Conor Cunningham ... hero?

WicklowMan

Registered User
Messages
132
Hi all,

As pretty much everyone has heard, a Corkonian made his way into the grounds in Tallin without paying during the Ireland match: http://www.independent.ie/national-...ame-by-donning-estonia-tracksuit-2937536.html

As I read it, he (by his own admission):

Stole a tracksuit
Lied to the officials
Trespassed

All over the net the general concensus seems to be "fair play to him" and "Legend" but I have to say I find this reaction entirely depressing. Maybe I'm missing something here, but I see little difference between what Mr. Cunningham did and dressing up as a utility worker, going into a jewellers, and pocketing a watch worth €600 on the way out.

Because this makes what the majority deem an endearing story no one really looks at this. As a nation that suffered, and is going to suffer plenty more due to 'parish pump politics', do we ever learn? There's something really wrong with the way Irish people think. Far from being a hero, this guy makes me mildly embarassed to be Irish.

Apart from myself being labelled a hater (and many other things on boards ... but then again what would you expect on there) few people seem to see past the "sure there was no harm done" line. Well, someone somewhere is out of pocket because of Mr. Cunningham!

I recall a friend of mine in Germany in the mid '90's. He told me an Irish fella evaded his fare on the train and decided to leg it when the Transport policeman told him to stop. He was gifted a limp for the rest of his life as a reward. Now we can slag off the Germans for being pedantic (along with a bit of racism about WW2 perhaps?) but which country in Europe is calling the shots? Indeed could there be a connection between us having the "sponger is a 'Legend'" attitude and the fact that we're the worst basket case going?
 
It's a similar copycat story to the guy who cheated his way into the All Ireland final photo wearing a jersey of a Dublin player.

It's all a bit tabloid!

In my book, not a Hero!

Marion
 
I admit,I did think it was funny when he handed the ball to the player.
But ,I see where you are coming from.In so far as there were many who struggled to pay for a legitimate ticket,and someone else gets in for nothing and comes home a hero,with an Estonia track suit ..
 
So you see people finding a little bit of humour in a guy blagging his way in to a match that should have cost him €14 as a symptom of the ills in Irish society, yet you seem to have some admiration for a German transport official dishing out violence?
I wouldn't consider you a 'hater' but I do think you are reading far too much into what is a handy news story that piggybacks the feelgood factor of euro qualification.
 
He's a blagger, has the gift of the gab and knows how to extract something for nothing

Vote Cunningham for the Dáil ;)
We can send him "up to Dublin" to look after us and get some goodies for the area


Anyway I suppose Wicklowman, maybe a lot of people admire the rogue. See a man be cute and cheat and think shure I'd do the same myself
The whole basis of Irish politics going back to the British times was to extract every goodie you can for your area. And so it carries on
 
Yes, of course you are. What else could you be described as for stealing something that doesn't belong to you?

But sure it belongs to "the man" so of course he's not a thief,:rolleyes: oh no, it actually belongs to a normal person.

Everyone talks about there being this great sense of community in Ireland with our local/parish pride but it always comes at the expense of someone else.

I've said it before, we're a nation of children always looking for someone to be against - first the "brits", then the free-staters, then "them" up there in dublin which means the government elected by all of us.

It's "heros" like this guy that would put me off going to the Euros.
 
It's just more of the hubris of the Irish soccer supporter, a.k.a. event junkie, e.g. how tournaments since 2002 have been devalued by the absence of the self-styled 'best fans in the wurled'.
 
As you say Ireland haven't qualified for a major tournament since 2002 - have the tournaments since that date been devalued - definitely not.

However having travelled to the Euros in 1988 & the subsequent 3 World Cups that we qualified for if I was asked if Ireland's fans added colour , a sense of humour , sportsmanship & an underlying sense that we were privileged to be present at such games - then the answer is an unequivocal yes.

Good behaviour was a matter of course & not something to be praised for.

Caveat - there was an amount of absolute tossers that travelled , a minority though.
 
I travelled to Bari for the Italy game. First time at an away game and the atmosphere was fantastic.
I had thought about the Germany game in the next qualfying group as a possible trip but I see that is not going to happen until the end of 2013 now.

[broken link removed]
 
It's just more of the hubris of the Irish soccer supporter, a.k.a. event junkie, e.g. how tournaments since 2002 have been devalued by the absence of the self-styled 'best fans in the wurled'.

No, that's Munster rugby fans. They are also the most passionate. :rolleyes:
 
Some interesting responses here, both in agreement and disagreement. I watched the video of this lad approaching the players on the pitch and thought it disrespectful of the team to be honest. We achieve something great and who comes on to the pitch to congratulate the lads? - a chancer. It's just an image of the Irish I can't warm to, sorry. We may as well have had a drunk stagger on to keep the stereotypes going in front of everyone.

A common response I've gotten is along the lines of "You're comparing him to people who bankrupted the country ... are you mad?" Well, no and no :p The figures might be different but the culture isn't ... as far as I'm concerned it's exactly the same. If Fianna Fail had arranged to get this guy into the grounds free of charge there'd be uproar, and he'd have become a hate figure. You can't have it both ways. What he did is deemed harmless because of the person, not the action. I find that a bit troubling.

Other 'harmless' fraud that we generally, as a nation, ignore would include employees stealing from Employers ("ah sure, it's only a tin of paint" etc.) and Copyright theft - all visual / audio material is seen as completely free; there to be ripped off. These small individual actions that are generally deemed "harmless" come together to form a whole that's far from harmless, just as a pixel on a monitor means nothing but a group of them form a picture.

That's my tuppenceworth anyway.
 
Some interesting responses here, both in agreement and disagreement. I watched the video of this lad approaching the players on the pitch and thought it disrespectful of the team to be honest. We achieve something great and who comes on to the pitch to congratulate the lads? - a chancer. It's just an image of the Irish I can't warm to, sorry. We may as well have had a drunk stagger on to keep the stereotypes going in front of everyone.A bit like an All final then when the winning fans rush onto the pitch even though they are not allowed? Why do you deem this to be an Irish thing? Fans are passionate all around the world and often run onto pitches, at least this guy was just celebrating and not attacking anyone.

Other 'harmless' fraud that we generally, as a nation, ignore would include employees stealing from Employers ("ah sure, it's only a tin of paint" etc.) and Copyright theft - all visual / audio material is seen as completely free; there to be ripped off. These small individual actions that are generally deemed "harmless" come together to form a whole that's far from harmless, just as a pixel on a monitor means nothing but a group of them form a picture.
I don't know anyone that thinks taking from their employer isn't stealing and the visual theft is an international problem.

That's my tuppenceworth anyway.

From reading posts here there is often an 'only in Ireland' vibe and I think people care a little too much about how the world views us (given that most of them aren't looking at us in the first place).
 
But sure it belongs to "the man" so of course he's not a thief,:rolleyes: oh no, it actually belongs to a normal person.

Everyone talks about there being this great sense of community in Ireland with our local/parish pride but it always comes at the expense of someone else.

I've said it before, we're a nation of children always looking for someone to be against - first the "brits", then the free-staters, then "them" up there in dublin which means the government elected by all of us.

It's "heros" like this guy that would put me off going to the Euros.

You would put off going to the euros because a guy gets some coverage off the back of our win? surely that is an attitude as childish as any.
 
From reading posts here there is often an 'only in Ireland' vibe and I think people care a little too much about how the world views us (given that most of them aren't looking at us in the first place).

I think a chill pill is needs to be placed on special order with super fast courier delivery included. With regard to my other points, yes, copyright theft is a problem everywhere ... but that doesn't make it right (and Ireland has a dire repution, on an international level, for it!)

All I'm saying is, embrace a certain culture and no point complaining when it reaches it's 'pinnacle' and you have to pay for it. It often seems to me that in Ireland we abhor Bankers etc. yet if we can take a chance and get away with it on an individual level (whether it be dodging a parking ticket or whatever) we're over the moon. There's a basic contradiction there.

I think my cousin in America hit the nail on head when he opined that the Irish are traditionally bred to get one over on the English system, but haven't realized that for the past nearly 100 years they've been applying this 'logic' against their own state to score own - goals.

Pun intended.
 
I think my cousin in America hit the nail on head when he opined that the Irish are traditionally bred to get one over on the English system, but haven't realized that for the past nearly 100 years they've been applying this 'logic' against their own state to score own - goals.

Another national stereotype - that a guy living 3,000+ miles away on another continent is better placed to judge our failings than someone actually living here.
 
Back
Top