No To Foreign Sports – Says a Celtic FC Jersey wearing Irishman…

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!

The Weekend Awaits…

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!

A New Start at a New Location

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!

The Exiled eircom League Fan

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

Return from Bournemouth – Cracking Weekend!

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!

Onwards to Bournemouth – Bohs Invasion

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.