World cup qualifiers

[Silver Fox]

Completely agreed re: eire, calling them a home nation is almost as stupid as calling Cashley MOtM on Saturday, oh

[Barry the bird boggler]

Still rather Eire/ROI qualified than ScotLOLand (mind you I'd rather Germany qualified than ScotLOLand).

[TBM]

I thought all Reading fans now supported Ireland cos Doyle & Hunt play for them??!

[Stranded]

I thought all Reading fans now supported Ireland cos Doyle & Hunt play for them??!

Nope, just the idiots. And they've probably stopped now as we sold them.

[TBM]

I thought all Reading fans now supported Ireland cos Doyle & Hunt play for them??!

Nope, just the idiots. And they've probably stopped now as we sold them.

LOL this is what i didn't understand, when people said something like

Watching Ireland >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Watching England

why?

[Silver Fox]

I thought that was because more often than not warching paint dry >>>>>>>>> watching England

[Thaumagurist*]

C'mon Macedonia!

Why??? What's your beef with Scotland?

[papereyes]

Completely agreed re: eire, calling them a home nation is almost as stupid as calling Cashley MOtM on Saturday, oh

That depends. I genuinely don't like considering most of what's happened since the 1920s.

[Row Z Royal]

I'm half Irish, so they're my "second team".

[Gus the teenage cow]

if italy v bulgaria is a draw on wednesday then ireland can grab top spot with two home games to go, italy still favourites though, some handy looking potential play-off possibilities out there like scotland, northern ireland, bosnia, greece and hungary...we may have a little sniff here

[Ian Royal]

Completely agreed re: eire, calling them a home nation is almost as stupid as calling Cashley MOtM on Saturday, oh

That depends. I genuinely don't like considering most of what's happened since the 1920s.

Of course they're a home nation. Half of them are over here anyway. And they are part of the British Isles.

[Big Foot]

C'mon Macedonia!

Why??? What's your beef with Scotland?

Fvck the Scotch cvnts

[Dirk Gently]

I thought all Reading fans now supported Ireland cos Doyle & Hunt play for them??!

Nope, just the idiots. And they've probably stopped now as we sold them.

And restarted now that O'Dea has been called up.

[wolsey]

C'mon Macedonia!

Why??? What's your beef with Scotland?

Fvck the Scotch cvnts

Why bother, they usually manage to do it to themselves - i'm hoping that they qualify and get their usual humiliation this time by the likes of North Korea or Saudi Arabia or similar

[Stranded]

Completely agreed re: eire, calling them a home nation is almost as stupid as calling Cashley MOtM on Saturday, oh

That depends. I genuinely don't like considering most of what's happened since the 1920s.

Of course they're a home nation. Half of them are over here anyway. And they are part of the British Isles.

Doesn't make them a home nation. So the county is in the British Isles but it is totally separate. Using the half of them are over here line is so tenuous - by that notion, we might as well class half of Europe as a home nation.

[handbags_harris]

Of course they're a home nation. Half of them are over here anyway. And they are part of the British Isles.

The official title for the UK is "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" - Great Britain being England, Scotland, and Wales, and Northern Ireland being, well, Northern Ireland.

The Republic of Ireland is, by definition, an independent republic, and has been for decades. Quite how an independent republic bordering the UK can be considered part of a "British" set of islands is beyond me

Anyway, geography lesson over. International football is shit.

[Dirk Gently]

Of course they're a home nation. Half of them are over here anyway. And they are part of the British Isles.

The official title for the UK is "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" - Great Britain being England, Scotland, and Wales, and Northern Ireland being, well, Northern Ireland.

The Republic of Ireland is, by definition, an independent republic, and has been for decades. Quite how an independent republic bordering the UK can be considered part of a "British" set of islands is beyond me

Anyway, geography lesson over. International football is shit.

The term "British Isles" is purely a geographical one, and has nothing to do with political or national borders.

[Gus the teenage cow]

Of course they're a home nation. Half of them are over here anyway. And they are part of the British Isles.

The official title for the UK is "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" - Great Britain being England, Scotland, and Wales, and Northern Ireland being, well, Northern Ireland.

The Republic of Ireland is, by definition, an independent republic, and has been for decades. Quite how an independent republic bordering the UK can be considered part of a "British" set of islands is beyond me

Anyway, geography lesson over. International football is shit.

here here

i rarely agree with handbags harris but he is 100% spot-on, it's not even worthy of dignifying with any comment except very very poor wumming from Ian Royal, that or he has been recruited to the BNP

[handbags_harris]

i rarely agree with handbags harris but he is 100% spot-on, it's not even worthy of dignifying with any comment except very very poor wumming from Ian Royal, that or he has been recruited to the BNP

[Ian Royal]

Of course they're a home nation. Half of them are over here anyway. And they are part of the British Isles.

The official title for the UK is "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" - Great Britain being England, Scotland, and Wales, and Northern Ireland being, well, Northern Ireland.

The Republic of Ireland is, by definition, an independent republic, and has been for decades. Quite how an independent republic bordering the UK can be considered part of a "British" set of islands is beyond me

Anyway, geography lesson over. International football is shit.

The term "British Isles" is purely a geographical one, and has nothing to do with political or national borders.

Thank you. I said nothing about the United Kingdom of Great Britain. About the only part of my post that can be disputed is the proportion of people who are Irish or of Irish descent over here.

Given the geographical proximity and nature, and the close historic links, IMO it makes sense to consider them a Home nation. Especially given a big chunk of their island is incontestably so.

Generally speaking, the English (and I suspect by extension the British) are quite happy to see Ireland do well agains other nations. At least that's how most people I know feel, even if they don't consider them a "home" nation.