited companies in cities they have little connection with. I support Spurs, but to be fair I live in North London and if I'm going to invest myself in supporting a team I'll follow a local one. While I do get enjoyment from cheering them on and seeing them do well in the league, I certainly wouldn't p*ss myself with emotion over what is a money making exercise; especially one that I'm not strictly local to either.

GAA, on the other hand, is a different matter. That is the embodiment of local sporting achievement. The players are unpaid amateurs who come together to represent the place of their birth with pride. The players themselves make huge personal sacrifice for often little reward and behind them is an army of club players, volunteers, coaches etc who all pitch in year in and year out to contribute to games that are a national treasure. The importance of the GAA to local communities cannot be overestimated, similarly it promotes comradeship and physical exercise as well as providing a vital outlet for the youth.

There is no better feeling than following your club and county's progress throughout a championship, to sit with 80,000 other fans in a heaving Croke Park final, to see the best of the best from different parts of the country battle it out. When you see your county battle it's way to victory and lift the Sam Maguire cup for the first time in 20 years, it's impossible not to make an emotional investment in it. And to be honest, where's the harm in that?

I agree with everything you said 100%.

I also live in the UK, I wonder if it's a case of appreciating it more when you move away.

I am a football fan but most football fans here really grate on me. The most annoying thing is when they refer to their club as "us" or "we". That's akin to me saying "us" when talking about Tesco or M&S because I do my shopping there.

dirkmeister · 03-09-2013 12:27AM

Lapin wrote: »

He must have just done it for the crack.

I've actually seen this happen in a pub in Limerick during a Heineken cup match, the scary thing is I think they were serious!

pharmaton · 03-09-2013 12:29AM

lahalane wrote: »

I know a lad who is really quiet and relaxed until Liverpool are playing, then he becomes a psychopath. Once he was at a house party after the nightclub and there was a United flag back at the house. He set it on fire in the sitting room as a 'joke'. He apologised to the owner of the flag when he was sober and offered to let him burn his Liverpool flag as payback??

As stupid and crazy as these kind of fans are, they amuse me (as long as I hear about the story rather than witness it). What are some of the stupidest things you've seen sports nuts do?

I know someone who fits this bill but there's no chance that he would have apologised or offered his flag as compensation, in fact he wouldn't have stayed in said house after seeing said flag and possibly burning it. Psycho head on him when there's a match on all the same, you see it and you realise "yeah, that person is capable of many many things and none of them are good", it's not a nice thing to witness at all..at all.

osarusan · 03-09-2013 12:34AM

JoseJones wrote: »

I am a football fan but most football fans here really grate on me. The most annoying thing is when they refer to their club as "us" or "we". That's akin to me saying "us" when talking about Tesco or M&S because I do my shopping there.

I have to say that I doubt very much you are a football fan, if you relate to your team in the same way you do to shopping at Tesco.

I'm a Limerick FC fan, have been for more than 20 years. I've called them 'we' and 'us' for years, because I'm part of them, and they are part of me. On matchdays, their victory is my victory. Our emotions are intertwined, and always will be.

And I'm nothing out of the ordinary. That is what every fan feels.

sure, stories about people setting fire to flags or kicking their own TV show that some people take it too far, but those people, in my experience, often just want to 'show' how much of a fan they are.

osarusan · 03-09-2013 12:35AM

dirkmeister wrote: »

I've actually seen this happen in a pub in Limerick during a Heineken cup match, the scary thing is I think they were serious!

I've seen it done too - one my friends just told the shusher, "he (O'Gara) can't f**king hear you."

Henlars67 · 03-09-2013 12:36AM

Wattle wrote: »

Yeah but a lot of Irish soccer players play in England and elsewhere. Also Johnny Sexton now plays his rugby in France. Should we stop supporting these players just because they moved abroad?

I find that people generally support a club, not a player and they don't start supporting a different club when an Irish player they like signs for them.

JoseJones · 03-09-2013 12:39AM

osarusan wrote: »

I have to say that I doubt very much you are a football fan, if you relate to your team in the same way you do to shopping at Tesco.

I'm a Limerick FC fan, have been for more than 20 years. I've called them 'we' and 'us' for years, because I'm part of them, and they are part of me. On matchdays, their victory is my victory. Our emotions are intertwined, and always will be.

And I'm nothing out of the ordinary. That is what every fan feels.

I am absolutely a football fan

. Who said I "have a team"?

I said most fans, and I was predominantly talking about fans of big English clubs. Local clubs and clubs which people have some connection to I would sort of put in the same category as GAA.

somefeen · 03-09-2013 12:43AM

I wouldnt be a mad sports fan myself probably the complete opposite.
But you can see why people get so passionate about it. I watch Ireland play whenever I can and its a ****ing rollercoaster. It gives people a rush, no harm in it.
The big clubs are of course just businesses, but they sell entertainment. Same as most musicians.
We don't have threads mocking people for getting passionate about a particular artists music, even though at the end of the day they are still just selling a product

token101 · 03-09-2013 12:43AM

FTA69 wrote: »

I never understood Irish people who actually cream themselves over English private limited companies in cities they have little connection with.

It's got **** all to do with the city though. People grow up watching a sport/team because they are introduced to it by family/friends. Going with your dad to England on a bus at 6am to watch United is bound to give you a connection to a club, especially if the only connection you have to the GAA is having it enforced upon you in school.

FTA69 wrote: »

The players themselves make huge personal sacrifice for often little reward

Really? How many GAA players have gotten a job at home and abroad at the expense of others strictly because they're involved in the GAA?

Wompa1 · 03-09-2013 12:59AM

The older I get the more I see how professional sports are just a product. Man Utd is Coca Cola and Liverpool is Pepsi. I wouldn't get upset if a friend of mine thought Pepsi was nicer.

I have seen Man U fans bad mouthing Rooney all summer for getting upset about not being the top man.

I have also seen Arsenal fans calling Robin Van Persie a mercenary. It's so stupid. These guys are employees of a company. Why should they have a loyalty to a club?

It's mad going to a pub in Galway and hearing a crowd of Irish chanting UNITED in that English accent U-NY-EH!

And the Irish with the Celtic jerseys who have something like "F**k the Huns" on the back. You're supporting a British club. If you are so anti-british, wear a feckin' Irish clubs jersey. Ya dink

krudler · 03-09-2013 01:04AM

"We won a great game"

yeah it was that 4th beer on the couch you had that really sealed it.

darced · 03-09-2013 01:06AM

This post has been deleted.

greenflash · 03-09-2013 02:08AM

Wattle wrote: »

Yeah but a lot of Irish soccer players play in England and elsewhere.

There's a lot more Irish footballers playing in Ireland who could really do with more home support.

The whole supporting Man Utd and Liverpool thing is the grown man equivalent of pre-pubescent girls being into One Direction or Justin Beiber... but at least they grow out of it.

Mint Aero · 03-09-2013 02:23AM

FTA69 wrote: »

I never understood Irish people who actually cream themselves over English private limited companies in cities they have little connection with. I support Spurs, but to be fair I live in North London and if I'm going to invest myself in supporting a team I'll follow a local one. While I do get enjoyment from cheering them on and seeing them do well in the league, I certainly wouldn't p*ss myself with emotion over what is a money making exercise; especially one that I'm not strictly local to either.

GAA, on the other hand, is a different matter. That is the embodiment of local sporting achievement. The players are unpaid amateurs who come together to represent the place of their birth with pride. The players themselves make huge personal sacrifice for often little reward and behind them is an army of club players, volunteers, coaches etc who all pitch in year in and year out to contribute to games that are a national treasure. The importance of the GAA to local communities cannot be overestimated, similarly it promotes comradeship and physical exercise as well as providing a vital outlet for the youth.

There is no better feeling than following your club and county's progress throughout a championship, to sit with 80,000 other fans in a heaving Croke Park final, to see the best of the best from differ
ent parts of the country battle it out. When you see your county battle it's way to victory and lift the Sam Maguire cup for the first time in 20 years, it's impossible not to make an emotional investment in it. And to be honest, where's the harm in that?

Cringedfart

WilyCoyote · 03-09-2013 02:27AM

Followed soccer for many years in London and was always amazed at the over-the-top show by some fans. I guess they were not breast fed or their potty training went horribly wrong

L'prof · 03-09-2013 02:36AM

A Man United fan offered me €2000 for my '06/'07 champions league final ticket. He wanted to burn it in front of his Liverpool supporting friend. Maybe I should have sold it to him as I've no doubt in my mind that he would have done it, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity of going to a CL final. Haven't had the chance to go to one since, so I'm glad I didn't sell it in the end.

Wattle · 03-09-2013 03:12AM

Henlars67 wrote: »

I find that people generally support a club, not a player and they don't start supporting a different club when an Irish player they like signs for them.

I mean these players travel to a foreign country and swear themselves to a foreign cause mainly for money. If that's ok then why aren't fans allowed to do it for no money?

ColeTrain · 03-09-2013 03:14AM

Wompa1 wrote: »

And the Irish with the Celtic jerseys who have something like "F**k the Huns" on the back. You're supporting a British club. If you are so anti-british, wear a feckin' Irish clubs jersey. Ya dink

The word hun refers to a Rangers supporter. Disliking Rangers does not make someone "anti-british".

Not every Irish person has a local club to support. Any Irishman is entitled to support Celtic.

Get your facts right before talking ****e dink*

*whatever the hell that means

Festy · 03-09-2013 03:19AM

Ah Celtic,every Irishmans 2nd favourite team :rolleyes:

ColeTrain · 03-09-2013 03:23AM

Festy wrote: »

Ah Celtic,every Irish mans 2nd favourite team :rolleyes:

If someone wants to have Celtic as their "second team" then that's their business.

You really shouldn't let it bother you.

Overly passionate sports fans

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