The Masters 2025

[PJ87]

Loads of Irish from both sides of the border have played for English teams, don't think many have played for England, though recently Rice and Grealish have.

Neither are Irish tho. Both born in England and just happened to play for the Irish youth systems as whatever stage of their development they weren't deemed good enough for England so players assess their options

Much like AWB, born in London, not capped for England. On the verge of declaring for Congo

Soon as England were interest in rice and grealish they played for their country

 

[Backache]

How many have been good enough? Given, Keane and duff and that's about it.

Depends what period you're looking at.
In my footballing memory there have been quite a few from both sides of the border.
Going back to the likes of Best and Jennings.
Brady, Stapleton O'Leary, McGrath, Coleman, Phelan, Moran, Highway, Whelan etc would all have walked into the England team.

 

[Bobthesock]

Depends what period you're looking at.
In my footballing memory there have been quite a few from both sides of the border.
Going back to the likes of Best and Jennings.
Brady, Stapleton O'Leary, McGrath, Coleman, Phelan, Moran, Highway, Whelan etc would all have walked into the England team.

In the last 30 years or so. Only heard of 3 of them tbh so can't comment

 

[4LEX]

Well, if you are willing to understand political reasons as to why Liverpool fans don't support England, then it shouldn't be difficult to understand why a lot of Scottish and Northern Irish fans don't support England.

Of course, just because many are vocally anti England, there will also be a lot that don't mind England, and actually will happily support them

I do understand and actually hold an Irish passport due to family history. Northern Ireland are more pro England than the South from my experience.

England v Scotland is a bit more old school and traditional as it was the first ever international match. Scotland punched well above their weight for many years too and were genuine rivals on the pitch.

 

[Canfordhacker]

We have booked a 3 day trip with Your Golf Travel in September. They have an offer - if Rory wins (and you pay in full early) then the trip is free. 12 of us will be nervous as hell if he is in the hunt on Sunday.

So we now have a congratulatory email from Your Golf Travel - once we complete our trip in September we will get £3,200 worth of vouchers to be used on another trip in the next year. Happy Days!!!

And yes, our Whats App group was an absolute rollercoaster over Sunday evening!!

 

[clubchamp98]

So we now have a congratulatory email from Your Golf Travel - once we complete our trip in September we will get £3,200 worth of vouchers to be used on another rip in the next year. Happy Days!!!

Happy days what a deal!

 

[The Squirrel]

For most people, sport comes with an additional level of interest and entertainment when you feel emotionally invested (as the Masters most definitely reminded us!). That’s why the vast majority of people will pick a team or individual to cheer on in spectator sports - it provides additional enjoyment and interest for most alongside the technical excellence and/or sheer physical achievement, although these alone can be enough to watch for some events (e.g. see Tour de France).
Geographical proximity is the most common way of doing this and an effective one for most people.
Even when this doesn’t apply, most people will still choose a side to follow (see much of the rest of the world with Premier League football or NFL within the UK).
Where there is no attachment to any party then the other very common way of doing this is betting on the outcome (see every horse race for the clearest example of this).

Sure you can watch without this - but this limits the audience to those with a deeper (often technical due to their own participation) interest. Would apply to many here with watching golf I’m sure - but remember this is forum populated with people so fascinated by golf that they argue with strangers on the internet about it .

How we identify ourselves is complex, particularly in the UK - but surely most people carry a multi-faceted identity anyway? I grew up in the West Country, have spent most of my adult life in Yorkshire and lived some other places too. If you asked me my nationality and country I’d say British and the UK (they are also the technically accurate answers) but would have no problem identifying as West Country, Yorkshire, English, British or European, depending on context, as all of these things, in different ways, define who,I am and where I’m from. If I had a family background that warranted it, I would probably add some other identities in to this too.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1912210299391721859

Shows how much of a decent guy he is

 

[Swango1980]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1912210299391721859

Shows how much of a decent guy he is

People made such a thing of him not speaking (despite that tradition being very normal).

However, I watched another interview with McIlroy yesterday, and he was asked what they would be having to eat at next years Masters. He said that he joked with Scottie at the Cabin that they won't be having burgers next year. I guess unless pro golfers speak to other pro golfers in front of the camera, it didn't happen and people will just create a negative story out of nothing.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

This is mad imo shows how big he is

 

[Pin-seeker]

View attachment 57722

This is mad imo shows how big he is

Rory McIlroy: Masters victory becomes most-watched day in Sky Sports history with peak audience of 1.85 million

Rory McIlroy completed his Grand Slam after clinching victory at The Masters at Augusta National on Sunday; it became the most-watched day in Sky Sports history bringing in a peak audience of 1.85m

www.skysports.com

Its a little misleading,if you read the article it’s all sports combined

 

[Slab]

Weird way to present viewing figs though, can’t recall them being illustrated that way before; ‘most watched day’ So they lump all the programmes together from epl and f1 etc through to the golf

 

[AmandaJR]

1.85m sounds paltry to me. 5.5 million for the Wimbledon Final.

Maybe Sky is pricing itself out of viewers?

 

[AmandaJR]

Weird way to present viewing figs though, can’t recall them being illustrated that way before; ‘most watched day’ So they lump all the programmes together from epl and f1 etc through to the golf

Trying to bump up the numbers?

 

[Arthur Wedge]

1.85m sounds paltry to me. 5.5 million for the Wimbledon Final.

Maybe Sky is pricing itself out of viewers?

Think the sky numbers will always be down due to the smaller about of subscribers and it’s why imo the biggest sports events should be on free to air

 

[AmandaJR]

Think the sky numbers will always be down due to the smaller about of subscribers and it’s why imo the biggest sports events should be on free to air

Agreed. That horse has bolted though. If Sky weren't so greedy they'd get more subscribers I'm sure. As most on here I'm a huge sports fan and begrudge that they have most of the good stuff. I refuse to pay extra for TNT though and losing Eurosport still rankles.

 

[Slab]

Trying to bump up the numbers?

Yeah maybe I don’t see it but that article only appears under golf section of skysports, not the other sports that contributed to the day. Maybe just sky piggybacking on Rory’s success, for an advert

 

[Swango1980]

It is simply a stat to say it was the most watched day of sports on Sky Sports, I don't think it is trying to make any big claims at it being the most watched day of sport ever, or that it was all due to the Masters. Simply that the Masters coverage was the biggest talking point. There were also 2 Premier league games (Liverpool and Man Utd in particular, which attract a lot of viewers) and a Grand Prix. Still a pretty impressive stat, given that I am sure Sky have had plenty of days where they've shown Majors, football games and grand prix events. Although I guess at least half of the Majors are during the summer break for football.

Of course, Sky may well have brought in 1.85 million viewers on Sunday. For comparison, the viewing figures for Steve Davis versus Dennis Taylor in the 1985 World Snooker Championship on BBC2 was 18.5 million. Conveniently 10 times more than Sky got on Sunday

 

[clubchamp98]

1.85m sounds paltry to me. 5.5 million for the Wimbledon Final.

Maybe Sky is pricing itself out of viewers?

Morecambe and Wise got 20 mil.

Dodgy boxes don’t count and kids don’t watch tv now!

 

[rksquire]

Pace of Play at the Masters.... pretty sure I heard Rose say in an interview that his group had been put on the clock on Sunday. He was on screen a lot over the 4 days, and he did take a painfully long time over some shots (particularly tee) as he rehearsed that crouching tiger hidden golf swing move. He wasn't alone in being slow either, wonder if there's anywhere to find if others were also put on the clock?