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GAA At Anfield

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link How will this work? 7 a side ground hurling maybe? Concerned_Supp (Westmeath) - Posts: 71 - 29/11/2019 12:29:45 2252082 Link
sounds like there couldn't have been much thought to this boman11 (Antrim) - Posts: 237 - 29/11/2019 12:43:38 2252088 Link
Replying To boman11: "sounds like there couldn't have been much thought to this" If they can play at Fenway Park I think they can play tab Anfield? Liverpool's Owner's one the Red Sox which regularly hosts hurling 7s games yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11539 - 29/11/2019 16:58:40 2252130 Link
The first's thoughts that came to the GAA's top brass when this got green lighted. "How long before we get games in the Etihad?" eoghan6688 (Galway) - Posts: 159 - 29/11/2019 18:01:45 2252141 Link
Replying To boman11: "sounds like there couldn't have been much thought to this" There wont ever be any "real" or meaningful GAA matches played at Anfield or any other Premiership venue. What it is really about is being able to host American NFL cos the NFL clubs are seeking to expand into Europe and Premiership teams can make even more more money by having their grounds suitable for hosting them. It was part of Tottenham's thinking when planning their new stadium. These kind of partnerships with NFL clubs will be a lucrative revenue stream for Premiership clubs which can host games. PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 2009 - 30/11/2019 08:42:32 2252179 Link
Pitches too small The_Fonz (Westmeath) - Posts: 214 - 02/12/2019 18:51:10 2252759 Link
No decent Irishman should go near Anfield....short memories. The Rangers of England. MillerX (Meath) - Posts: 1102 - 02/12/2019 19:03:24 2252762 Link
Replying To MillerX: "No decent Irishman should go near Anfield....short memories. The Rangers of England." Is that not Chelsea? Jack_Goff (Meath) - Posts: 2920 - 02/12/2019 19:34:13 2252770 Link
Replying To MillerX: "No decent Irishman should go near Anfield....short memories. The Rangers of England." Get back in your cave! None of this is likely to work because of the obvious reasons mentioned. Pitch size etc. Sectarian sentiment could not be further from it, and knowing Liverpool as a city as I do, does not form any part of common viewpoint in the city. I'm sure Liverpool have suggested this as much as their link to Ireland as anything else. Hardly a sectarian ugly view. BaldyBadger (Cork) - Posts: 313 - 02/12/2019 19:34:28 2252771 Link
Replying To MillerX: "No decent Irishman should go near Anfield....short memories. The Rangers of England." "Decent" is not a word I would associate with your viewpoint yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11539 - 02/12/2019 20:26:59 2252788 Link
Replying To Jack_Goff: "Is that not Chelsea?" Yes it is and I've been to Stamford Bridge (not as a Chelsea fan) so should I hand in my Irish card too Breezy (Limerick) - Posts: 1236 - 02/12/2019 20:29:05 2252789 Link
Replying To MillerX: "No decent Irishman should go near Anfield....short memories. The Rangers of England." I believe Ronnie Whelan (who as it happened was a Manchester United fan as a kid) was the first Irish player that Liverpool signed directly from a (southern) Irish club, when he signed from Home Farm in 1979. The likes of Celtic, Everton and Manchester United had long established scouting networks in Ireland, both North and South. Funny that a club in what's said to be the most Irish city in Britain had such a sparse record of signing Irish players for much of the 20th century........? TheImmortal (USA) - Posts: 24 - 07/12/2019 01:13:44 2253650 Link
Replying To TheImmortal: "I believe Ronnie Whelan (who as it happened was a Manchester United fan as a kid) was the first Irish player that Liverpool signed directly from a (southern) Irish club, when he signed from Home Farm in 1979. The likes of Celtic, Everton and Manchester United had long established scouting networks in Ireland, both North and South. Funny that a club in what's said to be the most Irish city in Britain had such a sparse record of signing Irish players for much of the 20th century........?" Not surprising at all actually. Everton were the "Catholic" club and Liverpool were the "Protestant" club. Thankfully those sectarian divisions mean nothing today except to the very few who want to hold onto them. PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 2009 - 07/12/2019 20:46:34 2253751 Link
Replying To PoolSturgeon: "Not surprising at all actually. Everton were the "Catholic" club and Liverpool were the "Protestant" club. Thankfully those sectarian divisions mean nothing today except to the very few who want to hold onto them." All true...seems a few here want to hold on to those beliefs too..the catholic and prodrstant club etc....what a load of crap....sky fairies yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11539 - 08/12/2019 08:56:26 2253774 Link
Yes there was sectarian divide at clubs in England & as mentioned Liverpool & Everton were in that category. Many people who used to go to games at Anfield will tell you of the dislike shown to Irish fans in the sixties & seventies by many of the match day stewards. As mentioned by another poster Ronnie Whelan helped break down the barriers. Before that was Steve Heighway who as an Irish player born in Dublin & who went on to run the Academy & gave many Irish lads a chance, also break down the barriers. Having gone to games at Highbury when the North Bank had a huge amount of Irish people who went every Saturday in the seventies & eighties, as that was the club they identified with whereas Chelsea & Milwall were places Irish people avoided due to the National Front, QPR had a huge mixed race following, Brentford had a real local identity, Spurs had a different ethnic identity. Nowadays all those divides/labels are generally gone, apart from Glasgow. The Emirates is now so far removed from all the Irish lads that stood on the North Bank & had good crack drinking pints in the pubs around Finsbury Park, Holloway & Highbury Corner, it is now a global following at the Emirates. In relation to the GAA, many of us remember the exhibition games played at the old Wembley in the sixties & seventies which as mentioned by somebody else had a peak audience of 40,000 one time. What should be remembered is that these were held at a time when there was mass emigration from the West of Ireland mainly & were often the only link to home for many as air or ferry travel was too expensive. The 1964 All Ireland final was the first final ever aired by the BBC which was done due to the clamour by the Diaspora in Britain. The holding of exhibition games then was different to today as it was the only tangible link for the thousands who emigrated en masse, to the GAA at home. Remember air travel was only for the very wealthy, even ferry travels were the cattle boat variety far removed from today, no social media, no phone lines in many parts of the West of Ireland (the old exchange where the operator put you through) a country where signs read on bed sits " No Blacks, Irish or Dogs", the importance of those exhibition games had another meaning. They are far removed from the exhibition games now run by the GPA junkets. If the GAA want to support Gaelic Games in Britain, forget about junkets to Anfield or wherever & start investing in the people in the clubs who need funding for coaching & facilities. moc.dna (Galway) - Posts: 1212 - 08/12/2019 11:02:30 2253786 Link
Well said Moc. Nothing against the exhibitions but they won't do much to help the average lad playing GAA in the UK Breezy (Limerick) - Posts: 1236 - 08/12/2019 12:50:15 2253799 Link
Replying To moc.dna: "Yes there was sectarian divide at clubs in England & as mentioned Liverpool & Everton were in that category. Many people who used to go to games at Anfield will tell you of the dislike shown to Irish fans in the sixties & seventies by many of the match day stewards. As mentioned by another poster Ronnie Whelan helped break down the barriers. Before that was Steve Heighway who as an Irish player born in Dublin & who went on to run the Academy & gave many Irish lads a chance, also break down the barriers. Having gone to games at Highbury when the North Bank had a huge amount of Irish people who went every Saturday in the seventies & eighties, as that was the club they identified with whereas Chelsea & Milwall were places Irish people avoided due to the National Front, QPR had a huge mixed race following, Brentford had a real local identity, Spurs had a different ethnic identity. Nowadays all those divides/labels are generally gone, apart from Glasgow. The Emirates is now so far removed from all the Irish lads that stood on the North Bank & had good crack drinking pints in the pubs around Finsbury Park, Holloway & Highbury Corner, it is now a global following at the Emirates. In relation to the GAA, many of us remember the exhibition games played at the old Wembley in the sixties & seventies which as mentioned by somebody else had a peak audience of 40,000 one time. What should be remembered is that these were held at a time when there was mass emigration from the West of Ireland mainly & were often the only link to home for many as air or ferry travel was too expensive. The 1964 All Ireland final was the first final ever aired by the BBC which was done due to the clamour by the Diaspora in Britain. The holding of exhibition games then was different to today as it was the only tangible link for the thousands who emigrated en masse, to the GAA at home. Remember air travel was only for the very wealthy, even ferry travels were the cattle boat variety far removed from today, no social media, no phone lines in many parts of the West of Ireland (the old exchange where the operator put you through) a country where signs read on bed sits " No Blacks, Irish or Dogs", the importance of those exhibition games had another meaning. They are far removed from the exhibition games now run by the GPA junkets. If the GAA want to support Gaelic Games in Britain, forget about junkets to Anfield or wherever & start investing in the people in the clubs who need funding for coaching & facilities." I agree with your sentiments on coaching and supporting clubs in England. This would be far more helpful. Funnily enough, whilst I agree with your comments about the clubs in London and their backgrounds, whilst Millwall does have a deserved reputation, they would have a sizeable Irish immigrant background, probably from the old dockers etc, which is where many Irish worked in London. Again with Liverpool it was nowhere near that cut and dried with sectarian roots. Everton, the catholic club of course but had no issues with having Protestant players and management from a long way back. Liverpool had Irish players, albeit many Northern Irish internationals but some Catholic. For a club that is meant to be so Protestant, they had a very long association with Celtic, whilst funnily Everton had a bit of a click with Rangers. Nothing to do with sectarian links however, just one of those things. BaldyBadger (Cork) - Posts: 313 - 08/12/2019 13:02:11 2253800 Link
When Everton moved to Goodison and Liverpool were formed the Everton board were mainly from the Liberal Party and the Liverpool board from the Conservative Party.Since the Liberal party supported Irish Home Rule the Irish in the city gravitated towards supporting Everton.Everton from away back had Irish players and Ireland played internationals at Goodison cementing the Irish and by extension the Catholic links to the club.I know that to this day all of the old Irish in the city support Everton.I remember reading a book by Tommy Smith when he said he was scolded by the Nuns at school for signing for Liverpool.He also said that there were sectarian riots on the terraces up until the 1950's.It is ironic now that thousands of Irish people on this island support Liverpool probably because they became so successful starting in the 1960's coinciding with the Beatles and all that which made them recognisable globally having the city name which gave them an advantage over Everton.Liverpool at one time was a very sectarian city and there seems to be a lot of selected amnesia about that over there now which maybe is a good thing.It is interesting that Liverpool players who were native to the city with Irish names like Carragher,McManaman,McMahon etc were all from Everton families. gunman (Donegal) - Posts: 1143 - 08/12/2019 14:20:25 2253810 Link
It just goes to show that the whole "historical Irish link with Liverpool FC" is pure myth. The growth of Liverpool FC's Irish fanbase in the 70s and 80s is an example of one of the country's earliest sporting bandwagons. TheImmortal (USA) - Posts: 24 - 08/12/2019 20:36:41 2253856 Link
JAMES CORBETT (HISTORIAN): "Everton possessed so many Irish players in the mid-1950s that there was a contemporaneous joke that 20 minutes could pass without a Protestant touching the ball." KRISTIAN SMITH (LIVERPOOL JOURNALIST): "The relationship between Everton and Ireland has always been strong". JOHN WILLIAMS (FOOTBALL SOCIOLOGIST): "People dressed their houses to advertise Cup Final footballing allegiances, though my Mum would never allow my brother's Evertonian blue to go up in case neighbours or passers-by mistakenly took us for Catholics" JOHN WOODS (LIVERPOOL AUTHOR): "It was strange in the 1930s for a Catholic to support Liverpool" CILLA BLACK (LIVERPOOL SINGER): "In Liverpool, even in the two-ups and two-downs, most Protestants were Conservative and most Catholics were Labour, just as Everton was the Catholic team and Liverpool the Proddy-Dog one" TOMMY SMITH (EX LIVERPOOL FC PLAYER AND CAPTAIN): "Being a Roman Catholic school, religion played a large part in our school life. Pop Moran even tried to turn me off football at Anfield - Catholics were traditionally Everton supporters and players, Liverpool were the Protestant team. Pop honestly thought that being a Catholic I wouldn't be happy at Anfield" JAMES HANDLEY (CELTIC FC HISTORIAN): "Everton Football Club, like Celtic Football Club, owed its success to immigrant support, the Irish in Liverpool rallying wholeheartedly round it' FLORENT SINAMA-PONGOLLE (LIVERPOOL FC PLAYER): "I have been here three years and always when I go out in Liverpool I meet Everton fans. Everywhere I go, everyone I meet is an Everton fan. The bigger part of people in Liverpool are Everton fans". DAVID MOYES (EVERTON MANAGER): "I am joining the people's football club. The majority of people you meet on the street are Everton fans". DAVID KENNEDY (AUTHOR): "In the mid twentieth century Everton forged connections with clubs in Ireland, such as Dundalk and with Dublin teams Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne. By contrast, Ireland was a virtually untapped market for Liverpool FC until the end of the twentieth century. During the 1980s Liverpool signed a host of Irish international stars including Ronnie Whelan, Steve Staunton, Jim Beglin and Michael Robinson. This relatively late influx into the club has led some to talk of a less welcoming attitude toward Irish born players at Liverpool FC than traditionally was extended by their near neighbours. Everton were the first English club to have a supporters' association set up in Ireland, becoming the first example of a club with a large 'overseas' support, as hundreds of Irishmen travelled to Liverpool for Everton games. Symbolically, the connection between Everton and Ireland was cemented with the move of Everton's greatest ever player and iconic figure, William Ralph (Dixie) Dean, to Sligo Rovers in 1939 brisbane (Galway) - Posts: 675 - 08/12/2019 21:29:35 2253866 Link