look it up please hill..and i said per % of population....the champions league is obviously a bigger thing than winning connacht as it is the biggest club comp in the world..winning the scottish league used to be quite a decent achievement its only in the last 10 years or so it has gone down due to more and more money going out of the game in scotland..celtic would be a premiership side if they were in england although they would struggle initially due to having a poor squad but if they received the same financial support the league provides to all the other clubs plus the global brand which celtic is they would eventually be one of the major sides contending for titles in england..rangers would be similar..rangers got sent down due to financial reasons..what airtrictity team do you support?celtic also beat one of the biggest clubs in the world what more do you want?the europa league is not the best competition but it was a good competition back in 2003 as teams still took it seriously back then...celtic are not of the same caliber of any club in ireland and even if they were where are the job offers in ireland?

ffgg (Longford) - Posts: 2571 - 11/11/2012 17:19:26    1296054

Hill the fact that Barcelona are a better team than them is inconsequential, Barcelona are a better team than almost everyone. i wouldn't dare say anyone is better than Barcelona but being a better team doesn't matter, results do. Barcelonas recent record in the champions league speaks for itself especially in the wins and losses column so to answer my question again who in the airtricity league do you think would beat Barcelona?

tipptothetop (Tipperary) - Posts: 531 - 11/11/2012 17:21:02    1296056

overhyped bla bla bla you love attacking the media they must be out to get the airtricty league...the quality is obviously far superior in the premiership where most irish players play as is the money.why do they have to play in ireland if there isnt a good league to compete in?..this would not improve them as players playing against poor opposition with a poor standard....most of the players on this team are actually irish so what do you mean?..as for ireland with the grand parents its part and parcel of being irish as we have a major diaspora so why should we not make use of it?you should perhaps support them as they represent your country in soccer yet you give out about people not going to soccer in ireland yet you wont do the same thing!...i dont mind the league i just mean compared to the championship i feel it matters very little in terms of the overall year similar to how the championship in club is more important than the league as do most people if this wasnt the case then why do so many counties not take it that seriously and often play very experimental sides in a lot of the games?..there are lots of competitions in the gaa i am interested in at club level or does that not count hill?

ffgg (Longford) - Posts: 2571 - 11/11/2012 17:26:00    1296059

my intention is not to take a shot at the airtricity league here but in relation to the overall discussion i saw shamrock rovers get soundly beaten by spurs reserves on 2 occasions last year and they were irelands best at the time...thats just a little fact there.....no offence intended towards any shamrock rovers supporters here as they gave a spirited performance against spurs in white hart lane especially considering how small a club rovers are in european terms

ffgg (Longford) - Posts: 2571 - 11/11/2012 17:30:32    1296063

ffgg

no you clearly cannot understand the fact that somebody would rather attend and watch sport played in the country they are from over sport hyped up by the media not played in the country you are from. why should i support a team that is supposed to be representing ireland and yet none of the players live or play in ireland and most of the team only play for ireland becuase their grandparents are from ireland and they are not good enough to play for england,i find that sad that their are plenty of guys born raise and play in ireland that will never be looked at until they actualy leave the country they are supposed to be representing.
you regard only 1 competition in the gaa calendar of twelve months as important that is showing a lack of regard.
what are you on about that i only brough up league because dublin had good league in 2011 thats a statement a child would make seriously.
if somebody leaves the gaa which they were involved in all their life to go play another sport becuase they are offered money to do so its not hard to see why i have an opinion on that being wrong.
hill16no1man , 11/11/2012 at 17:15

There is no point talking to ffgg about this. He is blind to this. He doesn;t support Irish soccer because he feels it is not good enough - yet he supports Longford!! He doesn't feel that there is anything wrong or unpatriotic or anything at all about this. He has a right to feel like this obviousy as most people in Irealnd would feel the same. In my opinion that is sad however but its up to the Irish people to do what ever they want with whats theirs - be it their sport, culture anguge or whatever. Its sad in my opinion and I think its an inferior complex that Irish people prefer things not Irish to things Irish. (Don't start wrongfully labeling me as anti British or any crap like that now ffgg).

Culann (Dublin) - Posts: 2306 - 11/11/2012 17:49:02    1296082

maybe your just anti choice culann haha....its a foreign sport so soccer has never felt remotely patriotic anyway unless its the irish national side who i support..i used to support longford town and went to numerous games but i could not really be bothered any more as the quality is very poor and the players are generally not from longford...why would club soccer be patriotic anyway?..its a local thing?,,as for the inferiority complex i wouldnt call it that its just there is superior quality out there which is very accessible..i personally dont claim to relate to the teams i support in soccer but i still enjoy it..irish people dont have that many great things bar the gaa in my opinion which is irelands best thing..i am entitled to my opinion and i will openly respond to people who seek to attack people without a clear reason to do so...in relation to culann i just feel that is the way of the world as smaller countries such as ourselves are generally going to look towards things in other big countries we have links with such as ireland and america

ffgg (Longford) - Posts: 2571 - 11/11/2012 17:58:59    1296090

http://comparetheleagues.com/

that link shows what i was on about..scotland is a very well attended league so what are you on about hill?

ffgg (Longford) - Posts: 2571 - 11/11/2012 18:14:51    1296100

ffgg

oh come off here you go with this population malarky again the scottish league has one crowd puller thats it.
in terms of the gaa its actualy as the champions league is europes top competition which is a continent and connaught championship is connaughts biggest competition the world is split simliarly in continents to ireland being split with provinces.
come off it when was the last time some team outside of celtic and rangers last won the scottish league?id say over 30 years off top my head hardly makes it a big achievment for either then.you see all you can see is the money elemant of a league thats how you judge all sporting achievments which is wrong as sport should not be judged on money based achievments but on skill and playing ability. celtic would be a championship side they even admitted it themselves as a club,global hahahaha if global is scotland and ireland thats some globe you got there.your off your tree if you think they could be a top side in england never mind win the league haha and as for rangers they are a division 3 side end of.i support shelbourne why?
they won the game yes but got played off the park by them just like ireland against russia and ireland drew 0v0 hardly makes them as good as russia on the basis of one game.the europa league is a comptetion no side wants to be in let alone bother to put full team out in,the only reason we dont have a team of same quality in ireland as celtic is because of how the teams are originated at the moment just look at rugby they realised that they could capatilise financialy by making four professional teams where as in soccer there is far too many clubs in dublin if you had 1 club in dublin they would be of the same calibre.

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 11/11/2012 20:31:47    1296210

tipptothetop
County: Tipperary
Posts: 496

1296056
Hill the fact that Barcelona are a better team than them is inconsequential, Barcelona are a better team than almost everyone. i wouldn't dare say anyone is better than Barcelona but being a better team doesn't matter, results do. Barcelonas recent record in the champions league speaks for itself especially in the wins and losses column so to answer my question again who in the airtricity league do you think would beat Barcelona?

i dont see your point in a once off game any team can beat any team i never said celtic were of the same calibre as the irish league teams i said scottish league is of the same standard of the irish league which it is,i dont believe any team in ireland is better then celtic but i do believe they are equal to the rest of the teams in the scottish league.

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 11/11/2012 20:34:09    1296213

ffgg

no our media is predominatly british so i can see why that this is the reason they promote british soccer over irish soccer,the problem i have is with irish people who are gullible and like sheep and follow into this trend without realising how stupid it is to then turn around after supporting man utd or liverpool on a saturday to then turn around and slag and slate the english national team which is made up of the same players they cheered for the few days before,whilst then becoming irish soccer supporters despite the fact they have no interest in irish soccer. yes the money thats it and the bright light promotion it gets as compared to the negative aspect of our own league but its not only soccer it happens in all aspects of irish and english stuff just look at tv programmes amazingly any irish programme is looked upon negativly while the english ones are praised and idolised,a good example before you say they have better quality is to look at the the voice a contestant on it here didnt get by the second round as he was not good enough but then went onto britiains got talent and made to the final and got huge media coverage in ireland on television he was everywhere but yet the winner of the competition he couldnt get through in barely got a page in the national papers and not a mention on tv.the ones who were born here all played in ireland originaly the likes of long,doyle,hoolihan,ward and so on were all playing in the irish league and were not even mentioned or looked at once thats where the problem lies that they feel to make into national team they have to play outside of the country if you cannot see that is wrong well then thats your problem.most players come on ray houghton,john aldridge,mick mccarthy,andy townsend none were irish,
phil babb,jason mcatter,gary breen,matt holland none were irish,then current players mcgeady,mccarthy,walters,cox, none are irish.
dispora malrky come on its all inferior complex stuff.i refuse to support a team that is made up of foreigners and players who are not good enough to play for their own country of origin,also until the irish representive team actualy has a player playing from the league its supposed to be representing it is a bit of a mockery to me to support it.

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 11/11/2012 20:52:36    1296226

ffgg
County: Longford
Posts: 1478

1296063
my intention is not to take a shot at the airtricity league here but in relation to the overall discussion i saw shamrock rovers get soundly beaten by spurs reserves on 2 occasions last year and they were irelands best at the time...thats just a little fact there.....no offence intended towards any shamrock rovers supporters here as they gave a spirited performance against spurs in white hart lane especially considering how small a club rovers are in european terms

but shamrock rovers qualified to get into that competition where as the scottish representitives failed to do so

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 11/11/2012 20:54:47    1296227

culann

i agree with you culann he is blind to this unfortunatly he is like alot of people in our country that are influenced by the media and are like sheep falling to line.
also agree about the inferiority complex which happens across the board not just sport its sad to see that after 700 hundred years of being tryed to be made into an english culture and defying that for all them years now that we have our own civil rights the country irionicly is now choosing to become more of an english culture self imposingly.

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 11/11/2012 21:02:29    1296235

population malarky haha does the truth hurt that you are completely wrong? look at the link i provided the scottish league in terms of average attendence is the 7th best attended league in europe!..i dont judge it off money but money is relative generally to the quality of the league as without money teams cannot attract the best players and have big squads and compete for the highest honours in the sport..how would a championship side draw with benfica beat spartak in russia and gave barca 2 serious tests beating them in one of them?and also win the qualifying round...they were put down to div 3 rangers but theres no doubt they are a big club..celtic have supporters from all over the world and are one of the best supported teams in the world do you dispute this?..why do you try and belittle this club?...do you not like them or something as its clear you seem to have something against them..its 2 games i based barcelona off plus the other games in the group..just wondering who you supported is all shelbourne another irish club who got too big for their boots and went bust...the year celtic got to the final they played against teams who had their strongest possible sides out including barcelona...they were only defeated by porto who went on to win the champions league the next season with most of that team most notably deco...why do you continue to try and belittle celtics achievements?

ffgg (Longford) - Posts: 2571 - 11/11/2012 21:05:26    1296240

yes the first irish side to do so..scottish sides have qualified for lots of things and had celtic in that competition did they not?

ffgg (Longford) - Posts: 2571 - 11/11/2012 21:06:08    1296243

ffgg
maybe your just anti choice culann haha....its a foreign sport so soccer has never felt remotely patriotic anyway unless its the irish national side who i support..i used to support longford town and went to numerous games but i could not really be bothered any more as the quality is very poor and the players are generally not from longford

this just sums it up you could not be bothered supporting longford town because players are generaly not from longford
but yet you say you only feel patriotic towards the irish national side despite the bulk of them down through the years not being from ireland
so hypocritical that statement is.

hill16no1man (Dublin) - Posts: 12665 - 11/11/2012 21:07:15    1296245

you deny this people are irish?..id like to see you go up and tell them that..they obviously are irish or of irish descent so no person born outside this country or lives outside this country of irish descent has the right to call themselves irish?...again diapora malarky why is it malarky it is a fact..do you not know anything of the history of this country and its people?as for players not getting selected while domestic based....the manager would have looked like an idiot picking domestic based players as they were totally unproven at the highest level?.who did they play against?...who had those players done it against in the domestic game?..its a poor standard so how could you know they are good enough similar to in gaa you might see some lad who is an exceptional club footballer but you obviously do not stick him straight into the county team in the championship you see how well he performs in training and other things against teams and players of a higher standard and quality...as for the talent show situation i watched neither so i cannot comment.

ffgg (Longford) - Posts: 2571 - 11/11/2012 21:12:31    1296250

the irish national side represent ireland do they not?...yes they represent the irish people both those living in the country and those outside it..the bulk of them down through the years? haha it was only the 1990 team which was largely of irish descent was it not?...again making uneducated posts if you actually looked at the facts you will see the majority of irish national sides are dominated by players who lived and are from this island so stop trying to make me out to be a hypocrite and come up with actual facts to support your argument

ffgg (Longford) - Posts: 2571 - 11/11/2012 21:15:35    1296253

another comparison would be you would rarely see a player from a lower division getting selected for england despite great performances..they generally will only be selected when they have proved it at a premier league level or some other top european league

ffgg (Longford) - Posts: 2571 - 11/11/2012 21:18:36    1296255

the way some of you lads go on i just dont understand..you would swear everybody who just simply doesnt like the airtricity league as they would rather watch something which is more exciting and off a higher standard are all just sheep and completely buy into everything the media write about....did you ever consider it just might be that other leagues are simply superior and more entertaining?i wish the airtricity league was better but sadly its not

ffgg (Longford) - Posts: 2571 - 11/11/2012 21:27:47    1296259

its funny how this thread has turned from a jim mcguiness bashing thread by hill to a celtic irish soccer team and barstoolers as league of ireland people call those who do not go to the league bashing thread

ffgg (Longford) - Posts: 2571 - 11/11/2012 21:31:03    1296262