Why do Irish people support English teams?

Omackeral wrote: »

all I could hear was a small section of away fans chanting ''60,000 muppets!'' at the masses

Sounds like great craic!

8-10 wrote: »

Sounds like great craic!

It was poison. A dull 0-0 after a ferry ride and a bus trip. One of those over and back things. Just tourists taking pictures by the corner flag and bags of merch hanging off them. Didn't feel like passionate football to me at all.

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

I dont think marketing existed when i started supporting liverpool.

Was there a sponsor on their Jersey?
And now importantly, were they selling jerseys?

D14Rugby wrote: »

You said



Sounds pretty conditional to me now.

Right well as I say that's not what I meant and sorry if I mislead you in my previous comment. It's absolutely not conditional for me.

The Barcelona game just felt like a better atmosphere because of the context, time of the season, quality of opposition. I didn't support the team anymore than I did in league games, but there's something special about Anfield on a European night. Maybe it's the floodlights and the singing outside beforehand.

D14Rugby wrote: »

You also completely missed/ignored the point. In leagues other that the EPL the decrease in atmosphere can be explained by a decrease in attendance, attendance doesn't decrease in the EPL but the atmosphere does, its unique in that.

I specifically linked the size of the crowd to the atmosphere. But you are right that there are sold out grounds that have different atmospheres for different games. In my experience crowd size is a big contributing factor, but time of the season can matter, time of day (early kick offs are crap) i.e. how many pints consumed! and type of opposition which links into quality of the game can also matter. I don't think any of those things are unique really but I admittedly don't have that much to compare to.

Really I think the main difference in atmosphere tends to be Premier League v Champions League with the latter being much better atmosphere. And I put that mostly down to the time of the day coupled with the type of fans who go to the game - Champions League attendees are more likely people who don't get to go as often so make the most of a big night. Premier League is a lot of season ticket holders so it's much harder to get a ticket for.

But there's many many reasons. I just wouldn't trade an Anfield night in the Champions League for any other sporting event or team bar a big Ireland game

We hate youse!

Friend of mine was fit to be tied when Bohs played one of "us" - think it was "the Pool" a few years back and not only were 95% of the supporters cheering for "us", but some of them were slagging off the Bohs lads!

One of the key factors they reckon in English soccer becoming popular in Ireland was the introduction of the pools, which encouraged Irish papers to print results on Saturday evening editions. That would have been around World War I period. Then that was reinforced by Irish players like Jackie Carey going to play over there.

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

That is a very good point - people need players to identify with.

Yeah, I think once your national soccer idols are there it makes sense.

Since then, the EPL has gone international in a more global sense and features very few Irish players anymore. However, the relative positions of the leagues of both coutries mean that it's a done deal.

They may as well be different sports at this point in time. It's like asking an Irish Basketball fan why they bother with the warriors and don't just support a local club.

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Plus when 'we' (my new team Holland) play the Republic of Ireland, I will naturally chose the Dutch as 'we' are a better team.
'We' play much better football...
But yet an Irish person who supporters a Premier League team (top six team usually) thinks this behaviour is the most natural thing in the world with thier new team.

It is the most natural thing in the world and your trying to say apples and oranges are the same thing when they are actually very different. Ireland/Dublin represent where I was born so I'd never wear the jersey of another country/county as I am Irish/a Dub. clubs are different, I was born and raised in Crumlin, St pats and Shamrock rovers are my nearest clubs, both very good LOI teams and a good Friday night option but neither club represent my community and I could pick either club. People might find the we strange with foreign clubs but I don't see the foreign clubs complaining

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Of course the foreign clubs won't complain they get more money!
It is not apples and oranges.
Both are teams and they represent an area.
A country is just a larger extension of what a club team is.
In fact, when Ireland were relatively successful on the national stage the players used to refer to it as like being in a 'club side'.

A country is not even remotely a larger extension of a club team.
Players of a country cannot transfer from one country to another.
There are no transfer fees.
At any point in time the number of clubs from a given city playing in the main leagues of a country rises and falls waxes and wanes.

Clubs and countries are entirely different entities in origin and nature.
GAA county teams are more like international soccer teams.

When the Irish players described it as a club team they meant in atmosphere that it had a small squad of the same set of players over time, instead of the choppy-changey nature of the larger international squads of other countries.
They said it precisely because it was NOT a normal expectation but because it was so remarkable, that here was an international team with the atmosphere of a club team.

There is simply no comparison between club teams - some of which were formed for people in Sheffield who could play football on Wednesdays, some for the workers of a particular factory such as Arsenal - and political entities recognised internationally.

Basically what you are saying is that LOI clubs have lost most of thier community to global brands.

No, if they lost their community to anyone they lost it to the local GAA club and county team - or rather, didn't lose it but GAA got there first and are entrenched in almost every parish. And if GAA satisifies those for whom community is the be all and end all when it comes to sport, for those who want the glory, glamour, the flair, the drama and the sense that what they are watching is where 'the action is' on a worldwide stage, the natural place to look is the top divisions of England.
And many Irish sports fans are capable of appreciating both qualities.

That top divisions in England and Scotland are also where players winning 95% of the caps for the Republic of Ireland international soccer team have plied their trade.

When you factor in common language, common travel area and the media penetration of not just soccer and Match of the Day but British TV, media, the BBC in general into Ireland, the interest is easily explicable.

Would we have a domestic soccer league on par with say that of Norway or Denmark if we didn't have a GAA? Or would the close proximity of the 'pull' of the English clubs have always meant Irish players plying their trade there?
I don't know, but if you want to know why Irish people support English soccer teams, the answer is in that mix of factors.

YFlyer wrote: »

The Yid army

It was actually the game when Roy Carroll spilled Mendes' halfway line shot about 2 yards over the goal line and it wasn't given. Suppose that was memorable in fairness and had a great view of it.

LOI v EPL debates are always amusing. A lot of inner bitterness emerges!