Green Is the Colour

[tetsujin1979]

James Richardson / Guardian has an animated history of the RoI team here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/v...imated-history

though I can't view it at work.

Germany is portrayed as a single nation in Euro '88. Ruined it for me.

[theworm2345]

Wasn't sure where to post this

MONDAY 4 JUNE

WE'VE GOT A GAME TO WIN

In 1988 the Republic of Ireland football squad qualified for their first major international championship when a late Gary McKay goal for Scotland in Sofia in October 1987, meant that Jack Charlton, who had been appointed in early 1986, had taken the team to the finals in West Germany.

On Bank Holiday Monday the 4th of June, John Kenny tells the story of the Euro 88 qualifying campaign through to the finals and the homecoming in front of hundreds and thousands of fans who lined the streets of Dublin to welcome home a team that outside of beating the Old Enemy England, hadn’t actually won anything.

"We’ve got a game to win - The Story of the Republic of Ireland at Euro 88" features the voices of Packie Bonner, Ronnie Whelan, Ray Houghton, RTÉ soccer commentator, Gabriel Egan and of course manager Jack Charlton, plus the music of 1988.

Compiled and Narrated by John Kenny of RTÉ Sport with production by Liam O’Brien, of the award winning RTÉ Radio Doc On One unit.

"We’ve got a game to win - The Story of the Republic of Ireland at Euro 88" airs on RTÉ Radio 1 4th of June Bank Holiday Monday at 2pm

John Kenny (RTÉ Radio Sport) and Liam O’Brien combined last year for the Award winning Doc on One "Heroes of the Caribbean- The Story of the Irish Cricket Team at the 2007 World Cup Finals".

Station: RTÉ Radio 1
Time: 14:00 - 15:00
Available: FM, DAB, LW 252 and RTÉ.ie
Streaming: Worldwide

http://www.rte.ie/sport/features/201...-on-rte-radio/

[OwlsFan]

Now now. Dunphy was 100% correct in what he said.
You know this. And you know that that was genuine emotion.
It's okay not to hate him 24/7.

John Giles had us playing another way and he had three bites of the cherry as manager and failed three times with equally gifted players. Egypt's games against England and Holland were almost as bad even though both teams played a different way. Why was most of the country watching Ireland play Egypt? Because Charlton's team had qualified to play in a World Cup Final. Self-publicity (no more no less) by Dunphy and he has made a great living out of it.

The programme seemed to miss the move from Dalyer or Lansdowne. One minute we were playing in the former, the next in the latter with no comment or did I miss something? It was a very significant move at the time.

The disallowed goal by Stapleton in Paris in 1974 (which game I was at) has at last been clarified for me. Gerry Daly, although not involved in the goal, was offside and you can see the linesman's flag going up as Brady's ball is crossed. Paddy Mulligan says he "wasn't interferring with play" but in those days, it counted as offside. I now feel disappointed that we weren't robbed as I have always believed we were. However, why Giles' goal against Bulgaria was disallowed remains a mystery.

I love the old footage but it's an RTE Production with the usual anti-Jack bias of the two hurlers of the ditch. I don't think we lost out in USA '94 because Jack had failed to prepare for the conditions. We actually came on stronger against Mexico in the second half and scored one of the best Irish goals I have seen. The team was in decline and the amazing thing is that it managed to beat Italy. I remember going to that tournament with very little hope of achieving anything and yet he still got us to a play off at Anfield in the next tournament, despite the defeats shown (not the victories). Most of the fans stayed behind after the game that night in Liverpool to pay tribute to Jack and his tears in the programme were genuine and surprising for a tough old Geordie like him..

[Lionel Ritchie]

There's some of what you're saying I agree with Owls Fan -particularly pertaining to nit picking Jacks tactics -but some of what you're saying I must say I profoundly disagree with -pretty much anything to do with the year of our lord nineteen hundred and ninety five basically. Jack is guilty of gross mismanagment in that era and that year especially. There is one standout performance that year -beating Portugal in Dublin in April -the final great performance of the Charlton era and a testament to the quality of player he could call upon.

But the North, who finished on the same points as us, could have beaten us in March and the real reason we were in the playoff shakeup was that they dicked Austria in Vienna (and Belfast) while we collapsed in a boozy heap home and away against Tony Polster and co.

It is a matter of public record that Jack was, by that stage, barely managing the team at all. The team would gather for pre-match training (usually in Carrickmacross back then or Limerick prior to the Liectenstein disaster in June 95) and Jack would take off on his endorsement and promotional ventures and leave Maurice Setters or Jacks son John "in charge". Either and both were laughed at and told to **** off when they tried to keep the players focused and out of the pubs. We could've qualified outright as group winners for England 96. Definitely. But Jack left the rig in cruise control.

[RiffRaff]

I dont remember the pre-Giles era but the 70's were just a catalogue of heartbreak. We thought the football world was against us but in retrospect disallowed goals dont matter so much if you get the ball in the net again and dont give away stupid goals which we did regularly. Our away record under Giles and Hand was truly appalling,I think we beat only Malta and Cyprus, drew a couple of games with minnows of the time and lost every single other game. I still believe the Eoin Hand squad was stronger than Jacks and you wonder if players were running the show rather than the manager, the results in the last campaign was a disgrace. Dunphy is right saying we were awful in 1990, most neutral fans around the world were probably hoping for us to go out but at least we were getting results.

[elroy]

I dont remember the pre-Giles era but the 70's were just a catalogue of heartbreak. We thought the football world was against us but in retrospect disallowed goals dont matter so much if you get the ball in the net again and dont give away stupid goals which we did regularly. Our away record under Giles and Hand was truly appalling,I think we beat only Malta and Cyprus, drew a couple of games with minnows of the time and lost every single other game. I still believe the Eoin Hand squad was stronger than Jacks and you wonder if players were running the show rather than the manager, the results in the last campaign was a disgrace. Dunphy is right saying we were awful in 1990, most neutral fans around the world were probably hoping for us to go out but at least we were getting results.

On Eoin H, Brady alluded that the players didnt quite believe in him in the show. He was a good guy etc but just lacked the top level experience required to bring the team through. Particularly a team that lacked confidence with no qualification success record.

On 1990, yes we were pretty poor to watch (not that we cared much). Having said that the football in that WC was pretty bad. Worst WC in the last 30 years. SA 2010 is not a million miles behind it mind you.

[BonnieShels]

2010 was the worst for me simply because I remember very little of 1990 due to my age.
I've vague recollections of us v England and Netherlands, the penalty shoot out and the Italy game. I also remember watching England v Germany. But nothing else.

[NeverFeltBetter]

On Eoin H, Brady alluded that the players didnt quite believe in him in the show. He was a good guy etc but just lacked the top level experience required to bring the team through. Particularly a team that lacked confidence with no qualification success record.

On 1990, yes we were pretty poor to watch (not that we cared much). Having said that the football in that WC was pretty bad. Worst WC in the last 30 years. SA 2010 is not a million miles behind it mind you.

I think this is something, in relation to the quality of football that Ireland played in the Charlton era and at Italia 90, that is overlooked sometimes. Nearly every team, save Cameroon maybe, played really ugly, frequently bad-tempered, low-scoring defensive football at that tournament. There's a reason FIFA changed several mainstays of the rules in the aftermath.

[Drumcondra 69er]

Was Brady's international career finished directly as a result of him not wanting to play as Jack wanted? Surely there was more to it than that? McCarthy seemed to imply it was a direct marker to the rest of the team from Jack i.e. "you do it my way or go the same way as Brady".

Brady's international career was finished because he was over the hill and retiring, nothing more, nothing less. The 88 qualifiers were the best he'd played for the team for years, despite it not being his natural game. He would have been in the 88 finals squad despite carrying a 2 match ban but he got injured. HE was almost permenantly injured by the time 1990 rolled around. He retired from club football in May 1990 and his last cap for Ireland was also in May 1990 v Finland.

Dunphy & co rabbit on about Brady being harshly treated withiut mentioning that Brady was absolutely slated regulalry by Dunphy himself for the 2nd half of Eoin Hand's reign. Jack managed to get Brady playing effectively for Ireland again. It was a shame that he never made it to a finals but it was the right call niot to pick him in 1990....

[OwlsFan]

Going back to the "we wuz robbed in Paris in the 1973/4 campaign, here is the photo and you can see the linesman flagging before the ball goes in. Nowadays it would be allowed. Then, if you were in an offside position, that was it. Damn you Gerry Daly!! He wasn't offside when the ball was headed in but just as Brady crossed.

Attachment 1877

[DannyInvincible]

Just a reminder; the fourth and final episode of 'Green Is the Colour' is on RTÉ Two tonight at 10:25PM. I'll try get it up on Vimeo as soon as I can for anyone outside of Ireland.

[tetsujin1979]

excellent finale to the series.

[EastTerracer]

Great credit to RTE and Daragh Maloney for an excellent series. I've been waiting years to see some of the old footage (from my own youth) and the range of interviewees was fantastic especially hearing from all of our managers since the early seventies except for Alan Kelly Sr (RIP).

It set the mood perfectly ahead of this weekend. Hopefully there will be an RTE dvd release (although the Irish Torrents version will have to keep me going in the meantime).

[smurfty]

I'm glad they didn't spend too long on the Saipan incident. I'd forgotten how poor our penalties were against the Spanish after the ref gave us every chance in that game. Two penalties in normal time!

[geysir]

I thought Maloney in particular was excellent. I don't know who did the editing for that last part but it was almost perfect, captured the essence of the period.
Maybe small details, like if you were to show a goal from that game against Yugoslavia, I think most would chose the winner.

[DannyInvincible]

Have uploaded episode 4 here:



Will hopefully work this evening at some point. Have a feeling it's still processing. Vimeo can take a while.

[Mad Moose]

I wonder if anybody would be able to copy these to DVD for me. I'd love to see them. It would be greatly appreciated. I couldn't get my head around torrents and invites and stuff. Thanks.

[DannyInvincible]

Just watched episode 4 there myself. Shed a tear or two; some epic memories from my youth and teenage years. Really pumped up for Sunday now.

Vimeo doesn't appear to have worked so I stuck it up on Dailymotion along with episode 1 at the expense of some image quality. Episodes 2 and 3 are still on Vimeo.

Episode 1:

[DannyInvincible]

Episode 4:

[Crosby87]

It's fun reading back on this thread...board heavyweights settling old scores...Everyone comes out of the woodwork in the days before a big match.
I wish I had been alive in 74 to go to that game in Paris, Owls. Still the summer of love over there, I bet you got a right good rogering from several hairy chicks.