National team documentry on RTE tonight

**Neish** · 05/05/2005, 11:17 AM

Chain reactions on RTE1 @ 10:15pm tonight will document the changing fortunes of the Irish football team. Starting with Jack Charlton's appointment as national coach it will go though the 1988 Euro championship the 3 world cup which we qualified for and lead up to the recent RULE 42 abolishment allowing for soccer to be played in Croke Park for the first time in history

**stojkovic** · 05/05/2005, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by Neish

Chain reactions on RTE1 @ 10:15pm tonight will document the changing fortunes of the Irish football team. Starting with Jack Charlton's appointment as national coach it will go though the 1988 Euro championship the 3 world cup which we qualified for and lead up to the recent RULE 42 abolishment allowing for soccer to be played in Croke Park for the first time in history

It all starts with Gary McKay

**Cowboy** · 05/05/2005, 11:52 AM

saw last two episodes of this, makes for excellent viewing

**jimbob117** · 05/05/2005, 11:59 AM

excellent, i wasnt aware of this program and will look forward to it.
as a matter of interest, anyone have the ireland-france game on tape?

**Neish** · 06/05/2005, 12:34 AM

Any of ya see it, what did ya reckon?

Thought it was a decent show myself. Good old Gary McKay

**Fergie's Son** · 06/05/2005, 6:59 AM

Ack!

Would love to have seen it.

Did anyone record it? Is there anyway it will be repeated as I'll ask my Mam to record it. If anyone did record them then I would gladly pay for a copy.

**Dawn_Run** · 06/05/2005, 8:06 AM

Originally Posted by Neish

Good old Gary McKay

Go on the McKay - interesting to think where we'd be had he not scored that goal. Would foot.ie exist had he blew it over the bar??? hmm - i wonder

**Colm55** · 06/05/2005, 8:44 AM

Go on the McKay - interesting to think where we'd be had he not scored that goal. Would foot.ie exist had he blew it over the bar??? hmm - i wonder[/QUOTE]

Watched it myself, all the what ifs of Irish football over twenty years, if ray houghton declared for scotland, dave o leary bottled the penalty, Timofte scored his ..

I found it very interesting and fair play to you Neish for mantioning it !

**Stuttgart88** · 06/05/2005, 8:57 AM

...if we'd beaten Egypt. WC Final?

**Colm55** · 06/05/2005, 9:02 AM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

...if we'd beaten Egypt. WC Final?

If packie had caught donadoni's shot .....

**Mad Moose** · 06/05/2005, 9:11 AM

Thoroughly enjoyed the programme. Very well presented by Simon Delaney. Wonderful juxtaposition of the Professional and Amateur game. And the FAI recieved the acclaim it so thoroughly deserves. Missed the first part because of the Full Monty.

The pogramme was presented in part from Sofia where Gary Mackay set the ball rolling.

Brendan

**stojkovic** · 06/05/2005, 9:13 AM

Originally Posted by Colm55

If packie had caught donadoni's shot .....

and the part where Packie was interviewed and he said when Gary Mackay scored he threw his son in the air....and said "don't worry, I caught him".

I thought you c#nt, you didn't catch Wim Jonk's back pass.

**Baker** · 06/05/2005, 9:28 AM

Very good.

Great to see all the old footage again!

Some really interesting points made about how soccer and the GAA have been interlinked over the last 20 years. They made the point that pre 1988 people tended to be either soccer or GAA fans which changed after the bandwagon which was created after Euro '88 and Italia '90 when they were now competing for the same fans. This prompted the GAA with much of the initiative to redevelop Croke Park which led to the back door system, sponsorship on jersies, increased marketing etc to raise more finance. This led to the FAI blowing most of the momentum gained at that time regarding developing the game at home.

It seemed incredible how brazen the politicians of the time were for a photo opportunity. Charlie Haughie in Rome after the Italy game, Brian Lenihan at the front of the open top bus for the Italia '90 homecoming. Suppose some things will never change though!

It was very critical of Jack Charlton, especially in regard to his handling, or lack of, the youth teams. Told the story how Brian Kerr also had nearly missed the deadline to apply for the youth team boss in 1996 and changing his mind at the last minute drove to Merrion Square and dropped his application in the post box.

**eirebhoy** · 06/05/2005, 9:29 AM

I had it in my planner on Sky to watch it but couldn't leave extra time in the AZ v Sporting match. The best match I've seen all year.

**Neish** · 06/05/2005, 9:30 AM

Originally Posted by Harpsbear

And the FAI recieved the acclaim it so thoroughly deserves.

Yeah. what if we actually had a proffesional outfit in Merrion Square, and not them ejjits.

**NeilMcD** · 06/05/2005, 10:00 AM

It was enjoyable enought but it was sloppy it lots of places. The wrong footage for the wrong matches etc. Did not have enough contributors either, should have had Jack Charlton and more Irish players etc. But Liam Mackey is quite good I think as a sports and music journalist. I think the points Howard made about the atmosphere in LR, due to Sky TV and the expectations that we have now, was quite interesting also.

I think if we did not qualify for Euro 88 we would still have qualified for Italia 90 as that team was easily good enough to come second in their group to Spain. With the players we had we should have expected to qualify ahead of Northern Ireland and Hungary and Malta.

**NeilMcD** · 06/05/2005, 10:08 AM

Following on from my point, we actually had a tough group for 1986. Demakr and the Soviet Union were quality side and Denmark had a good Euro 84 and went on to be a great side in Mexico 86. I think the major disappointments was the defeat away to Norway, I remember Mc Carthy having a stinker that night, I was only young but I remember my dad shouting at the TV and giving out about Mc Carthy. He went on to love all that he stood for in the Charlton era. Only getting one point at home to Norway was poor and our away record was terrible in the group.

1986
(UEFA Group 6)
12.Sep 84 IRELAND 1-0 Soviet Union
17.Oct 84 Norway 1-0 IRELAND
14.Nov 84 Denmark 3-0 IRELAND
01.May 85 IRELAND 0-0 Norway
02.Jun 85 IRELAND 3-0 Switzerland
11.Sep 85 Switzerland 0-0 IRELAND
16.Oct 85 Soviet Union 2-0 IRELAND
13.Nov 85 IRELAND 1-4 Denmark

P W D L Gls Pts
1.Denmark 8 5 1 2 17- 6 11
2.Soviet Union 8 4 2 2 13- 8 10
3.Switzerland 8 2 4 2 5-10 8
4.IRELAND 8 2 2 4 5-10 6
5.Norway 8 1 3 4 4-10 5

IRELAND failed to qualify for Mexico 1986

**Cowboy** · 06/05/2005, 10:12 AM

Originally Posted by Baker

It was very critical of Jack Charlton, especially in regard to his handling, or lack of, the youth teams.

Thought he should have mentioned the talentless fool that is maurice setters

**Mad Moose** · 06/05/2005, 10:21 AM

Originally Posted by Neish

Yeah. what if we actually had a proffesional outfit in Merrion Square, and not them ejjits.

Given the FAI are so lambasted and so frequently and for so long now they no exactly how wrong they have got it. They know how they are regarded. 2million of tax payers money spent on the Genesis report and yet they still had the neck to disregard the findings.

The greatest two fingers for me was the appointment of Delaney as CEO. It was inevitable. The invitation for application to the post was just for show. Nobody stood a chance.

Sorry about my avatar mind. Too little time to change it.

Brendan