Well Done lads!!!

I’m a bit out but is that about the Euro 2008 ?

I never thought Ireland would get it because, unlike the scottish, you don’t play much football, do you ? ei. can you play it at the Croke Park stadium ? and who payed for that stadium?

More then infrastructures, good politians and projects you have “to love football” in general, and not fight it with other major sports.

ps: WE LOVE FOOTBALL – portuguese slogan for the Euro 2004, simple but honest.

Poor Scotland, why in God’s name did you seek us out only to be lead up and down the garden path by our Chieftain. This whole sorry saga is most embarrasing to Irish soccer fans and the country in general.

I still think we should demand our money back from the taxes given to the GAA for Croke park.

I personally have never been to , and will never go to , a gaelic of hurling match in croke park and yet a portion of my money has been taken (without my permission) and given to the GAA. I’m not a soccer fan, but I’ll be damned if I’ll fund someones personal hobby at the expense of everyone else’s pleasure.

also, didn’t a GAA council member say “No gombeen politician is going to dictate to the gaa”. fine, no “gombeen” GAA councilman is going to make a living off my labour!

ps. I’m not anti GAA. I’m anti gaa attitude to non-gaelic games which to me smacks of racism and uber-nationalist b*ll*x.

Pity though, would have been nice to show europe that our stadiums aren’t limited to the rather minuscule and laughable Landsdowne road.

rita: we do play football, and we have fans as dedicated as any other country as well as a team with as great a potential as almost any other football nation – ok, not brazil, or argentina, or any south american team… or maybe most of europe…. 🙂

perhaps two consecutive draws with Portugal in the run up to the world cup springs to mind, hmmm?

However, both the scottish and the Irish fans have a great reputation for their huge support and very little trouble or violence.

I can understand the money and the cultural values beghind all that GAA story, but why don’t you just try to build more flexible stadiums ?! Go to Holland, Japan, USA or even here and bring home some lessons about it…

What happens when you mix sport and politics? Bertie Bowl Bollocks. National stadium indeed! Anyone feel like theyve been taken for a ride? The “giant sucking sound” is a leadership vacuum.

I’m not a football fan, so two consecutive draws with Portugal in the run up to the world cup doens’t brings much into my mind. But I do know your best players are playing in England 😉
Why did Scottland decided to go with you at first place ?

Why did Scotland seek us out………a great mystery..that Ist executive chap came over looking for about a 10% input..I bet he resigns.

GAA are just a bunch of Bigots, how dare Ahern just give away taxpayers money for a Grand Projet, the man thinks he’s Mitterand – alas he’s a sadly deluded stuttering gobshite. What makes matters worse, we vote for him.. therefore we are all gobshites.

I blame the BANANA problem – Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything. There is too many vested interests and there is such a weak mentality in the government of trying to appeal to everybody at the same time.

Can this be the end of this national stadium nonsense? Give the IRFU and FAI assistance and cash (same as GAA) in building and Developing their own stadia. Then at least we could have 2 decent stadia that could be opened up for the 2012 European Championships

Fresh hope for unlucky six…

http://www.uefa.com/uefa/News/Kind=128/newsId=46535.html

Here is a good summary of how this bid went of the rails the Bull O’Donoughue should read it as his homework.

http://www.news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1383232002

relax lads, even if our bid was up to scratch i doubt we would have succeeded… political voting going on all over the shop … uefa & fifa both based in switzerland + this was austria’s second attempt …
Everyone thought Spain would get the 2004 & then out of nowhere it went to Portugal, backhanders, bribes, the whole lot, we were/are way too naieve …

p.s like your BANANA acronym Rory ! 🙂

CHICKENS COME HOME TO ROOST:

This failed bid for EURO 08 will hopefully result in some realism setting into the post BC (Before Charlton) supporters. We never stood a chance not only on the fact that no plans were even in place for stadia but also on the fact that soccer is relatively a new comer to most people (post EURO 88) in this country when compared to any other country in Europe. We have the least developed National League AND CONSEQUENTLY STADIA in Europe and this is not all the fault of the FAI. It’s a wonder that the FAI were not outlawed as an illegal organisation who’s aim was to distract the youth of our free state from playing our National Games. Up until the 70s the Guards would chase young lads for playing soccer on the quiet roads of the Corpo estates. When this state was founded a deliberate policy was implemented by government and Catholic schools to ensure that the garrison English game of soccer would be suppressed at every opportunity and confined to the back-streets of the garrison towns (Dublin, Cork, Dundalk, Sligo etc). The big arm of the GAA with their bans on foreign games also ensured that the game or its necessary infrastructure and political support never developed as would have been the case in any other country. The GAA has always to a large extent been FF at play and compared to soccer rugby always has had the support of Irish business. Basically soccer was supported and managed by ordinary Joes in ordinary jobs. So for most “fans” soccer was only invented in Stutgart on Sunday June the 12th 1988……… and who can never forget that horrible sight of Haughey running around the stadium in Rome at Italia 90 waving the Tricolour at “his people”. None of “them” were at EURO 88 because soccer was not fashionable and they did not realise the national latent fervour that was to emerge post EURO 88. I should think now after the farce of bidding for EURO 08 that the necessary support from government and Irish big business will emerge to make up for years of neglect and indifference to soccer and will finally result in the necessary infrastructure been developed to support due to international success what now ironically has become our National Game !!

Up the Saints – Hang in there Pat Dolan.

I agree wholeheartedly

Yes, well said Luke, I can remember dribbling along the rightwing on GAA gamesday at the local “seco” (secondary school) and then the roar from the Brother or “Brot-er” pick up the ball Papworth or else !! God be with the days of our joyous National Games and the hatred for soccer taught in our schools.

national game? soccer? You really think so?

I doubt it,

as a Bohs fan and regular traveler to dalymount and Celtic Park also I love soccer for the game it is, and feel that the ‘garrison’ and ‘foreign’ element of it has long gone, and that it is truly a global game now and that makes the whole anti-english idea redundant. However if you look at the attendances from Croker last year and any amount of irish figures for soccer it is clear that it will never get near the GAA figures. Stupid statement.

I do not particularly like the gaelic games anymore as i have certain problems with the rules, but i do like hurling a bit. Howeve while most have a soft spot (unfortunately and hypocritically so) for ManU etc and to a greater and more sincere extent Celtic, there is not the support in numbers as there is for GAA>

Politicking ruined our chance of hosting 2008 and the fact that Glasgow had three stadiums in the one area. Portugal had hardly any decent stadiums when they were given euro 2004 and austria and switz is not exactly a hotbed for soccer either, and have a lot of stadiums to build.

IF there was NO chance of us hosting it then why was the proposal given a 90%+ approval rating by UEFA inspectors? The reason they lost was not stadium issues in Dublin. Fact.

Ciaran