I must be imagining all them orange marches up the north then every year.
Iâd agree with that, to an extent. The fact that so much land in Leinster & Munster was owned by Anglo-Irish lords (De Lacyâs, Fitzgeraldâs, Ormond, etc) prevented the Crown from really throwing their weight behind the Munster & Laois/Offaly plantations of the mid 16th century. Whereas in Ulster nearly all the territory was owned by native Irish chieftains like OâNeills & OâDonnells. The Ulster plantations also happened 50 years after the other two ones, so the British Crown had learned from those failures. 80,000 well backed planters were always going to be hard to defeat.
Are you a bit special?!
You must be imagining that these werenât some of the greatest warriors ever that almost won all of Ireland for you from their corner.
[QUOTE=âFagan ODowd, post: 1044723, member: 706â]Eamonn McCann fairly nails it today.
Footballers with poppies ruin integrity of the sport
EAMONN MCCANN
Itâs possible Mesut Ăzil was not devastated at having to miss last Sundayâs Premier League match at Swansea. Out injured, the Arsenal midfielder didnât have to decide whether to wear a poppy. Maybe he wouldnât have minded. He is Turkish by background and German by birth, and might have felt awkward with an emblem on his chest commemorating the defeat of Germany and destruction of the Ottoman empire.
Sergio AgĂźero seemed unconcerned about wearing a British Legion badge as he put in a two-goal shift for Manchester City on Saturday. But it must have occurred to him to wonder about reaction back home in Argentina. There are scores of other players who might resent their jerseys being used to promote British patriotism and sentimentalise war. But only James McClean from Creggan Heights in Derry stood up and said so, explaining his refusal to wear a poppy playing for Wigan against Bolton on Friday night.
âFor me to wear a poppy would be as much a gesture of disrespect for the innocent people who lost their lives in the Troubles â and Bloody Sunday especially. . . It would be seen as an act of disrespect to my people.â
The fashion for poppies on football shirts is new. The idea appears first to have been mooted about five years ago. Why? What new factor had come into play? What debate was there among fans, players, the Football Association?
Why is it that the real and relevant connection between football and the first World War goes entirely unmentioned even as the game is systematically misused in an effort to make war seem as natural an expression of identity as shouting for your team on Saturday afternoon?
Britainâs wars
Salespeople for the poppy suggest that support for Britainâs wars has nothing to do with it, that the red splodge they want to see on every lapel signifies only dignified remembrance of the war dead. Were there a syllable of truth in this we would hear a range of emotions and thoughts on the meaning of the war expressed at every poppy-strewn remembrance. But we do not.
Raise a shout of anger at so many lives lost or hoist a banner declaring âNever Again!â and you are liable to be arrested for â this has happened â breach of the peace.
The Royal British Legion puts it plainly that poppies are âworn to commemorate the sacrifices of our armed forces and to show support to those still serving todayâ.
Wearing the poppy is clearly not incompatible with organising a rerun of the slaughter.
Among the sights to be seen last weekend was Tony Blair â the man who told the lies that lured the British people into backing a war that left more dead than had fallen at the Battle of Mons â wearing a poppy of such size that, laid flat, would have provided landing space for a helicopter.
Endured horrors
If the first World War is to be remembered at football matches in November, why not actor Maxine Peake in the centre circle reading the words of a man who had endured the horrors before falling himself in the last days of the conflict.
âIf you could hear, at every jolt, the blood/Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs/Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud/Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues/My friend, you would not tell with such high zest/To children ardent for some desperate glory/The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est/Pro patria mori.â
You wouldnât have to call for a minuteâs silence. A hush would descend naturally.
Or mark the moment at Christmas 1914 when thousands of German and British-and-Irish soldiers on the western front stepped, timidly, tentatively at first, then teeming with joy, out from their trenches into no-manâs land to laugh, hug, clap one another on the back, share cigarettes. Of course, one side couldnât speak the otherâs language. But they found a common language in which they could celebrate their common humanity and played a game of football.
Was this not footballâs finest hour? Was it not the moment in footballâs history most relevant to remembrance of war, and specifically of the first World War?
Would a parade in the English and German football strips of the period not touch more hearts and make more moral sense than detachments of soldiers in full military dress leading poppy-festooned players on to the pitch?
Nothing of the sort will happen, of course. The underlying purpose of Remembrance is to soften the memory of futile slaughter the better to make the next generation ready to do its share of dying in wars caused by greed and imperial rivalries.
McClean was speaking up not just for himself and the right to choose whether to wear a poppy, but against the perversion of sport and for the integrity of football.[/QUOTE]
This article should be quote of the week in perpetuity. A fine, fine piece of writing.
This is as good as any to stick this⌠a lovely little read from a dear old man.
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Poppy season appears to be upon us. Itâs like Christmas, seems to come earlier every year.
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That horrid cunt Keith Wood not wearing a poppy on TV3. But if he was on the BBC youâd hardly see his face for the size of the poppy heâd be wearing. The two faced lickspittle cunt.
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Just sat down to have a nice bit of grub and some cock across the way is wearing a poppy.
I am beside the âRoyalâ County Down golf club so Iâll let it pass and enjoy my Rabbit and Pork Terrine starterâŚ
This poppy thing has moved on a hell of an amount when weâre criticising a fella for not wearing one.
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I am beside the âRoyalâ County Down golf club so Iâll let it pass and enjoy my Rabbit and Pork Terrine starterâŚ
[/quote]
How the fuck can you eat rabbit and pork together?
i bought one today in the pub, i dont give a shite, i love England, its been great to me
True, England is a good place to assist Irish people that are unable to succeed in Ireland.
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[quote=âProjectX, post:573, topic:10202, full:trueâ]
True, England is a good place to assist Irish people that are unable to succeed in Ireland.
[/quote]England is where the best of the best succeed, irirsh roasters will never understand that, only the lads with balls make it here
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[quote=âTassotti, post:574, topic:10202, full:trueâ]
Especially when theyre applying for bankruptcy
Its the likes of me, with balls who kept the country going, when all ye useless cunts with no balls stayed at home on the dole and doing jobbridge schemes, whilst I was sending home money every week and spending thousand when I come back for a few days, I am a true patriot
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feck, is poppy season starting again, tis worse than the rugby season,
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Jesus you sound like Tom Cruise in far and away.
Thatâs true.
The U.K. is an ok place, but certainly would not like the thought of having to live over there.
Letâs not forget that the good English provided jobs and livelihoods to many of our lesser fortunate Irish people.
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Was out of work for three months last year. Got offered a huge job in Germany. But had to weigh up the options. 2 young kids. Parents getting on. Wife didnt speak the lingo. Commuting wasnt an option. Have a lot of respect for families who up sticks at my age
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