Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Irish Ultras Movement have just posted a great interview with the Shed End Invincibles over here. It’s worth a read, and is hopefully just the first in a series of interviews with various groups. The IUM site was excellent last season, with frequent updates from all over the island.

Last week the lads were based in the mainstand and managed to generate a wonderful atmosphere, with flags waving for 90 minutes as you frequently see abroad but sadly is quite unusual at home.

I remember the SEI of old when I was younger as being one of the main reasons I’d demand to be taken down to Richer every Friday my dad was off work. Now, more and more youngsters will be drawn into the game by “the flags and the flares…”

Returning to the shed is something that we have looked into but at the moment it’s not possible. We all grew up during the days of the shed and know how special it used to be. Currently clubs with larger away support are put in there. It’s also important to remember that the SEI have been located in every part of Richmond Park since 2001 and not just the Shed End. We’ve also brought up the possibility of getting a roof on the West Stand but it’s just not possible at this time. Perhaps in the not too distant future we can get back into the shed but it does need improvement and is not likely to happen anytime soon.

David Norris is one of the most likeable figures about the city, without a shadow of a doubt. While I see he’s said in the media he will be, if elected, a President who happens to be gay rather than a gay President, it still has to be seen as a remarkable sign of the progressions in Irish society.

...and that, my friends, was 1988.

I’ve read many of the memoirs of those who took part in the 1916 rising and later went to write of their experiences, but Margaret Skinnider’s work has always eluded me. It has passed me by once or twice on eBay, and library copies have vanished before I got to them.

Skinnider was born in Coatbridge, Scotland and was a member of Cumann na mBan in Scotland. She fought with the Irish Citizen Army as a sniper during the rebellion and was wounded in the battle. Her book provides interesting personal recollections on the build up to the rising and her experiences during it, and also includes a fascinating list of songs sung by rebels during and after the rebellion. Among these is the song of the Irish Citizen Army, to be sung to the tune of ‘John Brown’s Body’.

It’s an interesting read for those studying or interested in the period. It is available over here, on the Open Library site.

What better way to announce such a thing on Facebook. 😀

Some eagle-eyed spotter in the Evening Herald perhaps noticed it as well, as there was an article about the discovery in the paper two days later (March 12).

TEMPLE Bar’s giant umbrella plans at Meeting House Square have been delayed after an unexpected archaeological discovery. Preliminary excavation work on the square began in January, in preparation for the construction of a large retractable canopy.

The Temple Bar Cultural Trust (TBCT) hoped that the facility would expand the use of the square for events during unsettled weather. Dublin City Council gave the green light to the TBCT to install the 21-metre tall structures.

But now the reopening of the centre will be delayed after city archaeologists uncovered a 13th Century structure.

“The finds were made on Wednesday afternoon, so at this stage it’s very early,” a spokeswoman for TBCT told the Herald. “We believe that it is a 13th Century structure. It will add time with our plans, but we have every confidence that we will be able to go ahead with our project.”

Ricardo Villalobos, minimal techno legend, played in The Academy last Friday. Tickets were priced at €29.50 (before service charge). This apparent ‘extortionate fee’ has sparked a fascinating 7 page thread on the Clubbing forum of Boards.ie about the price of bringing DJs over to Dublin, suggestions that some Dublin promoters are ripping off punters and a more broad debate on the Commercial Clubbing vs. Independent Rave scene.

Sample Post

 

'The Champion of Liberty' Daniel O'Connell.

Congrats to all at the Glasnevin Cemetery on their incredible victory at the THEA ceremony in Los Angeles. The Themed Entertainment and Amusement prize is about as much of an endorsement as any attraction can aspire to.

I really enjoyed Shane MacThomais’ tour of the cemetery, and his work on Glasnevin in his book Ireland’s Necropolis showed a clear passion for the cemetery, the final resting place of everyone from Frank Ryan to William Martin Murphy. Great praise is due to all at the Glasnevin Trust, and indeed the whole team at Glasnevin.

There are over 1.2 million people buried in the cemetery, including my own great-grandfather, a victim of what Connolly termed the ‘conscription by starvation’ of WWI who died a as a result of war injuries at home in Dublin, a veteran of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers . Like so many others in Glasnevin, he was buried in a pauper’s grave. The team at the cemetery tell the stories of not just The Big Fellas and The Long Fellows, but those forgotten men and women too. For that, Dublin is indebted.

Well done to all involved in bringing the prize to Dublin.

Glasnevin Museum in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, received a prestigious international THEA Award, the Oscars for Themed Entertainment and Amusement, at a glittering ceremony in Los Angeles.

It is the first cemetery to be rewarded for excellence in creating a compelling educational, historical and entertainment project.

-Full news report here.

///
Ci did a nice piece on the cemetery, which is over here. He looked at some of the most high profile graves in Glasnevin.

I’ve this piece on the Pearse Street fire disaster. Firefighters Nugent, Malone and MacArdle are all buried in Glasnevin.

No sambos at The Players Lounge at Fairview Strand for her majesty.

UPDATE HERE: “One will not be discriminated against”
-from éirigi facebook.

Obedientia Civium Felicitas Urbis, Happy is the city where citizens obey.

You can see the city motto on most lampposts in the capital. Walking into the library of NUI Maynooth with my hawk-eyed da, he spotted two Dublin city corporation lampost on the campus.

More Dubliners lost to North Kildare then!

“Politics is the default setting for street art”

Its fun to play with spray paint. But its hard to speak to people and say ideas. Its easy to throw up a Anarchy sign but what does that mean?

The latest from Canvaz, impressive as ever. Great point too, you can even wear some anarchy to work these days.

Remember the Alamo

The Alamo on Fleet Street has been a subject of humour on CHTM before, with their ludicrous advertising of bargain €4.50 pints (rumoured to be poured from a can by the way,) but its not a place I’d set foot in until last night. We always talk about reviewing more eateries on here but the bloody price of eating out in Dublin prohibits it most of the time. But, with a cool sixty quid in my pocket, having backed O’Driscoll to score the first try in the rugby, and the lure of post pint Mexican food great, a troupe of us made our way from the stools in Brogan’s the oldest Mexican restaurant in Dublin.

The Alamo

Its a lovely little place inside, the bang on waiter offering us a table in the window – nice to be able to look at the world go by. To be honest, none of us was sober at this point, having imbibed several pints of the black stuff throughout the afternoon, but whilst my memory generally goes after said pints, its hard to forget the food here- truly amazing. I got the chicken wings to start, having been told on the way down that they were the best in Dublin. And they didn’t disappoint. Not too spicy, more a smoky, sweet taste but undoubtedly the best wings I’ve tasted in Dublin, and thats saying something. €8.50 for a starter, a little pricy but this is Temple Bar. To be honest, they could have done as a main course, the bowl overflowing with a good twenty wings. Thats a lot of chickens… I knicked a couple of Chris’s Lambada Sizzlers- deep fried jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese, the business.

The Quesedilla for main course, and I couldn’t finish it- Huge chunks of chicken with quacamole, cheese and spring onion wrapped in soft fresh tortilla. A really tasty dish, but not without a downside- the price. €17.95 for a main course is something you couldn’t afford to do every week… or every month for that matter. I certainly wouldn’t have been doing it only for the ever so kind Paddy Power was paying for it and not me. Helping the food go down was a jug of frozen margarita. How very cosmopolitan of us. Definitely a place I’d go back to, I reckon I might give Tommy Bowe a shot next week…

Last night saw Saint Patrick’s Athletic somehow throw a two goal lead away to lose 3-2 to Bray Wanderers. Still, never mind what’s going on on the field of play, last night was a remarkable one in the stands.

The Shed End Invincibles celebrate ten years this year. Last night saw the group unveil a display in tribute to Paddy ‘Ginger’ O’Rourke, a Saint Patrick’s Athletic and League of Ireland legend who passed on recently. For ninety minutes, the groups flags stayed up and one continuous chant of ‘We are the Red Army’ got a good airing through most of the second half, even with Bray knocking two goals in soon after one another. The sight of an entire block in the stand with their backs to the pitch bouncing is some spectacle, not least with the red flags waving.

If the League is to prosper, it’s critically important clubs facilitate ultras groups like the SEI. Last night saw the traditional ‘first game back’ scenes of people bringing friends for the first time and many children being taken to their first match. The roar in the stands is just as likely to bring people back to Richmond Park as the action on the pitch.

Andrews Lane.

New piece from Maser, like it. Never a dull wall with this man about.