Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: pauliewalnuts on May 27, 2015, 10:48:58 PM
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Saw a discussion here the other day re Villa fans in Dublin, the suggestion there are quite a few of them.
I've never been to Ireland, but my Mrs has been a few times (though not in the last 15 years or so) and even she admitted that they seemed to see a lot of Villa shirts there, and she normally goes out of her way to say nothing other than derogatory things about Villa.
Just stumbled on this: Sports Direct (wankers, obvs) giving a break down of where they sell most shirts for each club.
http://www.sportsdirect.com/News/entryid/6883/Shirt-Sales-2014-15-Where-Are-Your-Teams-Supporters-Really-From
Our figures look really strange:
(http://www.sportsdirect.com/images/marketing/villa-shirts.jpg)
So, are our shirts particularly well distributed in Ireland (and London)? Are we under-distributed on our own patch?
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Won't that just be their sales? I'd imagine that the majority in Brum and the surrounding areas buy direct from the club.
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I would guess it's because most of our local fans buy from the club shops.
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It's only one retailer though. Though we undoubtedly sell more shirts in Greater Birmingham, a lot would be sold at the club shops and other outlets.
Edit: as Dave said.
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I'd guess it's because there are more alternative outlets to buy from in Birmingham (from the club shop direct probably being the main one).
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Its impossible finding Villa shirts to buy down here I find. Its the big four plus one or two of the London clubs. You can even buy Man City shirts down here now which wouldn't have been stocked down sarf about 4-5 years ago.
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Yes, of course it is just Sports Direct's sales, just found it really odd to see such a large % sold in Dublin.
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We probably picked up a fair bit of Irish support during the McGrath, Houghton, Townsend, Staunton era.
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Whilst on holiday in Zanzibar in September last year, met a couple from Dublin on honeymoon at our hotel and the lad was a Villa fan. When I asked him why, he said 2 words "Paul McGrath". I suppose a number of Dubliners would have been attracted to the Villa when he played for us. It's not that long since half the Ireland team were or had played for us, My late Dad, unfortunately a Baggies fan, always maintained that having an Irishman or two playing for one of the teams in the area in the 50's was guaranteed to put 5K upwards on the gate. Anyone else heard that nugget of information ?
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We probably picked up a fair bit of Irish support during the McGrath, Houghton, Townsend, Staunton era.
I jumped aboard the bandwagon then as did countless others, good Villa side and a good Irish team at the time
Surely Villa would be the traditional club of the Irish community in Birmingham?
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Yes, of course it is just Sports Direct's sales, just found it really odd to see such a large % sold in Dublin.
I lived there in the for a couple of years in the early 90's and found the Villa were very popular back then. Helped off course by having the likes of Stan, Townsend, Houghton and off course McGrath.
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We probably picked up a fair bit of Irish support during the McGrath, Houghton, Townsend, Staunton era.
I jumped aboard the bandwagon then as did countless others, good Villa side and a good Irish team at the time
Surely Villa would be the traditional club of the Irish community in Birmingham?
Not necessarily.
Sparkhill and other parts of south Birmingham would have had a big Irish community way back when.
The subtle sectarian divide between even the Liverpool and Manchester clubs never really existed in Brum.
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I guess Villa were still seen as the most famous name in English football in the early 50's, so that wave of immigrants would gravitate to the famous club. I know for my dad, coming from Ulster, having Blanchflower and McParland was an attraction, not to mention Con Martin and later Pat Saward.
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I was surprised how many Villa there are in Ireland and a lot of them refer to Irish teams that have had lots of Villa players,
There are quite a few Irish who despise the Liverpool Manure supporting Irish stereotype.
After Celtic Arsenal Liverpool and Manure I reckon we are the next best supported.
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I saw Villa shirts on sale in Cork a few months ago. Hadn't seen that for a good few years.
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I was surprised how many Villa there are in Ireland and a lot of them refer to Irish teams that have had lots of Villa players,
There are quite a few Irish who despise the Liverpool Manure supporting Irish stereotype.
After Celtic Arsenal Liverpool and Manure I reckon we are the next best supported.
i know quote a few Irish lads who support Blackburn because of an Irish player.
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Saw a discussion here the other day re Villa fans in Dublin, the suggestion there are quite a few of them.
I've never been to Ireland, but my Mrs has been a few times (though not in the last 15 years or so) and even she admitted that they seemed to see a lot of Villa shirts there, and she normally goes out of her way to say nothing other than derogatory things about Villa.
Just stumbled on this: Sports Direct (wankers, obvs) giving a break down of where they sell most shirts for each club.
http://www.sportsdirect.com/News/entryid/6883/Shirt-Sales-2014-15-Where-Are-Your-Teams-Supporters-Really-From
Our figures look really strange:
(http://www.sportsdirect.com/images/marketing/villa-shirts.jpg)
So, are our shirts particularly well distributed in Ireland (and London)? Are we under-distributed on our own patch?
Is it the 49 quid air fare that puts you off?
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Saw a discussion here the other day re Villa fans in Dublin, the suggestion there are quite a few of them.
I've never been to Ireland, but my Mrs has been a few times (though not in the last 15 years or so) and even she admitted that they seemed to see a lot of Villa shirts there, and she normally goes out of her way to say nothing other than derogatory things about Villa.
Just stumbled on this: Sports Direct (wankers, obvs) giving a break down of where they sell most shirts for each club.
http://www.sportsdirect.com/News/entryid/6883/Shirt-Sales-2014-15-Where-Are-Your-Teams-Supporters-Really-From
Our figures look really strange:
(http://www.sportsdirect.com/images/marketing/villa-shirts.jpg)
So, are our shirts particularly well distributed in Ireland (and London)? Are we under-distributed on our own patch?
Is it the 49 quid air fare that puts you off?
Very good.
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We probably picked up a fair bit of Irish support during the McGrath, Houghton, Townsend, Staunton era.
I jumped aboard the bandwagon then as did countless others, good Villa side and a good Irish team at the time
Surely Villa would be the traditional club of the Irish community in Birmingham?
Not necessarily.
Sparkhill and other parts of south Birmingham would have had a big Irish community way back when.
The subtle sectarian divide between even the Liverpool and Manchester clubs never really existed in Brum.
My mum is Irish and obviously working around Birmingham over the years I have meant countless Irish blokes. Ignoring the ones who support the likes of United or Liverpool (which I usually do) they do tend to be Villa and very few support Small Heath. I think our Irish support in Ireland obviously got a big boost in the years of McGrath, Staunton, Townsend and Houghton.
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I've only ever met one blues fan over here.
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I've only ever met one blues fan over here.
One sentence that tops anything the Irish tourist board have ever or could ever come up with.
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I've only ever met one blues fan over here.
One sentence that tops anything the Irish tourist board have ever or could ever come up with.
Yes, copyright it ger.
My missus was born, bred and grew up in Handsworth and Edgbaston and never met a b-loser until she came to Chelmsley Wood.
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I have always considered Villa to be the "Irish" team in Birmingham. My Dad lodged in Small Heath when he arrived in Birmingham, and drank in the Small Arms with all the other Irish lads and they all followed Villa, despite the Sty being in walking distance. He said no-one ever considered going to the Rags.
He was a close friend of the late John Deehan senior and whenever I spoke to John he thought along the same lines. He was a Roscommon man and always watched the national side at the Irish Centre. When Kenny Cunningham and Clinton Morrison were at Small Heath, some 'Noses started going to the centre to watch the games, they acted like proper arseholes to the point that John and his mates stopped going.
As I always say, there is nothing odder than an Irish Blue Nose.
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I'm always impressed by the effort and money that the likes of SligoTom and the other Ireland based supporters put in to follow the team.
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I'm always impressed by the effort and money that the likes of SligoTom and the other Ireland based supporters put in to follow the team.
Not as impressed as I am with you and your devotion to watching Rounders.
If you book your flights at the right time, an overnight stop in Birmingham and taking in the game the next day probably costs no more than a few days in Dublin. Still a very big effort mind.
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I've only ever met one blues fan over here.
I only knew one 'nose in Great Barr and I lived there for 20 years.
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I've only ever met one blues fan over here.
I only knew one 'nose in Great Barr and I lived there for 20 years.
What Ger did for Irish tourism The Man With A Stick has now done for Great Barr. I would happily pay five grand more for a house in an area where I was only going to meet one nose in twenty years. Although it does beg the question, who do you find to laugh at?
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I have always considered Villa to be the "Irish" team in Birmingham. My Dad lodged in Small Heath when he arrived in Birmingham, and drank in the Small Arms with all the other Irish lads and they all followed Villa, despite the Sty being in walking distance. He said no-one ever considered going to the Rags.
He was a close friend of the late John Deehan senior and whenever I spoke to John he thought along the same lines. He was a Roscommon man and always watched the national side at the Irish Centre. When Kenny Cunningham and Clinton Morrison were at Small Heath, some 'Noses started going to the centre to watch the games, they acted like proper arseholes to the point that John and his mates stopped going.
As I always say, there is nothing odder than an Irish Blue Nose.
I've always considered Villa to be the more natural home of the Irish Community though as they were dispersed throughout the city in 50's and 60's including Nose Territory I'm not entirely sure why.
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Growing up in Brum the Irish people (friends and family) I knew all supported Villa, but they were all on our side of the city anyway (Great Barr, Kingstanding, Erdington, Newtown). A friend of mine from Leeds married a Bluenose Irish lad from Bordesley and all but one of his mates are Villa too.
As a kid I remember reading a quote from Danny Blanchflower along the lines of "as well as the best teams any team with an unusual or romantic name would always have support in Ireland, such as Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace..."
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I know two noses over here, I haven't seen one of them for years, he was native so anything could have become of him. I knew him through my refereeing career over here. The other is a blow-in like me.
I knew two noses when I lived in Great Barr. Zulu's IIRC. They were brothers and, both played for a team me and my mate set up for them and their mates. They got sent off once for fighting...each other!
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I was surprised how many Villa there are in Ireland and a lot of them refer to Irish teams that have had lots of Villa players,
There are quite a few Irish who despise the Liverpool Manure supporting Irish stereotype.
After Celtic Arsenal Liverpool and Manure I reckon we are the next best supported.
Not sure re Arsenal any more. They were certainly the London Irish club in the past. Back in the 70s/80s they had the big 3 of Brady, O'Leary and Stapleton in their side. The Arsenal 1979 cup winning side had 3 from the Dublin (the aforementioned trio), 2 from Belfast (Jennings, Nelson) and 1 from Down (Rice). Terry Neill from Belfast was the manager. This at a time when Highbury, Islington, Holloway Rd was the home of the Irish community in London. Arsenal is an altogether different cosmopolitan club now and I'm not sure an Irish player has had a reasonable career at Arsenal since maybe Eddie McGoldrick in the early 90s. Anthony Stokes despite plenty of ability had too many off field "issues" for Wenger and Brady.
Celtic would have a lot of support in Donegal particularly (Bonner, Given etc), lots of Irish catholics would have emigrated from Donegal to Glasgow way back during the Famine and afterwards. The Donegal/Glasgow connection has been a profitable one for the FAI with the likes of Houghton, McGeady and McCarthy being picked up that way. But outside of the green half of Ulster, hatred for the Brits has dissipated a lot in recent years which has led to a reduction in support for Celtic imo. The SPL has fallen a long way in recent years and the club's profile has naturally suffered. Celtic have a big branding problem ala Burberry in most Irish cities in that they are linked to gangsta apparel for out of control louts. The hoops jersey is more popular these days for gangsta themed fancy dress parties than anything else.
Wouldnt underestimate Everton's support here, a popular club for sure with long standing Irish links. Also super Leeds and Johnny Giles. Roy Keane's Sunderland was a short lived bandwagon however.
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Growing up in Brum the Irish people (friends and family) I knew all supported Villa, but they were all on our side of the city anyway (Great Barr, Kingstanding, Erdington, Newtown). A friend of mine from Leeds married a Bluenose Irish lad from Bordesley and all but one of his mates are Villa too.
As a kid I remember reading a quote from Danny Blanchflower along the lines of "as well as the best teams any team with an unusual or romantic name would always have support in Ireland, such as Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace..."
I went to school in Kingstanding and Erdington, and never knew of any Blues fans at any of my schools. So either there were none, or they were in the closet.
And there were quite a few kids with Irish-sounding surnames.
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I know two noses over here, I haven't seen one of them for years, he was native so anything could have become of him. I knew him through my refereeing career over here. The other is a blow-in like me.
I knew two noses when I lived in Great Barr. Zulu's IIRC. They were brothers and, both played for a team me and my mate set up for them and their mates. They got sent off once for fighting...each other!
Dave, was that team on the Park Farm estate in the 70s? If so I may have known the brothers.
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No Pat, the two I'm talking about were from around the Booths Farm area. I'll pm you their names if you want.
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I liked the School kids from Northen Ireland singing the Aston Villa thats' who song
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I was surprised how many Villa there are in Ireland and a lot of them refer to Irish teams that have had lots of Villa players,
There are quite a few Irish who despise the Liverpool Manure supporting Irish stereotype.
After Celtic Arsenal Liverpool and Manure I reckon we are the next best supported.
Not sure re Arsenal any more. They were certainly the London Irish club in the past. Back in the 70s/80s they had the big 3 of Brady, O'Leary and Stapleton in their side. The Arsenal 1979 cup winning side had 3 from the Dublin (the aforementioned trio), 2 from Belfast (Jennings, Nelson) and 1 from Down (Rice). Terry Neill from Belfast was the manager. This at a time when Highbury, Islington, Holloway Rd was the home of the Irish community in London. Arsenal is an altogether different cosmopolitan club now and I'm not sure an Irish player has had a reasonable career at Arsenal since maybe Eddie McGoldrick in the early 90s. Anthony Stokes despite plenty of ability had too many off field "issues" for Wenger and Brady.
Celtic would have a lot of support in Donegal particularly (Bonner, Given etc), lots of Irish catholics would have emigrated from Donegal to Glasgow way back during the Famine and afterwards. The Donegal/Glasgow connection has been a profitable one for the FAI with the likes of Houghton, McGeady and McCarthy being picked up that way. But outside of the green half of Ulster, hatred for the Brits has dissipated a lot in recent years which has led to a reduction in support for Celtic imo. The SPL has fallen a long way in recent years and the club's profile has naturally suffered. Celtic have a big branding problem ala Burberry in most Irish cities in that they are linked to gangsta apparel for out of control louts. The hoops jersey is more popular these days for gangsta themed fancy dress parties than anything else.
Wouldnt underestimate Everton's support here, a popular club for sure with long standing Irish links. Also super Leeds and Johnny Giles. Roy Keane's Sunderland was a short lived bandwagon however.
I felt the need to check up on Eddie McGoldrick's "reasonable" Arsenal career. He played 33 games in 3 years. Which was more than I thought to be fair. In his defence that is probably more than Jimmy Carter or Chris Kiwomya played around the same time.
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I was surprised how many Villa there are in Ireland and a lot of them refer to Irish teams that have had lots of Villa players,
There are quite a few Irish who despise the Liverpool Manure supporting Irish stereotype.
After Celtic Arsenal Liverpool and Manure I reckon we are the next best supported.
Not sure re Arsenal any more. They were certainly the London Irish club in the past. Back in the 70s/80s they had the big 3 of Brady, O'Leary and Stapleton in their side. The Arsenal 1979 cup winning side had 3 from the Dublin (the aforementioned trio), 2 from Belfast (Jennings, Nelson) and 1 from Down (Rice). Terry Neill from Belfast was the manager. This at a time when Highbury, Islington, Holloway Rd was the home of the Irish community in London. Arsenal is an altogether different cosmopolitan club now and I'm not sure an Irish player has had a reasonable career at Arsenal since maybe Eddie McGoldrick in the early 90s. Anthony Stokes despite plenty of ability had too many off field "issues" for Wenger and Brady.
Celtic would have a lot of support in Donegal particularly (Bonner, Given etc), lots of Irish catholics would have emigrated from Donegal to Glasgow way back during the Famine and afterwards. The Donegal/Glasgow connection has been a profitable one for the FAI with the likes of Houghton, McGeady and McCarthy being picked up that way. But outside of the green half of Ulster, hatred for the Brits has dissipated a lot in recent years which has led to a reduction in support for Celtic imo. The SPL has fallen a long way in recent years and the club's profile has naturally suffered. Celtic have a big branding problem ala Burberry in most Irish cities in that they are linked to gangsta apparel for out of control louts. The hoops jersey is more popular these days for gangsta themed fancy dress parties than anything else.
Wouldnt underestimate Everton's support here, a popular club for sure with long standing Irish links. Also super Leeds and Johnny Giles. Roy Keane's Sunderland was a short lived bandwagon however.
I felt the need to check up on Eddie McGoldrick's "reasonable" Arsenal career. He played 33 games in 3 years. Which was more than I thought to be fair. In his defence that is probably more than Jimmy Carter or Chris Kiwomya played around the same time.
reasonable was probably kind :D remember him blazing over a penalty for them in maybe a Uefa or Cup Winners Cup final or semi final before, George Graham might have lost faith in him after that.
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My Dad arrived in the Midlands (Worcester/Droitwich) from Cork in the late 1940s and there was never any question of him supporting anyone but the Villa. English uncle (with an Irish missus) was already a ST holder. Have often heard people refer to Villa as the Irish club in Brum.
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I was surprised how many Villa there are in Ireland and a lot of them refer to Irish teams that have had lots of Villa players,
There are quite a few Irish who despise the Liverpool Manure supporting Irish stereotype.
After Celtic Arsenal Liverpool and Manure I reckon we are the next best supported.
Not sure re Arsenal any more. They were certainly the London Irish club in the past. Back in the 70s/80s they had the big 3 of Brady, O'Leary and Stapleton in their side. The Arsenal 1979 cup winning side had 3 from the Dublin (the aforementioned trio), 2 from Belfast (Jennings, Nelson) and 1 from Down (Rice). Terry Neill from Belfast was the manager. This at a time when Highbury, Islington, Holloway Rd was the home of the Irish community in London. Arsenal is an altogether different cosmopolitan club now and I'm not sure an Irish player has had a reasonable career at Arsenal since maybe Eddie McGoldrick in the early 90s. Anthony Stokes despite plenty of ability had too many off field "issues" for Wenger and Brady.
Celtic would have a lot of support in Donegal particularly (Bonner, Given etc), lots of Irish catholics would have emigrated from Donegal to Glasgow way back during the Famine and afterwards. The Donegal/Glasgow connection has been a profitable one for the FAI with the likes of Houghton, McGeady and McCarthy being picked up that way. But outside of the green half of Ulster, hatred for the Brits has dissipated a lot in recent years which has led to a reduction in support for Celtic imo. The SPL has fallen a long way in recent years and the club's profile has naturally suffered. Celtic have a big branding problem ala Burberry in most Irish cities in that they are linked to gangsta apparel for out of control louts. The hoops jersey is more popular these days for gangsta themed fancy dress parties than anything else.
Wouldnt underestimate Everton's support here, a popular club for sure with long standing Irish links. Also super Leeds and Johnny Giles. Roy Keane's Sunderland was a short lived bandwagon however.
Cheers Brontebilly. UTV
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Paul McGrath chatting to an Irish Villa fan right now on the the main national radio station in Ireland (RTE Radio 1) Ray D'Arcy show. I should stick this in the omen thread, too.