God, Lifestyle Sports has really waded into one of the oldest and most complex arguments in Irish sport with their latest viral ad. The 'Jersey Printing' ad below depicts a proud Irishman- a 'real fan' who 'sleeps and dreams' his club, who's 'loyal', 'Irish' and 'world-class', who 'dreams big'. What jersey is he wearing as he declares his Irish pride? That's right, an Andy Carroll Liverpool jersey.
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]Suffice to say, not everyone who's seen the ad has been impressed by the declarations of this ''fan''. In fact, a mini-shitstorm has broken out in the last 48 hours on the video's comments section on Youtube, with 184 people (and counting) weighing in on many topics unrelated to the ad, including barstoolers and armchair fans of English clubs vs hardcore LOI supporters, the quality of the Premier League versus the quality of the League of Ireland, Aviva vs Lansdowne and the general crappiness of RTE's MNS. There's even a call for the boycott of Lifestyle Sports. While it must be said that this 'fan' is not a real person but in fact the collected sentiments of a bunch of overpaid ad executives trying to idealize the most noble virtues of the Irish football fan, this particular satirical response by AidanMcGuinness takes the cake for the best comment:
"I'm a barstooler, I've been watching an English team on the telly a while now, reading about them in the newspapers, I 'm a plastic Paddy, I follow them when they win, slick advertisement means I wear this jersey, because it says I'm a fool, I'm a glory hunter, I'm Irish, I'm average, I dream big for a scousers team and for me the arm chair fan, yeah it might be? another English players name for now but soon I will boo him when he plays for his national team, Jersey printing at Lifestyle Sports"
