Posted in Football Articles, Miscellaneous, Uncategorized on October 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Glen Crowe, always a legend
Posted in Football Articles, Miscellaneous, Uncategorized, tagged Bohemians, Bohs, dublin, football, Football Derbies, League of Ireland on October 6, 2010| Leave a Comment »
So there you have it. The morning after the night before. When I posted on Monday, I wasn’t in any great confidence about Bohs chances. I was hoping, praying for a result, a goal in off Ken Oman’s arse would have kept me happy. But what I got last night was Bohs playing their hearts out for ninety minutes and getting the result they, and the crowd, deserved. For those in Red and Black sang solid for the whole game, before and after too, creating arguably the best atmosphere in Dalymount Park this season; the Roar was back with vengeance. And while we wait and plead for Rovers to slip up against Sporting Fingal this weekend, the win last night was not only about the result; something that was amiss seems restored.
After the disaster that was TNS and the Champions League, the defeat to Galway and the drubbing to Rovers in Tallaght, a certain something had been lost between team and fans that seems to have been restored last night; that something being pride and passion. For there is such a thing as playing and losing admirably with a certain pride, that was not what Bohs were doing. They were losing miserably, to Galway. Who had nine men.
Oh Jayo, Jayo- You used to be a...
On the back of last nights victory though, can we say that the tides have turned? The run in for Bohs consists of St. Pats, Galway and Dundalk. Two of those teams we’ve struggled against badly this season. The run in for Rovers consists of Sporting Fingal, Bray and Drogheda. Now under normal circumstances, you would say that the league is a given for Rovers. But after capitulating to UCD last week, and last nights hammer blow from Bohemians suggests that its not wrapped up yet. Could Fingal do us a favour and turn Rovers over this weekend? Could Bohs still win the elusive three in a row? Its hard to know.
Has last nights performance come too late? Keegan and Cronin played like men possessed in the middle of the park, the Rovers middle three barely getting a sniff in, with the majority of their attacking play coming down the wings. Shelley and Oman (silly back pass aside) were solid at the back, and Powell was a constant threat with his storming forward runs. And Jason Byrne, what else do you say only he’s been Bohs only player to score against Rovers in over two years. And what a goal it was.
And while the night was spent on tenterhooks, the elation after the goal (where everyone suddenly found themselves eight steps away from where they started) and the final whistle, with the majority of the Jodi staying and waiting for the team to come out for the warm-down (in what was obviously a feel good exercise orchestrated by Nutsy,) the singing and chanting continuing apace while the players jogged up and down in front sections F&G, felt special. People were walking into the bar lightheaded and speechless. There were smiles on faces, of disbelief and joy. Smiles that said “We could win it yet. ”
I hope I'm not going to be kicking myself for this...
Three games to go. And while Bohs are relying on Rovers to bottle it again, if the team plays like they did last night, there will be no despair come the seasons end. Much of this season has been spent in pessimism, with horror stories about the Club’s finances and tales of striking players and unpaid bonusses. Win those games and those tales might be forgotten. Win those games and we may speak of Bohemians’ glorious 2010 battle for three- in- a- row for years to come.
Posted in Football Articles, Miscellaneous, Uncategorized, tagged Bohemian FC, Bohs, derby, Dublin Football, football, Shamrock Rovers on October 4, 2010| 7 Comments »
El Classico. The Eternal Derby. The Old Firm. El Superclassico. In cities across the world, there is always one game that captures the imagination, the wits and emotions of the masses. From Rome to Liverpool, Glasgow to Buenos Aires, football fans wait tentatively for those days of the season where you meet your fiercest rivals; shaking in anticipation, that constantly nervous feeling grips at your every bone. Sometimes its pure fear, that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach- a dull ache that spreads into your chest the closer the time comes, culminating in chest pains and a dry throat on the day itself. Hoarse before the game even starts having spent the last couple of days yammering onto anyone who’ll listen, whether they have an interest or not, about the game in question. Drunk on the occasion, not on the pints you swallow before it, you know you’ve got just a couple of hours before you’re walking home with either your head in the clouds or the gutter.
Clash of the Titans
That feeling is with me now. For tomorrow night, in Dalymount Park, arguably the most important derby in recent memory is taking place. Shamrock Rovers sit at the top of the table, five points clear of Bohemians with four games to go. A win for Bohs tomorrow pegs that back to two points with three games to go. All to play for you might say. And to be honest, its mere luck that has Bohs in this position-where they have bottled it this season, Rovers have also. So for the last four games, it really is a case of who bottles it less, starting with tomorrow night. What used to be a stroll in the park, three points in the bag for Bohs game is now turning into a nightmare, if memory serves, Bohs haven’t beaten Rovers since the 2-0 victory at Dalymount in March last year- and that seems like an awful long time ago now. It should be a tight affair, Rovers losing Bayly and Murphy to red cards in Friday nights shock loss to UCD and Bohs losing Quigley for a stupid headbutt and O’Connor for a silly challenge outside the box during the dour draw with Bray.
We are Bohs!
To be honest, the nerves are at me already, and have been since Saturday morning. This game always sets the pulse racing for me, the amicable respect generally shown between League of Ireland fans goes out the window and it’s all out war for the evening. The Northside versus The Southside; The Clash of the Titans. Its an all ticket affair so if you’re on for it, get yourself to the bar in Dalyer tonight and pick one up; I can’t bloody wait. Never mind your Anfield or Stadio Olympico; theres nowhere I would rather be tomorrow night than Dalymount Park.
Come on Bohs.
Posted in Dublin History, Football Articles, Social History, tagged Bohemian F.C, football, Football History, Jewish Dublin, New Vernon, Oscar Traynor, Shamrock Rovers, Soccer on August 30, 2010| 6 Comments »
Without a doubt, C.S Andrews penned one of my favourite books.
Dublin Made Me covers two lives. One, the life and memories of a Dublin youth. The other, a life within the revolutionary movement, serving as adjutant to Liam Lynch during the traumatic Irish Civil War. On reading it, I was struck by Andrews account of the day he made his Confirmation, at the Holy Faith in Dominick Street.
Anyway, on the great day, my mind was more preoccupied with football than with religion because my father had promised to take me to a cup match that afternoon between Bohemians and Shelbourne at Dalymount Park and I was afraid that the ceremony would not finish on time.
At the time, as Andrews noted, Shelbourne and Bohemian F.C were the only senior soccer clubs in the city, and he notes that “the people on the south side followed Shelbourne” He went on to write that the supporters and indeed players of the game were “..exclusively of the lower middle and working classes.” Men would travel north to see one of the Dublin sides take on Linfield, Belfast Celtic, Glentoran, Distillery, Cliftonville or Derry Celtic. These were the first ‘Away Days’, the roots of what we still do today.
Football has a habit of popping up in any account of growing up in Dublin. A love of the beautiful game was not only to be found among native Dubliners, but within immigrant communities too. Nick Harris touched on the love of the game in the Jewish community of ‘Little Jerusalem’, as Clanbrassil Street became known. His account of growing up there, Dublin’s Little Jerusalem ,is a Dublin classic. The local lads, he noted, tended to follow Shamrock Rovers. In the book he recounts stories of away trips, noting his brothers would follow the Hoops all over Ireland.
Once in Sligo, when Rovers were playing Sligo they were leading one goal to nil and Sligo were awarded a penalty. As the Sligo man was about to take the kick, Hymie(his older brother) jumped over the fence and kicked the ball away from the spot.
The Jewish youth evem established a team among themselves, naming it New Vernon, a nod to a “Jewish club that played in Dublin some years earlier”. They played frequently in the Phoenix Park, and Harris noted that the team “… played some great matches with various non-Jewish teams, and we were often applauded by people who stopped to watch the game.” Recently when passing through what was once the Jewish area of Dublin, I spotted a child kicking a football against a wall and was reminded of this tale. Harris also remembered a raid on the house next door by Black and Tans in 1921. The family next door were the Clery’s, one of whom was a footballer for Bohs. “From the noise that was going on, it sounded as though they were playing football” he noted. They were, with a football they found in one of the rooms.
Posted in Dublin History, Football Articles, Social History, tagged Belfast Celtic, Dublin Evening Mail, Old Dublin Newspaper, Shamrock Rovers, World War II on August 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »
An interesting one this, the soccer section of the papers sports section.
Shamrock Rovers and Belfast Celtic, Dundalk and Cork City, Limerick and Shelbourne and a Leinster F.A selection against Motherwell at Dalymount Park feature.
This is a gem from inside the paper. Hitler Says Relax!
Lastly, this ad for Wills’s Gold Flake cigarette’s is a bit bizarre.
Posted in Football Articles, Miscellaneous on August 21, 2010| 1 Comment »
I’m just back in the door from the land of Irn Bru and battered Mars Bars (lots of dog walking ahead….) and have heaps of LOI fanzines to upload here on Come Here To Me soon, as I’d like to get them back to people. Still, I thought this was worth getting up in its own right.
From ‘The Dalymount Roar’ (Issue 7, Jan/Feb 1993) comes this excellent guide to the home of Bohemian F.C, Dalymount Park. Examples of areas of note include the area “where the four St. Pats fans stand”, the “Segregation area which has remained since Rangers game in 1984” and the “Crown Paints sign which fell down two years ago”.
If you’re interested in football fanzines, we’ve got Only Fools and Horses, Hoops Upside Your Head and Osam Is Doubtful up already. As with last time, thanks here go to Kevin Brannigan for getting this to me, and the owner Neil Mulvey.
Click to expand.
Posted in Football Articles, Social History, tagged Fanzine, Inchicore, Osam Is Doubtful, Saint Patricks Athletic, SEI, Shed End Invincibles on August 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Front and back page of fanzine, pages 3 and onwards below on Scribd. Best viewed at full screen size.
Previous fanzines posted on Come Here To Me:
Only Fools and Horses (Bohemian F.C)
Hoops Upside Your Head (Shamrock Rovers)
My thanks to Dodge for passing on both issues of Osam Is Doubtful to me last Friday in Bray. Something good can come out of the worst away trips.
Anyway, Osam Is Doubtful. One of two Pats fanzines I remember following the club as a youngster, with When The Saints Go Marching In being the other. Both efforts were well written, and much more appealing to me growing up than the official effort, a feeling common among my mates at the time. I suppose, the official programme has always had to “Welcome Shelbourne Football Club, their players and supporters to Richmond Park tonight….”while the fanzines could be a little more honest.
The name of this one was a nod towards a Saints legend, Paul Osam. Issue 1 noted that “The name comes from that part of the preview of every single Pats game since the great man came to the club where he’s announced as doubtful”.
32 pages in length, I intend to get issue 1 up to, opting for this one purely on the back of several ‘laugh out loud’ moments on first read. Highlights include a great piece on going to see the national team in Lansdowne Road (“I’m not joking when I say it was the worst atmosphere I’ve ever experienced and I’ve been to Pats vs. Bray in Belfield on a Tuesday night”), a nice piece on Martin Russell (free kick specialist) and a good rant at the jokeshop moniker ‘Stadium of Light’, which Pats fans never really took to thankfully.
Enjoy, and expect the other issue in the nearish future.
Posted in Football Articles, Social History, tagged Hoops Upside Your Head, League of Ireland fanzines, Shamrock Rovers, SRFC on August 11, 2010| 1 Comment »
Following on from Only Fools and Horses (Bohs) last week, here’s another League of Ireland fanzine, Hoops Upside Your Head. I’d intended to scan up a loaned copy of No Way, Referee! from Bray Wanderers, but a tip of the hat is due in the direction of the Irish Election Literature Blog, for linking me to the scans of this one. Nice work.
This fanzine comes from the 1994 season. It includes a great piece on away trips to Limerick, a report of a trip to Zabre, a piece on the incompetence of the FAI, and even an offer to send ” SRFC.bmp” to those who send a blank formatted diskette to the fanzine. Ah, the novelties of the early 90’s!
Well worth a read. As ever, best read in Full Screen. We welcome scans of League of Ireland fanzines, mail me at donal.ofalluin.2009@nuim.ie to get in touch.
Posted in Football Articles, tagged 7-1, Airtricity League, Dave Mulcahy, Football Association of Ireland, Lansdowne Road opening, Manchester United on August 4, 2010| 2 Comments »
The first Irish national to score in the new Lansdowne Road? Dave Mulcahy. A nice goal against Manchester United, and no doubt a mantlepiece photograph for decades to come.
Saint Patrick’s Athletic played in the last soccer match in Lansdowne before renovation, so how fitting one of our own would be the first Irish player to pop one in. Sure Jonny Evans got one for United (You know, that team everyone was cheering for….) before Mulcahy, but he’s from ‘up there’.
Whatever you make of the poxy Calcio Moderno, or modern game, there is no denying the mess the Football Association of Ireland made of it tonight. Was that fixture designed to promote the Irish domestic game? Did they not consider the fact that before earlier this week, many of these lads have never played together? For the second time in a week, a Dave Mulcahy goal felt more like a victory in itself.
In another pretty meaningless friendly only last month, Bohs managed to beat a strong Aston Villa side at Dalymount Park. Without ringing up Sherlock Holmes, one can presume the fact Bohemian F.C are an actual football team themselves and not a selection of players from the four corners of the country helped in that one. This might have been a pre-season for Manchester United, granted- but League of Ireland fans know only too well we’re more than halfway through a season.
Hopefully one moment of skill or two from a domestic player tonight will lure a family to their local club this weekend. It was quite sad to hear the usual ‘is the League a pile of crap’ debate open up on Adrian Kennedy tonight. Even a small portion of the money that leaves this country weekly at Dublin Airport to travel to football abroad, if directed into the domestic game, would have a huge effect. It’s the financial instability of Irish football more than anything that holds the game back. Why are clubs with mass community support and history like Derry City F.C kicking a football around the First Division? Money my friends, money.
Can the FAI really complain about the Celtic/Manchester United/Sunderland (Or eh…never mind that one) leanings of most of the nation’s youth, when the way to promote the domestic game is to send a mix-match of domestic players out to be slaughtered? There is absolutely nothing wrong with supporting any of those teams, the SPL and EPL are both entertaining, but no doubt tonight should have been about Irish football.
Roll on Friday, when three points are at stake again. I just hope our lads aren’t too tired.
Any ideas on building support for the domestic game? Anyone? Send your postcards to...
Posted in Football Articles, tagged Bohemian FC, dalymount park, Saint Patricks Athletic, Shed End Invincibles on July 31, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Full credit to Photopat3 on flickr for a serious of excellent images, link below. Spot the author of this piece!
A great selection of images from last night are to be found here, at Photopat3’s Flickr account.
Some reflections on a one-a-piece clash.
Did we deserve a point? Far from it. Bohs dominated the game for large chunks last night, and our goal at the end was as scraptastic as it comes. Still, what a feeling. An equaliser well into extra-time, when the opposition fans are chanting ‘WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE’, is as sweet as it gets.
The performance of the Saints last night on the pitch left quite a bit to be desired. Why hold back, it was dire. Were Bohs particularly strong? In truth, no. An early (and well-taken) goal had them ahead from 4 minutes in until almost the last kick of the game. We probably had a taxi-load of shots on goal over the whole match, and one of them somehow ended up in the back of the net. Such is football. The quietness of the Jodi, and lack of the usual banners even, indicated Bohs fans are still reeling from what happened in Wales. Why wouldn’t they be? There is a hunger there in the Pats support after years of coming close to success, and even relegation. Bohs fans must feel like they’ve been through it all.
While the display from the Ultras of the Saint Patrick’s Athletic support was a wind-up job unlike any I’ve ever seen before (The Next Shels banner in particular), and the hatred for Mark Quigley (*spits on the ground*) somehow reached a new level from our last meeting, it was clear to both sets of supporters the game was not going to come near the level of our previous clashes this season,and the atmosphere seemed to come and go a bit. Like in Tallaght Stadium during the Setanta defeat, it was encouraging to see lads keep singing even when we were miles behind on the pitch. For the first time in a long time, there seems to be a connection between players and supporters.
This League really is there for the taking now, for a number of teams. My apologies to my visiting Sligo friend for knocking his glasses from his head in the 90somethingoranother minute of this one, but in a moment like that these things happen. Little is fair in football, and now I know how ‘they’ feel in the away section when this happens in reverse at Inchicore, far too frequently too. From Cork to Donegal, I’ve seen teams come to Inchicore and do exactly what we did last night.
Whatever about the chants we encounter about our anti-social ways, that looked like a clean smash and grab job to me. Now, time to step it up a gear.
Posted in Dublin History, Football Articles, Social History, tagged Bohemian FC Fanzine, Bohs, dalymount park, Fan Culture, Irish Fanzines, Only Fools and Horses on July 30, 2010| 3 Comments »
Introduction:As a youngster, it was the fanzines I wanted at Richmond Park quicker than the match programme. If you have Dublin League of Ireland fanzines, please get in touch and I’d love to include them on the site. I hope in time we can establish a small online section with examples from each Dublin club, everything from Some Ecstasy to Eccles Is Innocent! All of these fanzines are a credit to the people who took the time to get them out there.
PDF below, best viewed in full screen.
Posted in Football Articles, Miscellaneous, tagged Allesandro Del Piero, Juventus, Shamrock Rovers, Tallaght Stadium on July 29, 2010| Leave a Comment »
This city is carved up nicely in terms of the domestic game.
There’s no love-in between us all either, we might share a passion for a sport but our teams are unique and history dictates these things, doesn’t it? A Bohs/Rovers derby can match the best of them for passion, a bit of the old tribal division and atmosphere. Still, one couldn’t help but think the humour and passion of supporters of the domestic game shined through tonight on television, with Shamrock Rovers supporters greeting one of the largest teams in Italian soccer with a rendition of ‘WHO ARE YIS’, before applauding Allesandro Del Piero onto the pitch towards the end. Some players you just have to clap on the pitch, really.
He hadn’t kicked a ball before ‘You’ll never play for Rovers” was echoing around the stadium. Excellent. Pity the crowd were so loud we couldn’t hear Allesandro go “Thank Christ!”
What a shame we won’t see the League of Ireland Dublin Derby tomorrow night on telly, we’ll have to wait for Manchester United.
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