when i started playing football at my boarding school, i was a creative midfielder, and my hero Luka Modric. he was coming to end of time at Tottenham, but i thought they were cool, and a great name.
as a republican, small r, i could not support the fascist royalists he joined in Madrid, so my loyalty stayed with Spurs.
btw i may not have been as good as saint Luka, but i was pretty good.
as to Irish rugby, i have always been fascinated by the similarities between Ukraine and Ireland, the things that connect the two countries.
we are the east and west extremes of civilised Europe, essentially peasant countries dominated and abused by more powerful neighbours. our lands have been occupied, our peoples exploited, our languages and religions suppressed. we both have martyrs to the fight for freedom, in both countries religion became synonymous with nationalism. to the detriment of our societies.
and we both suffered from a man made famine that wiped out or drove into exile large numbers of our peoples.
and so, when it comes to top level international rugby, i find myself easily drawn to supporting Ireland.
@Yulianna that potato famine is the reason I exist.It caused my great grandad to come to Wales. He and his two brothers are directly responsible for those with my Gaelic surname in the area(and the North Midlands).And one of the brothers sons produced a son who was a junior Minister in the Blair Government.Still a member of the Lords despite being ancient!
@TheSirfurryanimalWales 馃嚭馃嚘馃尰馃彺鬆仹鬆仮鬆伔鬆伂鬆伋鬆伩 does Dolly know that you're not really Welsh? what would the rest of the flock say about her consorting with a foreigner?
@Yulianna That makes sense. I actually dislike Real Madrid for the same reasons you do. As an Orwell fan, I know my Spanish history. I never really drew the connections between Ireland and Ukraine but now you explain it, that totally makes sense. I'm assuming that your support for Dinamo is also part-political. Shakhtar is supported by the Russian-speaking easterners.
As a leftist Englishman, support for my national teams is problematic if you take any of the political history as related. I get why the celts hate us. Though when some of them were gloating about the Euro penalty defeat, it did get a bit much! I like that the England team is supporting BLM and prepared to take a stand against their most reactionary fans. The team is working-class and multi-racial, led by a coach who is blatantly left-liberal, which makes it much easier for me to like them.
