League of Ireland – Pyro On The Pitch.com

What Football Is Supposed To Look Like #11 – Stadion Special I (Gallery)

We do like a good mini-series within a series here at PyroOnThePitch.com and while compiling the latest What Football Is Supposed To Look Like special on heroic stadia of the past, it quickly became apparent that this too would be a multi-parter. Don’t expect the “best” or biggest grounds alone (or some of sort of all-time greats list), as we of course try and focus on all levels, but rather enjoy a specially prepared photo-collection (thanks as always to the original video uploaders, links at the bottom) of the features that made a few of our favourite archaic arenas legendary.

Goodison Park in the 70s, Everton vs Coventry City, Football League Division One, 26/11/1977:

65,000 in Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, watching the home side take a 2-0 lead en route to championship victory, Uruguay vs Brazil, Copa America final-1st leg, 27/10/1983:

Hebrew advertisements in Paris (and a French Adidas equipment shirt sans-Equipment logo), France vs Israel, World Cup qualifier, 13/10/1993:

The Irish Garda Band (police force) entertain the caged and walled crowd in Lansdowne Road ahead of the match, Republic of Ireland vs Northern Ireland, Euro qualifier, 20/09/1978:

Opening ceremony and away fans in Rheinstadion, Düsseldorf, ahead of West Germany vs Italy, European Championships group stage, 10/06/1988:

Dutch banners visible from space on the running track in Munich’s Olympiastadion, Netherlands vs USSR (neautral), European Championships final, 25/06/1988:

The sinister white fences of Westfalenstadion, Dortmund, West Germany vs Netherlands, friendly, 14/05/1986:

Cages around the dugout and German 80s bench fashion, Borussia Dortmund vs Schalke 04, Bundesliga, 01/12/1984:

Cars zip past on local infrastructure behind Eastville Stadium, Bristol Rovers vs Millwall, Football League Division Three, 08/05/1984:

Streamers fill the behind-goal no mans land during a famous European win for the home side (having already knocked Manchester United in the first round), Widzew Łódź vs Juventus, UEFA Cup second round-1st leg, 22/10/1980:

Classic East German scoreboard at the Bruno-Plache-Stadion, 1.FC Lokomotive Leipzig vs Bordeaux, UEFA Cup first round-2nd leg, 28/09/1983:

The weird and wonderful architecture, and police dogs, of Stadion Galgenwaard, FC Utrecht vs Ajax Amsterdam, Eredivisie, 02/03/1980:

The beauty of bare terraces in Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg, Sweden vs England, Womens’ European Championship final-1st leg, 12/05/1984:

The strangely shaped grandstand of the aforementioned Ullevi, Gothenburg, CIS vs Netherlands (neutral), European Championships group stage, 12/06/1992:

Quintessential eastern block bowl, Nepstadion of Budapest, Hungary vs Romania, World Cup qualifier, 13/05/1981:

The inner-city dog-racing ground of Harold’s Cross, Dublin, Shelbourne vs St. Patrick’s Athletic, League of Ireland, 1987/88:

The terraces, fences, and police of the not very Olympic Olympiastadion of Club Brugge vs Royal Antwerp, Belgian First Division, 26/01/1992:

Tranway End, Dalymount Park, St. Patrick’s Athletic vs Waterford FC (neutral), FAI Cup final, 20/04/1980:

The majesty of the old Mestalla, Valencia CF vs Real Madrid, La Liga, 05/01/1986:

Scenes from a snowy De Kuip (The Tub), Feyenoord Rotterdam vs Ajax Amsterdam, Eredivisie, 07/12/1980:

A football match on a building site as renovations take place at Stadio Luigi Ferraris in preparation for Italia 90, Genoa vs Lecce, Serie B, 01/05/1988:

Antique analog scoreboard still around years after it’s time, Vojvodina Stadium, Novi Sad, Yugoslavia vs Greece, friendly, 20/09/1989:

Great aerial shot of the Mambourg stadium surrounded by city, Royal Charleroi Sporting Club vs Anderlecht, Belgian First Division, 19/04/1994:

One more eastern block bowl, Vasil Levski National Stadium (named after a Bulgarian 19th century patriot and revolutionary, as also referenced by tenant club PFC Levski Sofia), Sofia, Bulgaria vs Switzerland, Euro qualifier, 01/05/1991:

Arms and banners of Granata Ultras, Stadio Comunale Vittorio Pozzo, Torino vs Ascoli, Serie A 04/06/1989:

A sophisticated enclosure at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, Anderlecht vs Ballymena United, Cup Winners’ Cup first round-1st leg, 13/09/1989:

Time for athletics, Flamurtari Stadium, Albania vs Romania, Euro qualifier, 28/10/1987:

YouTube Links:

Everton vs Coventry City, 1977
Uruguay vs Brazil, 1983
France vs Israel, 1993
Republic of Ireland vs Northern Ireland, 1978 (BBC)
West Germany vs Italy, 1988
Netherlands vs USSR, 1988
West Germany vs Netherlands, 1986
Borussia Dortmund vs Schalke 04, 1984
Bristol Rovers vs Millwall, 1984
1.FC Lokomotive Leipzig vs Bordeaux, 1983
FC Utrecht vs Ajax Amsterdam, 1980
Sweden vs England, 1984
CIS vs Netherlands, 1992
Hungary vs Romania 1981
Shelbourne vs St. Patrick’s Athletic, 1987/88
Club Brugge vs Royal Antwerp, 1992
St. Patrick’s Athletic vs Waterford FC, 1980
Valencia vs Real Madrid, 1986
Feyenoord Rotterdam vs Ajax Amsterdam, 1980
Genoa vs Lecce, 1988
Bulgaria vs Switzerland, 1991
Torino vs Ascoli, 1989
Anderlecht vs Ballymena United, 1989
Albania vs Romania, 1987

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Football Special Report #8 (Preview) – Shelbourne Fanzine Special

For the fourth time, Pyro On The Pitch has adorned the pages of the illustrious Red Inc. – the longest running fanzine in the League of Ireland, produced by the supporter group Reds Independent of Shelbourne FC. Click here for our now-online debut in RI, with a Shels-focused installment of Pyro On The Pitch (the series), and here for our second outing where Retro Shirt Reviews breaks down some amazing Auld Reds’s kits from the late 70s to the early 90s.

In our last appearance, which will soon be uploaded in full on the website, we looked at the “early modern” periods of certain well known kit features. For this part 2 of Early Modern, we turn our attention to the fascinating, cross-pollinating worlds of hooligans and ultras, and the origins of these fan cultures. Again, keep your eyes peeled for the article to appear online in the not so-distant future, but if you want to get all the latest POTP pieces as they appear, then start getting yourself down to Shels matches.

…some of the earliest evidence for the use of football-related pyrotechnics actually comes from Ireland, and indeed Shelbourne. A report regarding Shels’ victory in Dalymount Park over Belfast Celtic in the 1906 IFA Cup Final states that “tar barrels and bonfires were blazing across Ringsend and Sandymount that night as the Irish Cup was paraded around the district”. Bonfires have deep pagan origins in Ireland, particularly during Samhain (Halloween, the end of the harvest) Bealtaine (May Day, the beginning of summer) and mid-summer’s eve (the summer Solstice), with the flames – evocative of the sun for which later religions would be based on through metaphor – deemed to hold protective powers. By “the time of Shelbourne”, the bonfire and the more sophisticated tar barrel fire (an early flare of sorts?) had been adapted as a form of celebration and sign of appreciation by locals for the team who represented them.

That same year saw altogether more sinister developments over in England, as hooliganism began to lay it’s roots. In the 1880s, the presence of spectators known as “roughs” (a term that should really come back), who’s aim was to cause trouble at games and intimidate officials, already displayed that a form of hooligan had been around, but this was generally an era before away fans. The early meetings of massive rivals Millwall and West Ham United, however, were occasions that meant more than football, as both clubs’ working class followings were primarily made up of neighbouring London dockers, many of whom were employed by rival companies. Competition regarding livelihoods, as well as locales and football clubs, therefore divided the fans, and during a particularly tense Western League match in Upton Park on September 17th, 1906, violence broke out among the unsegregated supporters.

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International Duty – Club Banners At National Team Games #9: League of Ireland special (Gallery)

In this gallery series we usually take a look at a selection of supporter banners and group flags of club fans present at games of their national teams, from all around the world of football’s glorious, long-lost past. But for installment #9, we focus in on League of Ireland-based support at Republic of Ireland matches from the mid-late 80s to the early-mid 2000s.

We specify League of Ireland and not simply all clubs of the country, as there are often many non-league teams represented at Irish internationals, as well as some playing in an entirely different jurisdiction altogether (Cliftonville in Northern Ireland’s “Irish League” being the main one, while Derry City, from within the boundaries of NI, are actually apart of the LoI). These will be added at a later date. And of course, there were probably plenty more LoI banners than shown here at games during the time period covered, but the following is what we could find on video so far.

Luxembourg vs Ireland, Euro qualifier, 28/05/1987
Drogheda United:

Ireland, World Cup 1990
Derry City:

Wales vs Ireland, friendly, 06/02/1991
Bohemians:

Bohemiams:

Shamrock Rovers:

Poland vs Ireland, Euro qualifier, 16/10/1991
Bray Seaside Firm, Bray Wanderers:

Italy vs Ireland, World Cup, 18/06/1994
UCD:

Ireland vs Northern Ireland, Euro qualifier, 29/03/1995
Bohemians:

Austria vs Ireland, Euro qualifier, 06/09/1995
Finn Harps (Oasis Bar, Letterkenny):

Ireland vs Lithuania, World Cup qualifier, 20/08/1997
Cork City (x3) and Galway United (right):

Ireland vs Romania, World Cup qualifier, 11/10/1997
Galway United (left), Cork City (centre):

Malta vs Ireland, Euro qualifier, 08/09/1999
Galway United (right):

Andorra vs Ireland, World Cup qualifier, 28/03/2001
Galway United:

In 2003, the FAI embarked upon an initiative to involve the supporters of the League of Ireland more at international matches. The result was a brief golden age of co-operation, with many LoI club banners – including some of the country’s top ultras groups’ side by side – and “tifo flags” visible at games throughout the year in Lansdowne Road, along with several card displays, creating one of the stadium’s most aesthetically interesting periods.

The appointment of “League of Ireland man” Brian Kerr as national team manager might have helped make this possible, as now fans of the country’s oft-beleaguered league were coming together in support along with many Ireland fans who openly sneered at their own beloved nation’s top flight in favour of English football. Before long, however, most of the domestic supporters abandoned the project due the inherent nature of having to deal with the FAI (which is only becoming apparent to casual fans recently at the time of writing due to a recent scandal), and Landsdowne Road’s redevelopment in 2007 sealed this chapter of history for good.

Ireland vs Albania, Euro qualifier, 07/06/2003
Shed End Invincibles, St Patrick’s Athletic: