neil lennon withdraws!

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I've just heard on the tv that neil lennon was forced to withdraw from the Northern Ireland squad cos he got a death threat.

daft :(

[John T]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/2208543.stm

[liverbird]

This goes back to the sickness in NI we all discussed in a previous thread. The sick part is that Neil could have chosen to play for the Republic but went with his home county. To be booed and have your life threatened after such a choice simply because you wear the hoops is beyond the pale (to use an Irish metaphor). What possible political motive could there be for this from the thuggish rabble of the LVF?

[Parkhead_Faithful]

Its disgusting, it was expected though, its just a shame as he was supposed to be captaining his country tonight.
The last time this happened the scottish media turned it back onto celtic too, that was equally disgusting.

[liverbird]

Well NI couldn't put one past Cyprus at home! Serves those LVF shites well.

[-cman-]

Good for Lennon. I wouldn't put up with that crap. This isn't the first time either. A pity that very few will see this as Neil saying "A pox on both your houses," but will probably continue to feed the flames of the "Papist-lover, traitor" talk of the morons.

Not that they could possibly be satisfied with anything short of both the Vatican and the Republic spontaneously disappearing into great holes in the ground.

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rangers and celtic seem to be closer than ever, I can see them getting together on this and standing against it together.

I think the two clubs have to grow up and realise that there players dont have to be from one side and they don't have to be called billy or john paul mcbride. anyone who pretends that a lot of the rangers and celtic fans aren't sectarian lives in a fantasy land.

[BrianCappellieri]

I was afraid something like this would happen. What a disgrace...

The Guardian (http://football.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/story/0,1273,-1961939,00.html)Lennon withdrew from the team after receiving a death threat in the hours leading up to the match

The Telegraph (http://sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2002/08/22/sfgnir22.xml)The shock withdrawal of their captain Neil Lennon yesterday afternoon cast a cloud over Northern Ireland before, during and after their final warm-up match for their difficult European Championship qualifying programme.

McIlroy said beforehand that he and the squad was "devastated" by the death threat issued to Lennon which prevented the Celtic midfielder from captaining his country for the first time on home soil and that devastation filtered through the ranks to bring about a depressing performance.


Does anyone know the details of the threat? Was it phoned in and to who?

[Parkhead_Faithful]

Originally posted by ads_uk
anyone who pretends that a lot of the rangers and celtic fans aren't sectarian lives in a fantasy land.

Bollocks, its a minority,on a match day youll get more 90 minute bigots but in general everyday life you will find huns and tims working together,drinking together and generally being normal.
how much would you say a lot is??

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everyone I know has a favourite, rangers or celtic, but I don't know one person, at my age, who could honestly say they were a prodestant or a catholic. my mum goes round to church every week but shes says she would still go whether it was catholic or prodestant. btw my mum is annoying like that if i say "hate" she tries to stop me and she says you dont hate it you "dislike" it. she doesnt see the difference between anyone so she ignores the people that do. in other words she hasnt listened to a old firm fan in her life ;)

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Originally posted by Parkhead_Faithful


Bollocks, its a minority,on a match day youll get more 90 minute bigots but in general everyday life you will find huns and tims working together,drinking together and generally being normal.
how much would you say a lot is??

I actually agree with what your saying but a biggot is still a biggot. It doesn't just evapourate once there outside the stadium for everyone. For example me and about 21 other people had a big game up king george V park for anyone who knows it (a park in bearsden basically). we are generally rangers supporters but there are about 2/3 celtic guys in there and then these two celtic supporters came along and said we want a game and we said naw we have 22 and thats 11 a side, then they shouted at us with the usual celtic banter and there was some banter returned and then a celtic fan escorted them, by chasing them :D

[BrianCappellieri]

SoccerNet (http://www.soccernet.com/europe/news/2002/0821/20020821nirelanddeaththreat.html)Armstrong fears for the future for Lennon

Former Northern Ireland striker Gerry Armstrong believes Neil Lennon's international career is now over after the Celtic midfielder pulled out of tonight's game against Cyprus after receiving a death threat.

[CHRIS_SUTTON9]

All I have to say or type rather is I have so much respect for Lenny. All he wants to do is play football and is now living the dream of playing for the team he has supported all his life. He doesn't make an issue of his religion, so why should anyone else?

He has said its just banter from supporters on a domestic front, but he knows and we know it is pure hatred, the worst verbal abuse you can get, that is directed at him. He has never retaliated, he shuts off and concentrates fully on playing football.

This is the second time him and his family have received death threats and this time the call was traced to a loyalist extremist group.

It shows the character of the man, the fact he decided to play on after the first death threats.

But when his family is at threat, I think a second time, will be enough for Neil to retire from International football.

Lennon's a very brave man, but enough is enough, he can't stand up to these threats, they are serious not hoax. He's been braver than most already.

Lennon's an immense man. A lesser man would have hidden away long ago.

Hail! Hail! Lenny.

[dcajedi]

I'm a somewhat-regular poster on BigSoccer.com living in Washington, DC. I tend to stick to MLS/USA stuff but this just blew my top. I've lived here all my life and can claim no British heritage as far as I know, nor have I ever taken a real European History course during my life (I'm 18 and have just graduated high school). But today, perhaps more than ever, I was glued to my computer speakers listening to the news coming in regarding Neil Lennon's withdrawal from the Northern Ireland-Cyprus match. I'm extraordinarily upset and bewildered over the whole thing. Perhaps it's because I'm here in the US and I don't really know the true meaning of religious persecution. What little I know about the Troubles in Belfast comes from the fact that I am something of a Rangers supporter because the US National Team captain, Claudio Reyna, played for them for a few years, and I have a kit with his name and number on it that I bought at Ibrox Park when I was in Glasgow for a few days last summer.
This whole situation is even more stunning to me because so many Rangers and Celtic supporters in Scotland are in the Tartan Army and are so well-known for their good humor and friendship. I wonder what they've done right that hasn't been done in NI.
Someone on BBC Radio Five's 606 program wondered aloud today whether the sectarianism will ever be resolved. I don't know. I don't know so much about this whole thing. I've thought many times today about whether or not I need to put forth the effort to really study all the history behind this. I wish I didn't have to. But I think that I do. Because, as I've been told so many times before when studying the Holocaust, those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it.
I hope this gets resolved in some way so that we can go back to focusing on and celebrating the football instead of the problems that surround it.

[CHRIS_SUTTON9]

Sectarianism will always exist, its the way people are brought up from an early age. In a way it's the people long ago that are at fault more than the people now. If your brought up a certain way all your life, how should you know better? It will just progress as life does, I think its maybe a way of controlling it, rather than stopping it. How you do that, I don't know.

I've probably just typed a load of rubbish, but thats just the way I see it. I could be way of the mark and I appoligise if anything I have typed has offended anyone.

[yorkshirepud]

Unfortunately it's looks like it will never be resolved--when you see deadheads like the LVF bringing it into football then it does'nt look good--I'm just ashamed it gives the rest of the country a bad name.

What a pity Neil did'nt declare for the republic- at leaast he could play for a decent team and not have to put up with that.

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if glasgow is just 90 minutes of hatred then what about ireland?

[dcajedi]

Originally posted by yorkshirepud

What a pity Neil did'nt declare for the republic- at leaast he could play for a decent team and not have to put up with that.

I would actually disagree with that. I think it was extraordinarily admirable that he decided to play for NI instead of the Republic, because it shows his committment to trying to achieve progress, and perhaps peace or something close, and to show that football can really get above all the bad stuff in life.

[SpamIAm]

Where are all the Rangers fans who in another thread insisted the whole sectarianism thing is overblown?

Out buying the new orange jerseys, no doubt.

[liverbird]

How true SpamIam! All those who told us about how hatred was equal on both sides. Where are they now?