Och, you don’t love ManUpool?

October 25, 2009 in General
Tags: EPL, football, Liverpool, ManU, media, Tribune

At this stage, there is hardly any point in a non-ManU and  non-Liverpool supporter railing against the excesses of the Irish sports media in the run-up to today’s mega game, which surely has re-defined our understanding of hype.

Let’s just note in passing that Patrick Horan is convinced that it is not natural for an Irish person not to be obsessed with either team:

Even if you’re one of the few souls left on the island that doesn’t support one or the other, today’s marquee fixture demands you take a side.

Let’s also just note — in passing, you understand:  er, no Patrick, it doesn’t. It is perfectly possible, outside the world of excitable Irish sports reporters on an English Premiership  story, not to feel that particular compulsion. And, while wishing each team the best of British luck, to not give a fiddler’s as to which of these ‘Irish’ English clubs comes out on top.

These passing observations are made en route to recording the fact that the Sunday Tribune, a native Sunday publication with some visible aspiration to be a proper Irish newspaper, reports not a jot on the weekend’s Irish football. Again.

That’s right. No mention in the Soccer section, at least online, of the do-or-die cliff-hangers at either end of the Premier Division on Friday, nor of the FAI Cup semi-finals over the weekend. Simply not good enough for our exquisitely refined sporting palate, it seems.

But wait. The Tribune isn’t that blind. It does, in fact, make some allowance for those of us who want a bit more than the usual EPL fare.

That’s why, in addition to more blanket coverage of the EPL and an English second division round-up, the Trib also brings us news of the exploits of Rangers and Hibs in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

Where in Ireland is Glasgow, and where in Ireland is Edinburgh?