UEFA Cup Final 2008

I had applied for tickets on uefa.com the previous March (or whenever they opened the lottery) for both the UEFA Cup and Champions League finals, and got the confirmation mail for the UEFA Cup a few weeks before the final. I live in Dublin, so I booked the flights, and accomodation in a hotel that a friend recommended to me. Can't remember the name of the place, just that it was near the station, just beyond a bridge and had a few steps up to the entrance.

On the day of the match itself, when I landed the road outside the station was thronged with people, everyone was drinking and there was already a build up of rubbish on the street. I passed a Tesco where lads were carrying out slabs of cans. I found the hotel, got checked in and sat at the bar waiting for the kitchen to open to get some lunch. There was a few lads in Rangers jerseys in the bar, and I got chatting to them. Now, I'm an Irish (non practising) Catholic who would watch the odd Celtic game, with a fairly recognisable accent, so when they asked me where I was from, I said Limerick in Ireland, and was in Manchester for an interview the next morning. I played dumb, said I was a rugby fan (which is true) and I didn't watch soccer apart from the odd Ireland game, and didn't know about the game until my brother told me the day before. One of them asked me about Aiden McGeady, and launched into a five minute lecture about how he was a traitor to his nation, and deserved every bit of abuse he got. He finished with "but I don't support Scotland, they're pish, I'm an England fan". Fair enough. To be honest, they were in good spirits, and I didn't get any grief from them. There was about 15-20 of them and not all of them had tickets.

When the kitchen opened, I went into the dining room and sat with a father and son I had talked with at the bar. The dad was a few years older than me, the son was maybe 10 or 11. Both had tickets and were looking forward to it. When I got up to leave, he insisted on paying for my meal, and would only allow me to cover the tip.

A friend of mine from Liverpool had come down to meet me, so we strolled around near the station. He pointed out a few flags that were from firms he knew around Liverpool, but overall the atmosphere was relaxed.

This wasn't my first trip to Manchester, or even the first time I'd been in the Etihad, so I knew my way there. I needn't have worried, the crowds were easy to follow. I did stop a few policemen I passed on the way to ask if there had been any trouble, but each one said it had been fine.

When I got to the stadium, only ticket holders were being permitted beyond the barriers. I had kept mine in my shoe, in case I got mugged for it on the way, and one end had been torn. I held this end in my hand, waved the other end at a steward and got pulled through the crowd. However, the torn end had the barcode on it, which now would not scan. The steward directed me to the ticket office who, on producing a proof of identification, supplied me with a replacement.

By the time I got to my seat, I had missed the kick off and the first few minutes of the game. The Zenit fans had one small corner of the stadium, the rest was all Rangers fans. As you watch the game on TV, I was a few rows up from the corner flag on the far side of the pitch, up from the goals on the left hand side. I don't remember much about the game to be honest, other than Denisov celebrating his goal in front of where I was sitting. I did go looking for a program at half time, but they all appeared to have been sold out.

After the game, there were buses laid on to take us back to the city centre, and I do remember one guy sitting behind me mentioning that something had happened in town. The bus dropped us at Picadilly station, and I walked back to the hotel. There was about 20 guys outside the entrance trying to get in, but the bouncer was only letting residents in. Fortunately, he had been behind the bar earlier, so when he spotted me, he waved me in. The fans from earlier were in the bar, and I did want to tell them I had been to the game, but I had an early start so went up to my room. My phone had died during the game, so when I turned it on, I got about 10 messages from home asking me was I safe, had I avoided the riot? Err, what riot? My brother had sent a text asking was I safe - someone had been stabbed in the stadium!

I had an early flight back to Dublin the morning after, so I left the hotel around 6 and headed up to the station. The road was strewn with rubbish, mainly cans and bottles. When I got to the station, a load of fans were still asleep on the floor. Since it was that early, most of the shops were still closed, apart from a coffee shop that had a lengthy queue coming out of it. The first real indication I had of how bad things had gotten the day before was when I walked out on to the platform, to be greeted by police in full riot gear. It was only when I got back to Dublin, and into work, that I saw some of the photos and reports from the day before. There's one I remember of a policeman being attacked outside one of the pubs I had passed with my friend from Liverpool.

Is it right to embrace rugby as our new national sport?

Over the last few years, I've come to respect Niall Francis' writing. I don't always agree with him, but he's had a few interesting pieces that I've genuinely enjoyed reading.

With that said, his most recent article in the Sunday Independent - The people are embracing rugby as our new national sport - and rightly so - was a return to the type of writing that used to make me turn the page as soon as I read his name on the byline.

Right from the opening line - "Is it too easy to pen an 'aren't we great' article the week after collecting a Grand Slam?" I really did fear the worst. I did wonder that if this was too easy, why didn't he write something else?

To be fair, the first half of the article contains some fair points - rising TV ratings and attendances at games point to an increased interest, but still far from the "the nations' game". According to the 2015 Irish Sports Monitor ERSI report, rugby has six times less participation than soccer, and more than half as much as gaelic football. I had to read the sentence "He[Dylan Hartley] has a bigger rap sheet than Jay-Z." several times, and it still didn't make sense, is he saying the England captain has been found guilty of more crimes than the rap mogul? Frankly, I'm more surprised he knows who Jay-Z is than anything else.

The number of women who watch rugby union in this country is incredible. The number of women in the Aviva on match day. The number who travel. Their knowledge and ability to speak authoritatively is impressive. Mná na hÉireann find the game attractive and entertaining. The social aspect is good too.

I wonder if he knows they can vote now too? In seriousness, even without the events of this week, this is patronising in the extreme.

Strange that a 'minority' sport in this country can command a television audience in excess of 1.3 million.

I watch the FAI struggle with their player supply. Some obscure 20-somethings born in England of Irish parents playing fitfully and inconsistently for second division clubs. Jack Grealish of Aston Villa and Liam Kelly of Reading. Why are the FAI battling with the FA for the loyalty of these boys if they want to play for England? Nobody on this island knows who they are. A majority of our soccer team live and play for English championship sides. A minority play for Premier League sides - a tiny minority decent Premier League sides.

I've often wondered what audience some of the sports with higher participation rates would get if they were televised. Hi Ryle! Maybe Francis should ask around the Independent's office about Liam Kelly, they've been writing about him since November 2013 - Liam Kelly's wondergoal from the halfway line! If nothing else, he might have learned that the FAI aren't "battling with the FA" for Jack Grealish, his international allegiance was decided two years ago. Another lesson waiting to be learned was that six of the team that started against Turkey (note - a majority) play in the Premier League, and half of those (Coleman, Long and Hendrick) are currently in the top ten. Decent.

I look at hurling, which is a great game to watch, but for the last 50 years Kilkenny, Cork and Tipperary have won practically every All-Ireland. Hurling is a parochial sport, what are the other 29 counties doing when these counties are strutting their stuff? How pleasing is it for the rest of the country when Kilkenny win another All-Ireland? How inclusive a sport is it that no more than seven counties in total can ever hope to win an All-Ireland? What percentage of the population is that? Can we say right now that hurling is the people's game on this island? I don't think so.

Turns out that 14 of the last 50 All Ireland Hurling titles (28%) have not been won by the trinity he mentions there. It must come as a great disappointment ot Francis that current champions Galway are not one of Kilkenny, Cork and Tipperary. Coincidentally seven is the same number of schools that have won the Leinster senior cup since the dawn of the new millennium - and one of those (Blackrock) has won the title more times than every other winner combined. How pleasing is it to the rest of the schools when Neill's alma mater lift the title once again?

Ireland, given the talent at their disposal, do remarkably well in the round-ball game. Gritty and competitive but just truly awful to watch. The match against Turkey on Friday night was only a friendly. Who watched? Who cared? I am as patriotic as the next guy when it comes to interest in any team wearing green. The extent of my interest though is tuning in after the final whistle to listen to Eamon Dunphy and Liam Brady. Soccer is a world sport but we cannot compete with any of the top sides and we never win anything, nor are we likely to either.

I wonder how many will watch and care about the upcoming rugby summer tour to Australia? Francis should have listened to the next patriot wearing green, he might have learned that neither Dunphy nor Brady provided the post match analysis after the recent friendly against Turkey. In recent years, Martin O'Neill's side have defeated World Champions, and number one ranked side, Germany at Aviva stadium 1-0. Top side Italy were also beaten 1-0 in Euro 2016 - the latter result meaning that the Republic of Ireland are one of only three sides to beat Italy in both the World Cup and European Championships. As recently as October, Euro 2016 semi finalists Wales were put to the sword, in their own backyard no less. Finally, the Republic of Ireland are the current (and probably permanent) Nations Cup champions.

I look around and see what is happening and I see what the kids are interested in, I see the national interest, I see the television figures, I see the sell-out crowds and the evidence of the sustained and broad appeal and it suggests strongly to me that rugby suits the Irish psyche and its attraction and success have more than just caught the imagination. We are now following suit with New Zealand in welcoming it as our national game.

New Zealand's last home rugby international of 2017 drew a crowd of 30,021 to watch the All Blacks trounce South Africa 57-0 in September. Their soccer equivalents added 7,000 to that figure for a 0-0 draw against Peru two months later. We might want to have a word with the locals about what their national game is.

Further reading, some of Francis' columns I have enjoyed reading
Obsession with weights not such a hip fashion
What do we consider an acceptable price to be paid in later life for traumas we put our bodies through?