Come Here To Me!

The annual Match Programme Fair is coming up again, at St Andrews Parish Centre on Pearse Street.

It takes place on Sunday, May 30th

I only recently uncovered a box of copies of the SuperSaint programme from 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 under the bed, absolute gems. Every programme from 1999-2000 in particular opens with a 1,000 word essay from Pat Dolan on whatever was getting on his nerves that week.

For example,in Issue 13 of the campaign, Galway United at home, Dolan noted that

It is certainly not satisfactory for our youth to believe that supporting their team is about sitting in front of the TV. It is something bordering almost on fraud for RTE’s over exposed Premiership to rely on opinions of people not qualified to comment. As someone who has analysed games for TV and radio, both live in the stadium and ‘live’ in the studio in front of the telly, I can tell you that you can only truly appreciate the pattern of the game and the wider picture if you actually attend the match! How gullible as a nation have we become that we accept people pontificating about the merits of English soccer and decrying the merits of Irish soccer, who attend neither.

Indeed.

As well as a trip to Pearse Street, you could do worse than to make a trip out to the Phoenix Park for a free month long exhibition there on the history of football in the park.

“The exhibition was launched to mark the FAI taking over the lease for the football facilities in the Phoenix Park, which are known as ‘the Fifteen Acres’. The exhibition contains photographs documenting the history of football in the Fifteen Acres, beginning with the foundation of Bohemian Football Club at the Gate Lodge of the Phoenix Park on September 6th 1890 and including photographs of football clubs from the late 19th century right through to the present day”

Do both on the same day and then go home, stick the scarf on, play some Subbuteo and give Jack’s Heroes a spin.

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