First Away Trip Following Ireland

[mypost]

Totally biased choice of ground to favour the Dutch. It would be like, hmmmm, us playing in the Finals in the UK and we get to play our final game (which was always going to be the decider) in Belfast or Newry.

Going on that basis, we "arranged" for the 96 play-off to be held 200 miles from Dublin. Didn't help much.

The venues and dates were chosen long before teams qualified and the groups were drawn. Germany borders 9 countries, Holland is one of them. Obviously Schalke's old ground is going to favour them much more than us. We were clinging on for dear life in that game, and almost made it, but that's football, not a conspiracy theory.

[KK77]

First trip away was Wembley 91 EC Qualifier then USA 94 and play-off for Euro 96 at Anfield.

[OwlsFan]

I felt aggrieved at the time and still do when I look back on that sea of orange we had to face. Was the choice of grounds chosen for each group before the draws were made? The venues no doubt were but did they allocate the venues to specific games after the draw? It just annoyed me at the time. The Dutch were the better team on the day (they went on to win it) but we weren't being murdered. I can still see Paul McGrath collapsing in a heap when the goal went in.

Good point about Anfield though - the sea of green didn't help the ageing Irish team that day.

[Stuttgart88]

First away trip for me was Hampden in '87. We won 1-0, Lawrenson.

Got a boat, coach & ticket for £45 via Dave Bacuzzi Travel I think. I had no accomodation booked but some lads I met on the bus let me crash on their floor.

We were in the standing area in front of the old wooden stand. We were there well over an hour early and this 14 year old Glaswegian arrived beside us decked head to waist in Scotland gear. We gave him strange looks. He then took it all off and put it in a bag, revealing his Ireland kit. "Where I live I'd be beaten up for wearing it" he explained. The vast terrace at one end (the end we scored into) was empty until very near KO and then suddenly hordes of Celtic fans turned up all decked in green and white & tricolours, many of the flags bearing Republican slogans and some pretty sinister drawings and logos. All very educational for me at the time.

I have a vague recollection of a lot of Irish fans waiting in the car park for ages after the game waiting for Big Jack to come out and give us a wave which he eventually did, through a glass door in SFA reception I think.

On the way home we got an RUC escort through Belfast, possibly all the way from Larne, and all the way to Newry I think. They said there were concerns we'd get stoned from an overpass approaching Belfast. They told us to take down our flags and draw the curtains through Belfast. Some wag with a broad Dublin accent said "But they're fcucking orange"* and the RUC all laughed, but held firm nonetheless.

* pronounced "Oddange" in light of comments in another thread.

[HarpoJoyce]

Travelled around Yorkshire in 1991 during the World Student Games (Universade) based in Sheffield. The Universities side represents all students in Ireland. They played USA, Iran (IIR) and GB in the groups, and then played further ranking games finished around 12th. Coby Jones (USA) is the only footballer I know that has played WSG, Olympics and World Cup. There was alot of double-header matches from two different groups in the one evening so I saw about 13 teams of the 16 sides. The South Korea versus North Korea match was interesting to compare the sides. An Irish referee officiated, he had a poor reputation at home. But was giving a advantage whenever he could during that game. Including some dodgy decisions in favour of Sth Korea.
I missed the USA :Iran (IIR) game as the Ireland were playing GB in Scunthorpe's newish ground. Ireland just needed a draw, but lost 5:0 and Jon McCarthy GB striker that scored 4 goals later played some full Internationals for Northern Ireland. Its also funny because when he was substituted a few locals were turning around and saying "McCarthy?, that's an Irish name is'nt it?"

(IIRC, Ireland did the double in the 1500 athletics, Sonia O'Sullivan and some bloke both won their events.)

Tirane 2003 was the first away game for RoI. Landed in Budapest and spent three weeks traveling around until I got to Tirana. The first seven Irish fans I met had never been to an Irish game abroad before either. One chap had being in Albania before though. For me it scuppers the 'only regulars go to the difficult places' argument.

[Stuttgart88]

Jon McCarthy GB striker that scored 4 goals later played some full Internationals for Northern Ireland. Its also funny because when he was substituted a few locals were turning around and saying "McCarthy?, that's an Irish name is'nt it?"

I think he played for Oldham and got a lot of attention from Irish media & fans, but got overlooked by management, or maybe just wasn't eligible which wouldn't surprise me as eligibilty or availability never put our press off clamoring for a guy's selection.

[Noelys Guitar]

I can clearly remember fans planning to Travel to Argentina 78 if we had qualified. I've always wondered how we would have fared at the 78/82 World cups and how many fans would have gone. Argentina would have been the incredible. Junta in power. Hard and expensive place to get to in 78. And yet I reckon at least 5,000 would have somehow got there. We might even have qualifed for the knockout stages. Our opening game would ahve been against Argentina only for that cheating ref in Bulgaria.

[mypost]

I felt aggrieved at the time and still do when I look back on that sea of orange we had to face. Was the choice of grounds chosen for each group before the draws were made? The venues no doubt were but did they allocate the venues to specific games after the draw?

The times, dates and venues were, like all tournaments, decided before the draw was made. No team got to play all their games in the one city.

Russia had, for obvious political reasons, practically no fans at the tournament. They still got to the final, beating the Dutch in our group along the way, in Cologne.

[DeLorean]

Our opening game would ahve been against Argentina only for that cheating ref in Bulgaria.

There would have probably been another cheating ref against them!! especially at that tournament

[geysir]

My first away game was that 1-1 Wembley friendly already mentioned, in the long hot summer of ´76.
Wasn't really away though as I was parked in a squat in London working the building sites. If there is a dvd of that game and you're curious then watch it. Maybe my memory is selective but we had a great team firing on most cylinders that night. Giles was supreme along with Brady, Daly and Heighway in midfield. Not only did we outplay England, controlled the game, passed it elegantly around the hoof ball English but we also had clearly the better players. O'Leary was the new kid on the block and Stapleton up front.
I think there were about 15 from our building site at it, the hod carriers from Galway were not to be messed with and even though we were in a hostile section, I never felt safer
I couldn't begin to describe our despiration not to get beat. When Daly slotted home that penalty, a nation within a nation rose to their feet.
Can't remember much afterwards, except we all got in the Ford Transit and headed like the hammers to the Spread Eagle in Camden, in good time, the place was rocking as the game was being shown on the BBC, about an hours worth of the game delayed transmission.

[OwlsFan]

That's what annoys me when I hear about Charlton and his golden generation of players like Chris Morris, Tony Cascarino, Tony Galvin and others. That team which played England was an excellent side with some great players. Shame they never got to show their skills on a wider stage.