We Play On Fridays

In comic book parlance, managers are sheep-skin wearing, centre-halfs beefy, and wingers tricky customers who go on mazy runs. In modern professional football it can seem that garish, quaint cartoon stereotypes have little place; modern wingers are expected to defend as much as they attack and to play it safe rather than rampaging wildly down the flanks. Football is a much more considered, a much more serious, and a much more controlled environment that it’s brightly coloured stuff-of-myth ...

When it came, it came quickly.

In the space of a couple of years, Irish club sides went from being perennial whipping boys in European competition to competing – and beating – the best that Sweden had to offer.

I’ve been based in Stockholm for over twelve years now, moving from a dark, damp Dalymount to the terraces of Stockholm’s Olympic Stadium and Råsunda in 1999. In the beginning the Swedes were miles ahead. The year I moved here AIK faced Arsenal, Barcelona and ...

Shamrock Rovers supporter’s clubs have announced a boycott of all Bohemians merchandise and goods amid concerns over the threat their club faces from the Dalymount outfit.

The action follows closely on the heels of similarly effective action at Derry City last week, when hundreds of Hoops fans forsook the pleasure of a nine hour round trip to the North to make the arduous journey to their nearest television instead.

A statement posted on the club’s website states: ...

The Half-time Oranges Order Troupe (HOOT) today welcomed Northern Ireland’s newest international footballer, Alex de Bruce. A spokeswoman for the HOOT, Lady Iris Robyerson, said: “Mr de Bruce is a true Ulsterman with roots in the mainland, who has fought to free himself from the chains of serfdom that has bound him to makey-uppy countries for too long. We look forward to receiving him into our bosom, erm, football team. My Gaaawwd, but he’s a fine, fit piece of Ulster manhood.”

...

His name is Gianni Infantino, an Italian who is currently the General-Secretary of UEFA, and even with stiff competition from the likes of Pierluigi Colina and James Richardson, he is undoubtedly my favourite bald man of football.

Let me explain.

Last month I attended the Europa League Final in the revamped Lansdowne Road stadium (or the ‘Dublin Arena’ as it was referred to on the night). Joining me were my girlfriend and a fellow Dundalk FC fan. As kick off approached ...

Reuters news agency are reporting that NATO have authorised a “shock and awe” attack on FIFA headquarters in Zurich. This amazing development comes in the midst of accusations of corruption and misappropriation of funds at the highest level of world football’s governing body. It is understood that the UN Security Council are keen to bring about regime change at the organisation which has been ruled with an iron fist by Swiss overlord Sepp Blatter since 1998.

FIFA has been at the centre ...

Wearing my Derry City shirt over here in England I do get the odd, er…odd look. I’ve been mistaken for a Stoke City, a Sunderland, and an Inter Milan fan, among others on occasion (home, home, and away kits respectively). We play ‘jumpers-for-goalposts’ (or Finn Harps) level football in the park at the weekend and while it’s can be a great way of breaking the ice with people, everyone spent last weekend asking me how I felt about losing the FA Cup to Manchester City.

Sadly, it’s the ...

Both sides of Manchester will be celebrating this weekend as both United and City clinched the top prizes in English domestic football. For them and, indeed, all British clubs, players and fans, it's almost time for a well-earned breather before the pre-season matches, transfer speculation and season 2011-12 preparations get fully underway in July.

On this side of the water through, we're just into a dozen games into the season with plenty to come, not least the inevitable trials ...

We’ve all heard it; like a particularly tone-dead, annoying, half-witted cuckoo heralding the Spring, it recurs with depressing regularity, often around this time of the year as the Premiership season nears it’s conclusion.

Yes, it’s that hoary old chestnut, “I don’t go to League of Ireland games because the fans are too cliquey and they won’t make someone outside their gang feel welcome.” League of Ireland fans “look down from a self-appointed pedestal,” denigrating those foolhardy ...

Occasionally, just occasionally, I regret being a League of Ireland fan. It can be downright torture. Most people living in Dublin recognise the infamous rivalry between Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers, even if they have little interest in the League. Bohs-Rovers derbies are greeted by certain tabloid newspapers as the coming of the apocalypse in sporting terms. When violence rears its head on these occasions, it receives blanket coverage. You try to hold your head up as people quiz you about the ...