Bratislava

[paul_oshea]

what did you make of it?

I thought it was a kip, full of ignorant people, i met about 2 people that were nice and friendly, and one was the receptionist at our hotel. Police and Taxi drivers have no morals, and are in cahoots if ye ask me ( someone else said the same thing to me as well! ).

Security at the game was a joke. I Have pictures which ill upload later, basically on the way in there was only one guy doing full body searches with about 1000 people outside trying to get in. Could have been a major incident if it wasn't for people calming the situation ( irish fans that is ). On the way out of the ground they would only half open the gate, and when people went up and asked the security guys to open both gates and let people out they started closing the gates and pushing people back. A country in my opinion still trying to find its way out of communism and embracing capitalism.

And thats only half of my complaints!!! Rant over.

[wooman]

it was a shambles going into the stadium. the 1st set of gates were just paked with irish fans and could have got messy

cops were a bit ****ty too taking the footballs in the square at the start of the day. In the end up there was too many people and balls for them to have any control

had a great weekend though, pity about the result

[macdermesser]

what did you make of the storm troopers streaming in at the left side our the irish end during half time? I thought it was a complete over reaction to two Irish fans having a go at each over something .... can you imagine what would have happened if someone had shouted at the police .. or a misunderstanding? ffs .. idiotic

our hotel tried to charge us for breaking the already broken door handle .. and taxi driver seemed to take us on a scenic route of bratislava at inflated prices.

[wooman]

seen the storm troopers, ready for a ruk in full riot gear

i was speaking to a slovak fan during the game and asked him why they were there. He said they have had trouble before with the English (surprise surprise) but they were there just as a precaution. He was saying that noone expected any trouble from the Irish

[reder]

Stadium was as a expected. I thought the police in the city centre were very easy-going and turned a blind eye to alot of nonsense.

[Colie]

Thought it was a bit of a hole & the people were well unfriendly. I thought the cops/ securo guys at the match werer probably the nicest of the lot. They tolerated a lot later on in the square on Saturday. Real glad to get out. Train journey was a good laugh to Prague.

[Bomb Landsdowne]

Heard a few lads were arrested for kicking footballs around the square and the hookers were worn out from from riding all the irish. We drank many a pub dry over here , bit stupid for not stocking up on the stuff.

As per usual we were excellently behaved. Well done lads

[paul_oshea]

As per usual we were excellently behaved. Well done lads

We were, but it could have been a lot worse coming out of those gates after the game. Those bloody commies around the ground were ignorant as puck though, no smile or nothing, wouldn't even listen to any of us trying to reason with them. Haven't a clue about organisation at all. Uefa should be notified of that.

[slow2anger]

only thing good about bratislava was the local beer. very drinkable and hangover free.

[jimbo]

lads there were empty gates around the corner from where all of the paddys were queing up like sheep;i walked around to gate 7 and bobs your uncle no shakey shamrocks to be seen and in i went; dont start having a go at the locals although i had the feeliong that they were trying to kill us with the hot dogs in the stadium which could have been used as dangerous weapons if hurled at tyhe right trajectory

[paul_oshea]

jimbo, I thought of that but the problem was if you were 3 layers of people in you couldnt get out. dont you think that they should have sent more people down. And there were about 6 police fellas standing round doing nothing when only one was searching people. SO yes I stick by my point, i.e. we should have a go ad the ex-army commies.

[jimbo]

but if you had a look at the map of the ground on the wall and then consulted with your ticket you would avoided the crush,without being smart like!! wouldnt like to blame them for our own stupidity considering how we are the self acclaimed greatest fans in de world after all;would agree that they were acharmless miserable shower

[pineapple stu]

seen the storm troopers, ready for a ruk in full riot gear

Storm troopers? It was full Darth Vader gear from what I saw!

Town was grand; beer was a third the price outside the city centre (30Kr a pop in some place a short walk from the ground). Locals I met were grand; met some Slovak fans in the pub who were delighted at getting the draw (especially the 90th minute equaliser bit) and also went into that restaurant in the UFO over the bridge, despite having a big rucksack on and wearing a football jersey and runners, but they had no problems with us either. Though yer man did do a double take at the rucksack when the head waitress asked him to take it...

Heard of trouble at the ground, but saw none of it. Got in handily enough; quick frisk and that was all. Stewards weren't enforcing seating positions, so you could move where you wanted and stand up, which helped the atmosphere no end.

[lopez]

It was a dump alright, but I've been to far worse sh*tholes six miles up the M1 from my crib. Luton anyone?

Seriously, it was cheap, and maybe not cheerful, but what can you expect with 40 years of communism. People in the food business are lazy as f*ck. They badly need some immigration to sort it out.

No probs getting into the ground. I did throw a bit of a wobbler after seeing some loyalist flag at the end of the ground and went to tell the police to take it down. What followed was comedy which I had a laugh at later. Firstly, when asked for the chief, it was like talking to a bunch of wise monkeys. I then said I'll ring up FIFA (no I haven't got that number on my mobile) and the sergeant (or whatever) quickly moved in. I had a pair of binoculars off someone (don't even remember how I came into their possession) and all these police were looking at the other end through the biocs, while on the radio. Then something big happens, they've found it, and the head honcho says 'It is a hand?'

Brief intro to modern Irish history and he replys 'but it is a hand?' A young plod helpfully shows me a card with a list of banned symbols. Swastikas, Ruhne's, The confederate flag, even the Celtic Cross. 'I am sorry, but we can not see a hand down here.' Classic!

[Mayo_Bhoy]

Some of the posts in this thread are an embarrassment. Racist , ignorant posts aboutm a country that we know damn all about. Grow up lads and FAO Paul O'Shea, communism ended here 18 years ago. Some of ye sound like English fans, just because beer wasnt available straight away, well tough ****e lads, they do things here as they always have done so if ye dont like it then tough. Ah **** this, im off to queue for a beer

[paul_oshea]

Some of the posts in this thread are an embarrassment. Racist , ignorant posts aboutm a country that we know damn all about. Grow up lads and FAO Paul O'Shea, communism ended here 18 years ago. Some of ye sound like English fans, just because beer wasnt available straight away, well tough ****e lads, they do things here as they always have done so if ye dont like it then tough. Ah **** this, im off to queue for a beer

Mayo_Bhoy, I haven't been in a communist country, but I have read a lot about such countries, and lots of things about bratislava reminded me of what I read.

But anyhow what I saw and found is waht I reported, I was in budapest a capital city in a country not a million miles away but a million miles away in attitude. In fact a guy saw I was trying to take a picture of me and the missus and he came over and asked did he want me to take it, suprised by how friendly he was compared with the others I had met and spoken too I said thank you very much, he then asked me where I was from etc and said he was from hungary - budapest, i then told him i was recently in budapest and he asked which i prefered. I told him with no uncertainity and he then asked why, i explained and he agreed with me. The city was grim. If you went on the "watch tower" you could see the contrast, it looks like its changing in fairness but its still in a bit of a stranglehold. From up there, you could see 4 sides to teh city. It was quite interesting actually.

[pineapple stu]

Should be noted the police in France were just as unhumorous, so communism has nothing to do with it.

[wooman]

the hassel with getting into the ground could have been avoided if some of the cops came out and told us to walk round to the other entrances but they just stayed inside and watched everyone push like ****

Not happy being home, should be in Prague for round 2

[sligoman]

the hassel with getting into the ground could have been avoided if some of the cops came out and told us to walk round to the other entrances but they just stayed inside and watched everyone push like ****

Not everybody speaks English. I doubt it's part of their training that they need to speak it. Just like it's not part of the Gardai's training to speak Slovakian.

[Newryrep]

I didnt think it was too bad. It didnt help that it was raining biblical proportions on Thur/Fri which was a bit of downer. Old town wasnt bad, alot of graffiti and the only interface with the slovaks was as a customer which was a bit hit annd miss. Irish customer service is nothing to write home about by the way. Seen one slovak supporter early on Sat morn. Walked over the bridge to check out a restaurent and stumbled on a shopping centre which was packed with people and didnt lack for anything. Got a taxi for 300SK after the match although i know guys who paid 750Sk. However......

Getting into the ground was a shambles and potentially worse and got speaking to a guy in the lift who got jumped on by locals late on Sat and got a few slaps, he was glad to be leaving.

And of course the result !