Messages

1

General discussion / Re: The OFFICIAL FAI Thread.....Roll on France 2016

« on: July 02, 2020, 01:05:55 PM »

What I mean is that the country went daft back then, thronging the pubs, cavalcades in the streets, inflatable hammers etc. Yes, of course it was our first world cup, but essentially we were celebrating, if not mediocrity, then ordinariness. The only game we won was on penos, and as I've said, the football we played was soporific. Our displays in '94, with the honourable exception of Italy, were just the same. (Was there a home-coming in 2002 which would have been more justified? I can't remember...) In what was technically at least their first world cup, Croatia finished third; Holland and Belgium have larger populations than us, but not on the scale of Germany, France, Spain, England etc. and have achieved much at world cups.

I've little time for Roy Keane, but I don't wonder that he gets vexed when he sees us celebrating when we lose, draw or are knocked out of a tournament (cf. 2012). Should he be successful tomorrow, Aidan O'Brien will break the record for English Derby triumphs. Will we be looking back on it with nostalgia in 30 years time?

2

General discussion / Re: The OFFICIAL FAI Thread.....Roll on France 2016

« on: July 02, 2020, 09:00:06 AM »

What's with all the recent fixation re: Italia '90? We were outplayed in most games and played crap football. Definitely an era in bad need of revisionism.

Because it was our first WC and had an impact beyond sport.

Put em under pressure. Caveman football. The Gegenpress. Inspired tactics. Its the same thing.

True but, really, it was a foundation built on sand. It was a time more culturally important than sporting. We never led in any game, only scored 2 goals, the Dutch one at least coming from an error. We created practically nothing v Romania, the English match was derided by foreign (or at least Italian) media as one of the worst WC games ever, while the Egyptian match was probably even worse. (Until the Norway game 4 years later came along). It's debatable whether the 2002 squad was superior, but at least they were encouraged to play better football; that for me remains our best finals campaign (despite or perhaps because of the absence of you-know-who).

A so called analysis built on a foundation of shít for football brains.

Am I wrong? Did I miss the day where we played total football or jogo bonito?

3

General discussion / Re: The OFFICIAL FAI Thread.....Roll on France 2016

« on: July 01, 2020, 11:22:08 PM »

What's with all the recent fixation re: Italia '90? We were outplayed in most games and played crap football. Definitely an era in bad need of revisionism.

Because it was our first WC and had an impact beyond sport.

Put em under pressure. Caveman football. The Gegenpress. Inspired tactics. Its the same thing.

True but, really, it was a foundation built on sand. It was a time more culturally important than sporting. We never led in any game, only scored 2 goals, the Dutch one at least coming from an error. We created practically nothing v Romania, the English match was derided by foreign (or at least Italian) media as one of the worst WC games ever, while the Egyptian match was probably even worse. (Until the Norway game 4 years later came along). It's debatable whether the 2002 squad was superior, but at least they were encouraged to play better football; that for me remains our best finals campaign (despite or perhaps because of the absence of you-know-who).

4

General discussion / Re: The OFFICIAL FAI Thread.....Roll on France 2016

« on: June 26, 2020, 03:13:18 PM »

What's with all the recent fixation re: Italia '90? We were outplayed in most games and played crap football. Definitely an era in bad need of revisionism.

5

GAA Discussion / Re: Cillian O'Connor wins Golden Boot Race

« on: June 21, 2020, 11:15:41 AM »

Scored a great clutch-point from play to send the 2017 final to a replay.

6

General discussion / Re: Films and TV shows which will be banned

« on: June 12, 2020, 12:03:09 PM »

Any of you that have Enid Blyton books, I'd get rid of them fairly quick while you still might get a few bob or them. Pretty soon they'll be burnt in a large pile in Piccadilly Circus, with 'Huck,,Finn' thrown in too. Either that, or they'll go underground, opening a nice little niche market for them.

7

General discussion / Re: The OFFICIAL FAI Thread.....Roll on France 2016

« on: June 05, 2020, 01:00:49 AM »

Staunton's absence totally correct, very limited footballer at international level. Quinn? Surely not..., why not Aldridge? Had to have been better centre-halves than Dunne - Lawro? Would have Giles for Houghton also. Lord, haven't we been very limited in our talent pool?

8

General discussion / Re: Brexit.

« on: June 02, 2020, 04:34:31 PM »

These guys just don't get irony do they;

https://www.rte.ie/news/uk/2020/0602/1144975-raab-attacks-chinas-egregious-behaviour-in-hong-kong/

9

General discussion / Re: Death Notices

« on: May 29, 2020, 10:43:44 AM »

Legendary entertainer Brendan Bowyer. Your parents' generation would remember him.

10

General discussion / Re: Possible Cold war developing between US and China

« on: May 25, 2020, 01:06:23 PM »

Shouldn't you swap US for Trump in the headline?

11

General discussion / Re: China Coronavirus

« on: May 24, 2020, 12:27:35 PM »

Hope he doesn't go. Divide the Tories more, show the British public what kind of shysters they have in charge. At this stage, it may damage them more if he were to stay.
Gone into No. 10 at time of writing, so we'll see....

12

General discussion / Re: China Coronavirus

« on: May 23, 2020, 11:55:03 AM »

As is cancer Sid which has sadly been put in the back burner. The flu kills people. Diabetes kills people. Depression kills people
Let’s reopen things

Bar the flu', none of the others are contagious, and all can be combated or alleviated to an extent by known medical treatments or procedures. Covid-19 is highly virulent, can be fatal, especially to those who are vulnerable or whose health is compromised, and no cure or vaccine has yet been discovered for it. The Black Plague only disappeared when enough people isolated themselves from those that carried it.

13

General discussion / Re: China Coronavirus

« on: May 20, 2020, 01:05:19 PM »

You have to give it to the Irish Government they have got things in place with good results now. Things seem to be really working.
I ask they question was it a massive overreaction? Hospitals in Ireland both north and south are basically empty. Empty

It seems that once they sorted the hospitals and nursing homes with PPE etc the problem became manageable.

I personally think the lockdown was an overreaction but businesses were already quietening down and closing even before it started.

As WHO's Sligo native Mike Ryan said, better to be first than waiting to be right.

14

General discussion / Re: Ireland placenames that have a nice ring to them

« on: May 20, 2020, 12:20:55 PM »

I like Irish place names that are unusual or quite readily descriptive;

Clonmel, Mountmellick are derived I think from honey, mil
Townland near Barna in Galway, Aillepreachain, which presumably means the cliff of the crow. Also Baile an Sciobol, surely meaning the town of the barn.
Near Claremorris , there is a Garrywadreen, which is musical, and reminds one of Gary Waddock!
Also, outside Balla, there's an area known as Prison (maybe corruption of Prizon?), which doesn't sound like the kind of place you want to visit 

15

General discussion / Re: Best Movie from an uninspiring Premise

« on: May 19, 2020, 09:20:40 AM »

Also, Being John Malkovich - another weird and wonderful sort of a film with what I can only assume is a cult following - but I liked it - who would have thought a film could be made about going through a cupboard into John Malkovich's head.  I often wonder what the conversation went like when someone presented this script or a synopsis to a producer. 

Groundhog Day - who would have thought a film about a journalist reliving the same boring day over and over again could work.  But it is a classic!!

Groundhog Day pretty much sums up Bill Murray's film career. Same deadpan laconic performance in every one.