Kennedy is new Irish FA president

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

Jezuz EG, with the length of some of your posts I often wonder - do you actually have a job... 

[Donagh]

The plan is to bore us all into submission Gwee

[saffron sam2]

Seriously, can anyone help?  I would hope that the voting was not along roughly sectarian lines.

What on earth makes you imagine that the voting had anything to do with "sectarianism"? Do you know what religion the candidates belong to (if any)? Are you making assumptions? Did religion ever come into the vote, or candidates' campaigns in any way?

This is quite the most baffling enquiry I've seen in a long time, even for this Board. 

Not in any way baffling my good man.  See Tony worked it out.

Saffron Sam, the voting was not along sectarian lines. You will struggle to find a single catholic in the corridors of power at the IFA.

That, Anthony is my point.  I have asked that someone provide a list of the names of those who had a vote in this election.  The inability of any of our regular soccer psoters to do so, is noted.

It is simply not true to say there is barely a single Catholic in the corridors of power of the IFA. I can't say how many there are, since no record is kept. However, I am very confident that there are considerably more Catholics involved in the IFA than there are, for example, Protestants involved in the Ulster GAA. Then again, when it comes to "sectarianism", as a GAA and soccer fan, you only choose to highlight alleged examples in one code, never the other. The mark of a bigot if ever there was one.

Ignoring the crass whataboutery, that was inevitably going to be introduced at some stage into this thread, your attempt at shifting the goal posts shows the weakness of your point.  Of course there are Catholics involved in the IFA, but that is not the issue here.  The issue is that if the IFA is a genuine cross community body, how come so few, if any, Catholics have made it to the hierarchy of that organisation.  I would suggest that rather than displaying a true, non-sectarian cross-community organisation (and that the lack of Catholics is simply down to misfortune or incompetence), it shows institutionalised sectarianism at all levels of soccer in Northern Ireland.

Get a list of those who voted (and the other six who didn't attend the meeting) and fire it up here so that everyone can make up their own minds.  It used to be displayed on the old IFA website, but has been removed for some reason.

[Evil Genius]

Seriously, can anyone help?  I would hope that the voting was not along roughly sectarian lines.

What on earth makes you imagine that the voting had anything to do with "sectarianism"? Do you know what religion the candidates belong to (if any)? Are you making assumptions? Did religion ever come into the vote, or candidates' campaigns in any way?

This is quite the most baffling enquiry I've seen in a long time, even for this Board. 

Not in any way baffling my good man.  See Tony worked it out.

Saffron Sam, the voting was not along sectarian lines. You will struggle to find a single catholic in the corridors of power at the IFA.

That, Anthony is my point.  I have asked that someone provide a list of the names of those who had a vote in this election.  The inability of any of our regular soccer psoters to do so, is noted.

It is simply not true to say there is barely a single Catholic in the corridors of power of the IFA. I can't say how many there are, since no record is kept. However, I am very confident that there are considerably more Catholics involved in the IFA than there are, for example, Protestants involved in the Ulster GAA. Then again, when it comes to "sectarianism", as a GAA and soccer fan, you only choose to highlight alleged examples in one code, never the other. The mark of a bigot if ever there was one.

Ignoring the crass whataboutery, that was inevitably going to be introduced at some stage into this thread, your attempt at shifting the goal posts shows the weakness of your point.  Of course there are Catholics involved in the IFA, but that is not the issue here.  The issue is that if the IFA is a genuine cross community body, how come so few, if any, Catholics have made it to the hierarchy of that organisation.  I would suggest that rather than displaying a true, non-sectarian cross-community organisation (and that the lack of Catholics is simply down to misfortune or incompetence), it shows institutionalised sectarianism at all levels of soccer in Northern Ireland.

Get a list of those who voted (and the other six who didn't attend the meeting) and fire it up here so that everyone can make up their own minds.  It used to be displayed on the old IFA website, but has been removed for some reason.

If you read my post carefully, it was not "whataboutery" i.e. that any anti-Catholic sectarianism in the IFA would somehow be justified/excused by anti-Protestant sectarianism in the GAA.

Rather, I was making the point that (GAA-fan) Fearon is only exercised by one sort of sectarianism (i.e. within the IFA), all the while clearly ignoring the GAA's problems on this score, which are arguably far greater on extent.

As such, he's a prize hypocrite.

[stew]

Seriously, can anyone help?  I would hope that the voting was not along roughly sectarian lines.

What on earth makes you imagine that the voting had anything to do with "sectarianism"? Do you know what religion the candidates belong to (if any)? Are you making assumptions? Did religion ever come into the vote, or candidates' campaigns in any way?

This is quite the most baffling enquiry I've seen in a long time, even for this Board. 

Not in any way baffling my good man.  See Tony worked it out.

Saffron Sam, the voting was not along sectarian lines. You will struggle to find a single catholic in the corridors of power at the IFA.

That, Anthony is my point.  I have asked that someone provide a list of the names of those who had a vote in this election.  The inability of any of our regular soccer psoters to do so, is noted.

It is simply not true to say there is barely a single Catholic in the corridors of power of the IFA. I can't say how many there are, since no record is kept. However, I am very confident that there are considerably more Catholics involved in the IFA than there are, for example, Protestants involved in the Ulster GAA. Then again, when it comes to "sectarianism", as a GAA and soccer fan, you only choose to highlight alleged examples in one code, never the other. The mark of a bigot if ever there was one.

Ignoring the crass whataboutery, that was inevitably going to be introduced at some stage into this thread, your attempt at shifting the goal posts shows the weakness of your point.  Of course there are Catholics involved in the IFA, but that is not the issue here.  The issue is that if the IFA is a genuine cross community body, how come so few, if any, Catholics have made it to the hierarchy of that organisation.  I would suggest that rather than displaying a true, non-sectarian cross-community organisation (and that the lack of Catholics is simply down to misfortune or incompetence), it shows institutionalised sectarianism at all levels of soccer in Northern Ireland.

Get a list of those who voted (and the other six who didn't attend the meeting) and fire it up here so that everyone can make up their own minds.  It used to be displayed on the old IFA website, but has been removed for some reason.

If you read my post carefully, it was not "whataboutery" i.e. that any anti-Catholic sectarianism in the IFA would somehow be justified/excused by anti-Protestant sectarianism in the GAA.

Rather, I was making the point that (GAA-fan) Fearon is only exercised by one sort of sectarianism (i.e. within the IFA), all the while clearly ignoring the GAA's problems on this score, which are arguably far greater on extent.

As such, he's a prize hypocrite.

Its not hard genius, Fearon has went to many of the norths soccer games and they were rife with blatant sectarianism, he has also taken Protestant friends to GAA matches and they had a far better experience than he did at wp, that is why he tends to focus on the ifa and owc and especially ffa.

[SammyG]

Its not hard genius, Fearon has went to many of the norths soccer games and they were rife with blatant sectarianism, he has also taken Protestant friends to GAA matches and they had a far better experience than he did at wp, that is why he tends to focus on the ifa and owc and especially ffa.

Stew

Fearon has not been at WP in more than 20 years, so his opinion means less than fcuk all. At the time when he was attending matches (and supporting NI before he jumped on the Republics bandwagon) there was a major problem with sectarianism, this has long since been eradicated, as every independent witness from Jerome to UEFA to yourself  have reported.

[Evil Genius]

If you read my post carefully, it was not "whataboutery" i.e. that any anti-Catholic sectarianism in the IFA would somehow be justified/excused by anti-Protestant sectarianism in the GAA.

Rather, I was making the point that (GAA-fan) Fearon is only exercised by one sort of sectarianism (i.e. within the IFA), all the while clearly ignoring the GAA's problems on this score, which are arguably far greater on extent.

As such, he's a prize hypocrite.

Its not hard genius, Fearon has went to many of the norths soccer games and they were rife with blatant sectarianism, he has also taken Protestant friends to GAA matches and they had a far better experience than he did at wp, that is why he tends to focus on the ifa and owc and especially ffa.

I have no doubt that the great majority of GAA fans in NI are essentially decent people, concerned with sport, rather than politics etc. Consequently, any Protestant attending matches, especially by invitation, is highly unlikely to suffer any problem whatever.

By contrast, no reasonable soccer fan would deny that soccer is still occasionally blighted by the sectarianism endemic throughout society. This, however, is reducing, with the clubs concerned making great strides to eradicate this. Moreover, the senior international team has had outstanding success, recognised by numerous independent observers, in improving the whole match-day experience, so that Catholics can and do attend matches in perfect safety.

On a more general level, when one compares the record of the two codes in attracting cross-community participation and support in NI, soccer has nothing to apologise for; on the contrary, its record is far superior. GAA sports are played, watched and administered virtually exclusively by one community only. Whereas soccer, for all its faults, is played, supported and administered by clubs in all areas of NI, including some clubs which are exclusively Protestant, some which are exclusively Catholic and some which are entirely mixed.

Moreover, GAA has an overtly political ethos in its Constitution and by its naming of clubs, stadia and competitions frequently honours political activists and terrorists exclusively from the Republican tradition. Soccer has no equivalent of any of these, nor could it ever.

Consequently, when Fearon "tends to focus on the ifa and owc and especially ffa" i.e. by a mixture of exagerration, distortion and outright lies, takes every opportunity to point to the mote in our (soccer) eye and ignores the (GAA) beam in his own, it is because he is a bigot, pure and simple.

[magickingdom]

who gives a toss about religion eg? you and sammy miss the point whenever it suits you. why would any nationalist support a ni soccer team when they dont even want the state to exist. answers that conclude with 'because its there' wont do because theres also a roi team thats there that they can support...

[SammyG]

who gives a toss about religion eg? you and sammy miss the point whenever it suits you. why would any nationalist support a ni soccer team when they dont even want the state to exist. answers that conclude with 'because its there' wont do because theres also a roi team thats there that they can support...

Firstly many. many nationalists both support and play for NI and always have done.

Secondly if you oppose partition then why would you support the partitionist team that you have no connection to (the RoI), rather than the partitionist team that represents the area/country/region/artificial statelet (delete as appropriate) that you were born and bred in.

Thirdly why, in the 70's and 80's, when sectarianism was at it's worst did virtually no Nationalists support the RoI (if you need a clue try looking at the relative results of the two teams)

[nifan]

who gives a toss about religion eg? you and sammy miss the point whenever it suits you. why would any nationalist support a ni soccer team when they dont even want the state to exist. answers that conclude with 'because its there' wont do because theres also a roi team thats there that they can support...

Exactly why my attitude has always been foster an atmosphere where anyone who wishes to support the team can. Counting catholics as a measure is always going to be flawed, unless you reason that the only purpose of them supporting the ROI is due to problems with NI.

[T Fearon]

A few points. Sammy, I never supported the NI Team, although I have attended many games at Windsor Park, the last being the 5-3 win over Austria in 1995 (I;m still f**king soaking ). Unfortunately I have never been able to owe allegiance to the NI team due to its exclusive use of Unionist symbolism and monoculturalism. Sectarianism isn't the issue, as you say it nevr stopped me from going to Windsor Park, if there was a player(s)/team I particularly wanted to see, but I have never had any affinity to the NI Team as an entity and will never be able to until the IFA jettisons the unionist symbols and becomes totally apolitical. I suspect when this happens, many of the sectarian bigots who have caused so many problems will simply drift away, as the team will no longer be a hard line exclusively unionist magnet to attract them.Unlike me, I know countless catholic/nationalist soccer fans who have never and will never set foot in Windsor Park under any circumstances

Incidentally my first game in attendance at Lansdowne Road was in 1977, against France so I cannot be used of bandwagon jumping. Nationalists have always supported the FAI team and this has been accelerated due to the opportunities to purchase block tickets,the availability of RTE Television in the North (remember this only happened in 1981).

Evil Genius, not that I am in the business of sectarian headcounting but a member of the Church of Ireland has been President of the GAA in the past, ie the very top office. So thats your argument very placed up your rectum I'm afraid

[Evil Genius]

who gives a toss about religion eg? you and sammy miss the point whenever it suits you. why would any nationalist support a ni soccer team when they dont even want the state to exist. answers that conclude with 'because its there' wont do because theres also a roi team thats there that they can support...

I don't give a toss about religion (I'm an Atheist, btw). However, there are individuals like Fearon who try to give the impression that the IFA/NI team is sectarian and discriminatory against Catholics. I personally would never pretend that my sport is perfect, however, it's record in encouraging participation from both sides of the community in NI, at all levels, is vastly superior to that of e.g. the GAA, which in NI draws its support almost exclusively from one side.

As for why a Nationalist could/should support the NI team, the answer is quite simple. When you support them, you are not making a political statement, merely supporting people from your own wee patch of ground when they play people from another. That is why many Nationalists can and do support or represent NI at soccer. Indeed, many such as Gerry Armstrong see absolutely no problem in playing soccer proudly for NI at Windsor, subsequent to having proudly played GAA for his county at Croke.
And in return, the sport itself has no difficulty in accepting the participation and support of many Nationalists, who presumably vote that way in elections, carry Irish Passports etc.

Perhaps your difficulty in comprehending this concept (pretty much universal in other sports, btw) derives from the fact that your sport (GAA) is exceptional (unique?) in that it does make a clearly political statement in its Constitution? 

[Evil Genius]

Evil Genius, not that I am in the business of sectarian headcounting but a member of the Church of Ireland has been President of the GAA in the past, ie the very top office. So thats your argument very placed up your rectum I'm afraid

When I was a boy, a neighbour of mine shot a white (albino) rook. Even at that early age, I understood enough to know that if I saw another white bird, it was highly unlikely to be a rook, since rooks are black. 

[T Fearon]

Evil Genius, it is a tribute to the inclusiveness of the GAA that, in your estimation, with so few Protestants among its membership one actually rose to the highest office, whereas with multitudes of catholics invovled in Northern soccer, again according to you,not one rose to any position of prominence in the corridors of power.

The fact is that soccer is a global sport (unlike the GAA) hence it is going to attract a wide ranging participation. Unfortunately the IFA with its monocultural leaning to one side of the community only in the six counties, as evidenced by the lack of support from nationalists, does a disservice to the game and should be investigated by UEFA and FIFA. After all if 50% of the population of France or Germany were boycotting their national teams, there would no doubt be probes at the highest level to ascertain why

[magickingdom]

Perhaps your difficulty in comprehending this concept (pretty much universal in other sports, btw) derives from the fact that your sport (GAA) is exceptional (unique?) in that it does make a clearly political statement in its Constitution? 

tho gaelic football is my favourite sport i am an avid sports fan and have always loved soccer (been to countless premiership games), rugby, golf etc. i'll take you word that the gaa makes a political statement in its constitution (wouldnt know whats in the gaa constitution bty) so you and sammy et al can beat it with a stick that suits you. yet when anyone points out that nationalists have political reasons for not supporting ni were told ifa are non political! ni is a political entity ffs how can that be any different from your problem with the gaa?