what does the EL mean to you?

[REVIP]

Eircom League is about community - seeing the same people in the same places at the Carlisle Grounds Friday after Friday.

It's about commitment - getting off your arse and going to a match instead of watching the over-hyped mercenaries in England playing on a big screen in the pub.

For me, it's about nostalgia too. Remembering standing on the terraces at Home Park to see Plymouth Argyle in the old Division 3 or at Huish to see Yeovil Town in the old Southern League (only teams in England that I know of taht play in green and white). Eircom League is proper football.

[Bosco]

Its about
-singing your heart out
-celebrating with hundreds of people you know
-loving your club
-meeting the players
-meeting people who know their soccer
-flags
-wearing your jersey with pride even if your getting funny looks
-travelling to liechenstein only to see your team lose but still cheering them off the pitch
-flares
-traveling to games
-appreciating the good times because you've experienced the bad
-rivalries
-seeing the quietest of people lossing thier head over a bad decision
-seeing the quietest of people sing with pride about their club
-seeing grown men cry when we won the cup
-seeing grown men have to leave the ground with nervousness
-last minute goals
-meeting fans of other clubs
-the buzz of winning a game
-waking up the next morning in a good mood
-taunting other fans and players when winning and knowing that its really getting to them
-getting so passionate that you forget whats going on around you
-falling down 3 rows of seats while celebrating
-hugging total strangers
-Total strangers from different parts of the country nodding at you with respect when your seen in an el jersey

[Martinho II]

great post doc!

myself and a few of the elder boys from section o have being travelling together to town matches since early 1990 when we were in abbeycartron!

i would go to a couple of matches a season but never went to the away matches at all! the ltfc players not too many of us fans knew them to see!

it is only over the last five years that I have got into them in a huge way. my first away match was in whitehall against home farm in 2000 in our promotion season and i got hooked!

i try to make every match if i can and I have certainly enjoyed the friendships i have made from following de town and the banter! there is no sport like it and I am literally buzzing right now!

[dcfcsteve]

great post doc!

myself and a few of the elder boys from section o have being travelling together to town matches since early 1990 when we were in abbeycartron!

Fair play to ya for being around since the Abbeycarton days Martinho. God, that place was awful - enough to put any one off football for life...

there is no sport like it and I am literally buzzing right now!

Take the batteries out if you can't find the on-off switch......

[Longfordian]

I remember the travelling hordes from Derry in Abbeycartron, my first recollection of seeing someone drunk was a Derry fan in Abbeycartron,about 87 or 88 I'd say, it was that that's sent me on the slippery slope!

[OneRedArmy]

I remember the travelling hordes from Derry in Abbeycartron, my first recollection of seeing someone drunk was a Derry fan in Abbeycartron,about 87 or 88 I'd say, it was that that's sent me on the slippery slope!

Longfordian I suspect that was the game where you put 5 past us & one of our travelling fans, slightly the worse for wear, fell through the roof of the corrugated iron "stand" at Abbycarton.


Continuing the theme of what the EL means, the social aspect amongst fans of different clubs is also a big positive.

Having seen the worst side of English football through living beside a few grounds, (pubs turned over, tatooed racist morons etc.) being able to have a pint in McDowell`s, Doyle`s, The Horseshoe etc. with opposition fans & talk EL football is particularly enjoyable.

[NY Hoop]

Brilliant post doc cant add anymore except watching your club win in Europe is without the biggest joy ever.


KOH

[Gareth]

Great posts.

I really find the one were your in a foreign country and you see a eL jersey and you cant help say "Theres a eL Jersey" a lil loud in the hope they hear very true. Even in Dublin I find myself nodding at the jerseys!! Its impossible to explain to people why you love it so much. I am use to the strange looks of people thinking your insane for not following a team abroad.

[Roo69]

I've been supporting Bray since 1990, one of our most famous hours. My 1st match that i can recall was the FAI cup final against St. Francis. I've been hooked ever since. I have followed them all over the country - North, South, East and West, if i don't have prior engagements i will be at a Bray game, and if i can't make it to a Bray game you can be sure that i'll be at the closest game to me. What even make it more of a passion for me is that some very good friends play for the club.

After several years of supporting them and getting to know the people within the club through away trips etc, i was asked to become a part of a working group, which has now evolved for me into working for the Commercial Department (Voluntry part-time basis) for the club. It's probably one of my favourite achivements to date. It is a great feeling to be invloved with an eL club, weather it be as a supporter or through working for the club

[niamh]

My Grandad brought me down to the Cross for my first game (1996 I think)and every time I'd visit we talked about what was going with City until he died at the end of last season.
City and Cork soccer have simply always been part of the family and always will be...My Dad's from Derrynane Road.

[Gareth]

Well my Dad brought me to my first game. I cant remember if it was 89 or 90. I use to support Liverpool in my primary school days, mainly because you needed to support a team when they divided up the lads for soccer games. So anyways pretty much immediately I lost whatever made me support liverpool and supported shels. Since then, my dad and I have gone to shelbourne games, and I love every minute of it.

Like you roo, I wanted to get involved somehow and so I kinda annoyed a few people and eventually got to do the website and I was delighted. I love doing it and spend far to much time at it, but its class to know you do something for the club you love. But right now I'm not going to say too much cos I haven't released the new site on time so I'll hush up again But the Eircom League in essence is to me about something that i will always associate with my dad!.

[bluemovie]

I support Liverpool, but there's no comparison with the Blues. The difference with the eircom League is that it's important that you turn up at matches and get behind your team. It doesn't matter to Premiership clubs that you support them even if you go over for a few games a season. If you didn't go, someone else would buy that ticket. In the eircom League, every supporter makes a difference and you feel appreciated - especially at away games.

As for highs and lows of supporting Waterford, probably the best moment, ironically, was Willie Bruton's goal in the Cup Final. The worst was losing the relegation play-off to Kilkenny Town a few years back.

Great to have it back. The last four months have been tough.
Blue til i die.