Football rant - About Neil Lennon

[Aro]

Link to story here.

What is going on in this bloody country...?

We can't even have a sporting event where the best available players who want to play for the country (Northern Ireland) are 'allowed' to play without fear of punishment or retribution.

The LVF or some other thuggish idiots threatened the NI captain if he played again for his chosen country.
They also painted the grafitti "RIP Neil Lennon" on a wall in Lisburn.

Why, I hear you ask?
Because he chose to play for Glasgow Celtic. Big, fat, hairy deal.

Is there any other country in the world where local thugs could / would affect the national team's chances of winning over something so blatantly petty?

From Article:
"It is something that the decent people of Northern Ireland totally and utterly condemn.

Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Mark Durkan, said: "The sectarian threats against Neil Lennon are deplorable.

"Sectarianism and paramilitarism should not intrude into the sporting arena.

Fuck those fuckwits. What the hell is the point of that?

[jjimm]

Fucking wankers.

The annoying thing is it's probably only one or two of the fuckheads who are doing it. Though they said on the news this morning it was the UFF.

[Coldfire]

Wow, that's just utterly sad. Great player, too.

Bunch of idiots.

[freckles]

Will they ever learn?
Lennon is a good player.
At this stage it's just sad

[Crusoe]

What hope is there ever for a unification of people within Northern Ireland if a violent minority put petty, bigoted considerations like this ahead of seeing their national (is that the most accurate word? I'm sure you see what I meant if not) sporting sides excel.

[London_Calling]

The BBC is reporting this lunchtime that "an official" from the LVF says it's a "hoax", or at least it's not them.

[ruadh]

What's even more disgraceful about this is the fact that the game went ahead anyway. The manager/ FA/ other players just said "oh hard luck Neil" and played on.

I mean, way to support your captain , eh?

[TwistofFate]

Lets back up a bit.

Someone phones a belfast news agency, claims to be from the LVF, use a recognised codeword, issues a death threat, forces teh retirement of a football player whose family have been threatened, and then once the have their desired result, its a hoax?

And then for the game to go ahead anyway, even though their captain has been forced out of representing his country, and still display a sign saying "Boot Sectarianism out of football" is beyond me.

And to cap it all off, some UFF thug on the Channel 4 news claims that Lennon pulling out encourages sectarianism!!

Welcome to Northern Ireland.

[Zoff]

Can somebody clear up some confusion for me? The articles I read when it first happened said that a codeword was used. But they said on SkySports last night that a codeword was not used. Did I just misunderstand what I heard on TV last night?

Either way, it's a shame that this type of thing still happens. But I'm a little encouraged by the repeated use of "morons" to describe the people who issued the threat.

[Aro]

It said on the UTV news last night that NO codeword had been used in the original call. It seems it was just some random idiot.
Then the 'real' LVF called, using a codeword, to say it wasn't them. At least, that's how it was reported up here.

Still a disgrace though. Especially now it seems Lennon has decided to quit international football for good.

Did you hear the speel from Billy Hutchinson? Said (to the effect) that if a similar call came on the weekend telling Lennon not to play for Celtic, would he quit them also? OF course not, he said.
Hutchinson took this as a sign that Lennon wanted to quit playing for NI, but would never giive up playing for his beloved Celtic.

What an idiot.

[Crusoe]

Originally posted by Zoff
But I'm a little encouraged by the repeated use of "morons" to describe the people who issued the threat.

"Former morons" would be better.

[TwistofFate]

Originally posted by Aro

Did you hear the speel from Billy Hutchinson? Said (to the effect) that if a similar call came on the weekend telling Lennon not to play for Celtic, would he quit them also? OF course not, he said.
Hutchinson took this as a sign that Lennon wanted to quit playing for NI, but would never giive up playing for his beloved Celtic.

What an idiot.

The problem with this is that he has played over 40 times for NornIorn.

Its not that its taken him 40 games to realise he dosent want to play for them, its taken him 40 games to realise they don't want him playing for them.

"they" being the minority Anti-Catholic bigots who have hounded him out of the international game.

[yojimbo]

An absolute disgrace.

As was already said, no codeword was given. So most likely a mouth breathing fuckwit with nothing better to do.

What a asshole. I despair sometimes.