It's something we take for granted, but many of us in Ireland do support either English clubs or in some cases, Celtic.
In truth, the long-time trend is pretty unique within European football, with supporters in other countries often avidly following their local clubs even if some also keep an eye on elite clubs from other European nations.
But what is the real cost to Irish soccer and will there ever be a day when some of the attention reserved for the bright lights of the English Premier League will shine on League of Ireland clubs along with the accompanying financial benefit that would entail?
Quick poll tied to the first part of this week's show. So, the question is do you support an English or Irish club?
— Newstalk's Team 33 (@teamthirtythree) February 1, 2016
We ran a quickfire poll on our Twitter page. Results for those supporting Scottish clubs (nearly always Celtic) aren't included in the embed above but are quite significant.
Two and a half years ago, The Irish Times' Ronan McGreevy wrote about the phenomenon of Irish fans supporting British clubs and this week on Team 33, he was kind enough to join us on the show to talk about the issue, the economic effects to Ireland and possible means of reversing the flow to an extent.
Among the many sub-topics we touched on with Ronan was the possibility of county-based league clubs down the line for places that are not part of the current League of Ireland geography, how important it is to spread the idea of our Irish domestic league to younger age groups and other long-term solutions.
We'd also love to get your thoughts on an issue that has no right or wrong answer so feel free to tweet us at @teamthirtythree or get in touch on the Facebook page.
Listen to the full interview with Ronan on the podcast player just below or download/subscribe on iTunes:
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
