Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Republicans don’t trust women.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

The revolution will be supervised.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Everybody saw this coming.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

You are here: Home / Sports / Euro 2016 Northern Ireland v Ukraine Open Thread

Reader Interactions

59Comments

  4. 4.

    Gin & Tonic

    I guess FYWP doesn’t like posts exclusively in Cyrillic.

    Слава Україні !

  7. 7.

    SRW1

    Weird thing: UEFA demanding that stadia for these kinds of tournaments be all-seaters and then lots of people standing during the game. You can’t usually see it that clearly, but with the gaps in the audience today it’s quite obvious.

    Also, too: The fans who create the atmosphere usually are the people standing.

  8. 8.

    LesBonnesFemmes

    Most Eastern European and old Soviet Republic National Anthems are grim stolid affairs. But, Ukraine’s is really quite beautiful.

  9. 9.

    Humboldtblue

    @SRW1:

    There is yet another renewed push for the Premiere League to allow clubs to dedicate sections for standing room only. Not only are those fans, as you point out are they the most passionate, but they also tend to be younger and it would allow clubs to offer lower priced tickets, something that became a front page issue last season spurred by the walkout of Liverpool fans over proposed ticket price hikes.

    One thing I have always admired about England supporters is the use of the Cross of St. George flag with the name of their city of football club emblazoned across the front.

  10. 10.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    An awful lot of the Ukrainian approach seems to be, “Kick the ball a long way and hope the right guy gets to it,” which happens about 1 time in 5. This game (by which I mean this game, not soccer in general) needs an icing rule.

  11. 11.

    Gin & Tonic

    @LesBonnesFemmes: The text of it encompasses much of Ukraine’s history. The opening line is, loosely, “Ukraine has not perished, not its glory, not its freedom.” It dates from the second half of the 19th Century, when the country was nowhere near independence. Under the Soviet Union it was considered a subversive, nationalistic song and was replaced by a USSR-approved hymn, but then was restored in 1992 after Ukraine regained its independence. Reportedly the melody is based on a Serbian song.

  13. 13.

    Humboldtblue

    @Helmut Monotreme: I read that story earlier on BBC but they had no info on the attacker, just reactions from witnesses and other MPs. Was this another lone wolf Muslim attack?

  14. 14.

    Calouste

    @Humboldtblue: “Lone wolf” right-winger apparently, reported to be shouting “Britain First”. It might swing the vote on the Brexit referendum.

  16. 16.

    Yutsano

    @Helmut Monotreme: @Humboldtblue: This is getting enough attention to almost warrant its own thread. I’d like to get more info from some of my British friends but unfortunately thanks to T-Mobile I don’t have any connection right now.

  17. 17.

    Humboldtblue

    @Gin & Tonic: That’s fascinating, here are some other details including the original lyricist who was also a poet and ethnographer.

    Creation of the Ukrainian national anthem started in the autumn of 1862 during one of Pavlo Chubynsky’s parties. Chubynsky, a prominent ethnographer, folklorist and poet, noticed Serbian students from Kyiv University singing a patriotic song, which mentioned Serbian Tsar Dushan and which included the line “срце бије и крв лије за своју слободу”[6][7] as a refrain. He liked that song and upon hearing it vanished quietly into another room only to reappear half an hour later with complete lyrics for the song “Shche ne vmerla Ukrayina”, and then promptly sang it to the music of the Serbian song.[8]

  18. 18.

    Humboldtblue

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Just as bad.

    I noticed the first wire reports on memorandum were all being linked by the right wing fuckbags like the Loonie Times, now those dipshits are going to have to pivot to something else because it wasn’t another “I told you so” Muslim attack.

  21. 21.

    Tony J

    Norks a Lordy, they’ve only gone ahead! Must be the weather, very reminiscent of a Northern Irish summer.

    Ukraine are fighting back, but that just opens the door for NI to hit them on the break, which is how they set up to play.

  22. 22.

    Runt

    Ukraine actually impressed me in their first match, but this is weak sauce. It’s not like Northern Ireland is playing fantastic football.

  23. 23.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Humboldtblue: That Serbian refrain translates as “[my] heart beats and [my] blood spills for our freedom.” The Ukrainian refrain is “[I] will lay down my soul and my body for our freedom.” So indeed quite similar.

  28. 28.

    Tony J

    @Humboldtblue:

    As we speak the usual suspects in the right-wing press are scouring Twitter, Facebook, online newspaper comments, anything, anywhere trying to scrounge up a quote they can use to spin tomorrow’s headlines away from “Racist scumbag murders pro-Europe Labour MP” into “Loony Left sparks outrage by politicizing tragic death of White Lady.”

    It’s who they are.

  29. 29.

    Amir Khalid

    [email protected]raven:
    I’ve always felt England should have its own anthem, not God Save the Queen, for sporting events where a player or team is representing England rather than Britain. As Wales and Scotland do, and Norn Iron should too..

  31. 31.

    Humboldtblue

    @Tony J: Ukraine have some serious internal issues, their two best players Stepnenko and Shevchenko both on a personal level but also between the Shaktar Donetsk and Dynamo Kiev players that’s also related to the ongoing internal national strife.

  32. 32.

    Tony J

    Hold on, NI have players called Dallas and Washington playing for them? I did not know that.

  34. 34.

    Tony J

    @Humboldtblue:

    I can see how that might be, but their performance against Germany was a lot more impressive than this showing. NI are pretty much bossing this game ever since they scored.

  36. 36.

    Tony J

    @Amir Khalid:

    Billy Connelly famously suggested that the theme tune to perennial radio soap “The Archers” (can’t link it, sorry) should replace the National Anthem for the Olympics. It’s – such – a bouncy tune.

  39. 39.

    Runt

    @Tony J: I wonder what the lyrics would be like…

    Fun fact: That tune was a modest hit in the 1950s. Producer: George Martin, future 5th Beatle.

  44. 44.

    SRW1

    The way this tournament has been going, this extra time decider was bound to happen.

  45. 45.

    Runt

    That goal could be incredibly important. It’s possible that three teams in this group will end up with 3 points, in which case goal difference will decide who goes to the 2 nd round.

  46. 46.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Humboldtblue: Right, the purported tension between Shakhtar and Dynamo, or at least some of their players. Like I said, this probably isn’t the thread for that.

  47. 47.

    Tony J

    Ruddy Hell, they’ve only gone and done it. England and Wales probably through, Northern Ireland in with a great chance of picking up at least a 3rd place and qualification. Now it’s up to the Republic to complete the set. If all four go through that will mean a quarter of the next round places will be held by the British Isles. Ha!

  49. 49.

    Humboldtblue

    @Tony J: Not Sure the ROI would like being lumped in as a “British Isle” but that would be a hell of an accomplishment.

  51. 51.

    Tony J

    @Runt:

    “We’re not the Welsh”
    “We’re not the Scots”
    “We’re neither of the Irish”
    “We’re not much cop at penalties”
    “So never get to Finals”

    Something like that?

  53. 53.

    MCA1

    @Tony J: Well, keep in mind that’s as compared to a sixth of the spots in group play. :^)

    [More a comment on my ambivalence about the expansion to 24 teams, which is basically half of Europe, and the fact that only a third of them are eliminated after group play. The only usually legit squads to miss out under this broadened format were the Dutch, Greece and arguably Denmark. Though I do think it’s a nice accomplishment for the Isles that 4 of 5 qualified. And I do appreciate someone like Northern Ireland or Iceland finding some success in a big international tournament. Thus the ambivalence.]

  55. 55.

    Tony J

    @MCA1:

    I was reading up on the shock Danish victory at the 1992 Euros and was surprised to see there were only 8 teams in the tournament split into two groups. Seems bizarre in retrospect, eh?

    I hear what you’re saying about the expanded roster of teams, but giving a chance to less frequent qualifiers seems to be paying off.

  56. 56.

    Amir Khalid

    @Runt:
    I think (I’m not entirely sure) It happened in a World Cup once: In one group, all four teams finished with one win, one draw and one loss each, one goal scored, one conceded — dead level. I don’t remember how FIFA sorted that one out.

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