Deliver us from bores, know-alls and he-men
The disrespecting of an elderly nun brought a new low to malarkey in France
DESPITE the enthusiastic efforts of a handful of fools, the reputation of Ireland supporters is soaring. At a soccer championships menaced by the woken curse of hooliganism, the ability of tens of thousands of our countrymen and women to conduct themselves in civilised and joyful ways stands out.
The conduct of a small but poison minority of thugs from Russia and England illustrates the pointlessness of nationalism. Trouble-makers with wobbling stomachs strip to the waist and chant about being English till they die; about victory in World War 2; about never surrendering to the IRA.
Only the truly stupid define themselves in such a narrow manner.
There is no such determination among Ireland fans. They do not draw inspiration from a diminished empire, or from wars fought three generations ago. Most Irish fans simply want to watch their team and take care of themselves and those travelling with them.
Estimates put the number of Irish fans in Paris last Monday at 70,000. The great majority of them did not appear on social media. Instead, they either went to St Denis and watched the draw against Sweden, or found somewhere in the city to take in the game.
They are the most admirable supporters, the ones who have saved and sacrificed to pay a fortune for food, drink and lodgings across France this month, and who do not feel the urge to try and make themselves fleeting sensations on Twitter.
It is difficult to be as generous towards some of the attention-grabbers whose halfwittedness was plastered over some websites all week. The footage of fans singing a song about the Toure brothers at passing black men in Paris was, for instance, mortifying. It was at the very least ignorant. Those defending it tried to point out that the men subjected to the song danced and sang along with the fans.
It was not aggressively racist behaviour, but it betrayed small-mindedness, and attitudes formed in a time when black people were rarely seen in Ireland. This country has changed over the last 20 years, though, and the sight of black men walking past should not trigger excited chanting about Yaya and Kolo Toure.
Less impressive again was the clip of a gang of young Irish fans singing the Our Father at an elderly nun on a train.
The footage starts with one of the group making sure his phone was set to record, while another gave the word to signal the singing. The old woman stood there while they laughed and sang.
Mocking a pensioner would be criticised in most circumstances, but these fools were doing it as Ireland fans. That confers a freedom on imbeciles to do as they please, as long as it is in the name of the craic. Imagine being stuck in a carriage with that group, desperate to not just have fun, but to be seen to be having fun so they can then share it with as wide an audience as possible.
There were eejits at Italia 90, in the US four years later and in Japan and Korea, too. The trip to Poland four years ago was one enormous stag party for some who travelled. Observing the eve-of-Prohibition drinking one night in the coastal town of Sopot, a colleague remarked that some fans behaved as if everything they did would end up in a Christy Moore song.
The power of social media means those desperate to get noticed can now self-publish. Post a clip and within minutes a website with nothing more useful to report will faithfully reproduce it, and the self-regarding circle will be strengthened.
Ireland supporters are highly regarded for a reason. They are well-behaved, pleasant, they spend a fortune and they tend not to hurl terrace furniture at lines of twitchy riot police. That reputation is deserved and is a credit to the hundreds of thousands who have cheered in the name of Ireland across foreign fields for decades.
Most of those who were in Bordeaux yesterday afternoon fit that type. They are the fans worth shouting about, not the bores and the wiseacres who think everything they do is not just hilarious, but important enough to be shared with the rest of the world.
What England would give to have fans that caused nothing more than a roll of the eyes. The jackasses who rioted in Marseille and Lille have plunged their country’s reputation into a cesspit that lay undisturbed for years. England fans now equal trouble.
Imagine how that makes ordinary English supporters feel. The majority of them are as civilised as Ireland fans. They answer to the same impulses. There is not a monstrousness innate in English supporters, any more than there is a higher virtue unique to Ireland’s fans.
But those who riot in the name of England destroy the reputation of a country. The sight of a white jersey will turn attitudes among French police and security personnel harder and meaner, making life difficult for the good as well as the handful of bad.
There are no such worries for our fans, even the self-professed gas tickets. Their sojourn in Lille will be a warmer and more welcoming trip than the chaos that trailed England and Russia there.