Dont you worry about H*rse young Wayne
he knows his and his counties place!! ;)

Liamwalkinstown (Dublin) - Posts: 8170 - 27/03/2012 15:40:05    1138288

I have been following Tyrone through thick and thin mostly Thin going down to Dublin in the 70s sitting in a pub the night before a game with Frank McGuigan supping across the other side of the bar and he was playing after getting well beat up before and after the game arriving home somewhat worse for wear it was always a great feeling win,lose or draw to have been down in Dublin , maybe because of the situation in the North at the time it just felt great to be in a normal environment, I never missed an Ulster final from 1982 - 2010 always a great day out in Clones lying on the grassy hill or sliding down it in a thunder storm like the one that took place before the Derry/Donegal final of the 90s ...........

fortyfive (Tyrone) - Posts: 5929 - 27/03/2012 15:40:46    1138289

27/03/2012 12:27:31
waynoI
County: Dublin
Posts: 4018

1138066
It's easy to support Dublin, Kerry, Cork and Tyrone and so on. Teams who are successful and win games. Teams who are always challenging for honours whether it be provincial titles or All Irelands. I have been thinking about this for the last few days and I will admit that it's extremely easy to motivate yourself and go from one side of the country to the other in support of your team when they are always in with a shout. The question I ask is , do GAA supporters from counties like Louth , Westmeath , Wicklow, Cavan etc have more of a .. I don't really know how to put it .. Bond shall we say ? with their inter county side because they go all over the country in the belief that 9 times out of 10, they won't get a result.

If you just take the Dubs as an example. We have it very good, we are currently the minders of Sam Maguire. Currently the best team in the country because we won the All Ireland. Under 21 and Minor footballers both got to All Ireland finals last year too and senior footballers got to the league final so I'd imagine motivation is very easy to come upon when we know that this team are All Ireland champions and have the potential to win another in the not so distant future. It's easy to wake yourself up and say today I'm going to Newry , or today I'm going to Castlebar , in the hope that you can win this game. And obviously the flip side of that is the likes Of Cavan , who unlike Dublin , rarely get to even grace the Croke Park pitch whereas Dublin and their fans are there every fortnight or so.

Are the fans of the like of Cavan and Wicklow , a better bunch than the fans of the more successful teams , like Dublin , Kerry , Cork , and so forth. Or are all GAA fans who make the effort to go to away games in the bitter cold January afternoons and evenings just a credit to their respective counties

Dublin have a hurling team. Kerry have a hurling team. Dubs support for the hurlers has increased with performances. It'd take committed supporters to take in Kerry hurling games. I'd encourage it. Though from footballing country, I'll go to games to support the hurlers as well.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9162 - 27/03/2012 15:42:03    1138291

As Conor Counihan said when Mayo dumped out Cork in last year's All-Ireland quarter final, there are more days that you are down than you are up in this business. Ultimately, last year should not be seen as a disaster for Cork given that they won the league and had knocked out quality teams like Down in the championship. However, it feels empty despite losing that game, it seems that the year was a complete right off. I am sure from a Mayo perspective, the memory of losing to Kerry trumps beating and kocking out Cork (then All-Ireland champions). Ultimately, unless you win Sam outright, the year never ends well. More often than not, you won't do that. However, it is the glimmer of hope, the possibilities that keep bringing us back...

bennybunny (Cork) - Posts: 3917 - 27/03/2012 15:46:31    1138296

thats exactly bandwagoning gigoer so please quieten down with your so called passion

shermaninator (USA) - Posts: 285 - 27/03/2012 16:36:20    1138335

I follow a "weaker" county, Leitrim, and like every other supporter in every other county - I wouldn't know what it feels like to be a supporter of another one - each has its own distinct "feel" I'd guess

For Leitrim.....

The pluses are....
- As a rule we are lucky in that in most years the team seems to give it their all, very professional set-up, quite determined people involved on and off the pitch
- Can dine (drink?) out on a good championship win/league promotion for about 2-3 years
- Can dine (drink?) out on a Connacht Championship win for 10! 1994 only lasted until 2004, we badly need another
- Nobody gets to see a Roscommon fan at their lowest, than does a Leitrim fan - its not pretty (they're generally not anyway) but has a "terrible beauty" of its own
- The nervousness of opposition supporters in Carrick-on-Shannon - "we should win here, but if we don't its a disaster, bloody no-win situation"

The negatives....
- We go through 3-4 year spells where a big championship win is highly unlikely
- The inevitable absolute thrashings
- The nervousness of Leitrim supporters seeping onto the pitch when they are winning with 10-15 mins to go - "hold-on" mentality ensues which can be our undoing
- Losing to Roscommon, we meet them a lot and get beat by them regularly (a Leitrim Man at his lowest ebb?)
- Lots of away matches in the league to the south - Wicklow, Carlow, Kilkenny (though have never gone there), Waterford, Clare

But I suppose unlike a "strong" county where 3-4 big wins are needed to redeem the team after a bad defeat, we need just 1 decent win to make-up for 3-4 defeats - so it's not that bad. Besides its far easier chatting the Leitrim Lovelies before and after matches small fan base and part of an niche group!!

Solo Run (None) - Posts: 316 - 27/03/2012 16:41:13    1138342

the only question is does your support wane along with lesser success in the following years? Now that's what I call a bandwagoner.

________

Listen , I have been going to Dublin games all over this island ever since i was able to walk and talk , admittedly its only in the last 7 or 8 years as i got older that i have started to get the feelings , Feelings like disppointment when we lose and euphoria when we win. If Dublin got nocked out of Leinster against Louth/Westmeath in June then lost their first qualifer game (God forbid) , i would still be there the following january. We have had some sickening defeats over the years , Yet many of us still go the games so no it wouldnt wane my desire or determination to go

waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13656 - 27/03/2012 17:16:32    1138380

Great post Solo run

waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13656 - 27/03/2012 17:19:36    1138385

Fortunately or unfortunately (I honestly don't know which at this stage) I grew up watching Meath winning Leinsters and All-Irelands, the 1996 championship was the first sporting tournament I ever watched and it sort of spoiled me to be honest. In 1999 I was at the final when we beat Cork and it was one of the best feelings anybody can ever experience (well certainly at 11 years of age anyway!) and I was at the 01 final which was disaster for us.

Now my point here is basically I never went through or ever heard of the bad times for Meath football, naively at a young age I thought we'd always be there or there-a-bouts, I had no idea coming out of Croker the day Galway beat us that, that was basically us finished as a top team for the foreseeable and as a result unfortunately attendances at Meath games have dropped over the years but I suppose that's not too uncommon. I have to say though that it was a very bitter pill to swallow from say the 02 championship on to maybe 06 when I started accepting that we just had to ride out the storm and hope for the best in the future really.

But this is why I have a lot of respect for supporters of historically less successful counties than ourselves, if you go to a game down the country in the Leinster championship or indeed the back door to somewhere like Carlow, Longford or Wicklow you'd still expect to get a good crowd. Now I don't mean to offend anybody from those counties (especially since we have Wicklow in game 1, this summer) but they wouldn't have a whole load of senior success yet they still get out and support their county with passion and pride and why the hell not! It's a bit of crack if nothing else at the end of the day.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 27/03/2012 17:23:49    1138388

Liam you may recall thats when Meath took over for a little while, so I personally found it tough at the time!

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8818 - 27/03/2012 17:55:10    1138413

realdub
County: Dublin
Posts: 275

1138413
Liam you may recall thats when Meath took over for a little while, so I personally found it tough at the time!

1996-2002 - The Great Famine.

Great day in Croker though in the Leinster semi 2002 when Cosgrove (!!!) took Fay to the cleaners and the curse was finally lifted ;)

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13838 - 27/03/2012 18:01:29    1138419

I remember it well MesAmis : )

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8818 - 27/03/2012 21:21:21    1138593

Tyrone have had a strong following even during the days when we had little to cheer!!

wise_guy (Tyrone) - Posts: 1584 - 27/03/2012 21:26:46    1138601

Yes good strong following in Tyrone, and a few other Ulster counties, Dublin, Kildare and Meath down south!

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8818 - 27/03/2012 21:37:58    1138611

Are the Tyrone hurlers getting much support?

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9162 - 27/03/2012 22:00:55    1138644

Sherminator, your lips & my ass simply must be introduced!

I didn't mention passion in that post and I've already had this out with you in another thread. Now assuming it's not beyond you, have you anything intelligent to add to the discussion or have you nothing better to do than follow me around HS with the school bully routine?

gigoer (Wexford) - Posts: 1998 - 28/03/2012 09:02:11    1138655

i am merely stating you are exactly what so many people give out about...a new 'rugby nut' who has hopped on the bandwagon once there is a bit of success..you do realise munster came very close to winning the heineken cup on two previous occasions before that...why did you not get into it then?

shermaninator (USA) - Posts: 285 - 28/03/2012 15:20:48    1138902

28/03/2012 15:20:48
shermaninator
County: USA
Posts: 168

1138902 i am merely stating you are exactly what so many people give out about...a new 'rugby nut' who has hopped on the bandwagon once there is a bit of success..you do realise munster came very close to winning the heineken cup on two previous occasions before that...why did you not get into it then?

Quit with the rugby-bandwagon rubbish and cluttering up threads talking about it especially because its not true. Everyone gets it, you dislike rugby and "All the bandwagoner fans"

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 28/03/2012 15:28:00    1138909

If you want to respond to the point I'm making, then at least read the point I made first. Actually, don't bother I don't give a monkeys what some immature WUM like you thinks

gigoer (Wexford) - Posts: 1998 - 28/03/2012 15:36:12    1138916

Anyhoo, Ormond as someone who can read plain English, my point was that the rise in popularity so prevalent in provincial rugby today was in no doubt inspired by Munster's rise in Europe during the noughties and that can only be a good thing, it had to come from somewhere. Your province is to be complimented for that, no matter what the anti-rugby heads might say.

Here's to a Leinster v Munster final Heineken Cup final! In Twickenham. the boys across the pond would love that.....

gigoer (Wexford) - Posts: 1998 - 28/03/2012 15:49:10    1138925