The Irish kick off this afternoon and here's hoping that they don't let down against what, on paper, looks like inferior opposition. That has been too common a refrain in recent years.
You know I'm talking about soccer, right? Oh, maybe not. You may well have thought I was talking about Notre Dame and their season opener today. In truth, I was thinking about them too, but the Irish national soccer team has a “crucial World Cup qualifying match” this evening in Cyprus. It was in Cyprus 3 years ago that the Irish lost – were humiliated – in what was then a “crucial qualifying match” and missed out on the 2008 European Championships.
I've often thought it kind of funny that the phrase “Irish football team” refers to two completely different teams playing two completely different sports and which is which depends on whether you're on the east or west side of the Atlantic. In Ireland gridiron football really does not exist and the phrase “Go Irish” – if used – would not imply quarterbacks, wide receivers, linebackers or defensive tackles. (I haven't actually seen a lot of football the past 20 years, so I'm not even sure if the positions are the same as I remember.)
As you can imagine the Irish national soccer team is one team that everyone here (in this part of Ireland – Northern Ireland has its own team) agrees on. We'll all be rooting for them later and in their next two games coming up in Dublin against Italy and Montenegro.
Funny enough there is one more soccer team that just about everyone in this part of Ireland also agrees on and that's Glasgow Celtic. Despite the fact the Irish national soccer team and Notre Dame's football team share the name “Irish football team”, Celtic is in many ways more like Notre Dame.
Like Notre Dame, Celtic has roots in Catholic charity. Celtic was formed in the late 19th century when Irish Marist Brother Walfrid established the club as a means of raising money to help Irish immigrants who had flooded into Glasgow, Scotland in the years after the famine.
Br. Walfrid's club quickly took root and developed into a soccer power and its chief rival was Glasgow Rangers, the Protestant team. The intense rivalry of these two clubs – and it's still fairly intense – helped ensure that Celtic acquired a strong following among Irish Catholics in Glasgow, across Scotland and in Ireland.
Notre Dame's football program grew into a national power in the early 20th century and its success had a similar effect in America.
The small Catholic college in Indiana acquired the nickname “Fighting Irish” for reasons that are a bit murky these days. In fact, Notre Dame's players were as likely to be of Polish or German origin as Irish, but the name – which was a put down initially – became a badge of honor signifying the grit and tenacity of Notre Dame's teams. During the 1920s the name “Fighting Irish” created a legion of fans among the east coast Irish, for whom college was mostly an aspiration they had for their children.
These “subway alumni” transformed Notre Dame from a small mid-western regional power into a national force, drawing massive crowds to their games at Yankee Stadium and other eastern stadiums.
The subway alumni hope that this year's Fighting Irish can push the last few years' poor showings into distant memories. It all starts today. As for Celtic, they had a let down last year and have already endured disappointment in Europe's Champion League in the early season play. Today Celtic's Irish fans will forget about their club for a day and root for an Irish win. The two games kick off this evening, with the Irish soccer team starting at 2:45 EDT and Notre Dame at 3:30.
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