# Lounge > Sports >  >  Ultras / Firms

## Cuchculan

Curious to hear if these exist in other countries outside of Europe and South America. They are gangs connected with the football clubs. Some like to fight each other. Some in some countries have a say in what happens at the clubs. If they don't like a manager, they will tell fans to stay away from the home games. Until the manager is sacked. Used to be bigger in the UK in the 80's until they cracked down on it. Video shows what happens when 20,000 German fans show up in London. Only 2,000 had tickets for the game. This was a gesture at the home fans, that they are been insulted on their home patch.

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## Otherside

Football is no longer simply about kicking a ball around a pitch. It's actually quite sad when you think about it. I remember the Euros a year or so back. Fans that went to France simply to start a fight. For some of the fans, fighting for your team was something to be proud of. It's sad that football games here now involve fans separated by fences, policemen and made to leave separately so that a fight doesn't break out. 

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## Cuchculan

It is nothing like it used to be in the UK. Big crack down after many deaths. Most people known as firm members are on life time bans from ground the UK. These are the same ones who travel over seas to games. As they are not banned over there. Is not just the UK though. You mentioned France. Time before that when it was held there a copper was killed by German fans. God help everybody with the next World Cup. Russia? I can see disaster already. Over there the police allow the fans to fight. Away from grounds and away from the public. No weapons allowed. Ten minute fights. Once it is over, that is that. In other countries they brings guns into the games. It began in the UK and spread. Now it is not as bad in the UK. But worse in mainland Europe. Fans there like to take on the English. Just a thing. As the English started it all back in the day. Turkey is a crazy place as well. Football is their life. Which is sad really.

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## Otherside

> It is nothing like it used to be in the UK. Big crack down after many deaths. Most people known as firm members are on life time bans from ground the UK. These are the same ones who travel over seas to games. As they are not banned over there. Is not just the UK though. You mentioned France. Time before that when it was held there a copper was killed by German fans. God help everybody with the next World Cup. Russia? I can see disaster already. Over there the police allow the fans to fight. Away from grounds and away from the public. No weapons allowed. Ten minute fights. Once it is over, that is that. In other countries they brings guns into the games. It began in the UK and spread. Now it is not as bad in the UK. But worse in mainland Europe. Fans there like to take on the English. Just a thing. As the English started it all back in the day. Turkey is a crazy place as well. Football is their life. Which is sad really.



I know. I remember. It may not be as bad, but football can no longer be enjoyed without the police and fences separating the fans being in place. I am glad that the worst offenders are on a ban list. For the most part, people simply want to go and watch a sport they love. An overpriced hobby, perhaps, but not one that should be violent.

Football hooligan culture, as it seems to be called, may have started in England but it has defiantly spread. And Russia is certainly one of the countries in which fans have decided to copy it.

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## Cuchculan

Certain sorts of fences are banned in English grounds. Because of previous deaths due to crushes. Look at any ground in the UK today and you will not see any fences between the fans and the pitches. It is not allowed any more. Stadiums are meant to be all seaters. Having fans standing was causing a lot of problems. More were getting into the stands than the stands could hold. Not fool proof though. You get some idiots running onto the pitch and attacking players. 

I am sure you remember the war in the Balkins? The starting point for that was a football match. Player made a gesture at home supporters. Fighting broke out in the ground. Next we had a war on. That lasted a few years. With nearly a million dead. They hated each other before that football match. Were looking for a reason to go to war. Just one example of what happened as a result of a football match. Full scale genocide. 

I love football. Played it for years. Managed as well. Is a passion. Not to the extent that I would kill or be killed for. Even here in Ireland we have fights when certain teams play each other. Fans hate each other. The game is not even professional here in Ireland. You do see grown ups acting like little kids.

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## Otherside

> Certain sorts of fences are banned in English grounds. Because of previous deaths due to crushes. Look at any ground in the UK today and you will not see any fences between the fans and the pitches. It is not allowed any more. Stadiums are meant to be all seaters. Having fans standing was causing a lot of problems. More were getting into the stands than the stands could hold. Not fool proof though. You get some idiots running onto the pitch and attacking players. 
> 
> I am sure you remember the war in the Balkins? The starting point for that was a football match. Player made a gesture at home supporters. Fighting broke out in the ground. Next we had a war on. That lasted a few years. With nearly a million dead. They hated each other before that football match. Were looking for a reason to go to war. Just one example of what happened as a result of a football match. Full scale genocide. 
> 
> I love football. Played it for years. Managed as well. Is a passion. Not to the extent that I would kill or be killed for. Even here in Ireland we have fights when certain teams play each other. Fans hate each other. The game is not even professional here in Ireland. You do see grown ups acting like little kids.



All premiership/Scottish premier league teams have all seaters. When I've been to matches seats have always been assigned. You get a seat marked on your ticket. Heard about the crushes in the stands.

There are teams in the east of Scotland that have...religious elements to them. Let's fake Glasgow for example. Team called Celtic is Catholic. Rangers, the rival team, is protestant. It doesn't take a genius to work out how that can become a problem. At one point, I recall rangers changing there away strip to completey orange for top-to-toe. "Not a protestant thing", they said. Just a colour choice and an unfortunate coincidence. Not trying to upset anyone. Yeah, right...idiots. It doesn't take much sometimes. A player makes a hand symbol on the pitch. Crowd goes mad.

Again, it is sad. The majority just want to go and watch a game. They do not turn up carrying weaponry, several cans of lager and they do not want to fight the away fans. They do not care about the politics that seem to be behind the game. The majority are just workers who are spending there wages doing something they enjoy in the free time, not people looking to have a brawl. 

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## Cuchculan

The Old Firm Derby. Celtic has a massive fan base here in Ireland. The songs their fans sign are the old rebel ballads. Both sides hate each other. Fan wise. As most of the players are foreign these days. They wouldn't have a clue of what is going on between the fans. The team I used to manage here in Dublin, just a park's team, was a mixture. Can only pick 11 players and six of those once were Protestants. All fans of Rangers. It didn't bother anybody at all. Simple rule, no in your face [BEEP] about anything. They would show up at training wearing ranger's tops. No big deal at all. Was a rare situation. Have to say it almost caused a near riot once when we had to play an away game in one of roughest parts of Dublin. These lads with Ranger's tops on. It didn't go down well with the locals. One way of putting it. Bricks and bottles been thrown onto the pitch. Remember this is just a game been played in a local park. It began with about 20 people watching the game. That quickly turned into near 60. People on their phones telling their friends what was going down. We gave the police a call. They sent a few cars out to rescue us. I told the referee not to stop the game. That would have been the worst thing to do. That club did get into trouble. Though they did claim the crowd that showed up were not connected to the club. Be different if it was a big game. This is just like going to your local park to play a game of football. Results were all that mattered to me as the manager. Not what jersey or what religion a person was. There was always the old joke that Protestants were always lefties. Left footed, left handed. I kid you not when I say that all six of these players were left footed. That was the one joke we used to laugh about. As much as I love my country and the whole historical side of things, this was just a game of football. You play your best players. I left it up to them if they wanted to wear their Ranger's tops out to away games again. They were smart people. They knew Rangers were a hated team here in Ireland. Some areas we had to play in were mad areas. Scumbags all over the place. Sort of shows it can also happen in your local park too.

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## Cuchculan

Celtic Ultras. Marching to the ground.

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## InvisibleGuy

[QUOTE=Cuchculan;447233]Celtic Ultras. Marching to the ground. 

Daaaaaayuuuuummmmmm.

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## Cuchculan

Think the US has a bit of catching up to do. Here is a video were it shows US fans and fans from Europe. Who raises a banner of Chuck Norris at a football match? That had me laughing.

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## InvisibleGuy

Wow that is crazy. Looks like a lot of fun, as long as doesn't get out of control. That is nothing, nothing like US fans. And I thought US fans got a little rowdy and out of control lol.

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## Cuchculan

What they burn, most of the time, is items they have taken from other team's supporters. They will collect them. Come the day they are playing that team, they will burn items robbed from the fans of the other teams. With the colours of the team on it. I love the way they time everything. You see the fans jumping up and down and hand clapping. It is all done as one. 10,000 fans all doing this at the same time. Will post the Icelandic thunder clap. This is just amazing.

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## Cuchculan

Scotland, shite football teams, but the fans love a bit of a fight.

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## Otherside

And a spammers resurrected this, just in time for the Euro finals. 





> Scotland, shite foot teams



Oy..  ::D:  

Always painful supporting Scotland.  ::(:

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## Cuchculan

Love the way most of the videos I posted in this thread are gone now. Removed by you tube. Because of the content.

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## Otherside

I can see the Celtic March and the Icelandic one, but yeah, others gone it seems. 

Went to a few minor league games back when I was living in small town Wales. Proud members of the Welsh Premier League. Not as glamorous as the English or Scottish premier ones. No segregated stands though. Just home and away fans enjoying it together, win or lose.

Was nice to watch a few games where noone felt the need to start a fight over a bloody football match. And because of that, they allowed beer. 

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## Cuchculan

Most times in games like that, come half-time, the fans switch ends of the ground. Something that would never be allowed in bigger games. Happens in non league games in England too. Some non league teams can get big crowds. If they do, the whole switching of ends is not allowed. Wrexham, from Wales, have dropped that far, but still have a huge following. They still play with the English non league teams. With the hope of some day making it back into the third division and rising back up. To think they once used to play in the top flight in England. Their fall was fast. All the good players have to be sold. 

Here in Ireland the league is bad. Standard is poor at times. Used to go to games in the 90's. One team we would travel around Ireland with. Home and away games. Always a good bit of craic at the games. The banter and the likes. Nothing worse than a wet Friday night in Tolka park freezing your rear end off.

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## Otherside

All money as well now with the big teams. Had that European Super League nonsense. Look at who owns those teams. Billionaire investors outside of the country. Few Americans. One Emirati Sheikh. A Russian. Big money in football. Decided to try and make more money with the Super League. Sell the rights to the games to the TV Channels, the advertising. Would have interesting if it went ahead. Would UEFA and Premier League have stopped them competing outside of ESL? Rumours the players were threatening to strike. Players would have been banned too, even if they moved. Would have been unable to play for a national team. 

Smaller teams? Not so much of that nonsense. Who wants to watch Welsh Town with an difficult to pronounce name play? Noone is going to pay huge money to watch that on TV. 

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## Cuchculan

Hard to explain how it all works. But the smaller teams do depend on the the bigger teams for a lot of theit income. All got to do with TV deals and various other things. Part of it makes its way to smaller teams in other divisions. Had the elite clubs broken away and left the English game, those smaller clubs would have suffered as a result of it. Because of a loss of income. 

I thought the right move was made. They were told if they did break away the players involved could no longer play for the countries. The second I heard that one I knew teams would back out of it. Most of what was done the players had no idea about it at first. These were the owners meeting up and talking. The owners don't care about the players. Is a business for them. Most have no idea about football. Was all about money. FIFA made the right call. Banned all the players from playing for their countries and banned all the teams from playing European club football. It worked.

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## Otherside

Definatley agree, the right choice made by UEFA and FA. Fans here were furious. Was big protests over it. Would have been a contest with those six clubs automatically qualifying each year, no merit in it at all. 

As for the players? Cant imagine they were to happy about being told theyd be blacklisted from playing for England/there national team. So supposedly considered going on strike.

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## Cuchculan

These club owners know nothing about football. That is the main problem. To them it is an investment. How can we make the most money out of our new business. It would have been the top few teams in the bigger countries only. If one ends bottom of the new league they could be dumped out of it. Dumped to were exactly? As they would have been banned in their own country. Whole idea was they would leave the door open for more clubs to be promoted to the league. Again this would never work. They had assumed the FA would play ball. Finish top of the top division and you join this super league. Without backing from the FA this simply couldn't work. So you would have the same elite teams years in, year out. People would get bored with it. It was not thought out at all. Fair to say it failed badly.

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