Euro 88

[Roberto]

Can I be the first on today the 26th anniversary. 'Who put the ball in the English net?'. Euro 88 memories, anyone care to share?

[Stuttgart88]

Wonderful wonderful day.

[Roberto]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH0iUW-HBjo

[punkrocket]

That was great, I hadn't seen the barely repressed delight of Brady's halftime contribution since the day itself. Refreshing to hear a panelist like St John so honestly backing England's opponents as well. No one mentioned John Barnes accent just how much a threat he was, funny that.

[Roberto]

Apart from the excitement and thrill of the games themselves I have two abiding memories of the trip to Euros:

1) We inter railed and were on our way to Gelsenkirken for final game when we stopped in Frankfurt late at night. The station was cordoned off and there was a bad atmosphere in the city. England were playing their final game the next day and as we strolled around waiting for our train we could hear chants of 'god save the queen' coming from bars. It was quiet enough on the streets around the station as there was a police presence. We probably had wandered a bit far from the station when suddenly a car screeched to a halt just after it passed us. Four big germans jumped out and approached with menace. We quickly opened our jackets to show our opel Irish jerseys. They stopped, went back to the car, opened the boot and came back and gave us a crate of beer. They then jumped back in the car and sped off. The police advised us when we got back to the station that german gangs were going around in cars looking for stray Brits.

2) Does anyone remember the puppet ALF (he was popular on rte at the time). One of the lads had the ALF puppet and brought it with him everywhere. In Heidleberg we passed a wino lying on the street and after we passed he started calling after us. We thought he was look for a few bob when suddenly he reached into an inside pocket of his dirty mack and took out a huge poster of ALF!!

[SkStu]

Apart from the excitement and thrill of the games themselves I have two abiding memories of the trip to Euros:

1) We inter railed and were on our way to Gelsenkirken for final game when we stopped in Frankfurt late at night. The station was cordoned off and there was a bad atmosphere in the city. England were playing their final game the next day and as we strolled around waiting for our train we could hear chants of 'god save the queen' coming from bars. It was quiet enough on the streets around the station as there was a police presence. We probably had wandered a bit far from the station when suddenly a car screeched to a halt just after it passed us. Four big germans jumped out and approached with menace. We quickly opened our jackets to show our opel Irish jerseys. They stopped, went back to the car, opened the boot and came back and gave us a crate of beer. They then jumped back in the car and sped off. The police advised us when we got back to the station that german gangs were going around in cars looking for stray Brits.

2) Does anyone remember the puppet ALF (he was popular on rte at the time). One of the lads had the ALF puppet and brought it with him everywhere. In Heidleberg we passed a wino lying on the street and after we passed he started calling after us. We thought he was look for a few bob when suddenly he reached into an inside pocket of his dirty mack and took out a huge poster of ALF!!

That's all brilliant. :)

I had to leg it to the shop (15 min round trip) on the orders of my Dad and pick up a block of raspberry ripple and wafers for dessert. I was ****ed off. Missed the first 3 minutes. #notarealfan

[OwlsFan]

Memories (belated):

(a) Almost shedding a tear when RTE showed pictures of the Aer Lingus plane carrying the team landing in Germany. We had at last arrived on the world stage after God knows how many attempts before that. The current generation of fan doesn't know what it was like never to have qualified for anything until that moment. We were non-entities in the football word and here we were with the elite 8 of Europe: Spain, Soviet Union, England, West Germany, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands. Despite what Dunphy is saying, we felt in no way inferior to any of these countries.
(b) Driving to the game with flags flying and other Irish cars eventually joining up and we ended up with a large convoy and the locals being very friendly.
(c) English game - (my first appearance on TV singing in a crowd shot at the game): Houghton goal and heart in mouth as Lineker threatened us time and time again with Big Mick depositing the ball in Row Z whenever possible.
(d) Soviet game: best performance and Ronnie Whelan's magic strike almost obscured by a blasted wave started by Germans at the game going round the ground at the time.
(e) Dutch game: Pocket of green in a sea of orange as the game was played at Gelsenkirchen near the Dutch border. Team relatively comfortable and McGrath hitting the post and then we lose with a few minutes to go. A semi-final just minutes away!! A semi-final. Hard to believe and a Final not beyond the bounds of possibility as 1st and 2nd in our group played out the Final. A few tears were shed after that game by some pretty hardened supporters.

If the games were played now, we would have matched the Dutch for support. That's what the first and subsequent qualifications did for the national team in the minds of the public.

Won a game we should have lost - drew a game we should have won - lost a game we should have drawn. The history of Irish international football in a nutshell. But it was great to have lived through that time. Amazing (or f@@@ing brilliant as we would have said then).

[Fixer82]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH0iUW-HBjo

Check out Kevin Moran's funky training jersey at 7.18

[DeLorean]

Interview with Gary Mackay here- (http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/columnists/liam-mackey/liam-mackey-the-real-mackay-297258.html)

That goal seriously changes the course of history, even outside of our own.

-There would have been no "Who put the ball in the English net"
-There would have been no Ronnie Whelan majestic shinner
-There would have been no Wim Kieft spinner
-There would have been no Marco Van Basten wonder goal
-Would the Dutch have even won their only major tournament?
-There would have been no Stutts

[BonnieShels]

Imagine what Stutts would be called.

[OwlsFan]

Interview with Gary Mackay here- (http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/columnists/liam-mackey/liam-mackey-the-real-mackay-297258.html)

He never mentioned the Christmas card I sent him every year thereafter while he remained at Hearts :(

[tetsujin1979]

he mentioned it before, definitely remember him saying he used to get Christmas cards every year

[DeLorean]

Big Jack's Russian Spy (http://pogmogoal.com/republic-of-ireland/big-jacks-russian-spy/21803/)

[seanfhear]

As I recall Tony Galvin was a down the wing and cross it type of player (and pretty damn fast)

Its funny how such a simple tactic could be so entertaining. You probably did need a certain type of centre forward.

As I already said that type of play was entertaining and Maybe the Kind of Players that could do it were under appreciated.