Irish fans and the Paris experience
I felt this topic deserved a thread of its own for what was a pretty incredible few days on and off the field. The show of emotion by Shay Given particularly on the field at the end was mirrored off the field by the travelling thousands of Irish fans and as much as Shay, the rest of the players and management, deserves acclaim so to do the Irish travelling support in their contribution to what will be one of the most memorable nights in Irish football, and not all for the right reasons, that reason been Thierry Henry's contribution to our World Cup 'sortie'. Indeed the echo of protest may well linger for some time to come leading to inevitable head scratching, and ultimate silencing, at the top table of footballs world governing body.
For the most part the week was entirely positive. I can't say I was overly confident travelling but to be honest in this game you presume nothing and see how it goes. How it went was beyond my wildest expectations. Killer Kilbane was 10 years younger in that game considering his contribution to the first game. I like Kilbane and his contribution to Irish football but he was seriously found out in the 1st leg. Maybe with a different view from the stands I couldn't fault him on effort in Paris. I thought France shaded the first half in the 1st Leg and asserted influence a hell of a lot more in the second half. No such summary of events in Paris. We controlled the game and dominated them. Seeing McShane come on forced my hands to my face, a look to the skies and a half rotation with my back to the play. Again the lad was in an entirely different frame of mind and despite a clumsy moment with Anelka and getting caught out with a French forward turning him to get a cross in I thought he did well.
Despite the events surrounding the winning 'goal', of which I was hopelessly unaware of at the time, Irish players and fans once again showed the greatest dignity despite being cheated of the chance, to progress to the World Cup Finals. Lets be honest, after the last couple of years of the very darkest clouds of recession hovering over the country, we needed, as much as any other nation, some hope, the notion of a ray of sunshine to warm a feebling country. It could be said cheating partly led to our recession and cheating led to our world cup exit at that.
Irish players and fans united at the end. I didn't expect any less and no player in my opinion better exemplified the pain and heartache of defeat alongside ultimate respect for the travelling support than Shay himself. It was a very very sombre and proud few moments but alas another dream died.
Its always great to be able to go away following your international team and be afforded the warmth and generosity of the hosting nation and people and its something few countries can actually claim to be able to do. It felt different this time and its a few years since it felt this good, it felt very much that we deserved to be in that position. In all honesty we deserved our place in South Africa already but FIFA had other plans in how the World Cup competition should be played out. We were going there still in a tie against arguably on paper one of the better sides in the world. And we beat them. In 90 minutes, on their patch we beat them. We beat them on the field and off the field in terms of support. In fact French support is very very poor and they almost needed cajoling into supporting their side.
Apart from saying the above I have to say thanks to a few people here who were very helpful in particularly sorting match tickets. Acquiring them wasn't a problem in the end and the touts were outdone in their efforts. Thanks 'philkildare' for sorting my ticket and meeting me there. It was nice to enjoy a couple of pints together. As much a thanks must go to the lads who sent me messages offering tickets. Casso and Philkildare particularly as I missed my flight on Monday eveining and so had to make alternative arrangements. It played out a little differently than I expected and arriving in Paris in a smoking pick up truck driven by a smiling, potentially psychopathic, Japanese man who spoke no English whatsoever and nodded continuously on my asking him 'was he sure he understood I needed to go to Paris?'. It didn't help one bit that this clapped out and unidentifiable vehicle make, let alone model, had a still working tape cassette player which replaced the broken radio which only played one song over and over again and so if I ever ever hear 'Boy George's 'Do you really want to hurt me' ever again I am admitting myself to care. I eventually took a huge gamble, which the decision making process thankfully wiled away an hour of the journey, and switched the cassette off and only glanced at him for a few moments smiling apolegetically and in fear. I've never left a vehicle so quckly in my life and despite the early hour of about 6.50am I had a couple of pints. A few mates came over from Nottingham too and its always good to have a pint with Ed and Anthony whether in Greaneyfriars, Nottingham or under the Eiffel Tower at 3pm on a Wednesday afternoon. I met up with a few of the YBIG lads and while I'm not a man who frequents YBIG very much it was still good to meet them. I casually let drop I was more to be found on foot.ie than YBIG it got a certain chorus of boos in particular. For those that do pop over here they know who they are.
A few mentions have been made of the type of behaviour that is almost entirely influenced by football across the water and it wouldn't be too surprising that many of those subscribing to such behaviour would indeed quote 'The Pool' or' United' as 'their clubs' when asked who they follow. Oh 'and Ireland too' might shortly follow. Its not overly surprising to most of us here that the number of fellas I met over the few days who were along to support their home country might describe themselves, as one was described to me, as 'a mad Liverpool fan'. Anyhow the irony us undoubtedly lost, clouded and confused by the tide of alcohol that accompanys their support. In any case what I wanted to say before turning toward a rant was these small numbers who are hell bent on giving our support a bad name need reeling in, pulling to one side and put in line. Its a small minority but enough to do our good name no favours at all.
Anyhow thats turned into a rant, a familar rant heard here and I guess the outcome of the game will resonate for some time to come. We'll talk about it for years to come and the story may even grow legs and turn into something glorious, magnificent and legendary. Like stories of Cuchulain or na Fianna of Ireland old.
I've no doubt there are photo's from the trip. It might be a nice place to put them.
