Linfield-Rovers 1984

[superfrank]

Seen as the Glens-Shels match is coming up I wanted to know about the last time North-South teams met in European Cup.

Anybody here who went to either games? Anybody got a bit more information then I did. All I got was that Linfield won an away goals and some lad called Jeffrey (David?) got the goal. I want to hear stories, come on.

[Cosmo]

When the drogs last played linfield in the lourdes stadium theres a legendry story about a local politician running around the track in front of the stands with a burning union jack. Thank f**k we've seen none of that s**t in the setanta cup

[Billy Lord]

About 50 Hoops went to Belfast for the first leg, which was a quiet enough affair played in front of what was a small crowd.
But the second leg was a different matter and there was a media frenzy as around 1,000 Linfield came down despite a ban on away fans (which applied to both legs). The entire Milltown Road was closed off for the game, which was played in the afternoon as per Gardai instructions, the crowd was limited to 2,500 and all the boozers in Ranelagh were forced to shut.
The Linfield crowd was hemmed in on the St Anne's quadrant at the Gonzaga End of the ground and completely surrounded by coppers. Rovers fans were confined to the main stand and the Shed, where there was also a large Garda presence. The atmosphere was as you might imagine, but the sheer volume of coppers made for a trouble-free afternoon.
Due to injuries and the recent loss of the great Liam Buckley-Alan Campbell axis, Rovers were without any proper strikers and centre-half Peter Eccles deputised in attack. He equalised Jeffrey's opener but, as the first leg had been scoreless, Linfield went through on away goals.
After the final whistle, all the Linfield players and coaching staff ran to their fans, and they sang The Sash, God Save The Queen and other loyalist ditties. Con Houlihan stood with them, Eoghan Harris-style.
And that's how I recall it 21 years later.

[superfrank]

Was it David Jeffrey?? :confused:

[Dublin12]

1,000 Linfield hmm,I was at that game and remember there was supposed too be no away support,we were outside the ground and suddenly 3 or 4 mini busses pulled up with Linfield fans,maybe about 70/80,no way was there 1,000.

[WeAreRovers]

maybe about 70/80,no way was there 1,000.

I have it on video and there's 100s of them in the corner of the Gonzaga End. Maybe not 1000 but not far off it.

Anyway, what would you know? You seem to be under the impression that Leeds is in Dublin 12 or vice versa. ;)

KOH

PS Billy - "Con Houlihan stood with them, Eoghan Harris-style" Brilliant. Good old Con, he was ashamed to be Irish before Harris and the Sunday Indo turned into a national obsession. :rolleyes:

[Dublin12]

Ok,a couple of hundred :rolleyes: ,no where near 1,000 though,and I don't remember any Rovers fans going to Belfast either as the chant that day from the few that came down was "Scared to come to Windsor". Btw,I'm under no impression about anything,I follow Leeds,have done all my life and Dublin12 is a handle on a web ok,I sometimes go to matches in el or league of Ireland games as they were known then,I'd say I was going to them while you were still sh!tting yellow ;) :D

[Jerry The Saint]

I have it on video and there's 100s of them in the corner of the Gonzaga End. Maybe not 1000 but not far off it.

Anyway, what would you know? You seem to be under the impression that Leeds is in Dublin 12 or vice versa. ;)

KOH

PS Billy - "Con Houlihan stood with them, Eoghan Harris-style" Brilliant. Good old Con, he was ashamed to be Irish before Harris and the Sunday Indo turned into a national obsession. :rolleyes:

As a Pats man, I think you'll find that he was ashamed to stand with Shamrock fans. :D

[WeAreRovers]

Dublin 12 - I was only having a laugh with the Leeds jibe - hence the smiley. BTW I can introduce you to some of the lads who went to Windsor if you still think no one went.

Jerry - If I was a Pats fan I'd be permanently ashamed. ;)
Con Houlihan has a long track record of anti-Republicanism which occasionly spills over into outright stupidity - like standing with hardcore Loyalist Linfield fans in 1984.

KOH

[Dublin12]

Ok,the ol grey matter is playing tricks on me today,must be the sun :D

[DvB]

Was at the game myself & i have to say if there wasnt 1000 of the Nordies there wasnt far from it, alot more than 200 odd as suggested! It was my first european game and sticks in my memory quite well!
Noisy shower they were too once they scored! The only time i remember them being quiet was after we equalised & pushed forward for the winner, the last few minutes there wasnt a peep out of them! At the final whistle they went unsuprisingly bananas!! The weird atmosphere was my single biggest memory of the game though!

Koh

[gspain]

I was there in the main stand. Great game of football. Rovers poured forward for the last half hour and seemed certain to score but Linfield held on. Neville Steedman had a great game but he was kicked all over Milltown. There were highlights of the first leg on tv as well. Poor game and typical scoreless draw.

No way was there anything like 1,000 away fans at most 200 and much less imo.

I don't remember the atmosphere being that tense however great atmosphere. Security was tight over the trouble at Bohs v Rangers 2 weeks earlier. A few Rovers fans stayed behind to stone the Linfield fans afterwards but the guards quickly dispersed them. We nearly got caught up in it as we were slow leaving the ground.

Football wise it was a very disappointing day for our league and that was a great Rovers side and I certainly expected them to win.

Linfield went on to meet Panathinaikos, lost 2-1 to an 88th minute goal in Greece, raced into a 3-0 lead in Belfast but lost their heads and drew 3-3. I thought that Rovers team could have done far better in Europe with a bit of luck. They murdered ****** 2 years later and lost 1-0 to a late goal. Liam O'Brien was different class to anyone on the field that night.

Typical Rovers though, I nearly always wanted them to lose and they invariably won yet the few times I wanted them to win they lost.

[sonofstan]

I have it on video and there's 100s of them in the corner of the Gonzaga End. Maybe not 1000 but not far off it.

Anyway, what would you know? You seem to be under the impression that Leeds is in Dublin 12 or vice versa. ;)

KOH

PS Billy - "Con Houlihan stood with them, Eoghan Harris-style" Brilliant. Good old Con, he was ashamed to be Irish before Harris and the Sunday Indo turned into a national obsession. :rolleyes:

How does standing with the fans of an Irish football team make you ashamed to be Irish?

[green-blood]

oh good lord will you stop setting yourself up for a hiding

Hoolihan has always been an idiot on this topic, it is possible to have a republican outlook without supoprting Sinn Fein or the IRA ya know!!! ****.

[sonofstan]

Agree it's possible to be republican without supporting the provies - in fact, since any notional republic will presumably include some Linfield fans - unless you have some sort of sudeten- land style settlement in mind - standing with them might be the true sign of a real republican. Agree, though, that COn standing with them might have been as much an anti rovers stance as anything else; just as the Bohs support for the blues in the Setanta cup final had much more to do with anti -shels sentiment than any 'protestant club' love in

[WeAreRovers]

How does standing with the fans of an Irish football team make you ashamed to be Irish?

I would have thought you were old enough to remember 1984. It was a wee bit different to today. Con Houlihan's decision to stand with the Linfield fans was a deliberately provocative act but hardly surprising coming from him.

All you have to do is read any of his books to see how anti-Republican he is. He was a revisionist long before it was popular or profitable. Even Eoghan Harris was still a Stalinist/Workers Party/pseudo-Republican type back then. Fortunately I haven't a clue what Kevin Myers was up to. ;)

KOH

[Passive]

Con Houlihan's decision to stand with the Linfield fans was a deliberately provocative act


That's what I love about Rovers - so many acts are "deliberately provocative" ;)

[sonofstan]

I would have thought you were old enough to remember 1984. It was a wee bit different to today. Con Houlihan's decision to stand with the Linfield fans was a deliberately provocative act but hardly surprising coming from him.

All you have to do is read any of his books to see how anti-Republican he is. He was a revisionist long before it was popular or profitable. Even Eoghan Harris was still a Stalinist/Workers Party/pseudo-Republican type back then. Fortunately I haven't a clue what Kevin Myers was up to. ;)

KOH

But was 'deliberately provocative' as a stickie or as a Pats fan? I am old enought to remember 1984 and I was a revisionist then too, speciality been winding up English lefties about their support for provo 'freedom fighters' just because they were taking on the brit. army, and whether they would be as enthusiastic about an english political party/ private army with an agenda of ethnic cleansing -as it wasn't called then - and militant, seperatist, identity politics - like for example, the BNP

[WeAreRovers]

But was 'deliberately provocative' as a stickie or as a Pats fan?

Are they not the same thing? ;)

Maybe 'deliberately provocative' is a bit strong when describing which wall Con Houlihan decides to prop up his ample frame on at a football match.

The point being that in the wake of the hunger strikes, daily mayhem in the north and the Bohs/Rangers game the Rovers/Linfield game was a lot different to Shels/Linfield the other week (a good thing IMO)

PS If you're equating the IRA and the BNP then you should be teaching revisionism because on that evidence you're a master.

KOH

[sonofstan]

PS If you're equating the IRA and the BNP then you should be teaching revisionism because on that evidence you're a master.

KOH

Knew that would get you ..... actually the real master of this particular argument was a certain bass player - and a Hoop - who I think we both know.

[WeAreRovers]

Knew that would get you ..... actually the real master of this particular argument was a certain bass player - and a Hoop - who I think we both know.

Some of us still go to games with him, at least you're spared that with your red and black allegiance. He's politics are very popular at Rovers, as you can imagine.

KOH

[Dr.Nightdub]

But was 'deliberately provocative' as a stickie or as a Pats fan?


Are they not the same thing? ;)

That's a bit rich coming from someone who's using Fianna bloody Fail slogans elsewhere to rally the C400 troops... :p

[WeAreRovers]

That's a bit rich coming from someone who's using Fianna bloody Fail slogans elsewhere to rally the C400 troops... :p

Are you stalking me? ;)

Anyway, it got the chancers elected didn't it? Or maybe it was just the electorate's gullibilty.

KOH

[gypsydownunder]

[QUOTE]I was there in the main stand. Great game of football. Rovers poured forward for the last half hour and seemed certain to score but Linfield held on. Neville Steedman had a great game but he was kicked all over Milltown. There were highlights of the first leg on tv as well. Poor game and typical scoreless draw.

No way was there anything like 1,000 away fans at most 200 and much less imo.

I don't remember the atmosphere being that tense however great atmosphere. Security was tight over the trouble at Bohs v Rangers 2 weeks earlier. A few Rovers fans stayed behind to stone the Linfield fans afterwards but the guards quickly dispersed them. We nearly got caught up in it as we were slow leaving the ground.

Football wise it was a very disappointing day for our league and that was a great Rovers side and I certainly expected them to win.

Linfield went on to meet Panathinaikos, lost 2-1 to an 88th minute goal in Greece, raced into a 3-0 lead in Belfast but lost their heads and drew 3-3. I thought that Rovers team could have done far better in Europe with a bit of luck. They murdered ****** 2 years later and lost 1-0 to a late goal. Liam O'Brien was different class to anyone on the field that night.

Typical Rovers though, I nearly always wanted them to lose and they invariably won yet the few times I wanted them to win they lost.
QUOTE]


That's probabaly about the best summary. There had been, obviously, loads of trouble at the Bohs - Rangers game (actually there were probably more Linfield supporters at that game!). So at the Rovers game, many just stayed away (and it was in the afternoon). And I think every cop in the city was at the game.

There were certainly hundreds of Linfield supporters there. But they were well segregated in the far corner. I remember Pat Byrne having a go at the shed after some Rovers nutter threw what looked like a lock at a Linfield player taking a throw. But the game was largely forgetful.

[superfrank]

FFS, noone's answered my question: Was it David Jeffrey that scored for Linfield??

[ShelsTim]

FFS, noone's answered my question: Was it David Jeffrey that scored for Linfield??

Yeah, so anyway, I think there was more than 200. :p