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You fellas are obsessed with religion.

278 posts in 

It's only taken 628 posts to blow my cover.

Thought I was doing a cracking job as a fifth columnist.

I accept that - my point is that no matter what NI fans do for some people there'll always be something else. The anthem, the flag, the location of the stadium, the colour of the seats. If those people don't want to support NI because they don't think it should exist, that's up to them, but at least come clean about it.  My main problem though is when shite like Billy Boys etc is thrown around.

Likewise for the GAA and unionists.

Probably true

IFA doing good work, no sectarian chants etc, that's all well and good, but a lot of Catholics in the North still won't see NI as an entity or an international team.

Yes playing GSTQ is laughable but many won't support NI no matter what fleg or anthem they use.

Agree with everything you said.

Anthem - yeah I think there's a strong argument for changing it although I personally have an attachment to it as the UK anthem.

Flag - no.  It's the only official flag NI has ever had. If the folks on the hill made it a priority to have an official accepted flag for NI then fine, but as it is, it's the Ulster Flag for me 👍

So you would welcome a change of anthem (and fleg)?

I accept that - my point is that no matter what NI fans do for some people there'll always be something else. The anthem, the flag, the location of the stadium, the colour of the seats. If those people don't want to support NI because they don't think it should exist, that's up to them, but at least come clean about it.  My main problem though is when shite like Billy Boys etc is thrown around.

IFA doing good work, no sectarian chants etc, that's all well and good, but a lot of Catholics in the North still won't see NI as an entity or an international team.

Yes playing GSTQ is laughable but many won't support NI no matter what fleg or anthem they use.

Agree with everything you said.

But I think particularly if the IFA could find a new flag and anthem it would go a long way to breaking down the final barriers.

Scotland and Wales can belt out their own anthems but it seems the OWC fanbase can't tear themselves away from their beloved Queen. Whilst I'm sure there have been noble efforts in improving the atmosphere at Windsor (as Tonto has mentioned above) the flegs and anthem issue is the nut that really needs cracked for the IFA to prove they are serious about creating an environment suitable for all. As flegs and emblems are like heroin to unionists I'll not hold my breath.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being petty, 10 being very petty, where would you place a unionist who refused to go to support the Ireland rugby team because there are thousands of 26 county flags and the 26 county anthem is played before a game?

I first attended an NI game in 2008. I didn't and still don't support them.

I've never attended an ROI game. I have never and still don't support them.

What was the game?

PS Can we stop with this Billy Boys shit?

Hello, hello...We're not the ones singing it 

You know, I'll be totally honest. I went to my first NI game as a 10 year old in 1997. I'm pretty sure the atmosphere wasn't very welcoming to Catholics and, looking back, I have great admiration for all those players who played for us through the darkest years of Northern Ireland's history. But that's what it is, history. In the context of a deeply divided society not even yet emerging for civil conflict, I don't think we should be very surprised if songs were sung on the terrace that have no place today.

As a NI supporter, the worst days of the team probably coincided with the emergence of peace in NI and with that a sense that things had to change both on and off the pitch. In the early 2000s new campaigns were launched such as Football For All and Sea of Green to try to re-energise support for the team rather than just using the matches as a chance to express political affiliation.

That has been a success. Decent fans and decent people have made it so. If you want, be critical of Northern Ireland's players and be critical of Northern Ireland's support. But in continuing to through shit like Billy Boys/ "loyalist fanbase" etc around, it's the decent people who have made going to watch NI a pleasant, family experience who are probably most upset.

Just because you might want it to be true so that you can easily explain to people why you don't even have NI as a second preference, doesn't mean that it is.

Hadn't they to demolish one stand?

Yeah I was in that stand the day before the crack appeared for the Finland game. The crowd was absolutely bouncing, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a fan-induced crack.  They did knock it down and the replacement is nearly up. Because the rest of the ground was being built they were able to make the new stand integrate nicely into the south stand and close off the corner. All's well that ends well.

To be fair the reason attendances have been around 10,000 is because of redevelopment. Once it is completed by the next qualifying campaign I believe the capacity will be 18,000.

That said I accept there is def a bandwagon on the role and there are plenty of people who used to give me stick when there were only about 6,500 of us at Windsor ("what are you going to watch that crap for?" Etc etc) who are now posting about how great the whole thing is. I'm not bitter about that because their joy will never match what I'm getting out of it because ultimately things will take a dip and they'll be doing the same thing the next time the Belfast Giants are top of the super league or the Aghadowey Tiddlywinkers reach a cup final... And sure if there are new enthusiastic NI supporters, all the better.

PS Can we stop with this Billy Boys shit?

Just seen half of Belfast celebrating Niall McGinn's goal on the news. Has there ever been any other act by a catholic that has brought so much joy to the Protestant community?

Supporting NI is not, nor has it ever been for the Protestant community.

But if you're asking has any Catholic ever done anything bringing so much joy to Northern Ireland supporters, I would say that probably NIs most celebrated goal, Gerry Armstrong vs Spain, was scored by a Catholic from the Falls Rd.

If you ever get a chance to go to Windsor Pk pleas go, you might be surprised :-)

I'm not down yet. Can't quite believe we've done it. Really hoping for a German victory here to give us a chance of 2nd in group even if we get no more points.

Oh. My. God.

Do city prods say criby and not kerby??

As in the game? I'm a mere country Prod and we would have called it kerbsies.