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