Class (and so true)Article from City Edition
[SIZE=4]Getting a Grip[/SIZE]
Gerry Desmond poses a simple question: are you a supporter, or not?
Turners Cross is a marvellous place – a compact little soccer stadium; the spiritual home of Leeside football; the Rebel Army’s residence of choice; a haven of dreams for generations of League of Ireland fans; a crucible of creativity over the years; a cauldron of hate on occasion; a storehouse of a million memories.
Turners Cross - the ‘Cross, the Box, the X – we love it, and why shouldn’t we? All true fans love their own patch, of course, so we’re far from unique on that score. But here’s the thing about it: technically, even though we may not own it, either as a club or as individuals, it nevertheless remains ours and nobody can change that. It’s more a question of identity than actual ownership; it’s more to do with the soul than the body.
It’s a neat little place, too, is Turners Cross, vastly improved now over the past few years compared to the open, grassy-banked, wire-fenced kip that I remember and cherished so much when growing up around the corner in Maiville Terrace. Sure, it’s a wee bit tight to be really comfortable even now, both on and off the pitch, but you know: be it ever so humble…
Every week this old stadium stands witness to a bustling city, to an endless stream of traffic on Curragh Road, to people on their way to work, on their way to town, to the church, to the local schools, to the funeral home, to the Horseshoe and the Tavern, to PJ Turners and the Evergreen, while inside the mute Shed searches out the last faint echo of the previous weekend’s mighty roars and a chill wind blows the length of the vacant Donie Forde Stand, and then on up through the open seating at the St Anne’s Park end. Empty and still before the Friday evening throng arrives, the ghosts of Cork Celtic and Evergreen United have the place to themselves until matchday. Then, all is transformed and a renewed vibrancy courses through the ground, up and down the Derrynane, over and across to the Donie, back and forth from the Shed to St Anne’s. The place is transformed when we arrive; no, more than that, it is transformed because we arrive. It is electric with the buzz of our voices, with our energy, with our hopes. We make it what it is. We can decide how that will be although, naturally, the unpredictable ebb and flow of any football match, laced with every facet of human emotion and the occasional slice of benevolent or outrageous fortune, brings an evocative mix that few other pursuits can equal. This is why we come here. We can make this an inspiring place, as so often in the past, or we can make it a millstone on a team’s back, as currently seems to be the case. We can choose how it will be…
Most teams love to play at Turners Cross. It’s a good place to come, in League of Ireland terms: there will be a passionate crowd, probably the biggest of any given weekend, and the home team will usually give you a decent game. Most teams love to play here – you just wonder at the moment if City’s players feel the same way about it.
You can prove anything with statistics, of course, but with just two points gleaned at this venue and none surrendered on four trips outside the People’s Republic from Donegal to Dalymount indicates something is amiss with the side’s home form. George O’Callaghan spoke openly on TV during the past week about this issue and the pressure on the team in home games and how much easier they find life on the road. This comes as no surprise to anyone who sits in the Donie match after match and listens to the abuse that City players, George probably more than most, suffer from their own so-called supporters. It’s not just the Donie Forde Stand, either, and (before you start posting those letters of protest), it’s not everyone in the Donie who chooses to get on the players’ backs at the first stray pass or the initial disappointing corner kick. But there are a lot of people here every week who pay their money and slate the team for quite a portion of the ninety minutes and beyond. Many feel this is their right, and maybe it is, but read on…
There has been a noticeable decrease this season, in my opinion, in the tolerance level of on-pitch errors. More and more people, it seems to me, simply cannot wait to have a cut off whoever has made the seemingly unforgivable mistake. The players are human and here’s an important insight: because of this, they will make mistakes. It will save a lot on therapy later if you embrace this fact now.
You pay your money at the gate, or stump up big time for your season ticket; does this entitle you to berate players, managers or officials as you see fit? Think about it, for a moment. Do you – or I for that matter – not have a responsibility to behave in a decent way? Granted, the concept of basic decency may be a tad lofty for many in today’s world, but we do live in a society that has its rules and boundaries, no less so at a sporting event, no less so at Turners Cross.
Things are different here this season for some reason. There is an unwelcome change about the mood of the place. There is less patience – practically no patience – and very little general encouragement when things start to go wrong and so far not much has gone right in our three previous league outings here. I am aware that sections of the Shed and the Family Enclosure, for instance, sing and drum their hearts out at every game, but there is an increasing number out there – perhaps even approaching a majority – that is overly negative and downright abusive when things aren’t constantly rosy. Of course I’m on dangerous ground here criticizing Corkonians, but quite a few people reading this would want to take a serious look at themselves and ask their consciences a few questions. Do I actually support the team, or do I simply howl disapproval and contempt at the earliest opportunity? Do I make it easier for a struggling or nervous player to improve by showering him with foul invective? If I don’t actually make it easier for that player because I have chosen to abuse rather than encourage him, am I, by extension, actually harming my own team’s chances? Answer honestly…
A lot of people’s dissatisfaction this year seems to stem from the sacking of Pat Dolan. This may not be the main reason for the general malaise about the place, but it is certainly a contributory factor. Pat may have been the Messiah we threw out with the bathwater, I can’t say, but it’s time to realize and accept that he’s not in our dressing room any more and he’s not on our bench. Due to circumstances beyond all our control, Pat is gone and it’s time for those Dolanites among us to get over it and to move on. The pro-Dolan faction in our midst and on the football forums might ask themselves: what can we achieve by this? If we had a similar situation every time a manager departed in unhappy circumstances we would have a really strong Derek Mountfield faction by now, a still-outraged Rob Hindmarch faction, a truly disgruntled Eamon O’Keefe faction and a very long-established Bobby Tambling faction. And where would that get us? Top of the squabblers’ league, which is where we usually are anyway…Of course, it’s not simply about Pat Dolan and a legion of misguided or unhappy loyalists. Truly, it’s more a matter of positive support here at the ‘Cross, or the lack of enough of it.
So it’s time to get a grip and to move on. It’s time to decide whether you are a Cork City supporter or simply a paying punter at the gate with a lot of issues that you are incapable of dealing with elsewhere. That may be harsh but, in my view, a supporter, by definition, supports and should do so for the ninety minutes. Let your frustrations go after that, if you must. But, like, booing the team off at half time in the second game of the season – come off the stage! The team might not be bubbling at the ‘Cross just now but we’re a hard audience to work and a difficult crowd to please, so we are. If we want things to improve, we have to make a positive contribution also.
City have lost two games since the season kicked off. The first was to a penalty kick, the other to a disputed and highly suspect goal. The team is second in the table and still in with a decent shout of reaching the Setanta Cup decider, while the UEFA Cup, League Cup and FAI Cup have all still to be rolled out. There are twenty other teams who would readily swap positions with us now without a second thought. Yet the critics are out in force on Friday evenings and the message boards are alive with ‘Lennox out’ and ‘Sack the board’ and ‘Rico out’, as well as slamming other individuals associated with the club. Every game at Turners Cross this season I have seen people apoplectically outraged at the performance of the home team. Jesus wept, it’s not been that bad. I can remember seasons that were absolutely dire in the extreme, seen football that was inept beyond description. It’s time to get a grip, starting this evening, for the sake of the team. For the sake of the team…....(part 2 below)
