Well they do say Guinness tastes better in Ireland than anywhere else it is brewed and sold.

Why the rolling of the eyes?

ive seen football tops at a rugby match..

i cant really see how the term 'foreign nation' applies to the protester, when the football attire of the club he is wearing, was founded by a Sligo man.

I'm sure you can gather I'm just being a bitch with the delicious irony of it all.

i think our irish wannabe is missing the point..

that prat is wearing a football shirt whilst protesting about "foreign" sports.

Most Irish Football fans support Celtic in the SPL hence there is a small Football LEague in Ireland.

That is what I read the picture as...

Isn't soccer by many in Ireland tainted in the view of being ambushed onto them by the English and the English influence during the battle of independence?

sure looks like it..

By a few misguided fools but soccer is the number 1 sport in Ireland with Rugby Closely behind. Like AFl the GAA is only popular in certain pockets of the country.

And strangely enough when I was working there, all the Irish lads followed the English Premier League and English clubs in the Champions League as closely as anything. It is a very small minority that have a problem with foreign or even English teams and sports. A small minority that will persist in trying to force Rugby and Soccer back out of Croke Park even while such a great facility (built with significant contributions of public money from the government) sits empty all winter.

Leigh.

the real odd thing is that they can sell croker out for 6N matches but will then be moving back to a stadium with 40,000 fewer seats

The whole concept is screwed up. The Lansdowne rebuild should have been developed as Dublin's secondary *multi-purpose* facility leaving all the big games, regardless of code, at Croke Park. The Telstra Dome to Croke's MCG. Half the size or less (35,000 max) and with a roof for the lesser events (early season GAA and Heineken Cup matches) whose support is most likely suffer in the event of bad weather (all too frequent in Dublin). Walling off the grounds by code only leads to a wasteful duplication of facilities and a less than optimum use of resources.

Leigh.

My this forum has changed...

Similar arguments from me on various issues led me to be called a

"Progressive Parasite"

Speaking of misguided fools, I can't let this latest piece of CarlosA misinformation go by uncorrected. GAAA is easily the most popular in the Republic - not just a few certain pockets.

Furthermore, soccer's popularity has declined in Ireland since its team failed to reach the last World Cup. No doubt, this will fluctuate in future depending on the success (or otherwise) of the Irish national team. But when it comes to attendances in Ireland, GAAA easily outdoes both soccer and rugby combined.

And in regards to Croke Park being just another 'multi purpose' venue, perhaps refer back to the article (previous page) about it being 'sacred ground', built from the rubble of the 1916 Easter uprising against British rule as a home to the formerly banned Irish GAAA sports, and the site of the Bloody Sunday massacre. For many in Ireland, Croke Park is more than just a sports stadium, but a still potent symbol of Irish independence and nationalism.