Hi everyone. Decided to sign up here because i have a question that needs answering!!! I'm a Liverpool native and i've been following the reds since i was a young lad. My family is Irish so i've been over here in Dublin for some of the summer. Really enjoyed it but i've been a bit confused by some of the Liverpool supporters i've met over here. I often bump into people wearin Pool shirts in bars and I ask them why they chose to follow us. I never have a problem with anyone following us and it feels great to see my home town shirt around my "second home" so often but i still wonder why so many Irish follow the English league? I've gone to a few Irish club games over the summer and the standard isnt that bad. PLus the atmosphere can be much better because it's not as sterilised as big premiership grounds!! I had never seen flares or smoke bombs at a match until I went to a game over here!! Ok, it's not like going to anfield but it's decent. It just confuses me a little I guess and I've really wanted to know all summer what's going on?!!!!!
Hey really sorry mods,posted this in tickets and travel by mistake. any chance it could be moved to the main discussion area?
Welcome to the site pool-Irish. You ask a question that doesn't have an easy answer, one that has troubled me over the years.... I think most young people pledge their alleigance to an English club at an early age due to family tradition, or else to the team that is most successful at the time. One of the main reasons it's to an English club rather than an Irish one is the amount of media exposure the clubs get in Ireland. You can walk into your nearest sports shop and pick up a Liverpool jersey, no hassle but you won't find a League of Ireland one so easy. It's easier for kids to see Prem stars as their idols as they are the ones they see on tv week in week out. I've been a die hard red since I could talk, as I've always been the black sheep, most of my extended family's adopted club are the Manc scum. Anything for a bit of controversy . However since I can remember my Dad always brought me to see Drogheda United play (they're the team thats top of the league by the way ). He always watched English football but never supported a team, he could only manage passion for one club. I try never to miss a game, and I agree with you the standards ever-improving and the atmosphere for the bigger games is unique and nothing like the Premiership experience. I am one of the few who has room for two teams in my heart but living in Liverpool in the last few years has made it easier for me. I think it boils down to the Irish league doesn't hold the same glamour and appeal as the league across the water. Also I know from previous discussions on here a lot of people don't have a local club on their doorstep (eg. North Co. Dublin and Wexford up until recently). If your not associated via locality with an Irish team its harder to be passionate about a chosen team. The league doesn't get the same blanket media coverage as the Premiership, so people don't get the oppertunity to relate to a team if there isn't one on their doorstep. Most of the people who attend United Park week in week out are Drogheda natives. We have no appeal to OOT's. Although there are increasing amount of Meath men and North Co. Dub lads following the Drogs in recent years due to success on the field (finally). This is very welcome IMO and needed for the league to push onto the next level. Hopefully the league is moving in the right direction, overall average attendances are slowly increasing and now the FAI are in charge of the league, they are investing a lot more time and money in advertising the league. TV coverage is also improving with a televised game on every week now. Who did you go and see, by the way in Dublin? It couldn't of been Shamrock Rovers, as their fans are very quiet (that ones for you YNWA )
Really easy for me to explain I am the youngest of 6 my older brothers supported the reds back in the early 70's don't know why don't know how as there was not as much commercial aspect to the game back then but they went to the game week in week out some of them still do but they would not know the internet if it hit them on the head. They went to Paris and Rome etc etc... They did not give me much of a choice then did they, I was born in 72 and was brought up on Liverpool FC. At a time when our Dublin team were doing pretty well GAA never came into our gaff it Was Shanks and Paisley all the way. So thats how I came to support them and now my lad is 7 he supports them he doesn't see Liverpool as being in another country he doesn't understand that he's not a local kid he just knows that he supports his team the same way I came to support them its very hard not to when your brought up on them I suppose if one of the brothers had have had the same love for St Pats then maybe I'd be following them around the country as we speak but very glad they didn't.
well i became a liverpool fan from a young age simply because my dad, my grand dad, my cousins are all liverpool supporters. i remember when i got my first liverpool shirt it was the gray candy 1 i did ,nt know what it was until they said it was a liverpool shirt. so that never bothered me and then i saw my first liverpool game it was against sunderland in the fa cup final. and it still didnt bother me cause i knew nothing about football. but as i started playing football 4 my local team and got into football more i began to watch liverpool as much as i could. we did nt have sky sports or bbc back then so i could only see highlights but we got sly sports at some stage and bbc 4 match of the day and i had liverpool jersys on me from then till now. and when i started getting to know a the history of lfc and so on. i fell in love with lfc and id choose l.f.c over any woman till the day i die. and im a god father 2 a 2 year old child and 4 his birthdays iv got him liverpool shirts and all my little cousins all have liverpool shirts cause they all want to be like me i guess they always come out to the house saying look james i got the same jersy as you so . my family are all 1 big liverpool supporting happy bunch
I was brought up from day 1 to be a red.My old man was always a Man U fan, harking back to the Busby babes, and my mam was football mad, and as far as I know started supporting Liverpool cos she had a crush on Steve Heighway.My bro is a Manure fan, so I think when I was born she was adamant there was no way I was going to go down that road. I think the fact the all Irish players of top standards have traditionally gone to England to ply their trade is the main reason people here started following English team, that and the fact that there has always been so much media coverage
I have supported the Reds since the age of 4 yrs, i started supporting in 1973 and have photo at home with my 3 brothers at the time with liverpool t-shirt, and them having the Manc scum on theirs. The Reds were a team i was drawn to, can't answer why? but have supported them ever since. Maybe be its was the Working Class/Irish thing going on at that time, and the joy the reds brought to me during my growing up years. Watching Keegan, Highway, kennedy,etc. What greats! and the joy watching them lift european cups, and league titles. And obviously!! Once a Red always a Red!!!
Mal5times I'd agree with pretty much all of your explanation. I started supporting the reds because my big brother did, I'm not really sure why he chose them, but I owe him for it. I remember a few things that really solidified my support, even when I was very young. I really liked how Bob Paisley was a quiet, reluctant manager, of few words. And I liked how the club promoted from within, creating a family atmosphere. This contrasted with the mancs at the time who were hiring and firing and getting nowhere. And of course the 'pool won even more trophies back then I think some English people don't realise how much English TV we have been watching, going right back to the '70s. That's a big part of why we tend to follow English football.
OK lads I see your point and alot of you have the same reason of tradition which is fair enough. I guess LFC might be a bad example for my question!! OK, I was in Dublin city last week and couldn't believe the amount of Chelsea and Sunderland jerseys on sale, now this struck me as being shameless glory hunting/bandwagon jumping. I can understand why so many kids would support Chelsea but there were plenty for sale in adult sizes!! That to me is the complete opposite of what football should be about. It's more about tradition and pride than winning trophies!! It seems odd that a country which is so fiercly and admirably proud in many ways isn't when it comes to footie!! I went to see Rovers V Bohemians in Tolka Park (Great atmosphere) and a couple of St.Pats games. I wanted to go see Shelbourne play at home because i was told by a mate in Scotland who supports the Dons that their supporters have great displays (a bit like european fans he sais!) but when I got over i was told crowds are down becasue they got relegated. Oh well, might pop along some day before i head back!! Im from Allerton by the way!! About 20 mins outside the city centre. Anyone here know it?
pool-Irish, it was the same when Man U were around in the 90's with Sunderland and the irish connection its understandable with Chelsea its tapping into the market where the glory hunting Man U fans of the 90's have now switched there allegiances to Chelsea. They have come out of the woodwork with there jerseys next thing will there flags been imported. My Construction Studies teacher was a Chelsea fan and a sound one at that before the Ambramovich era either. The likes of him and my Dad who are Chelsea fans i have a lot of time for but the Man U expats who now support Chelsea they don't have morals. Its like switcheroo with them
Cheeky... But of course he did end up at tolka for the derby! And yeah as Mal said, the eircom league doesn't have the glamour of the EPL, the league here used to attract huge crowds and it would be very unusual for someone to support a team in england let alone anywhere else, that was until the introduction of english games being shown on tv. Then the league here lost numbers at matches as allegiances were formed with english teams and our own league was more or less forgotten about. This in turn meant less money for clubs and so things got pretty bad for the league! As mentioned we're now taking a turn for the better, the fai now head the league and although most people don't agree with alot of things they do, they are taking a step in the right direction and clubs are becoming more business-wise so things are at-last, looking up. I do feel sorry though for alot of people that don't support our own league, while it may not have the glitz of the premiership, the premiership is very plastic, supporting your own team here is raw, and alot of people dismiss the eircom league when they have never even been to a match. I am so ashamed of the irish alot of the time, like mentioned, jumping on the bandwagon with teams, and i hate hearing stories about the complete kn*b-ends that go to mathches in england, or seeing a tri-colour over at a game, makes me feel sick! To answer your question, Shamrock Rovers are my team, liverpool are my...hobby let's say, i'm a football fan and follow alot of teams, while i more than follow the pool, they will never compete with Rovers for me! C'mon UCD!!!!! (that one's for Mal)
Good question.For me it's the working class routes of the club and the way the people of Dublin and liverpool are so alike.(sense of humour etc....)As an example i just could never see myself linked in anyway to chelsea or arsenal as i cant relate to the supporters there in any way shape or form.To me the champions league semi finals of the last few years againest the chavs summed it up.The difference?The fans.Stamford bridge with the lifeless soulless corperate flags and Anfield with the people making there own flags and banners because they just give a f*ck about the team.Think for everybody theres a different reason but thats mine
He was really asking, if i'm not mistaken, why people support an english club firstly and not an irish team, and i'm also really interested to hear some responses, not just how you got into liverpool...
Ok starting to get an idea why now!! Do you think most Irish Pool fans would keep following them if they plummeted a division or two? (Knock on wood!!!) Have any ex-League of Ireland players played for The Pool in recent times?! I know Keane played in the league for awhile. Didn't he? Not a great advertisment if you ask me!
Used to be a mad Rovers fan myself. Never a missed a game home or away and also travelled to a couple of european games until we left Milltown. I was part of KRAM and boycotted Tolka Park when they started playing there. Just lost interest after that and got bigger into supporting Liverpool.I tried to get my kids into supporting Rovers,but, even though facilities have improved greatly in the last few years, they are still not good enough.After bringing kids to Anfield three or four times a season they just have no interest in watching average standard football in depressing conditions.Still go to a couple of Rovers games each season. Although, if and when Tallaght opens will definetely get back to supporting them on a more regular basis.