However, when grown men exhibit their patriotism exclusively through international sports I find it ridiculous and useless. Particularly when a lot of these teams aren’t even made up of genuine Irish people.

Cheering on an Ireland side made up of mostly non-Irish players is rather like walking down an Irish “high” street seeing mostly English shops, Premiere League football jerseys, and hearing nothing but English spoken: One gets the feeling there is something fraudulent about the whole endeavor. We are still too much an appendage of England.

As an ex-player and friend of the teams I can garuntee you there is no West-Brits or has been in the squad as far as I can remember & if there was so what? Isn’t this the very attitude that is getting under your skin?!

Again, your comment (in capitals no doubt) “EVEN THOUGH IT’S ONLY CRICKET” !!
Another genrealizing statement in this country! You may not have an interest in the game or care whether we beat England or Australia or any country for that matter and you have no obligation to, but just as you don’t have an interest in the game or how well the national team does, did you ever consider tha fact that some people may not consider finding 100billion yo yos down the back of the couch or your highly impressive (google search) statistics on Irish tourism and census as very enlightening or important for that matter!

We get on with the English , we have no personal gripe if we meet one in the pub most Irish people will have the crack with any nationality. But our history is a separate matter and goes deep, real deep and to dismiss all of it with an attitude of “ah get over it” is naive and shows a lack of culture on your part, actually.. if us Irish didn’t have a pop at the country that raped and pillaged ours for so many years on these such occasions and future ones im sure, THAT would not be normal. Sure, the country will get excited about cricket for a bit and it might die down tomorrow and be gone for another few years and then we’ll no doubt hear the ould chestnut “Ireland have a cricket team ????” jibe again. But these events are what bring a country together in ways someone, as obviously ignorant and childish as you, will never understand.

I say to you LIGHTEN UP!! Its not racism, as I said its quite normal to vent our years of oppression in these small but meaningful ways. I know you’d rather walk down Grafton St. holding the Queens hand lookin in Brown Thomas’ window singin’ “God save the queen” but we’re not all like you!

Another generalization from our insightful journalist
“The odd thing is that the English don’t get this. They actually LIKE us. The Germans and French are sick of us, but the Brits still want to be friends. They’re even lending us money.”
There you go on about your precious money again and lump the Germans and the French into a big group that are sick of us, no doubt because they have to bail us out! Listen at this stage its quite clear where you stand, You couldnt care less about Irish cricket and you want to wish you were english and RICH!

Id like to sum up by saying you’re a complete racist towards cricket and I for one take offence.

I can tell you that the general public have NO IDEA how important this victory was to that squad of players and the thousands of people in Ireland who follow the game religiously! And it does represent a turning point in the games history not only here but all over the world.

After talkin to Kevin 10 mins after the game was over I felt truly honoured that I knew someone as gifted and ballsy as him to stand up to the might of a nation who, in this particular sport look down on the Irish like pieces of dirt. He has qualities in him that this journalist will NEVER KNOW!

Let the country celebrate, EVEN IF IT IS ONLY CRICKET!!! Let them celebrate if its Tiddlywinks who cares? any excuse to change the subject from the boring economy and money!

DAVE KENNY WHAT A MUPPETT!

As an ex-player and friend of the teams I can garuntee you there is no West-Brits or has been in the squad as far as I can remember & if there was so what? Isn’t this the very attitude that is getting under your skin?!

Again, your comment (in capitals no doubt) “EVEN THOUGH IT’S ONLY CRICKET” !!
Another genrealizing statement in this country! You may not have an interest in the game or care whether we beat England or Australia or any country for that matter and you have no obligation to, but just as you don’t have an interest in the game or how well the national team does, did you ever consider tha fact that some people may not consider finding 100billion yo yos down the back of the couch or your highly impressive (google search) statistics on Irish tourism and census as very enlightening or important for that matter!

We get on with the English , we have no personal gripe if we meet one in the pub most Irish people will have the crack with any nationality. But our history is a separate matter and goes deep, real deep and to dismiss all of it with an attitude of “ah get over it” is naive and shows a lack of culture on your part, actually.. if us Irish didn’t have a pop at the country that raped and pillaged ours for so many years on these such occasions and future ones im sure, THAT would not be normal. Sure, the country will get excited about cricket for a bit and it might die down tomorrow and be gone for another few years and then we’ll no doubt hear the ould chestnut “Ireland have a cricket team ????” jibe again. But these events are what bring a country together in ways someone, as obviously ignorant and childish as you, will never understand.

I say to you LIGHTEN UP!! Its not racism, as I said its quite normal to vent our years of oppression in these small but meaningful ways. I know you’d rather walk down Grafton St. holding the Queens hand lookin in Brown Thomas’ window singin’ “God save the queen” but we’re not all like you!

Another generalization from our insightful journalist
“The odd thing is that the English don’t get this. They actually LIKE us. The Germans and French are sick of us, but the Brits still want to be friends. They’re even lending us money.”
There you go on about your precious money again and lump the Germans and the French into a big group that are sick of us, no doubt because they have to bail us out! Listen at this stage its quite clear where you stand, You couldnt care less about Irish cricket and you want to wish you were english and RICH!

Id like to sum up by saying you’re a complete racist towards cricket and I for one take offence.

I can tell you that the general public have NO IDEA how important this victory was to that squad of players and the thousands of people in Ireland who follow the game religiously! And it does represent a turning point in the games history not only here but all over the world.

After talkin to Kevin 10 mins after the game was over I felt truly honoured that I knew someone as gifted and ballsy as him to stand up to the might of a nation who, in this particular sport look down on the Irish like pieces of dirt. He has qualities in him that this journalist will NEVER KNOW!

Let the country celebrate, EVEN IF IT IS ONLY CRICKET!!! Let them celebrate if its Tiddlywinks who cares? any excuse to change the subject from the boring economy and money!

DAVE KENNY WHAT A MUPPETT!

As you say, Irish people are very familiar with English culture, that’s why they want to win. Beating the Finnish or the Maltese isn’t as interesting because we don’t know them.

However I definitely do not think the fact that yep, we take particular joy in the English being beaten at what is considered their game and when its Ireland that does the beating…. well its just a wee bit sweeter.

As many of the comments have reflected, this is not racism. It is banter, slagging…something we Irish are masters at and not something (in my experience) that is indulged in as much in England. The fact that England doesnt get why we enjoy their discomfort just makes it all the funnier to our perhaps warped sense of humour!

Long live this rivalry and this cultural difference. I am married to a Brit and I believe (unlike you, I think) that there are in fact HUGE cultural differences between the two countries. And communication and how we do that is one of them. My husband has experienced (only twice) racism and it is something quite different. Banter and slagging is just …. well its the craic! Racism is not! And yep, I cheered and crowed loud about our Cricket team… but yeah, I’ll also be hoping for an invitation to a garden party with The Queen too!

But you have stirred up a great chat!

“Along with the applause there was another response: the ‘any excuse to give two fingers to the Brits’ reaction. Across the twitterverse and in the bars of Old Erin, there was an indulgence of the ‘acceptable’ racism we sometimes display to our nearest neighbours. The ‘800 years of oppression’ crap spouted by Six-Pint-Republicans. One correspondent told me he “disliked all sport, but liked seeing English people getting upset”.”

The entire argument of this article is based on this evidence, which seems to have required little more than having a look at Twitter, and speaking to a ‘correspondent’, who may or not have been on Twitter too. ”In the bars of Old Erin”? Really? I doubt you left your laptop.

In a word, drivel. It’s a pity, because the author has clearly shown before that he is capable of work of a much higher standard.

I’ve spent the last day incredibly angry over some tweets about Irish reactions of ‘ jingoistic blarney assailing mine eyes over the Ireland cricket win is typically lacking in both grace and a sense of proportion’ and ‘ live up to their most unappealing national stereotype’. In many ways articles like this do true fans of Irish sport a huge injustice by tarring everyone with the same brush. Unfair and inaccurate.

However, I would have to take issue with you about the standing and longevity of cricket in Ireland. I’ve loved the game ever since I was a little girl when, knee high to a grasshopper (mixing my metaphorical insects perhaps) I watched it with my Dad. It is a wonderful, exciting and compelling sport. I have been to see the carnival that is test cricket – England versus New Zealand, at the Oval – and enjoyed many lazy days on the village green or in the grounds of Trinity College relaxing to the soundtrack of the thwack of the ball. I have even had a letter published in the Irish Times bemoaning the poor Irish media coverage of the last World Cup in 2007 when Ireland beat Pakistan and progressed to the Super 8.

The history of cricket in Ireland is a long one. As with almost every country in which the game is played the English brought cricket to Ireland so we have them to thank for this victory. The game was introduced to the Garrison towns of Kilkenny and Ballinasloe in the early 1800′s and spread nationwide in the 1830′s. Many clubs still in existence today were founded at this time. At one stage it was overwhelmingly the most popular game in Ireland. In fact Michael Cusack, founder of the GAA, was a devotee and claimed that it was the dream of every Irish boy to hit a 6 for his parish.

The first Irish National team took the field in 1855 long before any Test Match was ever played. The match was Ireland -v- The Gentlemen of England in Dublin. Ireland won by 107 runs. The spread of cricket continued until the early 1880′s. In 1904 the South Africans were beaten in Cork. An Annual match with Scotland began in 1909 and has been played ever since. In the inter-war years the Test playing countries began to visit Ireland starting with West Indies in 1928. Charles Stewart Parnell was a very keen cricketer and captain of the Wicklow county team.

Cricket is an all island game and unites us north & south. It matters. Winning matters and we should be delighted with our win and support our team all the way. We should celebrate their great achievement on the field and enjoy the friendly rivalry. I’m thrilled to see such an upsurge of interest in cricket and hope that everyone buys a ticket to see Ireland play England in Clontarf in August (I have). Yes lay off the jingoism & celebrate the positivity but do please celebrate – we certainly need a celebration.

What I’ve seen, on Twitter and around the place in general, has been a genuine pride in a great performance expressed with a slightly bemused delight, some really good jokes and a healthy crowing born deservedly out of an immense achievement.

Cricket is a sport with a colonial past, more so than any other sport – just look at the list of test-playing nations. To beat England at that game with a 32-county team and in such magnificent fashion is, on every level, in every context, a remarkably eloquent statement, whether you’re a sports fan or a student of Irish history.

And after all, The Ashes, that holy grail of English cricket, were burned, created and first presented by a Kerrywoman.

Personally, my reaction (and the reaction to many of many international colleagues here in Amsterdam) was “what, Ireland has a cricket team?”

The fiends over on blather.net took it further:

“Following their historic victory over England in the Cricket World Cup, the entire Irish nation is this afternoon finally waking up to scenes of wanton carnage and drunken devastation following forty eight hours of unprecedented national celebrations. In what is being hailed as ‘The Final Victory Against the Sassanach’ (from Old Irish: meaning ‘West Kraut’), many citizens are calling on the authorities to declare a national holiday in honour of ‘Our Brave Fenian Boys’ who snapped victory from the jaws of defeat whilst simultaneously ending 800 Years of English Obsession (TM).”
http://www.blather.net/shitegeist/2011/03/elation_once_again_irish_bowled_over_wit.htm

Just as it’s dumb for me to feel affronted, it’s incredibly dumb to make the “beating the English” / “Old Enemy” / “potato blight” connection.

Fantastic victory for Ireland Cricket, finally something good to say about Ireland on the International stage.