what does the EL mean to you?

[stranded]

what does the eircom league mean to you and what does it mean to you to support the club you love and how come you havent jumped on the bandwagon of following premiership clubs. not meant in an exclusive way but what makes you feel stronger about the eircom league

[Ringo]

only stared following Dublin City about two years ago. My first season they one the first division title. Last year they got relegated.i was there on both occassions. If your honest , you pick your team & stick with them. You really feel part of Dublin City.

[Hibs4Ever]

Saints are my local team, been watching them 23 years now, since I was 6

[cullenswood]

what does it mean to you to support the club you love and how come you havent jumped on the bandwagon of following premiership clubs.
I didn't know they were mutually exclusive.
But anyway, no eL club near me, so I really only got into it when I went to college. Started going to Belfield Park when we were in the First Division and we got promoted that year (1994/1995). Excellent footy that season, about 10 of us used to go to most of the games, which probably increased the crowd by about 20% :D Players got to know us cos we were the only ones making noise at the time.

Haven't gone to all the games since I left college but try to go to as many as I can when I am up in the "big smoke"!

[lefty]

Nearest Team to be by miles so started supporting them when i was in 6th class i think. Still remember my first time watching them like it was yesterday. Its was against Shamrock Rovers and i thought the atmosphere was brilliant. UCD won 1-0 and Jason Sherlock scored the winner :D

[KR's Post]

Started supporting Bray at the age of 7 when the uncle signed for them. And it has caught on ever since. I am ever present at home and away games and i just love the LIVE eircom league atmosphere and meeting other fans and getting ideas from them( thanks fourfiveone by the way for all your help). Hav been with the club through thick and thin. My Best memory was that rollercoaster FAI cup final in 1999 when we overcame a very good Harps side after 3 games. My worst memory refers back to 2003 season when Home Farm pipped us to the first division title in whitehall, still a magnificent game and one that was a credit to the el first division. Thanks TV3 for not having it on tv. 2500 away bray fans at an el first division game. Will we ever see this again???? :eek: Eircom League no1

[Buller]

Nearest Team to be by miles so started supporting them when i was in 6th class i think. Still remember my first time watching them like it was yesterday. Its was against Shamrock Rovers and i thought the atmosphere was brilliant. UCD won 1-0 and Jason Sherlock scored the winner :D
funny i dont remember that... i used to support a premier$hit team, (liverpool), until i went to my first rovers game when i was 11.. ahh...

[shedite]

Was swallowed up by the premiership fever during primary school, despite my dad taking me to the big city games. Started to get into City in 2nd year of secondary school when a guy I used to hang out with brought me along to games on a snuday afternoon. Fell in love with the atmosphere, started going to away games and eventually european games,

By the way, it's not mutually exclusive to follow an EL club. I support West Ham too, just not in the same way.

[paudie]

Something EL fans don't appreciate enough is that this league has a great history and tradition going back over 80 years.

We really should be proud to carry on this tradition,support our team and not be afraid to say it.

Every club has had its glory days (Athlone V Milan, Dundalk v Spurs Porto etc) and most are planning for the future to do their best to bring them back again (new stadiums for Athlone, Finn Harps).

I think Dolan once said that EL is the top level of senior soccer in this country and should be recognised as such.

Every fan should look forward to the new season optimistically (until the matches start anyway)

Keep the faith.

[harpskid]

Finn Harps are my team, the only senior team in the county and I take immense pride in following them.

Started going around '94 as an innocent wee 8 year old and haven't looked back since, just fell in love with the felling of watching a 'live' game unfold before me.

Watching the near misses, the last minute goals, the travelling to away games, singing songs with people I hardly even met before.

Some call me mad, I wouldn't have it any other way!

[sullanefc]

I would be a Spurs fan but I don't think it means as much to me as being a Cork City fan. I've been to White Hart Lane about 5 times, but I think the atmosphere at the cross is better. You can't beat live football, and it's much easier to get behind a local team than it is to get behind a team from accross the water. Having said that, being a Spurs fan is handy between November and March when there is no EL on :D

[Mark Breen]

Started going to Shel's in '92 took about another 3-4 years before i really got into it around the time of Shero's goal against pats in the FAI cup (What a goal). Anyway i think it was more the buzz around the stadium as more than the silky skill's of John o'Rouke or Brian Flood always a good laugh with a load of mates

[Neish]

Started going to Finn Park in 1993/94 season at the age of 13(well nearly 14), went regulary untill the middle of the 95/96 season when I got hooked and been going to most home games ever since. Before this I was a big Man U and Celtic fan, but really got Addcited to following my home town team ment a lot more to me than following teams from another country.

[Comic Book Guy]

Started going to Ramblers games in the early 80's when they were a non league team who would regularly beat league opposition. Supported them ever since thru thick or thin (mostly thin) but there's nothing to beat a live game.

[De Town]

Went to first Town game when I was 4 (10 years ago now). I didnt really know what was going on but got into it about 3 or 4 years later when I started to understand the game.

I remember the highs and lows well. Lows being 2-0 up at home to St.Francis with 9 minutes to go and losing 3-2 :( and highs coming in the last few years.

My favourite moment though was probably that night down in Cobh.........

[Dr.Nightdub]

It means...

...when my boss is on at me about when I plan to take my holidays, telling him "Wait til the fixture list comes out"

...it's harder to find / keep a girlfriend, cos not all women can accept the fact that I'm only available to see them six nights a week

...a quiet smile of recognition when you see someone wearing a Pats, Rovers or Bohs jersey

...walking along a street in Havana, Cuba two years ago, minding my own business, and this total stranger walking towards me stopping, pointing and going "Here, that's a Pats jersey - are you Irish?"

...sitting at a bar in Athens and Dodge texts me to say we got a free In the 92nd minute against Bohs and Robbie Doyle steps up... and texting him back "And then what fúcking happened you bástárd?" and him texting me back and me dancing around the table

...not getting dragged into interminable conversations about whether Liverpool are good enough to finish fourth - "Sorry pal, I don't follow English football"

...not having to fly to home games

...sitting on a bus for four hours is NOT a waste of time

...walking into McDowells before a match and it's like Cheers, everybody knows your name

...being at a do in the Gresham a few weeks back and discovering that one of the barmen was a Pats fan. You wouldn't believe how much vodka a good barman can squeeze into a glass :cool:

...being in Kilkenny on 1st May 1998

...being in the Riverside the night we played Shels after getting the nine points back

...getting to see Keith Fahey, Paul Osam, Eddie Gormley, Martin Russell play

...getting to scream abuse at people that are much bigger than me and not end up in hospital

...learning to love the smell of flare smoke

...walking along Emmet Road towards Richmond on match nights and feeling the tingle

[harpskid]

Great post Doctor!

Indeed i'd like to echo one of your points - sitting on a bus for hours is NOT a waste of time. Away games are class in the eL :cool:

[gustavo]

has dr nightdub managed to rival the "bad flight" post for post of the month :eek: ..,. i think so!

[Éanna]

It means...

...when my boss is on at me about when I plan to take my holidays, telling him "Wait til the fixture list comes out"

...it's harder to find / keep a girlfriend, cos not all women can accept the fact that I'm only available to see them six nights a week

...a quiet smile of recognition when you see someone wearing a Pats, Rovers or Bohs jersey

...walking along a street in Havana, Cuba two years ago, minding my own business, and this total stranger walking towards me stopping, pointing and going "Here, that's a Pats jersey - are you Irish?"

...sitting at a bar in Athens and Dodge texts me to say we got a free In the 92nd minute against Bohs and Robbie Doyle steps up... and texting him back "And then what fúcking happened you bástárd?" and him texting me back and me dancing around the table

...not getting dragged into interminable conversations about whether Liverpool are good enough to finish fourth - "Sorry pal, I don't follow English football"

...not having to fly to home games

...sitting on a bus for four hours is NOT a waste of time

...walking into McDowells before a match and it's like Cheers, everybody knows your name

...being at a do in the Gresham a few weeks back and discovering that one of the barmen was a Pats fan. You wouldn't believe how much vodka a good barman can squeeze into a glass :cool:

...being in Kilkenny on 1st May 1998

...being in the Riverside the night we played Shels after getting the nine points back

...getting to see Keith Fahey, Paul Osam, Eddie Gormley, Martin Russell play

...getting to scream abuse at people that are much bigger than me and not end up in hospital

...learning to love the smell of flare smoke

...walking along Emmet Road towards Richmond on match nights and feeling the tingle
superb post Doc.

As for me, I was a one-time Leeds fan, went to the cross first when Gareth Cronin signed for City (my mother was teaching him at the time) and caught the bug. Got steadily more obsessed by the year, to the point where missing a game is to be avoided at all costs.

[yur man]

great post doc


i always loved football growing up but was never into watching unless it was a world cup or euro cup

started watching english football a little from 97 and changing 'my' teams like the weather. then looked on ireland as my 'kind of' club team but then i met more and more lower league fans who followed their team regardless and realised i had a team all along, back home

for the last 2 years now ive been following the eLeague and i wish i'd done it earlier. got to see cork play last year against waterford when i was back on holiday and it was class. even brought a man u fan with me (just doing my bit :) ) and he enjoyed it

this website and others have helped me a lot in getting into it. thanks adam, the mods and the regulars

being an internet fan for now will do. moving home in the summer and im looking forward to enjoying it properly, live, home and away as often as i can

go on city

[REVIP]

Eircom League is about community - seeing the same people in the same places at the Carlisle Grounds Friday after Friday.

It's about commitment - getting off your arse and going to a match instead of watching the over-hyped mercenaries in England playing on a big screen in the pub.

For me, it's about nostalgia too. Remembering standing on the terraces at Home Park to see Plymouth Argyle in the old Division 3 or at Huish to see Yeovil Town in the old Southern League (only teams in England that I know of taht play in green and white). Eircom League is proper football.

[Bosco]

Its about
-singing your heart out
-celebrating with hundreds of people you know
-loving your club
-meeting the players
-meeting people who know their soccer
-flags
-wearing your jersey with pride even if your getting funny looks
-travelling to liechenstein only to see your team lose but still cheering them off the pitch
-flares
-traveling to games
-appreciating the good times because you've experienced the bad
-rivalries
-seeing the quietest of people lossing thier head over a bad decision
-seeing the quietest of people sing with pride about their club
-seeing grown men cry when we won the cup
-seeing grown men have to leave the ground with nervousness
-last minute goals
-meeting fans of other clubs
-the buzz of winning a game
-waking up the next morning in a good mood
-taunting other fans and players when winning and knowing that its really getting to them
-getting so passionate that you forget whats going on around you
-falling down 3 rows of seats while celebrating
-hugging total strangers
-Total strangers from different parts of the country nodding at you with respect when your seen in an el jersey

[Martinho II]

great post doc!

myself and a few of the elder boys from section o have being travelling together to town matches since early 1990 when we were in abbeycartron!

i would go to a couple of matches a season but never went to the away matches at all! the ltfc players not too many of us fans knew them to see!

it is only over the last five years that I have got into them in a huge way. my first away match was in whitehall against home farm in 2000 in our promotion season and i got hooked!

i try to make every match if i can and I have certainly enjoyed the friendships i have made from following de town and the banter! there is no sport like it and I am literally buzzing right now!

[dcfcsteve]

great post doc!

myself and a few of the elder boys from section o have being travelling together to town matches since early 1990 when we were in abbeycartron!

Fair play to ya for being around since the Abbeycarton days Martinho. God, that place was awful - enough to put any one off football for life...



there is no sport like it and I am literally buzzing right now!

Take the batteries out if you can't find the on-off switch...... :D

[Longfordian]

I remember the travelling hordes from Derry in Abbeycartron, my first recollection of seeing someone drunk was a Derry fan in Abbeycartron,about 87 or 88 I'd say, it was that that's sent me on the slippery slope!

[OneRedArmy]

I remember the travelling hordes from Derry in Abbeycartron, my first recollection of seeing someone drunk was a Derry fan in Abbeycartron,about 87 or 88 I'd say, it was that that's sent me on the slippery slope!

Longfordian I suspect that was the game where you put 5 past us & one of our travelling fans, slightly the worse for wear, fell through the roof of the corrugated iron "stand" at Abbycarton.
:D

Continuing the theme of what the EL means, the social aspect amongst fans of different clubs is also a big positive.

Having seen the worst side of English football through living beside a few grounds, (pubs turned over, tatooed racist morons etc.) being able to have a pint in McDowell`s, Doyle`s, The Horseshoe etc. with opposition fans & talk EL football is particularly enjoyable.

[NY Hoop]

Brilliant post doc cant add anymore except watching your club win in Europe is without the biggest joy ever.


KOH

[Gareth]

Great posts.

I really find the one were your in a foreign country and you see a eL jersey and you cant help say "Theres a eL Jersey" a lil loud in the hope they hear very true.:) Even in Dublin I find myself nodding at the jerseys!! :) Its impossible to explain to people why you love it so much. I am use to the strange looks of people thinking your insane for not following a team abroad.

[Roo69]

I've been supporting Bray since 1990, one of our most famous hours. My 1st match that i can recall was the FAI cup final against St. Francis. I've been hooked ever since. I have followed them all over the country - North, South, East and West, if i don't have prior engagements i will be at a Bray game, and if i can't make it to a Bray game you can be sure that i'll be at the closest game to me. What even make it more of a passion for me is that some very good friends play for the club.

After several years of supporting them and getting to know the people within the club through away trips etc, i was asked to become a part of a working group, which has now evolved for me into working for the Commercial Department (Voluntry part-time basis) for the club. It's probably one of my favourite achivements to date. It is a great feeling to be invloved with an eL club, weather it be as a supporter or through working for the club

[niamh]

My Grandad brought me down to the Cross for my first game (1996 I think)and every time I'd visit we talked about what was going with City until he died at the end of last season.
City and Cork soccer have simply always been part of the family and always will be...My Dad's from Derrynane Road.

[Gareth]

Well my Dad brought me to my first game. I cant remember if it was 89 or 90. I use to support Liverpool in my primary school days, mainly because you needed to support a team when they divided up the lads for soccer games. So anyways pretty much immediately I lost whatever made me support liverpool and supported shels. Since then, my dad and I have gone to shelbourne games, and I love every minute of it.

Like you roo, I wanted to get involved somehow and so I kinda annoyed a few people and eventually got to do the website and I was delighted. I love doing it and spend far to much time at it, but its class to know you do something for the club you love. But right now I'm not going to say too much cos I haven't released the new site on time so I'll hush up again :) But the Eircom League in essence is to me about something that i will always associate with my dad!.

[bluemovie]

I support Liverpool, but there's no comparison with the Blues. The difference with the eircom League is that it's important that you turn up at matches and get behind your team. It doesn't matter to Premiership clubs that you support them even if you go over for a few games a season. If you didn't go, someone else would buy that ticket. In the eircom League, every supporter makes a difference and you feel appreciated - especially at away games.

As for highs and lows of supporting Waterford, probably the best moment, ironically, was Willie Bruton's goal in the Cup Final. The worst was losing the relegation play-off to Kilkenny Town a few years back.

Great to have it back. The last four months have been tough.
Blue til i die.