NEW YORK BOSTON |#Popular: Irish Celebrity Gossip Irish in US Politics Irish Festivals Irish Roots Irish Entertainment Offbeat Irish

Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Why are the English cheering for the Irish at the Olympics? -- All changed utterly as old foe embraces Irish competitors

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Why are the English cheering for the Irish at the Olympics? -- All changed utterly as old foe embraces Irish competitors

Posted on Tuesday, July 31, 2012 at 06:01 AM

Larger Text

E-mail

120 Comments

RSS

Archives

Irish Olympic team greeted with a warm reception in London

Des Cahill, an Irish sports commentator, put the cat among the pigeons yesterday when he tweeted “The English public are giving massive support to all the Irish athletes at the Olympics. It’s embarrassing, knowing it is not done in reverse.”

His tweet drew a massive response. His point was clear. At every competition where an Irish athlete was participating, the English fans cheered and clapped loudly, second only to their support of their own athletes.

It was clear from the opening ceremony that the English crowd heartily approved of the Irish team as they walked into the stadium. The US, British, and Irish teams got the largest cheers according to media who were there.

What is going on?

As Des Cahill pointed out, it is highly unlikely that the Irish, if they were hosting, would cheer as loudly for the British.

I guess it has to do with conqueror and conquered but also with more recent events which have taken the edge off the sad history.

Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Ireland last year was truly a watershed. Her conciliatory actions there and the massive approval of the Irish people registered heavily in Britain, where she is seen as the ultimate class act by many.

The fact that The Troubles are over and that Londoners, in particular, no longer go around worrying that they will be targets of an IRA bombing, also improves relations dramatically.

When the violence stopped, the healing began and the relationship now is on far more equal terms.

Many Irish for their part proclaim they are still anti-British, but after seeing the work that men like Tony Blair did to make the peace process happen, not to mention the apology for Bloody Sunday and the Famine, it is hard to hold that grudge much longer.

Besides, there has been been so much intermingling over the years that the shared ethnicity is a binding factor.

Take soccer legend Wayne Rooney, born of Irish Catholic stock in Liverpool. Take Tony Blair whose childhood holidays were spent in Donegal with relatives, or take Danny Boyle, whose mother is from Galway, who pulled off the massive Olympic opening ceremony, as examples.

It is a very healthy and welcome sign that the British are cheering for the Irish in London and it is no exaggeration to say that the day will come soon when it is reciprocated in Ireland.

That is how it should be for two countries who have been so intertwined in a negative way for so long but who are now learning how to live together so much better.

The Olympics and the reception for the Irish is another step forward in the right direction.

E-mail

120 Comments

15 - 120 | See all comments

STEVENSTAR | Dec 06, 2012, 08:08 PM EST

@YOUNDPIKE ... START WITH YOUR OWN GRUDGES MATE AND YOU'LL SOON BE A HAPPIER PERSON...

Report abuse

STEVENSTAR | Aug 25, 2012, 11:35 PM EDT

@@@@@STEVENSTAR | Aug 05, 2012, 05:06 AM EDT>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> IS NOT MY COMMENT SOMEONE HAS OBVIOUSLY COPIED MY NAME OR HACKED MY ACCOUNT !! WEIRD !!

Report abuse

YoungPike | Aug 14, 2012, 05:52 AM EDT

The English don't bear a grudge! Despite being bombed to smithereens for six years by the Luftwaffe, they hold no ill-will toward the Germans! You will find English people cheering on the Irish, Scots, and Welsh teams, without it being reciprocated. Sadly, I believe the Irish will bear a grudge until Armageddon!

Report abuse

STEVENSTAR | Aug 13, 2012, 11:24 AM EDT

WHAT A FANTASTIC OLYMPIC CEREMONY FROM START TO FINISH AND AS AN IRISHMAN IM WELL PROUD OF OUR NEAREST NEIGHBORS. I THINK THIS NEWSPAPER IS VERY AMERICAN NOT REALLY IRISH AND I ALSO FEEL ALOT OF AMERICANS ' HATE' TO SEE US IRISH GET ON NOW SO MUCH BETTER WITH THE BRITISH PEOPLE.. YOUR ARTICLES IN THIS NEWSPAPER FROM IRISH UK RELATIONS TO THE QUEENS VISIT HAVE ALL BEEN 'NEGATIVE AND IT PLAYS TO THE AMERICAN AUDIENCE AND THE EVER DECREASING IRISH REPULICANS WHO ARE SO STUCK IN A BAD PLACE, IM IRISH I LIVE HERE AND MOST OF US THINK THE BRITISH PEOPLE PUT ON AN AMAZING CEREMONY AND WILL BE HARD TO BEAT IT !!! BUT KEEP UP ALL YOUR NASTY COMMENTS AS THIS NEWSPAPER IS A FANTASTIC FORUM TO VOICE YOUR NASTY COMMENTS AS LONG AS YOU KNOW ITS NOT THE OPINION OF MANY IRISH BORN BRED AND WHO LIVE IN IRELAND LIKE MYSELF!! HAVE A GOOD DAY YE ALL !!

Report abuse

allan07 | Aug 05, 2012, 05:06 AM EDT

Niall O'Dowd the writer of this rubbish is full of same old same old recycled painting everyone with the same brush biggotary. Having fled Ireland to head to the USA he talks as if hes in London. All from a distance without talking to Londoners or English people. The English people here in England are not shouting for the Republic of Ireland competitors at all. The shout is for Team GB. @Patricksq if the Amercian people had not provided funding for a terrorist organisation such as the IRA lots of my fellow citizens in places like my home town Omagh County Tyrone would not have died. If its ok for Amercians to give money to terrorist to kill people in Nothern Ireland then it must be OK for protestants in Northern Ireland to give money to al-quaeda to kill Amercian citizens in New York. Whats the difference. We could actually dress it up a bit and pretend we are giving money to the families of those killed by americian drones and say the money is for the children and those whom have suffered by americian bombing. (Knowing the money actually goes for buying bomb materials, paying bombers, etc). We could call it Iraqaid or Afganaid since the IRA called theirs Noraid. The americians should stop funding terrorism and then we would believe you when you say "we are fighting terrorism".

Report abuse

allan07 | Aug 05, 2012, 04:43 AM EDT

Niall O'Dowd the writer of this tall story is taking rubbish. Nothing new in that. He writes from the USA were he fled many years ago. In London the English are not shouting for the Republic of Ireland competitors at all. The shout is for Team GB. Great Britain. The reasons are obvious. Its Great Britains games at a huge cost in these harsh times of economic suffering. The other reason is there are no descent competitors from the Republic of Ireland to shout for. They are rubbish. So far its 0 gold, 0 silver and 0 bronze for the ROI.

Report abuse

freekazilla | Aug 03, 2012, 10:12 AM EDT

The new ROYAL / No, she is no rose, Nor a flower made of brass, She's no classless lass, No albino gorilla, Butt a ROYAL Camilla.

Report abuse

jimquad | Aug 03, 2012, 08:24 AM EDT

This is very confusing. Even at the height of "the troubles" I was not aware of major anti-irish feeling in the UK. Even on the days women and children got blown up my parents explained it was the IRA and not the Irish. So dont know why you portray this as hatred amongst the people. Must be a USA outlook to hate everyone.

Report abuse

patrickesq | Aug 02, 2012, 09:27 PM EDT

The Irish are 'survivors' and they will, and should, be respected for what they have endured and achieved. Despite the history of national enmity and hatred between the countries, we have to live in the present and welcome the enhanced relations that promotes our common humanity and shared values. This is my American perspective having Irish ancestors.

Report abuse

Jim Clarke | Aug 02, 2012, 09:17 PM EDT

ManOfReason - what happened when Peter King visited Ireland? I'm genuinely curious. I didn't hear that story.

Report abuse

aliceschesya | Aug 02, 2012, 02:23 PM EDT

I don't think it is appreciated how Irish we British are with an estimated 6 million of us, like me, having at least one Irish grandparent. Also very many people of English stock were absorbed into the Irish population unlike the Ulster Scots who tended to remain more separated. Irish is the most positively-viewed ethnicity among English-speaking peoples. The British are no different in seeing it this way. I remembered my friends with no Irish ancestry fervently supporting the Irish football team as early as the 1980s - even at the height of the troubles. Work still needs to be done on understanding An Gorta Mór and its aftermath and the importance of Irish unity, but the British are beginning to catch up. There is something about freedom also freeing the oppressor.

Report abuse

Sparklet | Aug 02, 2012, 12:24 PM EDT

I agree zoomhoody, but there's also an element of envy involved - ancavker says the Irish don't have the confidence to stand on their own. I don't agree. I think in some ways, the Irish have more confidence than the Brits at the moment. We're confident about our own standing as a nation - we're loved and respected worldwide. Despite the current financial fiasco, that means a lot, and there aren't many nations that can claim that. A lot of English love the laid back attitude of the Irish, and their whole take on life.

Report abuse

zoomhoody | Aug 02, 2012, 12:09 PM EDT

@Sparklet: agree with your view that it may be reciprocity for the QE2 visit. Also think, as a UK resident, that the Brits tend to be well-disposed towards the Irish because there is much in common culturally.

Report abuse

ancavker | Aug 02, 2012, 11:49 AM EDT

Manofreason: And remember, the reason why the Irish are so similar to the English, is simply the fact that so many copy and imitate the English, it is not the other way around. More than a few Irish do not have the confidence to stand on their own, and constantly look across the water to London. Yes part of that is because Ireland is over shadowed-by its larger neighbor, but the the disdain that more than a few Irish show for their own country and culture is sad. And I say that as an Irish born person, with deep connections there. Other countries such as Finland and Norway are over shadowed by larger neighbors, and yet they have done a far better job of preserving who they are, they are not looking to Stockholm or Moscow for an identity.

Report abuse

zoomhoody | Aug 02, 2012, 11:19 AM EDT

@Irishiker60: you really are antediluvian in your "thinking", if that's not too complex a description of your intellectual functioning. Perhaps you should move to Ireland, it's running short on witless armchair terrorists and perhaps you'd get to understand how far from the truth your prejudices are. I don't blame the English (or more particularly, the British) for what their previous governments did to Ireland although those governments should be held to account. Things have moved on, a lot, you haven't.

Report abuse