Modern Supporter Question

[BaggyTrousers]

My other sporting teams are:

Ards FC
Leeds United FC
Northern Ireland football
Down GAA


I am therefore immersed in the dynamic of hope triumphing over expectation in sporting pursuits . . .

Baggy, I know you're not a football fan but always found this very funny. Ricky Tomlinson. Former trade unionist and plain-speaker extraordinaire. (Worth sticking with it 'til the end.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TPVtl6Xoew

Rory, though it's true that I no longer have very much interest in wendyball, I too was an Ards fan light years ago, having been born in Ards hospital in the fifties. I saw the legendary Billy Humphries late in his career but the stalwarts of the team in my youth were Sam Kydd in goals, Eric Sterritt up front, Ray Mowatt whose brother Garston played rugby for Ards, and their was a wee hunchback on the wing called Syd Weatherup. My brother & I were regulars for quite a while.

In my younger days my brother banned me from supporting the natural team of any Belfast lad at the time, Man Utd with G Best, so I settled on Leeds Utd in their halcyon days in the sixties and I was fairly regular at Windsor Park before I got fed up with the sectarianism.

I occasionally could be heard shouting "Up Down" though admittedly as a glory hunter only for GAA was not in my background, do I recall Paddy Doherty & an All-Ireland around 1968? give or take a few years I suppose.

So it would appear we have much in common. I like Ricky, funny guy .......... for a scouser.

[jackthelad]

My father started taking me to Ravenhill and senior league games in the middle years of the 1950s. There were a goodly number of British Lions playing in the Senior League at the time.Jimmy Nelson, Robin Thompson, Cecil Pedlow, David Hewitt, Raymond Hunter, Jack Kyle plus others who played for Ireland. There were few games in those days. Inter pros, Yorkshire and Lancashire, touring sides and that was about it. If someone can be arsed to turn up, pay the dibs and do so on a regular basis, who the feck are we to gurn about how the7y enjoy the event. Pompous crap really.

[pwrmoore]

I occasionally could be heard shouting "Up Down" though admittedly as a glory hunter only for GAA was not in my background, do I recall Paddy Doherty & an All-Ireland around 1968? give or take a few years I suppose.

I believe the late Leslie Crowther was a keen follower of Down GAA too!

[Tender]

I stumbled upon this dusty old thread and it makes interesting reading. Being another ex Model (only non Grammar school to win the Schools Cup) pupil, I was forced to play nothing but Rugby in 1st year ( year8 in new money) and it turned out I was way better at it, than I was ever gonna be at football, which was all we played in the lovely streets of North Belfast.
Old Ernie Davis did his level best to keep us interested and I spent many happy hours training and playing at Mount Pleasant.
Fast forward many decades and although I still attended the SC finals and the odd Ulster game, my main interest ( don't laff) was The Glens. Over the past 10 - 15 years the IPL has been in rapid decline, with falling crowds and lack of sponsorship, brought about by the increase in armchair twats and their SkyTV and BT subscriptions, along with the IFA's pathetic management and general lack of real interest in the local game. They concentrate solely on their National side.... sound familiar?
This year, I decided I could no longer stand the Saturday afternoon torture and the bad taste the game leaves in my gub, which tainted my Mandarin City meal (or Little Wing). The negativity surrounding the IPL is so mentally draining, I knew I had to make a break.
So I belly up and buys a Season Ticket for Spanners, Ravers, or whatever,I'm still learning the lengua. West Terrace, 22 Away warm up end. Maybe I should have done some research first....it seems that negativity isn't exclusively a Wendyball thang. With my OCD in high gear, it turns out things aren't all pissing rainbows and farting fairy dust. My pre season optimism took a severe kick in the carmels with the Ruan debacle and it kinda took the cream of last Friday's pre season win.
But heh WTF? It's taken me 30 years to get sick of Irish League Wendyball and I hate the EPL and the armchair fans who call themselves supporters. I know this will sound strange to you lucky sids who've been immersed in Rugby, to the exclusion of most other sports, but there is quite a bit of snobbery in football, with many regulars looking down on the blow-ins and I haven't yet encountered that in Spanners. It'll probably take me until around the time when we overspend and overeat, to celebrate some woman giving birth after having an affair, to get up to speed, but even I have heard some melters, from the Place To Be Crowd.
I'm hard to sicken, so I'll be here for a while and having had the good sense to buy my lump of a Son a season ticket, I've swollen our ranks by two. So up yours IRFU.

[Joe Schmo]

Like your attitude Tighter, enjoy your first season ticket of many. And yes up yours IRFU!

[BaggyTrousers]

Like your attitude Tighter, enjoy your first season ticket of many. And yes up yours IRFU!

Allow me to go further, Death to the so called IRFU

Enjoy it Tender, I thought you came on her sounding like a bloody expert ..............then again, waddyeyeknow?

For me & Ruan, this is our last full season at Spanners ........what bloody marvellous company to be in.

Silly silly so called IRFU, the latest heinous terrorist organisation.

[rumncoke]

All are welcome in my book provided they don't sit behind me and "social talk " the whole night instead of watching the game .

social talk = anything about work - girlfriends -last nights Television - the wife - etc .

Before the game it's fair during the game non stop - what the f are here for - the bars are all round the ground .


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[Tender]

I'm hoping for guidance from my peers and I'm in no doubt if I step out of line, and revert to Wendyball type gurnin, somebody will fire a quick salvo across my bows..... Oh er missus
I hear the laments of those who long for the days of old, but nothing stays the same and I look around at Spanners and all it has going for it, both on and of the pitch and I think the future looks good for Ulster.
It's going to attract some clampits, but the majority will learn the game and the lifestyle and stick around for years to come. It's a business now, heh-ho whateryagonnado. Go with the flow and enjoy the ride.

[Russ]

All are welcome in my book provided they don't sit behind me and "social talk " the whole night instead of watching the game .

social talk = anything about work - girlfriends -last nights Television - the wife - etc .

Before the game it's fair during the game non stop - what the f are here for - the bars are all round the ground .


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

I'm sure social talk with you rum is an absolute hoot

[HairyJ]

Like your attitude Tighter, enjoy your first season ticket of many. And yes up yours IRFU!

Allow me to go further, Death to the so called IRFU

Enjoy it Tender, I thought you came on her sounding like a bloody expert ..............then again, waddyeyeknow?

For me & Ruan, this is our last full season at Spanners ........what bloody marvellous company to be in.

Silly silly so called IRFU, the latest heinous terrorist organisation.

Steady on, Baggy

[Tender]

Clean up on aisle two.