We’re not Brasil we’re Tuaisceart Éireann

irishmufc wrote: Looking ahead to the Norway game, I see their manager resigned. I'd have N.I. as favourites to win that game but it could be a dangerous game for them as O'Neill would've seen how they play under their recent manager. I think a draw/loss at home to Norway would be a huge blow in regards to second place beingi n their own hands.   If the Czechs are favourites for second spot then they must only be slight ones seeing as they have to play N.I. away. 7 points from N.I's next 3 games would have them in a seriously good position with a win at home to Norway, draw in Azerbaijan & win in San Marino.  I can't see anything other than 7 points tbh.

Territorial wrote: irishmufc wrote: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/nov/23/welsh-football-association-charged-fifa-spectators-wearing-poppies Probably won't result in any points deduction for the pub team but it would be hilarious and an early Christmas present if it did. Maybe you need to sort your own problems out first... http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/fifa-charge-fai-for-wearing-1916-commemoration-jersey-35188038.html P.S. There are two international football teams in Ireland, but only one has the word "pub" in it's name...lol

I'm sure to people who spend what, 10 or 15% of their lives walking up and down roads in memory of a Dutch man from Renaissance times then singing about a war from the middle of the last century is like talking about last season.

irishmufc wrote: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/nov/23/welsh-football-association-charged-fifa-spectators-wearing-poppies Probably won't result in any points deduction for the pub team but it would be hilarious and an early Christmas present if it did.

Maybe you need to sort your own problems out first...
http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/fifa-charge-fai-for-wearing-1916-commemoration-jersey-35188038.html

P.S. There are two international football teams in Ireland, but only one has the word "pub" in it's name...lol

Mulvanystrasse wrote: MC Hammered wrote: Is this thread the most repetitive one on YBIG? The Rangers thread won that title ages ago, the Northern Ireland one coming a close second.

Peter Stöger wrote: I wouldn't consider that James McClean song to be any way sectarian. It's a bit rough around the edges in terms of the language used but certainly nothing sectarian about it. In Vienna it was quite openly sung after the goal with just the na na na and chorus anyway instead of most the lyrics.Â

Technically you are correct.

Then again, you don't usually get football songs which debate eg the merits or demerits of transubstantiation versus consubstantiation, the schism between Sunnis and Shiites following the death of the Prophet, or the separation of Christianity into Western and Eastern Orthodoxies in 1054...

But quite simply whether sectarian or political, such a song is identifying its singers with one "tribe" over the other, and in a context which has nothing to do with the normal footballing rivalries. Which is why, if you were to hear someone singing it away from a footballing context, you could be sure that he was from the Catholic/Nationalist tradition, rather than the Protestant/Unionist one.
(The fact that some of the ROI fans don't see it that way, or even don't know the words doesn't change that, btw).

Or to put it another way, (the execrable) Ten German Bombers song could not be said to be truly "sectarian" either, and I know that many NI fans sing it simply because it is an instantly recognisable and rousing tune, in the manner of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" etc.

But I don't see it as being any less crass - even without the swearwords - than the McClean song, or any more acceptable. Rather, I cringe* whenever I hear it, even when only from a minority, with drink taken etc.

Now don't get me wrong. Whilst disapproving of them both, I don't get too exercised by either - there are more serious things to be worried about.

But what does concern me more is that when ROI fans sing the McClean song, the reaction is frequently: "Sure they're only jolly craicsters"

But when NI fans sing TGB, it's: "See, I told you, they're all sectarian bigots..."


* - As it happens, I was both amazed and delighted that in our two recent encounters with Germany in Paris and Hannover, TGB didn't get a single airing, in the stadia at least. I'm still not quite sure how, but thank goodness for the ubiquity of the "Will Grigg Song"!

irishmufc wrote: If anything I'm getting grief of my lot for being too soft on you and Floreat hence 'toenails deep in territorial'

Territorial wrote: pre Madonna wrote: Terry, it is hard to take you seriously when 2009 + 9= 2016 Especially when you unnecessarily highlight it(!).  Some education system up there. It was a slip. But it's telling that that's the best you can come up with in response to a lengthy post. And that's before FU's comment following...

MC Hammered wrote: Is this thread the most repetitive one on YBIG?

The Rangers thread won that title ages ago, the Northern Ireland one coming a close second.