by Cracked Pleasures » Thu Mar 20, 2008 5:16 pm
I have a lot of respect for the local Celtic fans, they are fantastic. I don't like the general Irish Celtic fans though. It makes so little sense if you see half of them support Celtic only to show how Irish or anti-British they are. Well sorry, but they're supporting a UK club. If they would actually want to support a real Irish team, they should stick to St Patricks, Shamrock Rovers, Cork City, ... choice enough. But no, they rather sit in front of a TV supporting a BRITISH team and meanwhile shouting "fuck Union Jack" whenever Celtic scores. Makes no sense at all.
I have nothing against the average Celtic fan though, only against that minority that does it only for political reasons and who really believe Celtic is an Irish club. It is a small minority luckily, the majority of Celtic fans are cool guys. In general Celtic is a nice club if you ignore that small portion of fans who bring politics into the game. Both Celtic and Rangers seem to also realise the issue and work hard to ban sectarianism.
And yeah, the QUB area of Belfast is nice. I lived right across the corner of the university, the uni was my neighbour really. The only bad thing is that the nightlife can be really decadent in Ireland, but apart from that it was a nice place to live with a lot of culture. I often went to open mike nights, poetry readings, traditional Irish music sessions, readings, ... That is the benefit of the university next door, it brings a lot of cultural activity right next to your doorstep. And the city center was only a 10 minute walk.
To me the city used to be Londonderry before I moved to Ireland because in my native Belgium all maps print Londonderry. Since I lived in Ireland and realised why it is such a sensitive issue, I try to avoid the debate because I don't unintentionally want to hurt anyone. So I usually either call both names or avoid the debate by using the nickname "Maiden City". It is only since I lived in Ireland that I realised the meaning of the double name and why it is such a difficult issue.
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