We travel with a couple of second generation Irish guys from England and I know thousands of others do to. I know it's a minority of fans, but the abuse they got of some lads in Poland was shocking, they really were getting sick of it towards the end of the two weeks, even with the banter side of it. One of them was explaining that he used to get abuse the whole way through school for being Irish, and now he was getting it for being English while supporting Ireland! I consider it a huge honour that someone could be born and raised in another country and yet choose to support The Boys in Green, and I think we should be letting these lads know that.

On another note regarding the most important chant of all, the prize for the best ever rendition of the National Anthem goes to the fans at the first Ireland v England rugby game at Croke Park; but I think The Boys in Green can beat that against Sweden! I'll be brushing up on it myself because it's very difficult to sing it at the very top of your lungs when you don't know all the words. Let's all make and effort to brush up on it so come the 13th June we can take the fu*king roof off the Stade de France, scare the sh1te out of the Swedes, and show the whole of Europe that we are back!!!

I hate the term too, that's why I put it in " ". Your example fits in with what I said about the majority being welcoming!

I also completely agree with you about the French anthem but unfortunately it is not the song which we will use to send our men into battle! I want those men to feel like it's a home game and you can't say this isn't impressive:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSH7GxQtLn4" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSH7GxQtLn4

Having lived in Laandan I sympathise eventhough I never experienced any anti-Irishness myself.

 

Sidenote, my brother-in-law who is a born and bred Manc (he supports City obviously) has been to about 7 or 8 Ireland away games over the years, wearing the green and nobody ever, ever said a bad word to him. Quite the opposite actually.

 

 

personally the only people i've witnessed giving stick to our 2nd gen contingent are a few ignorant fools who crawl out of the woodwork for the tournaments. Seasoned irish fans will know that they are our most dedicated and committed fans. every game is after all an "away" game, at great expense. 

I am the first 'English born' in my family. My dad born in Dublin and my Mom born in Donegal met in Birmingham after both sets of families had moved over to Birmingham during the 50's and 60's as just children. I had the typical Irish upbringing where you spent the 6 weeks holiday in Ireland and it was more like home than anything, Birmingham just being where you went to school and had a house. 

Mainly in secondary school I was referred to as a 'Palstic' and this continues up to this day. Bumping into a few old school friends in the local last week I was asked why are you going to the euros with Ireland it should be England, when not one of them have set foot inside Wembley.. 

I've only ever known Ireland as a nation and they are the only nation I have supported my memories of International football are a shade of Green with the 2002 penalty tears (the first tournament I fully understood at the age of 8) 

Yes I have a Birmingham accent, this is something i'm very proud of football is a huge passion of mine and Birmingham city are my team I enjoy having this accent and follow my club across England. Whilst in Poland in October I simply tried to advise a man in a bar where he could watch the Ireland vs France Rugby match when he whispered into his friends ear not very quietly I asked for Ireland vs France not England, In fairness his friend nearly died of embarrassment and apologized for his mate. Of course there have been people along the way that have embraced it and looked far past the accent that have became good friends that i'm travelling to France with. 

I could type a novel about this matter to try and educate people but sometimes the shortest replies are the best and a simple F**k Off to the great uneducated can do the trick. 

I'm a regular home and away traveler and France will be my first major tournament with Ireland (A £2.52 an hour apprenticeship at the time didn't quiet take me to Poland) It's a dream come true for me to be travelling and attending games at the Euros it something I've looked forward to for years and something I will carry with me my whole life. 

What you have to realize pal is those who were abusing your mates were drunken louts who wouldn't be seen at a qualifier home or away from one year to the next!

I know it's not ideal, but if it happens in France just rise above it and move pub or area and don't bother entertaining it.

Unfortunately when major tournaments come around or even a big game in the Aviva (England friendly) you have t**sers from all over Ireland just looking to get pissed and upset people.

Hope you and the lads enjoy France 

 

Lads first games he had a Womb without a view for Jamaica and Nigeria, done games in London on number of occasions, Liege, repeating word for word my views on Brussels traffic next morning won me no brownie points with bosslady, has been in Poland for 2012 and Warsaw game plus Aviva on number of occasions.................... will be in France.

 

People who choose Ireland when they can choose someone else are heroes.

 

People who abuse them because of an accent are just scumbags that we don't need.

 

Wife demanded to know the words of Irish anthem as after been at Croke Park wants to be able to sing it.

 

Happy to pay for someone's pint if they end up tipping it over someone who calls anybody a Plastic.........

Danny Dyer on his Irish roots:

Oi facking laaaaav the Eire" 

I try to rise above it and laugh it off as much as possible but it can be difficult its just a factor that is involved sometimes. My close friends in Birmingham that are travelling to follow England are the most loyal of England supporters, I don't get a peep of badness out of them because they know the score. 

Same to you mate this new format could see a longer stay in the competition this time. 

Bravo Sean, fair play to ya, that's the kind of passion I'm talking about, I'm looking forward to belting out the National Anthem with you!

To be honest, and I should have mentioned this too, it's not just the people born / living in England; a lot of people from the North who support us get similar stick - about not being "real Irish" etc What rubbish!

Great to hear such support for it lads and a few personal stories coming out too. It's what makes YBIG so great, it's not just about lads supporting a football team; it's a tangible cultural connection to Ireland no matter where you are in the world.

I do know the lads in question but wasn't with them in Poland. Yep the Caravan is making the trip to France so will be a good number over there. 

I'm not 100% who it was, I was at that game myself we robbed the three points that day off you. I can find out who was though and pass on your thanks again. 

Below is my flag. I like Ireland flags having club badges on as well. I understand some people don't so I think it is just personal preference anyway. I wanted my flag to be very personal to myself and something I would have for many years. 

Guiden, is my surname 

Birmingham City, my club team 

The Fighting Irish, due to not only the element of fighting to follow Ireland but also Ireland generally being proud of what is ours. 

We're on the one road, one of my favorite Ireland songs and one that can be related to greatly. 

Had to leave the link below due to the image being too big to upload. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/-JodCZnzkO/?taken-by=seany4393" rel="nofollow - https://www.instagram.com/p/-JodCZnzkO/?taken-by=seany4393

we "nordies" can sometimes bare the brunt of this abuse as well 

So 'Blueshirts' aren't Irish, no ?

 

Where did I say they weren't? Would just be great if we could swap them

Cant believe this type of thing happens to people.. 

Even if some people are not Irish... they can still support our boys in green as far as i'm concerned.  

 

This . To be fair, it's only a minority of arseholes. I remember being in Malta in 1999 for the game there and there were a group of shaven-headed guys with the broadest Essex accents you'd ever hear staying in our hotel. We got chatting and it turned these lads were also over for the game, and prouder Irishmen you'd never meet

"Why don't you support your own team?" 

Have had that said to me in the past.

Best just to walk away or in my case ask them when was their last away game they were at . 

Yeah some of our Ulster fans will atest to that alright! I remember being at a Dublin v Down match at Croke park and there was a "26er" sitting beside me giving abuse to the lads from Down telling them to go back to Britain and that they were "queen loving British b*astards"... I don't need to explain how stupid that is.

But for the older people I thought it was especially poor form as they would have spent their youth fighting to express any bit of Irishness they could; after decades they finally have the freedom to do so, to come down to their capital city and hear that crap must have been hard to swallow.

Was great on the bus from Lodz to Warsaw last year - Brummie Bren telling stories of away trips and the young Irish born lads lapping it up. As it should be !

And also the sizeable number of Protestants who struck a blow for our freedom that is also a criminally under reported fact !!!

 

A bit like the muppet outside Croker protesting when England played us in the rugby.

Had a sign "NO FOREIGN SPORTS" or something like that, and him wearing a Glasgow Celtic shirt

Any half brain supporter will know the London Supporters Club is the biggest and probably the best supporters club we have.

. 

 

For the last Euros I only had a ticket to the Italy game so was joining the party late (and at a meaningless stage). Myself and a mate had a connecting flight from Luton on route to Poznan. The flight in to Luton meant we had to stay overnight before the Poznan flight the next morning. The only problem was it was the night of the Spain match.

 

We organised that the flight to Luton would have to arrive in good time so we could source out a good watering hole for the match later in the evening. Being in England we thought there wouldn't be too many places with an atmosphere for the game but we will be happy enough with a sports bar of some sort. Within minutes of dropping our bags we had walked into a street with Irish bunting and flags all over the streets. There were two or three Irish bars in this little enclave and we couldn't believe our luck. It was a good couple of hours before the game so we had plans to get in somewhere settle in and have a bite to eat before the game. Upon walking in to one of these bars we soon found out there was no chance of a quiet pint and a feed, the place was rammed! By the time of the game the atmosphere was great and everyone stood for the national anthem and sang with pride. Not an Irish accent to be heard! These people were passionate for THEIR country and place of birth or regional accents doesn't come into it. I thought it was fantastic to see and was glad we stumbled upon this area to make me aware of the passion that exists outside our island.

 

On a side note, at the Italy match we were sat beside an Italian family with the broadest cockney accents, I wonder if these guys have ever had any bother with the Italian born Italy fans.

Bloody converts.

 

Yeah, the Huns. I didnt know the Germans invaded the North !!!

 

 

 

 

I found this out when I got home and my dad, who spent a number of years working in London told me all about the Irish in Luton. I was a bit embarrassed by my ignorance of it.

I hate bringing it up, but I hate that, especially since the celtic tiger, we are too good to care about Celtic in Ireland, when you live in Britain they are the team of the diaspora.

Anyway, Mick McCarthy was my first footballing hero as a kid and still love his mixture of Irish and Yorkshire frankness. Super Mick

 

How in god's name did the Celtic Tiger affect anyone in Ireland supporting or not supporting Celtic?

 

That makes more sense

 

That is absolute horsesh*t of the highest order. Everyone and anyone is welcome to get involved in the GAA. The Mayo Under 21 team who won the All Ireland recently have a lad playing for them who's parents are from Pakistan and who was actually born over there himself. He is as much a Mayo man and an Irishman as I am. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the GAA wanting to promote Irish culture, why the hell shouldn't they, but to say there is no room or time for anyone who is not Irish is just a bare faced lie and if you have any integrity is something you should retract.

 

In regards to your first paragraph, it is hardly suprising that in a lot of cases people are friends with people who are similar to them and have similar interests. That is the case the world over, not just Ireland.

 

There was a good programme on Setanta sometime last year I think about a school somewhere in London. One of the teachers was Irish and another lad born in London with Irish parents and they got a GAA team up and running. The players were from Afro-Carribean, Asian, Eastern European and other backgrounds, no connection to Ireland at all, but they seemed to love it. They went over to play a Feile in Ireland and did pretty well and the kids were all put up in local people's homes.

Would suggest you do some research on the London team that played against Mayo last week

I've an issue with this, the GAA was created to promote the Irish Culture through sport, music, language. 

The FA Cup? The English anthem is played before that. 

Everyone one is welcome in the GAA, look at the clubs in the USA who have American born players representing them, clubs worldwide. We should be extremely proud of the GAA, there is no other amateur organisation like it. 

Do you speak Irish? 

Have a look at the Armagh team from last week v's Cavan.  Jemar Hall started on the bench and came on with about 10 minutes to go, both parents black Americans.

Glasgow born, early schooling in Scotland parents from Ireland broad accent, 80s Glasgow took a lot of abuse from the huns, verbal physical and the house was targeted, fenian b this and that, my mother took me out of school and back to her home county where I done most of my secondary education, group cert inter and leaving, during this time was euro 88, despite playing gaa in my new country I always loved soccer and my dad took me to celtic park from 79-86 but would never let me near a Scotland game, I never asked why but in later years he told me. So following Ireland from 88 and attending regularly from the 2000s up until the last few years where I rarely miss a competitive match, never had any hassle or plastic nonsense and hope it stays that way as I love nothing more than the away trips and good craic

 

Pathetic, utterly, utterly pathetic.

 

 

The thrust of your argument is that people from ethnicities other than "white Irish" feel unwelcome or uncomfortable with playing GAA because the ethos of the GAA is to promote the Irish language and Irish culture, because the National Anthem is played, because it overtly describes itself as an Irish organistation. What in god's name is wrong with any of those things? If people living in Ireland feel they can't join an Irish organisation on the basis that that Irish organistation has trappings of Irish culture then it is very strange that they have decided to live in Ireland in the first place if all things Irish make them so uncomfortable. Every single person who wishes to play Gaelic Games is fully welcome to do so, regardless of their race, ethnic origin or anything else. If there is people who would like to play Gaelic Games but don't because they don't like the trappings of Irishness that surrounds the GAA, well then that says a lot more about their prejudices than it does about the GAA. Fortunately I would imagine there is very, very few people from a foreign background who would think like this.

 

Perhaps the FAI should get rid of the National Anthem before international games, it is sung in a language which no foreign national will understand, and fans should stop bringing tricolours to games and wearing green, lest such overt displays of Irishness offend or make some uncomfortable with attending an international game of football at Lansdowne Road.

 

As I say, pathetic.

why waste time on a shrinking demographic?

 

I actually like a lot of your contributions on YBIG Territorial but don't be putting words in my mouth. I didn't say it was your fault, not at all. The GAA is politically directly opposed to unionism and the whole ethos is one Irish nationalism and the promotion of Gaelic Irish culture. That is just the reality of the situation and of course most from a unionist background wouldn't want to get involved because of that. Out of curiosity, what type of thing would encourage you to get involved with the GAA?

 

Edit: In general I don't think the GAA actually tries to "reach out" to anybody. It is sort of a case that we will take whoever shows up, and go from there, confident in the knowledge that they will still get quite a large number of people taking part and is definitely an area they can improve on in general aswell as marketing their games much better.

more flegs. union flegs, corner flegs, whatever

Got this myself in Poland, was asked what I was doing in Poland as the North hadnt qualified

Of course you did. The fact that there is even a debate for some people is outrageous 

Think this lad has been interviewed once or twice.