Please note – This site is mainly to complement my writings on eircom League Football. Most of what you read here is my own stream of consciousness, random observations and inane ramblings. If you feel the need, you can contact me via email at: fai.referee@googlemail.com
Breaking News: Bohemians manager Sean Connor has had his contract terminated with immediate effect after a reported breach of contract. The official club statement on the decision right now is:
“Seán Connor’s contract has been terminated by the Board of Bohemian Football Club, with immediate effect. The Board will seek to fill the resultant vacancy as soon as possible.”
So then, we hit the winter low of no-Bohs. Yep, the League season ended in suitable ramshackle style down at Ridden-Rock-Solidville (aka Cork) on November 9th – where a frankly magnificent own-goal gave the Big Club a 1-0 victory and with it the best of the European trips next summer.
Aye – the Intertoto Cup. “But surely…” I hear you proclaim, “The Intertoto Cup is but the worst of the European competitions on offer for domestic club football”. That may be correct in some quarters – but the utter superbness of the Intertoto can be found in one small detail.
The games take place on Saturday afternoons in June. A weekend fixture in the middle of summer is superb when you have to travel abroad. No need to grovel to the boss for a whole week off – the Friday and Monday on annual leave works out as a much better prospect that taking out double the amount for a trip.
I was in Gent in Belgium for our last foray into European competition – granted I did book off the Wednesday before until the Monday – but that was due to us all heading to Amsterdam for a couple of days before the short hop across the border into Belgium. It was literally two trips in one.
The other great thing about the European trip to somewhere like Belgium – the idiot quotient you normally get at League games is cut drastically – the people you normally get on the away trips into the continent are the proper fans who love nothing better than a few pints (or in our trip to Gent – much much more than a few) and going to support the club.
These trips are one of the highlights about following this great club – and by God, we missed out on Europe last season – we sorely wanted to make it back in.
And we have.
We now await the UEFA draw to be made sometime the other side of Christmas. The good thing about the Intertoto draw as opposed to the “Champions” League and the UEFA Giant Vase is that they do the draw in two stages. Sometime between Christmas and February UEFA publish the draw. But instead of the clubs taking part (as it’s based on League positions and most Leagues involved are still playing at this time) they publish which country will play which country (e.g. Ireland’s representatives will take on Belgium’s representatives). This gives us a rough idea where we will be going – so the plans can be formulated and cheap travel and accomodation booked up.
Then in April UEFA simply complete the formalities by slotting the relevant clubs into the already drawn ties. Simplicity in it’s best form.
Finally on Bohs – I had the absolute pleasure of a run out on the hallowed Dalymount turf on the 18th as I was asked to referee the First Team as they took on the Event and Security Staff. A 13-2 victory for the First Team was secured and a good afternoon was had by all. Hopefully I’ll have some photos of the game winging their way to me via email soon enough…
Away from the Land of eircom – the refereeing in England is progressing nicely. Getting some really good games on the West Midlands and Worcester Leagues – for the first time in a few years I’m actually really enjoying it again.
I’ve also been accepted to attend the USA Cup in Minnesota in July, as well as the usual Norway jaunt (which will be my 10th one). I’ve heard good things about the USA Cup – and the chance to chalk another nation off the list is not something to be passed up.
Finally – I’ve been doing some thinking as to what I want to be doing in 12 months time (prompted by a couple of work colleagues leaving the company to pursue different paths) – let’s just say I’ve got the travel bug again (but not in the conventional way). I’m taking advice and discussing the whole plan in depth with people who have already done what I’m thinking of doing, so I’ll be more than well prepared this time. First hurdle is, pass my driving test…
All I can say about the above is – watch this space…
Next update to follow soonish hopefully,
Goin’ Loco In The Intertoto
About a quarter of an hour ago we all indulged in the intangible concept of time travel without even realising it. Yes, it’s that time of year where we revert back to GMT – just to placate some silly farmers.
It means we rapidly hurtle towards the winter season – going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark.
As I write this I’m watching an MLS Playoff match between New York and New England – however it’s pretty difficult and confusing to follow at times.
They’re playing the game in Giants Stadium in New York – which is an NFL stadium with one of these artificial FieldTurf pitches. Which means that the pitch markings are permanent. However – the soccer pitch is larger than the NFL field – which means that the pitch markings we can see on TV bear no relation to the actual game going on at the moment – as you can see below…
Anyway – onto the more pressing matters at hand – the past few weeks have been a disastrous one for the faithful of the Bohemian Nation.
What looked like a superb position a couple of weeks ago has resulted in League Cup Final and FAI Cup Semi-Final appearances – with two defeats. And as for the league – the promise of a possible second place which was up for grabs recently now looks like being traded in for a fourth place finish – meaning that once again – we miss out on the Setanta Cup and would be possibly scraping around for an Intertoto Cup place next summer.
As one correspondent said on our club forum tonight about the defeat o Cork in the FAI Semi Final on Friday:
“I know when I stand in the Jodi, that the lads standing around me would all sweat blood to get an equaliser in a Cup semi, so its a sickener to watch some players on a couple of grand a week not break their bollox.”
That about sums up a spineless, passionless, and dare I say – useless display by the players who pull on the red and black each week – things are well and truly rotten in the Kingdom of Phibsborough – things need to change and quick – otherwise we will face a lot more seasons of disappointment – something we should not have to put up with.
Looking back to a couple of weeks ago – we reached a dark nadir up in Derry thanks to the actions of four people purporting to be “fans” of this great club – when they ventured into a Protestant area of the city and proceeded to smash up a bar whilst shouting, what was reported as, sectarian abuse. Thankfully the situation was resolved satisfactorily – prison sentences handed down (although these are under appeal by the defendants) – and a lot of PR and bridge building by the real fans of the club – around about 650 of whom supported the club so magnificently up in Derry.
The ball is now in the football club’s court – talk of a “zero tolerance” policy on these thugs and the agenda they pursue has been mooted by those in power – we now sit and wait to see if they walk the walk and actually follow through with the promises made to the decent supporters.
Away from the happenings in the land of eircom – unfortunately I haven’t been too well lately. With the stuff going on elsewhere and such – I slipped into a small bout of reassessment – resulting in myself just writing down my situation to date. It didn’t make for pleasant reading. Thankfully a few people rallied round and offered a bit of support that kind of got me back to some semblance of normality, although it still does raise it’s head above the parapets once in a while.
Related to this – I bumped into a couple of old colleagues from high school recently – I expect they’ll probably read this – so if you are Helen and Katy – it was a pleasure to catch up with yourselves – although the gap of some 10 years is probably a bit too long! So keep me updated with how things are going…
Well, well, well – what a night that was!
Safe to say – the nerves were frayed, the nails bitten and the TV sworn at very loudly at points. But we did it – coming back from the inconvenience of having 10 men for nigh on 50 minutes, and an equalizer from Pats in Itchywhore – to settle the tie – as I predicted yesterday – by the odd goal.
I watched the game via the excellent TG4 webfeed – so good in quality in fact – it was like watching it on normal TV, unfortunately this is something that RTÉ cannot seem to replicate to anywhere near that standard.
Along with the feed on the PC (I have a dual monitor setup on my nice new beast of a Vista machine), I had the Bohs.com Message Board open on the other monitor – meaning I could engage in conversation on how brainless Dessie Byrne is for getting sent off in such a pathetic manner just before the half (one of the other contributors in the match thread said at the time – “You’d even get booked in rugby for a challenge like that”). Sure the message board is no substitute for being there in person – but it does come a very close second.
Whilst all this was going on – I was keeping a fellow Bohs supporter, Shane Butler, who is now in Vancouver for the year, updated on all that was occurring down at Richmond Park. I’ve been in the unenviable position in the past of being stuck in places with no access to coverage of the game (especially during the very early days) – it can be a real killer, so if I can help out anyone with updates and news, then it’s something that has to be done. As a spin off from that – I’m already planning a trip to Canada early next year on the request of Shane. I’ve always wanted to go to Canada (I’m a big fan of the Montréal Canadiens Ice Hockey side) – looks like a good excuse as any to finally make the journey!
This Friday sees the quite interesting prospect of picking up a computer game off the shelves in England, putting the disc into whichever console I have lying around – and choosing to play a match between Bohs and Shamrock Rovers. Yes you did hear correctly – FIFA ‘08 hits the shops with the new addition of a fully licensed eircom League Premier Division (meaning all kits, players and sponsors are there in full detail).
So – what’s next – another game against Pats preceeded by a home tie against our Feeder Club, Sligo Rovers, on either Friday or Monday (the FAI haven’t made their minds up yet). These two games are the mere aperetif to the main course of a Tuesday night shimmy up to the eircom League Cup Final in Derry on October 9th.
On the basis of last night – I’m forward to that trip already…
Another potentially pivotal fortnight hovers into view for The Big Club and it’s ranks of Black and Red faithful.
It all kicks off tonight with a short trip down to Inchicore to face off against St Patrick’s Athletic – the game, thankfully for us who are outside the country, is being streamed live on the TG4 website. The link to view the coverage (which only works in Internet Explorer for some reason) – is http://www.tg4.tv/ . Click on that at about 7:30pm Irish time tonight and it’ll start automatically.
These kind of TV games against St Pats are normally boring, turgid 0-0 draws – although the last Cup meeting between the two on TV back in the 2003 Semi-Final ended up as a cracker of a 4-3 extra-time defeat to the Saints.
I hate making predictions – as I’m invaribly incorrect in my assumptions, but I’ll stick my neck out here and simply state that the tie tonight, if settled on the day, will be by the odd goal. I won’t commit to saying which way it’ll go though…
We then get two League games – at home to Sligo, barring the Cup game going to a replay – and then playing Pats at Richmond again a week Friday.
The fortnight then concludes on a Tuesday night – October 9th – when we make the long journey up to Derry for the League Cup Final. The club have, to their very great credit, worked with the NBB and BEST to arrange cheap coaches to get the travelling masses up to The Brandywell to get behind the team. Last count was 3 full buses of the faithful – I being among them. Can we go there and bring back our first silverware for many a long year? Again – it’s too close to call.
Finally I received an email all the way from Chiang Mai in Thailand – from the desk of Kevin O’Herlihy:
“I am living in Thailand now, but have followed Bohs since 1963. Was at Dalyer for the Presidents Cup final when we beat Rovers, coming back from 2-0 down to win 3-2. to bring home the first trophy in modern times.”
Story behind this whole thing is that a few years ago I set up a mailing list / website to keep the fans abroad informed of what was happening in the club / a point of gathering for those exiles.
The project lapsed as personal stuff took over – but on the back of this, and the fact I have a little more spare time on my hands, I’m looking to resurrect this over the next few weeks. I still have most of the contact details for the foreign based fans who got in contact before – so those guys will be getting an email over the next few days.
If there is anyone else outside of the country who are interested in coming on board – please email me at bohsabroad@gmail.com
Let’s just hope tonight is a good one.
Onwards and upwards…
Note: These posts were written and stored on my Smartphone – I cannot post them to this from that device – so timings may seem a little bit out.
So it’s 4:29am on Friday morning and I’m currently sat in a Costa Coffee outlet in Heathrow Airport awaiting the opening of the SAS Check-In Area downstairs.
The journey to get this far started at 8:50pm the previous night. Due to the floods shutting down part of the Oxford Rail Line I had to do a roundabout journey. A train to Birmingham Moor Street, a quick dash across to New Street, time for a pint, another train down to Euston put me in London at just before a quarter to one in the morning. Then another short train journey up to Harrow & Wealdstone, and finally a 45-minute bus journey to Heathrow. Arrived at the airport at about 2:45am. Bizzare event number one was spotting a van from my workplace parked on the side of the road in Yeading.
Anyway, checking in at 5:15, then off to the prebooked Airport Lounge for a shower, some free breakfast and a read of the papers. Should hit Oslo about 10:30 CET where the real fun begins!
As I sit here at my desk at work on yet another quiet and rain-swept English afternoon – I find myself ruminating on yet another couple of weeks happenings in the Kingdom of Bohemia.
Another functional 1-0 victory – this time in front of the live Setanta TV cameras at home to relegation fodder (if not for Longford misplacing a load of points on their last visit to Merrion Square) in the shape of Waterford United. An deftly executed overhead kick from Darren Manseram (his first League goal so I believe) that would grace any top league in Europe stretched the run to 10 wins, 6 draws and 3 losses in all competitions for the season.
A 0-0 draw in yet another highly charged Dublin Derby against the great unwashed last Friday – having to listen to the delusional nonsense spouted forth from the pits of Pat “Better Team” Scully nearly made me want to hurl the PC monitor out of the window.
The usual circus off the pitch inevitably unfolded as sure as night follows day, and Roddy Collins follows bluster – culminating in the usual nonsense on several Internet forums which shall remain nameless to prevent embarrasment to those involved.
For some wildly unknown reason this season – a load of Sligo Rovers fans have hopped on the bandwagon already being ridden by Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne fans - having a pop and a snipe at us at any given opportunity – even when things don’t actually involve them. Probably put it down to the fact that Sean Connor took the better job when it came up – as he said he always would do. Smacks of minnow behaviour from what is virtually our feeder club.
Monday night (last night) saw the return of Chief Fire Marshall Mr Gareth “Spoofer” Farrelly to the hallowed turf. Probably the worst manager I’ve ever seen at any level (including Sunday morning pub football and Under 9’s Mini-Soccer). Thankfully we sent him packing with a good dose of RRS and a 3-2 extra-time win. The winner coming from the unlikely source of a Dessie Byrne header in the 120th minute of the game.
In fact all three of our goals came from supporting cast members – namely Stephen Rice (who is having a pretty good season by all accounts) and Dean Pooley.
Still – a win is a win – and it sees us into a Cup Semi-Final for the first time in a few seasons – hopefully we can convert this opportunity and bring home the first silverware of the 2007 season.
Three weeks or so until the annual jaunt to Norway – and the chance to take in some foreign football – namely a UEFA Cup game and a Norwegian Premier Division match.
Finally - I sold my old PC after 3 years of faithful service – and have a nice new top of the range Core 2 Duo on the way from Mesh Computers down in London – based on the recommendation of a colleague – but with one small worry.
It’s due to arrive on Friday the 13th…
I sit here at just before 1am UK time listening to some inane item on Radio 5 about eating chocolate – have to say – late night on Radio 5 has gone right downhill over the past year – mainly thanks to the frankly rubbish contributions from one Anita Annand. At least I’ve got Up All Night to look forward to in a few minutes.
Anyway – a few things have changed – and a lot has remained constant over the intervening 3 months of updates on here.
First thing – the SVS gig was only for a few weeks it turned out – they let all of the agency staff go over a two week period as the work dried up. It was always a risk – but that’s the chance you take with that kind of arrangement.
Got reposted to another department within the same institution that was originally going to last for a maximum 6 weeks – leading up to mid to late April.
On the third day there – I get a phone call from another agency I was working for – seeing if I would like to go forward for a full-time permanent receptioning position at a local company 15 minutes drive from home. As I was facing being out of work again within the month I said “sod it – nothing to lose – go for it”.
Two days later – phone call number two. “The company don’t wish to interview you for the Reception position”. In the words of the esteemed Captain Slow, James May, “Oh cock!”
“However – the IT Department at the same place want to talk to you with regards to a position with them”.
So I go in for the interview – and end up being succesful – and have been working there for about a month now. A great little job and long may it last.
The situation at Dalymount has also turned pretty rosy since the last update. Not conceding many goals – 10 wins and 4 draws from the intervening 15 matches – culminating in beating Drogheda United 1-0 in the FAI Cup up at their place on the Friday just gone – we might just be seeing the start of something long needed and very special.
Was over in Dublin twice within a fortnight at the end of May and the start of June doing various things.
First engagement was to help celebrate the 30th birthday of one Stu Conroy – whom I count among my main circle of friends – a seriously top bloke – once again – Happy Birthday Stu and thanks for the couch!
Second trip – which was over the June Bank Holiday weekend involved a spot of refereeing for the Dublin Branch of the Nottingham Forest Supporters Club. It took the form of a Charity Tournament involving 5 Supporters Clubs teams from various clubs – Hibs, St Patrick’s Athletic, Bohemians (who got absolutely hockeyed in 3 of their 4 games – we had a few scorelines throughout the day of 26-0, 21-2, etc.), Nottingham Forest and the eventual winners, University College Dublin.
That evening saw myself, a good friend Shane Butler, and Jay – a refereeing colleague, joining the Forest lads at their end of season function in a pub just outside the main bus terminus in the centre of Dublin. There was a lot of food and many pints doing the rounds – and as an added bonus we had two former Forest legends attend the function – Steve Sutton, who played in goal during the 1980s for the club, and Tommy Gaynor (who also used to play for Bohs).
Anyway – when it came to drawing the raffle – my ticket got pulled out – and I was the lucky recipient of a squad shirt worn by one of the Irish players in the Forest squad last season. Plus I got a photo taken with Steve and Tommy:
I apologise for the out of focus photo
Posing for a group photo at the end with Shane (and his quite marvellously to the point t-shirt) and Jay (who also refereed at the charity tournament)
After this we headed into town to a downstairs bar in town for more beer and a bite to eat when we exited at just after 2:30am – into what I can only describe as a monsoon – which lasted the rest of the weekend…
As we left the bar – I spotted a statue to the great musician Phil Lynott – and Jay just demanded he have a photo taken…
Next up is the annual jaunt to Oslo and the Norway Cup at the end of July – nice to get away from it all for a week…
A quick update since my last post – and then news of a madcap scheme that could be very interesting.
Anyway – first thing – sorry about a lack of updates recently – just started full time work again. I’m currently working at the State Veterinary Service in the Welfare in Transport Office. We deal with paperwork connected to Livestock movements across Europe – a very interesting little department.
The 2007 eircom League season is now two weeks old – and the so-called new dawn of Sean Connor at the helm of the Bohemian ship hasn’t got off to a good start. A dire 0-0 draw on National TV with Drogheda followed by a 1-0 reversal down by the seaside at Bray – and we find ourselves with 1 point from 6 and in the familiar surroundings of 9th place. As legendary right back Pascal Vaudequin would say “Plus ça change…”
Finally – the long anticipated first Dublin Derby of the season against Shamrock Rovers which should have been played this Friday has been moved to a week Tuesday of all nights thanks to our superb Police force not being clued up enough to handle two events in such close proximity to each other (the other one being the Wales – Ireland football match in Croke Park the day after).
To be honest these lot couldn’t police Sting at a reunion concert.
It means that instead of being there watching the game live – I’ll be huddled over a mobile phone at Hampden Park watching Queens Park vs. East Stirling whilst awaiting text updates from Dalymount.
Anyway – onto the plan I alluded to in the title of this post.
I’m not sure how many of you have heard of something called the “Tube Challenge”. Basic premise is that the challenger has to attempt to visit all 275 London Underground Stations in the shortest time possible. You can read about it further at this site: http://www.tubechallenge.com/.
The current World Record stands at 18 hours, 35 minutes and 38 seconds – set in May 2006.
This got me thinking – and then planning two things – both of which will hopefully raise some money for a charity along the way.
Firstly – to have a crack at the London Challenge – even if we don’t get the record timewise, I want to get through all 275 – good news here is that I already have another two guys who want to attempt it as a group.
Secondly – and I’m sure this hasn’t been done before – involves a favourite annual holiday destination of mine – Oslo.
The plan is to do the London Challenge, but transfer it to the Norwegian capital – and visit all 186 Underground and Tram stations that make up the Oslo Transport System. I have already formulated a route to do this – which will be kept under wraps for the forseeable. Next stage is to approach some other parties to check that it hasn’t been attempted before (thereby setting a record straight off), whether it would be considered as a bona fide World Record attempt, and also to raise some funds for charity in the process. I’ll be creating a seperate section here to chronicle the attempts as they develop.
Plus I need some other nutter to attempt it with!
A vey decent weekend after all!
Ireland destroyed England at Croke Park – recording a 43-13 win in Dublin. If memory serves me correct this is the biggest victory by Ireland over England and could also be the first time that someone has put 40+ points past England in the Five/Six Nations Championship.
One thing that did amuse me a lot came in the form of a photo that appeared in the Telegraph today. There was a small protest organised by the splinter group Republican Sinn Fein to highlight the ‘unacceptable normalisation’ of relations between Ireland and England, and the fact that a so-called “foreign sport” (foreign sport = football or rugby) was allowed to be played in Croke Park.
Anyway – this is said photo – just look closely:
Yes – you are seeing that correctly – a protester giving his two cent on “No Foreign Games” to be played in Croke Park – whilst wearing a tracksuit and jersey of Glasgow Celtic FC – a non-Irish team which plays one of the so-called “foreign sports” this fella is so dead set against.
The irony oozes from every pore there…
Anyway – back to this weekend just gone – the wedding reception I went to straight after the game was well-attended and a good time was had by all – good luck with it all Andy and Heather – I’m sure you’ll make a great success of this.
Sunday morning saw me out on the local parks pitches in Worcester – where I handled a local city league Division 2 match. The head wasn’t as sore as it may have been – the pitch was bloody awful – a real mudbath in the centre, stones down both flanks and one corner under just enough mud and a small amount of water meaning that any attempt to take a corner was impossible – however we managed to sort a solution for that out.
Ended up with 4 cautions and a penalty – the majority of which were accepted in the right spirit – both teams played a good hard-fought competitive match – and again – in the right spirit – which added up to a thoroughly enjoyable morning. The final result being the home team ran out 4-1 winners.
I’m in the middle on a County Youth match on Monday night between Worcestershire and Leicestershire up at the RSC in Worcester. Good news is that I get two neutral Assistant Referees – meaning I can concentrate more on what’s going on in the middle rather than worrying about offsides.
Finally – next weekend sees the start of the new Refereeing Promotion Season here in England – decided to give it a bash this season after a year out of it – so the hard work commences next Sunday!
Following on from a nice quiet Friday – where I earnt myself a few quid setting up someone’s new Vista PC- an action packed weekend lies in wait..
And it’ll go something like this:
Saturday – a leisurely morning – followed by the start of an afternoon / evening on the lock.
Rugby first of all – probably watch the first game at home – before heading into town to watch Ireland – England with a lot of pints (hopefully with an Irish victory in Croke Park).
Then straight after that game is over I’m heading a few miles down the road to a mate’s wedding reception thing at a local pub/restaurant.
ofc I won’t turn up in my Ireland rugby jersey – that would be downright rude and not keeping with the dress code or spirit of things, so I’ll have to take a change of shirt and change on the way.
No doubt I’ll be at the bar most of the evening.
Sunday: will see me working off the beer with a morning on the local parks and then a nice leisurely afternoon at home.
Hopefully it’ll live up to it’s billing.
Away from those plans – a couple of things that I need to get down on paper (so to speak)
I’m sat here at 4:10am UK time watching Sky News and the pictures of the train derailment in Cumbria.
Story for those of you outside the UK – a Virgin High-Speed Tilting Train derailed out in the North of England – with 8 or the 9 carriages taking a hefty drop down an embankment – most of them ending up on their sides – the Emergency Services are still unsure as to what has caused the accident – in which, atm, sadly one person has lost their life.
Hopefully we won’t lose anyone else – one death is one too many in this day and age.
Finally – on a bit of a brighter note – Bohemians drew 0-0 with Scottish Premier League side Aberdeen at Dalymount last night.
Apparently we were extremely unlucky not to record a win in our penultimate friendly before the 2007 League Season starts (we are due to travel to play Coleraine on Tuesday night).
It was the first real test of our new manager Sean Connor and our new look squad (including the much vaunted return of one Glen Crowe to Dalymount) – and by all reports – we look like a half-decent side for the first time in a year and a half.
Roll on the new season!
I’m in the process of writing a book!
Had the idea whilst pottering about reading some magazine or other a couple of weeks ago.
An article on Internet publishing site Lulu.com – and how easy it is to get yourself published nowadays caught my eye – gone are the days of having to grovel to Publishing Houses to get your manuscript out there.
Anyway – back to the matter in hand – as you may or may not know – my main passion is following League of Ireland football club Bohemians – even though I’m based 75% of my time in England.
The plan is to write an account of the upcoming season – which, imo, is a pivotal one in our history. The ground deal being finalised giving us financial security, a new manager, a lot of new players coming in, the implosion of Shelbourne FC, and not to mention the League itself coming under the control of a new body of people.
2007 could be an extremely interesting year – and I’ll use this place to log stuff to do with the project that will be fleshed out and come December this year hopefully in a format available in book form.
I’ll also use this place to log the general day-to-day stuff that goes on around here – starting with the post above!
This article will appear on the Foot.ie Blog:
As this is my first contribution to this site – I thought I might give you an idea of the life of an eL fan who resides in another country.
Our life is one of crackling radios, sparse TV coverage, people pointing to the replica jersey you wear in the office or street and asking us “who the hell are they” and being glued to the Internet 24/7 for any bit of information.
The Internet (God Bless Tim Berners-Lee!) is the foreign-based eL fan’s main resource for any League news. Over the past few years the number and quality of club websites, message boards, fanzine sites, blogs and media sources has grown considerably. Unfortunately Johnny Ward’s eL site and it’s quite superb messageboard bit the dust a few years back – which really herealded a golden age of following the League from afar. It has resulted in myself certainly meeting new people from different clubs, being involved in a couple of superb friendly football matches and many friendships started from that place still remain today.
Foot.ie (http://www.foot.ie/forums/)- naturally – has been and currently is – up at the top of the list of must use sites – having taken on JW’s site mantle as the Premier place to debate League issues. Long may it continue in this vein.
I also find the new kid on the block – Irish Football Online (http://www.irishfootballonline.com/) – is invaluable for match reports, previews and other titbits from the 22 senior clubs in the country.
Anyway – a normal Friday night consists of digging out a tiny Sony pocket radio, hooking it up to a spare set of PC Speakers and trying to get a half decent signal for 252 LW and Friday Sportsnight – incorporating the soothing tones of Con Murphy and his intrepid band of reporters (including the excellent Gabriel Egan) who give us the only regular live eL coverage for an English audience.
This is coupled with logging onto the Internet and firing up Foot.ie to engage in the discussion, banter, and sometimes (but not very often) abuse with rival supporters.
At this point – as I’m currently referencing Friday Sportsnight on RTÉ Radio – I have to place on record the greatness that is Brian de Salvo’s column on said show. He manages to give us a piece on a subject with great knowledge and humour – a must listen.
Anyway – come 10pm – and yet ANOTHER Bohs defeat (Farrelly must go btw) – the radio goes off – the club messageboard gets fired up – and I register my disgust at another performance (I have them all stored in a Word Document ready to be selected, copied and pasted into said forum – depending on the level of ineptness by the team).
Matchday:
If I’m lucky enough to actually travel over for a game – then a typical Friday (having successfully booked the day off work in the first place!) goes something like this:
6am: Get woken up by the alarm clock. “Surely not that time already” I grumble. I stumble out of bed, into the bathroom and try to wake up under the shower.
6.15am: Out of the shower and get my gear together. Bohs jersey, scarf (if it’s a brutally cold day), Bohs Baseball cap, digital camera (I like to take a few pics during a game), jacket and a backpack containing a change of clothes.
6.30am: Grab breakfast and a coffee quickly – then out of the door for the walk to the train station.
7.06am: Roll out of Worcester Shrub Hill Station on a Central Trains Express service – break down twice
7.45am: Arrive at Birmingham New Street – Grab copy of the Indo from the Concourse Shop
7.57am: Depart Birmingham on another train – read eL Previews page
8.50am: Pull into the largest Interchange Railway Station outside of London – right next to Crewe Alexandra Football Ground
9.03am: Depart for the most scenic part of the journey – along the North Wales coast on a nice modern (and suprisingly well run) Virgin Train. Take breakfast from the buffet car on the way
11.30am: Arrive at the Port of Holyhead – and check in for the HSS Fast Ferry service.
1.45pm: Depart on the Ferry
3.30pm: Arrive at Dún Laoghaire – hop on the DART
4.15pm: Get into the Centre of Dublin, drop the bag at a mate’s place – then off for food and a couple of pre-match pints.
7.00pm: Make the way up to Dalymount – pick up a couple of programmes for people back in England and into the Members Bar to meet up with a few regular heads.
7.45pm – 9.45pm: Match – watch us lose to a team lower in the table than us.
10.00pm: Back into the bars to meet the regular lot and disect the game over a few more pints.
1.00am: Roll back to mate’s flat for a few hours sleep or into town to continue the night’s session.
Saturday: Do the reverse journey, leaving Dún Laoghaire at 1.45pm and arriving back in Worcester at about 8.30pm – then a quick dash across the city to my local pub to meet a few more mates for some more pints and a tale of the night before!
And I’ll tell you something – I wouldn’t give any of that up to watch a Premiership team or Football League club play.
- Keep the Faith
- R
Arrived in Bournemouth at 11am on Saturday, dropped the bag at the top quality hotel I’d booked, donned the red & black Bohs home jersey and walked into the town centre.
Got a cab from there to the ground – the nicely appointed arena that is Dean Court. Picked up my match ticket from the ticket office, had a look in the Club Shop (so much merchandise!) and then made my way into the Bar at the ground – called “The Cherry Tree”.
It was already starting to fill up at noon due to the club showing the Liverpool – Manchester United game on the TV in the bar.
Got the first pint of many in – a pint cost €3.45.
Then I saw the poster pinned up next to the bar, between 12:30pm and 1:30pm, all pints cost €2.15! A first of many bonuses that would follow that day…
The rest of the group turned up at about 1:20pm – in the end the group numbered 8, step forward gh, Rathcoole Bohs, Ed Freeman, Del, Pat, myself, a couple I have forgotten the names of (if you are reading this, sorry!).
The chairman of the Football Club came over and had a chat to us, and we linked up with our two contacts for the day, who had helped us over the week to plan for tickets, etc.
Ed told me that as he was outside – he spotted Garreth O’Connor. So he went over to him to get the match programme signed. He asked Garreth as he was signing the programme, “Do you miss Bohs?”
Garreth replied “Yeah, sometimes”, before doing a double take at spotting the crest on the shirt Ed was wearing. His reaction was one of amazement and disbelief (what are you doing here, etc.)
As we entered the bar, on all the tables were pieces of paper listing the betting odds for the game (first goalscorer, result, etc.) – and in one corner of the bar was based the matchday bookie.
So we all had a few quid on Garreth scoring the first goal – gh and Rathcoole took £5 each on him, I had a £2 wager on him – all with odds of 16-1.
A few more beers were taken (and gh discovered the delights of “Old Speckled Hen”) as the Cherry Tree eventually filled to capacity – and at 2:50pm it was time to take our seats.
Got into the ground easily enough, finding our seats was a bit more of a challenge (we ended up walking up and down the front of the end we were in about 4 times).
Seats were found, and very good ones at that, near the front behind the goal in the North Stand (Bournemouth currently has a three sided ground – there is no stand behind the other goal).
The “We Are Bohs” flag was put up at the back of the stand for all to see – apparently Garreth or Shaun spotted it as they took the field at the start of the game and had to do another double take.
The home crowd were getting behind the side, and Wednesday had their band in the one corner of the far end, good support from them tbh.
First half got off to a decent start, then on 11 minutes, Bournemouth scored. To a man we all celebrated like it was Dalymount, then realised that the goalscorer was Garreth O’Connor! We went absolutely balistic at this point!
As we were celebrating the message “THAT’S ONE FOR THE BOHS” flashed across the electronic scoreboard at the other end of the ground – Bonus number 3!
The rest of the half was decent, Wednesday’s fans kept up the noise, then came the half-time whistle.
The matchday presenter was doing his stint on the pitch with the microphone, reading out all the birthdays etc. He walked across the pitch down to where we were stood, and then proceeded to tell the whole stadium over the PA about the Bottom of the Barrel Tour, including pointing out the flag at the back of the stand.
At that, we got a standing ovation from the rest of the ground!
Second half was about the same, until somehow the referee got Three Minutes of time added on from somewhere – with there only being 3 subs, we were missing 90 seconds from somewhere…
That was when Wednesday scored – and we had the last bit of fireworks for the game. An away fan sat in home end ran on pitch, taunted the Bournemouth fans in front of where we were sat, was wrestled to floor by stewards (it took about 6 of them to wrestle him to the floor where they sat on him waiting for the police to come over and remove him), no police came to help.
And in a stroke of brilliance that even Frontline wouldn’t have considered taking, this fan was then carried BACK into the pissed off home fans (where he was set upon by the burberry lot). he was then taken back onto the pitch then carried out the other end of the stand, police waving batons at all fans standing at pitch side. Could have been a riot if there was a noticeable ‘hooligan element’ present.
After the game, it was back into the bar, to collect the winnings (about £250-odd in total between us), and sink a few more beers. We had a few people coming up to us wanting to know the full story, wishing us well, and wanting to replicate the favour with a visit to catch a game at Dalymount this summer.
Then I found out by phone that Worcester City had been dumped out of the FA Trophy at Hednesford and the calling for the manager’s head had begun…
Then came the last surprise of the day, one of our contacts in the club vanished for a few mintes, and when he came back he had Shaun and Garreth with him.
Garreth & Shaun pictured with some of the group
Had a good chat with them, wished them well for the rest of the season, etc.
We eventually piled out of the club at just after 7pm, walked back towards town, remarking on the abundance of a certain type of shop. Left the rest of them in a pub in Boscombe, whilst I went back to the Hotel to check in and get showered and changed.
Armed with a hand drawn map of the good places to drink in the Town Centre by my colleague in our office in Worcester (thanks Scott!), I linked up with the other Bohs fan who was in town for the game (but sat in the Wednesday end – although he had a good reason), Fergal Watt, in the Walkabout on the Old Christchurch Road.
Arranged to meet the others in a bar called “Toko” (which was re-christened “Toccys” in honour of the legend that is Tony O’Connor by the group) – a very very nice, if a bit expensive, bar (around about €4.50 for a pint) – where the rest of the night went well, with heavy playing of the classics (well, according to Rathcoole Bohs they were classics) such as MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice…
We managed to lose two of the group, who didn’t resurface until late on Sunday afternoon
Sunday was a bit of a lazy day, met up with gh and Rathcoole for a cup of coffee and a sandwich at about 11am in the town centre. Then the short stroll down to the seafront and pier where we met up with Ed and Fergal, stopping at JJB Sport on the way so gh could pick up some new cricketing gear…
An afternoon sampling a couple of pints of local Bombardier and Worthingtons, and taking a call from the matchday journalist at the local newspaper about a feature on the trip to be run in Tuesday’s edition and it was time to head home!
A cracking weekend overall – I can seriously reccomend that you make it down for the next foray to Bournemouth!
Now then this story goes back all the way to early December of 2004
The football (soccer to our friends across the Atlantic) team I follow passionately are a Dublin based side in the League of Ireland Premier Division called Bohemians (hence the title of this whole little tome!).
Our League season runs from March to November each year – meaning a huge 4 month period without any live football on our doorstep to watch and get involved in.
Suffice to say some of my fellow supporters and myself were getting major withdrawal symptoms (kind of like those a smoker gets when going “cold turkey”).
So one day in early December from a conversation on our message forum (Gypsiesweb) that started out as a debate on dodgy off-topic posting from the workplace, heroin junkies and St Patrick’s Athletic (link there – I don’t seem to be able to see it 
) – someone made a suggestion to “adopt” a lower division club in England and support and follow them as our second team during our winter off season. Which also meant attending games in person.
Various names were banded about – Yeovil Town, Worcester City, Weymouth, Yeading (of the FA Cup run) and Colchester.
I made the suggestion (as quoted from my posting on the forum):
What about Bournemouth?
They play in the black & red (our own first choice colours) – and still have Shaun Maher (who used to play for us) playing for them…
Plus they’re not too far away from Yeovil (who play in green and white hoops – same as our arch-rivals Shamrock Rovers)
A poll was quickly created and with 54% of the vote – Bournemouth came out on top due to the above reasons (they also have another of our ex-players play for them), plus there are cheap flights to Bournemouth from Dublin!
So this Saturday, January 15th 2005, sees 12 hardy souls jetting in from Dublin and myself (commuting 4 hours south by train from my home in the Midlands) to watch, nay fervently support, the red & black clad warriors of AFC Bournemouth as they crush the might of Sheffield Wednesday on the south coast of England – followed by one heck of a night out.
Apparently word of our decision has reached the top brass at AFC Bournemouth, and we have apparently been invited to the Members Bar before the game for a drink with the Club Chairman (plus I heard the local press might be in attendance!)
A hotel room has been taken for this weekender – and photos plus a full account of the trip will be posted on my return on Sunday afternoon.
Irish Football Online
