other matches this weekend

[Bradywasking]

The Irish football season ended yesterday with the FAI Cup Final being played at The Aviva Stadium. (formally Landsdowne Road) ..Shamrock Rovers beat League title winners Dundalk on penalties in front of 33,000 people.
It is Rovers' first Cup win since 1987 and yet they hold the record for cup wins. Shamrock Rovers stadium is less than ten minutes walk from my home. They are in the council owned stadium ten years. Intermittently over the ten years I have attended games there. In the season just finished I only missed two home games and one away Cup tie. The football isn't great and Rovers have a notorious element following them but by and large I really enjoyed the season. Unsanitised and ugly as some of it was..There is something good about supporting a local club. Rock up 30 minutes before kickoff and pay €15 for a ticket. Good atmosphere generally with an edge for the Dublin derbys.
Maybe older fans like me want football to be as it was, not a social media style accessory that the Premier League has become in Dublin. Irish club football is earthy and coarse, the stands are not for the faint hearted at times and if you accept that Salah , Kane etc are not on the pitch then it really can be enjoyable.
The Irish league's biggest critics in Ireland are the ones who have never been , the same ones who will only know when "we" ( United or Liverpool) are playing if Sky are hyping up their next game. There was comments on this forum over the years from posters who are going to lower or non league local club games as it gives them that sense of belonging again , I now understand those comments.

Interesting post BWK - something I can relate to during my hibernation period in Wenger's last few years when I went to watch Bromley on a Saturday afternoon. Got to decide on the morning of the game whether to go or not because you can pay at the turnstile. Plus got to have a few beers not just before and after the game but also during it.

Saw Bromley promoted to the National League (formerly The Conference) and was there when they thrashed Leyton Orient 6-1. Really quite enjoyed it - although it wasnt lost on me that I was only doing it because Wenger and the PL had become so grotesque. Hopefully won't be forced back down that route but it remains an option in the back of my mind.

I chose not to go to the Emirates during the last three or four seasons of Wenger's reign as I was so pissed off with the whole thing..However I wouldn't see going to a local side as a kind of substitute. Going to Arsenal from Dublin takes planning and is expensive, going local doesn't and isn't expensive. Going to watch my local team is an antidote to saturation football on TV and social media. It is an escape from the plastic populism that is the Premier League here in Dublin..It is everything that bandwagonism isn't..It isn't the know alls in the pub or work canteen..It is a hard core support for something that isn't attractive to the fly by night fans..

[mcdowell42]

Sons red card has been rescinded

[Clash]

Sons red card has been rescinded

Should be retrospectively given a yellow for that blatant dive making it two yellows instead then!

[Bradywasking]

Sons red card has been rescinded

Should be retrospectively given a yellow for that blatant dive making it two yellows instead then!

Didn't see the foul but an Arsenal supporting friend described it as a "typical Spurs foul, late and cowardly..just designed to break up play"...

[Clash]

The Irish football season ended yesterday with the FAI Cup Final being played at The Aviva Stadium. (formally Landsdowne Road) ..Shamrock Rovers beat League title winners Dundalk on penalties in front of 33,000 people.
It is Rovers' first Cup win since 1987 and yet they hold the record for cup wins. Shamrock Rovers stadium is less than ten minutes walk from my home. They are in the council owned stadium ten years. Intermittently over the ten years I have attended games there. In the season just finished I only missed two home games and one away Cup tie. The football isn't great and Rovers have a notorious element following them but by and large I really enjoyed the season. Unsanitised and ugly as some of it was..There is something good about supporting a local club. Rock up 30 minutes before kickoff and pay €15 for a ticket. Good atmosphere generally with an edge for the Dublin derbys.
Maybe older fans like me want football to be as it was, not a social media style accessory that the Premier League has become in Dublin. Irish club football is earthy and coarse, the stands are not for the faint hearted at times and if you accept that Salah , Kane etc are not on the pitch then it really can be enjoyable.
The Irish league's biggest critics in Ireland are the ones who have never been , the same ones who will only know when "we" ( United or Liverpool) are playing if Sky are hyping up their next game. There was comments on this forum over the years from posters who are going to lower or non league local club games as it gives them that sense of belonging again , I now understand those comments.

Interesting post BWK - something I can relate to during my hibernation period in Wenger's last few years when I went to watch Bromley on a Saturday afternoon. Got to decide on the morning of the game whether to go or not because you can pay at the turnstile. Plus got to have a few beers not just before and after the game but also during it.

Saw Bromley promoted to the National League (formerly The Conference) and was there when they thrashed Leyton Orient 6-1. Really quite enjoyed it - although it wasnt lost on me that I was only doing it because Wenger and the PL had become so grotesque. Hopefully won't be forced back down that route but it remains an option in the back of my mind.

I chose not to go to the Emirates during the last three or four seasons of Wenger's reign as I was so pissed off with the whole thing..However I wouldn't see going to a local side as a kind of substitute. Going to Arsenal from Dublin takes planning and is expensive, going local doesn't and isn't expensive. Going to watch my local team is an antidote to saturation football on TV and social media. It is an escape from the plastic populism that is the Premier League here in Dublin..It is everything that bandwagonism isn't..It isn't the know alls in the pub or work canteen..It is a hard core support for something that isn't attractive to the fly by night fans..

Nice post again mate. The sad thing is everything we've both described about attending matches local to us was almost what 1st division football used to be like in the pre-sky PL era.

Obviously not quite the same for you guys in Ireland that had to plan trips in advance and pay for travel, like you say. But the matches were cheap and the experience was raw. And often in the 80s at least, the crowd was made up mostly of hardcore supporters for the majority of games.

[Retro Gunner]

The Irish football season ended yesterday with the FAI Cup Final being played at The Aviva Stadium. (formally Landsdowne Road) ..Shamrock Rovers beat League title winners Dundalk on penalties in front of 33,000 people.
It is Rovers' first Cup win since 1987 and yet they hold the record for cup wins. Shamrock Rovers stadium is less than ten minutes walk from my home. They are in the council owned stadium ten years. Intermittently over the ten years I have attended games there. In the season just finished I only missed two home games and one away Cup tie. The football isn't great and Rovers have a notorious element following them but by and large I really enjoyed the season. Unsanitised and ugly as some of it was..There is something good about supporting a local club. Rock up 30 minutes before kickoff and pay €15 for a ticket. Good atmosphere generally with an edge for the Dublin derbys.
Maybe older fans like me want football to be as it was, not a social media style accessory that the Premier League has become in Dublin. Irish club football is earthy and coarse, the stands are not for the faint hearted at times and if you accept that Salah , Kane etc are not on the pitch then it really can be enjoyable.
The Irish league's biggest critics in Ireland are the ones who have never been , the same ones who will only know when "we" ( United or Liverpool) are playing if Sky are hyping up their next game. There was comments on this forum over the years from posters who are going to lower or non league local club games as it gives them that sense of belonging again , I now understand those comments.

Interesting post BWK - something I can relate to during my hibernation period in Wenger's last few years when I went to watch Bromley on a Saturday afternoon. Got to decide on the morning of the game whether to go or not because you can pay at the turnstile. Plus got to have a few beers not just before and after the game but also during it.


Good posts BWK and Clash. Really interesting and thought provoking perspective.

Saw Bromley promoted to the National League (formerly The Conference) and was there when they thrashed Leyton Orient 6-1. Really quite enjoyed it - although it wasnt lost on me that I was only doing it because Wenger and the PL had become so grotesque. Hopefully won't be forced back down that route but it remains an option in the back of my mind.

I chose not to go to the Emirates during the last three or four seasons of Wenger's reign as I was so pissed off with the whole thing..However I wouldn't see going to a local side as a kind of substitute. Going to Arsenal from Dublin takes planning and is expensive, going local doesn't and isn't expensive. Going to watch my local team is an antidote to saturation football on TV and social media. It is an escape from the plastic populism that is the Premier League here in Dublin..It is everything that bandwagonism isn't..It isn't the know alls in the pub or work canteen..It is a hard core support for something that isn't attractive to the fly by night fans..

Nice post again mate. The sad thing is everything we've both described about attending matches local to us was almost what 1st division football used to be like in the pre-sky PL era.

Obviously not quite the same for you guys in Ireland that had to plan trips in advance and pay for travel, like you say. But the matches were cheap and the experience was raw. And often in the 80s at least, the crowd was made up mostly of hardcore supporters for the majority of games.

Good posts BWK and Clash. Really interesting and thought provoking perspective.

[OneBardGooner]

And this one gets straight to the point:


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50309214


Great that's all we need any feckin' excuse for those jobless, gobshyte robbing scouse cuntts to have yet something else to whinge and moan about.

[Bradywasking]

And this one gets straight to the point:


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50309214


Great that's all we need any feckin' excuse for those jobless, gobshyte robbing scouse cuntts to have yet something else to whinge and moan about.

Liverpool are never at full strength when VAR isn't in operation.

[mcdowell42]

Chavs losing 4-2 at home

[SteveO 35]

Chavs losing 4-1 at home

The latest 11 game genius getting a stuffing !

[mcdowell42]

Ajax down to 9 men, ref just sent 2 of them off

[mcdowell42]

Ajax down to 9 men, ref just sent 2 of them off and given a pen against them

[IW8Goalmachine]

Very harsh penalty

[mcdowell42]

4-4 now

[SteveO 35]

Getting dicked 1-4 with 11 v 11

Two penalties, oppo down to 9 men, 4-4 draw......19 minutes to get the winner against 9 men

Tactical genius that Lampard guy....