A New Day Yesterday

Every Game An Away Game by Bluebeard

(first published in the October 2011 Shelbourne match programme)

I found myself in an odd position last week. I was skipping out of work early to watch a game of football. Ordinarily this is no unusual scenario, but this it wasn’t for an international or major final. It was to watch Shamrock Rovers in the Europa Cup, and what’s more, I was going to cheer for them.

Those who know me will realise how out of character this is. I have always considered Rovers the enemy. I don’t buy into the rivalry with Cork at all; I have some warm, borderline fuzzy, feelings for Limerick – seeing as we can’t get promoted, I hope they do. Longford invite my ire for many reasons, but Rovers have always been our enemy. I went to a couple of games Rovers were involved in when I lived in Dublin and I always cheered the opposition, regardless of who they were. When Thomas Davis took them on legally over the move to Tallaght, I was torn – I was caught between a rock, a hard place, and Tallaght. My idea of a soft spot for Shamrock Rovers FC is a pit of quicksand.
 
But Thursday last week was a bit different. It was a League of Ireland side in the group stages of a major European competition, at long last. Nearly 20 years after the Champions League first started up, we finally have a team in the group stages of the Europa, in spite of the naysayers. And to add to this, they are facing one of the top 5 or 6 Premiership teams. Having heard so much anti-League bullshit over the years from the barstool brigade, it was nice to see how the League’s representatives would compare to their violently more wealthy neighbours – goalscorer Pavyluchenko’s annual salary could buy Rovers lock stock and barrel, and still have money over for a flashy car. And they did OK. More impressively still, the travelling support were regularly out-singing the home team, even when losing – so much for the poor football and lack of atmosphere in Irish football.
 
And then there is the bonus prize: co-efficient points would be at stake! A co-efficient junkie will take his fix where and how he can. Less than 15 years ago we were 44th of 49 in the co-efficient rankings. Even just 5 years ago we were 40th, behind Moldova, and even Liechtenstein who can enter only one club. Last season it was 29th and this season 30th, and depending on how Rovers do against their wealthier opponents may yet rise again. If we can ensure that Bohs and Longford stay out of Europe and away from Wales in particular, we could rise still further.
 
With all this in mind, I am reminded of the many times I travelled to our guests’ home ground to watch European ties back when I lived in the Capital. Indeed, Shels vs Karpaty Lvov in the Cup Winners Cup was my first taste of international club competition. I had missed my first chance seven years earlier, as an evening trip to Kilcohan was not going to happen with school scheduled for the following day. For the record, I don’t think I learned anything on September 17th 1986 that could have compared to seeing Tigana being nutmegged by Paul Cashin on the 16th.

1993 was the first season that an Irish club had won a tie in over 10 years, and Cork preceded Shels’ feat, beating Cwmbran Town in the Champions League qualifiers. For all their dominance of the League in the ‘80s, Rovers had been dreadful in the European Cup. Bohs had managed a win over Rangers in one leg. UCD drew with Everton and only lost by a goal in Goodison. Cork and Shels’ performances were the first glimmer of hope for Irish club football on the European stage in a while.
 
Things improved after this: Bohs had a couple of short runs in 2000, 2001 and 2003. 2002 was a St Pat’s year for Inter-Toto progress, while 2004 saw Cork City pass Swedish and Dutch opposition in the same competition. Shels of course were leading the League in Europe at the time, almost constantly qualifying. They beat Macedonians to face Rosenberg in 2000, before their late summer of glory in 2004, beating Reykjavik and Hadjuk Split before holding Deportivo la Coruna scoreless in Dublin, and coming within 30 minutes of extra time and penalties and a spot in the Champions League group stages. The consolation of a place in the first round of the UEFA Cup had the pleasing late rally to level the first leg 2-2 in Dublin, before the away defeat in Lille.
 
What was most heartening about those games in early years of the decade, was the start of a new kind of support at the European games. When they were nearby, fans of other clubs would put on their own club jersey and wander out to Landsdowne, or Turner’s Cross, or Dalymount, or Tolka, to cheer on the League’s representative, regardless of personal or familial prejudice. I’ve worn blue in those, and other venues to cheer on the “home” side as they take on foreign opposition, and sat with Sligo, Galway and Limerick fans among others as we urged the Irish club on in hope of a good result for the League.
 
You don’t get that in many – if any – other leagues, and I doubt many of the barstool set will show any love to teams other than their own. So those of us who have supported Bohs, Drogheda, Shels, and all the other representatives of the League over the years can now enjoy the first Irish club to qualify. Hopefully it is the beginning of a new era of success: personally, I fancy Sligo to be the next to make the breakthrough. But for now, I will have to be content with slipping out of work a little early, pulling on the blue jersey and searching for a passable internet stream and forgetting that for just under two hours that I would actually like to see Shamrock Rovers win.