“A load of crap” were the words Declan Rice chose when addressing speculation surrounding his International future following his Man of the Match performance in Irelands 2-1 win vs USA in June. His second Man of the Match performance in just his third senior International. In the same interview, he stated his excitement to make his competitive debut in the newly formed Nations League, with matches against Wales and Denmark scheduled for September. Fast forward three months, Martin O’Neill revealing Rice had requested to be left out of the two International games as he considered switching allegiances to England. Rice’s previous three caps had all come in International friendlies, as the Nations League games are under FIFA rules they are deemed competitive games meaning if he played he would forfeit his ability to switch allegiances, hence, his absence. There seems to be a consensus amongst Irish supporters that Rice is a traitor and should never be considered for Ireland again, even on the off chance he decides not to declare for England, but is this fair?
“This isn’t a woman’s game, get up off the floor you p****”
This was what I was exposed to one Sunday morning during a game with my local soccer club. Since I’ve had the experience of working with one of the finest women’s teams in the country, I was quick to jump and defend the women’s game in Ireland. Being the 21st century and all that, it’s hard to believe that these sorts of comments are still circulating in the sporting world. As mentioned above, I had the honour of working with Wexford Youths Women for just over a year.
The league Of Ireland (LOI) is very much unpopular amongst the general population. This is well known, and is reflected by poor viewership of games amongst the league as a whole. But why is a league that is based in the country that sells out stadiums worldwide for our national heroes no matter the sport. So why are we unable to fill out small stadiums for our local soccer teams? We are the “best fans in the world” after all, aren’t we? I think it’s very debateable considering we don’t support our local teams. But on the other hand are we given enough reason to support our team. I think it’s hard to support a substandard team in an inadequate league. And with the only platform of watching your team play being showing up to the stadium, is it really worth the admission fee and the effort considering the quality on display. The league itself has the potential to be more popular than it is but common faults cause the league to be shunned by the Irish population.
Unless you’ve being living under a rock for the last few months you will have noticed Dundalk’s meteoric rise through European football. They’ve come from a relegation playoff with Waterford United 4 years ago to being crowned champions of Ireland for the 3rd successive time on Sunday, as well as almost becoming the 1st Irish team in history to qualify for the lucrative Champions League group stages (ask Man U fans how hard this is). Their reward for missing out was a place in Europe’s 2nd tier competition the Europa League. By doing so they became only the 2nd L.O.I (League of Ireland) team to do so after Shamrock Rovers.
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