VIDEO: German TV pays tribute to Ireland’s Euro 2012 supporters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgNDljqGouE

(YouTube credit: stiofanomaidin)

WE MIGHT BE OUT, but the legacy of our jaunt to Euro 2012 lives on.

Last night, ahead of Ireland’s 2-0 defeat to Italy, Germany’s national broadcaster ZDF interrupted the analysis of former Mannschaft keeper Oliver Kahn for a couple of moments to discuss the contribution of the Republic of Ireland fans to the summer tournament.

Our favourite bit is the attempt to pronounce ‘Athenry’.

Here, if the captions aren’t working, is a translation of what they’re saying:

Katherine: We also may tribute to the Irish fans who can make such an incredible atmosphere in the stadium. Let’s put the question to Rudi Cerne in the stadium in Poznan – it seems we’ll experience this for the last time today, have they all shown up today?

Rudi: Katherine, I reckon a few more have come today, and naturally many of them are only now making their way into the stands. Around 30,000 are said to have come from Ireland, from the island, to see the last stand of the national team.

You have to say it’s a real pity that it’ll all be over after this. The adventure began in Poznan last Sunday, and the Euro 2012 adventure ends here this evening. A real shame, as it said.

They are also so relaxed, and uninhibited – plenty of others could follow their lead, they’re constantly singing and dancing – you get the impression that they’re at a summer camp when the supervisors aren’t around.

It’s a beautiful contrast to the nasty side that we’ve also seen here – I’m thinking of the rioting – so we ask ourselves whether tonight will provide another emotional moment like we had last time, when they were losing 4-0 in Gdansk, and they were all singing ‘Fields of Athenry’ – a ballada about a famine in the 19th century – and so celebrated their team shortly before a defeat.

Another question could be, what will happen with Giovanni Trapattoni? The fans have prepared a special composition for him, we’ll listen closely and see what the lyrics are, and of course we’ll look at the game.

Earlier in the week, the German commentary team had famously fallen silent during the final minutes of the 4-0 loss to Spain to listen to the voices of the Irish fans singing for their team.

Update: Stephen, the German resident who send us the video, has kindly gotten back in touch to point out that last night’s Spain-Croatia game attracted a German TV audience of 12.54 million – so ZDF’s platitudes had a seriously big audience.

In full: TheScore.ie’s Euro 2012 coverage >