Come Here To Me!

Temple Bar, earlier today. Fess up!

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Edward Carson: Hurler, Gaeilgeoir ,Dubliner.

Come Here To Me has always aimed to cover the broadest aspects of Dublin’s social and political history possible, featuring historical pieces as diverse as the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland plaque on Dawson Street and the plaque marking the home of Edward Carson on Harcourt Street. The history of Dublin is all the more remarkable of course when one considers the political journey she has been on, once regarded as the second city of the British empire, she now carries the nickname ‘The City Which Fought An Empire’.

Working in the tourism business, with Historical Insights tours of Dublin, I always try capture the tug-of-war at the heart of Irish political history in tours. Beginnng in Trinity, one of the first things visitors see on a tour of Dublin is the always-overlooked war memorial that is today home to the Post-Graduate Reading Room. Likewise, the old Parliament across the street tells a remarkable story of a very British city, with the lion and the unicorn proudly gazing over College Green, and who could forget tales of the Guinness family and their confrontations with Daniel O’Connell? Below the romantic and nationalist ‘Carolls Gift Shop’ side of tourism, our political history is a complex one.

A friend who also works in the same line of work told me she recently encountered a rather unusual walking tour on the streets of the capital, in the form of Dublin Royal and Loyal Tours.

Checking them out online out of curiousity, I came across their site:

Dublin Loyal Guided Tours can provide your Club, School, College, Lodge, with a memorable day out in Dublin, see Dublin’s Royal and Loyal passed. Old Orange Grand Lodge building, (Pernell Sq) Wellington monument, National War Memorial, Royal Hospital, Dublin Castle and Parliament House.

The tour certainly looks like an unusual one, and turns the spotlight onto the ‘other side’ of our history. While many believed the Dublin Rangers Supporters Club website which proclaimed “The members of Dublin Loyal RSC realise how desparate you all are to learn the words of Follow, Follow and The Billy Boys in Irish”(!) may have looked like more than a tad tongue in cheek to many of us,this looks like a more serious attempt at shining a light on the otherside of our identity.

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I won’t pretend to be anything but sickened. This club is bigger and more important than any player. Fault rests with two sides in this case in my opinion, and I’ll perhaps attempt a longer post on the matter at a later date when the shock subsides.

“Following receipt of a fax from the owners of St Patrick’s Athletic Football Club early this morning, we have considered its contents carefully. The faxed offer is the same offer that we rejected last night in our meeting with the club. Having discussed it at length, we are unanimous that the offer does not meet our minimum requirements.

“The club will receive many multiples of the amounts we are seeking in prize money so payment to us would still leave the club in profit following our European campaign.

“However, we have made it very clear to the board that our very modest requests would have to be agreed prior to tonight’s match; this issue has been ongoing for the past month.

“It is, therefore, with huge regret that we must inform you that we will not be participating in the fixture this evening. This is a unanimous decision of all the players and has not been reached lightly.

“We realise this is a devastating blow for the fans and the league. It is equally so for us as players but we cannot continue to be treated with disrespect by the club.”

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Some of the statues.

Welcome HomeLess has arrived in Dublin. It is an exhibition of sculputures of homeless people, which has toured around Europe and arrives here thanks to Focus Ireland playing a partner-role in the project.

I spotted two today while in the city. One is outside the Bull and Castle pub, and another next to City Hall. There are thirteen sculptures int he Welcome Homeless touring exhibition. Keep an eye out for them.

More information here.

Welcome HomeLess is a different and vivid way of letting the citizens of Europe know just how the people without homes are living. The art exhibition is named Welcome HomeLess, because 13 sculptures portraying homeless people will tour through and be welcomed in the European countries, just like many European homeless cross borders every day in search of happiness.

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….on the northside of Dublin. At the home of Bohs. That’ll go down well.

Source of photo.

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The second leg of the Saint Patrick’s Athletic versus FC Karpaty Lviv third round Europa League qualifier takes place this Thursday in Tallaght Stadium.

Why Tallaght? Well, according to the good people of Uefa, Richmond Park (the eh….Stadium of Light, remember that branding?) isn’t up to scratch. As such it’s a trip on the Luas line for all of us.

This video from last week in the Ukraine is excellent viewing. The lads left the familiar setting of Dublin pubs for the Dublin Pub of Lviv, where they ended up on national television as you do. On the pitch, things went less swimmingly, with the lads trailing two-nil going into this leg.

A full house, a wonderful atmosphere and some self-belief never hurt any football team. Tickets for the clash on Thursday are available now.

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It’s been a rather hectic and busy weekend, so pardon my delay in scanning this up, but I was delighted with this brief mention in The Irish Times radio review section owing to my contribution to the Sean Moncrieff programme on Newstalk last week. I had featured to discuss the (in)famous Animal Gangs of Dublin’s past.

Section of The Irish Times radio review.

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