29 replies to this topic

[Caspa]

While we're busy talking about Ireland, I'd just like to take this moment to thank the Americans for their contribution in the war against terror. Well let's face it. If they hadn't been funding the IRA, we wouldn't have had put up with terrorism.

[duke_Qa]

Norwegians fuck sheep also? I honestly didn't know that. Maybe this new subforum is good after all.

Well where I come from there have been a song or two about the farmer with the "special needs", but beyond that its not a national stereotype.
Also its a cold country, you can expect some lonely and freezing farmer to kill two birds with one stone .
And I bet there are plenty of stories about american farmers out there aswell



Anyway, Ireland. now thats a story just waiting to be told. Religion and politics in one grand soup. From a geopolitical angle I guess the brits wanted to have control over its isles, and things went downhill from there...

[Vortigern]

The thing I understand least about Ireland is how they're divided, both religiously and politically, have different money, allegiance, everything, but they all play on the same rugby team, and always have done. Why can't they do that with everything? As a Briton, I honestly don't care if Northern Ireland is under Westminster or Dublin, so why shouldn't it be under the same government as the rest of the island? It makes a lot more sense.

[Ash]

Ah, but it's not as simple as that.

The Republic of Ireland is a staunch Roman Catholic country. Catholic to the core. Northern Ireland is where a lot of Protestants live. The main issue was that the southerners (and northern Catholics) accused the NI government and society of making Catholics live in squalour, while the NI accused the Republic of forcibly rehousing Protestants to the NI. Hence, the IRA etc came about.

There was a referendum in the early 00's to decide whether to reunify. Every Irishman and woman had the opportunity to decide, "do you support the reunification of Northern Ireland and the Republic under Republican government?" The agreement between the British Government, Sinn Fein, the IRA and the Republic government was that if both sides of the border could agree, it'd happen, so long as the IRA agreed to completely disarm, which they have, more or less.

They didn't. The northern Irish wanted to be ruled from Westminster. They chose for that to happen.

And they play on the same rugby team because both halves voluntarily created their own association of rugby teams of which to draw from (the IRFU). In the same way the Scottish have their own football league, whereas Northern Ireland and Wales play in the English league, so too do the Irish as an island.
The same could be levelled at the rest of sports. In the Olympics and othersuch, the UK play as a whole (Team GB). In football, we play as individual nations. Never understood that. Similar situation, though.

[Vortigern]

Well, I suppose that's a series of good points with which I really cannot argue. Well played, sir. I admit I was mostly unaware of the Irish situation. Maybe if we relocated all the Northern Irish to somewhere in Wales?

[Puppeteer]

That's why we don't enter a football team into the Olympics. Because if we did, it would be a UK team, and so the people at the FA would get pissed that on all the other occasions we have to be separate, and so something bad would happen. But I hate football so it's fine by me either way

[Vortigern]

Also, you just know we'd be the only nation that did it properly and didn't get professionals playing in the Olympics, which they're not fucking allowed to do! That annoys me so much. Anyway, yeah, we'd have an amateur team who would get absolutely stuffed by the Argentinians who all get paid £100k a week.

[Ash]

Also, you just know we'd be the only nation that did it properly and didn't get professionals playing in the Olympics, which they're not fucking allowed to do! That annoys me so much. Anyway, yeah, we'd have an amateur team who would get absolutely stuffed by the Argentinians who all get paid £100k a week.

How would that be any different than if we were to field a team of professionals, UK or England/Scotland/Wales/NI individually?

More to the point, who would be in it? it'd be Nearly all the players'd be English anyway, if it was skill-based. And the other nations'd moan that they were under-represented. But even if we were able to create one without that argument being raised, we'd still suck!


Tbh I see no reason why we couldn't have an integrated UK olympic football team. I agree, that they should be amateurs and so should everyone else's but I don't see as it would affect the FA, UEFA or any other football governing body, because the FA and the IOC are not in any way affiliated, and so any teams created for one purpose would, as far as the other body is concerned, not matter.

To be fair, if we were to field a UK football team and a UK rugby team for a future Olympics we'd be sorted. England can play the football (granted we're not great but we're better than the other Brit countries) and the Welsh can play the rugby with the Scottish in reserve. And NI...well, they'd send their players to play for Eire, so that way everyone's happy

[Vortigern]

I kinda lost the thread of my point there. It does make me very angry how everyone else cheats at the Olympics. We should petition the Olympics to stop professionals competing for good. That's not the point of the games.

[Dauth]

What ho! I cannot believe I've missed this place, I really should lurk around Revora more. I'll try to pick up on as many points as I can form memory.

Electoral system, Lib Dems want PR, Tories to a degree too, problem you cite it the BNP, use the Bundestag (SP?) version where they need a percent of the total votes in the UK to be given a seat in parliament. Tbh this deserves its own topic since it is really interesting.

Calling the UK England etc, well when England makes up 85% of the population and 95% of the economy, there is a certain amount of understandability to it. We signed the Treaty of Versailles as England because less than 100 years ago England = UK. Only through nationalistic belligerence has this changed.

Now to get on with these discussions which I hope will be entertaining.