Shels – Pyro On The Pitch.com

Heroic Hang Jobs #7 (Gallery)

Welcome back to another installment of Heroic Hang Jobs, the series that celebrates old-style flag and banner hanging. As per usual, here we look at a selection of different clubs and countries, from different eras and to different scales, but some specialised episodes of HHJ are in the pipeline.

Shelbourne vs Glenmore Celtic, Tolka Park, Dublin, FAI Cup quarter-final, 1993:

Ajax Amsterdam vs Lokomotive Leipzig, Olympic Stadium, Athens, Cup Winners’ Cup final, 13/05/1987:

Ajax Amsterdam vs KV Mechelen, Stade de la Meinau, Strasbourg, Cup Winners’ Cup final, 11/05/1988:

KV Mechelen vs Ajax Amsterdam, Stade de la Meinau, Strasbourg, Cup Winners’ Cup final, 11/05/1988:

Ireland vs Scotland, Lansdowne Road, Dublin, friendly, 30/05/2000:

PSV Eindhoven vs AZ Alkmaar, Philips Stadion, Eindhoven, Eredivisie, 28/09/1985:
West Germany vs Spain, Niedersachsenstadion, Hannover, friendly, 15/10/1986:

Wisła Kraków vs ???, 1990s:

Bayern Munich vs AC Milan, Olympic Stadium, Munich, European Cup semi final-2nd leg, 18/04/1990:

Bayern Munich vs AC Milan, Olympic Stadium, Munich, European Cup semi final-2nd leg, 18/04/1990:

Bayern Munich vs AC Milan, Olympic Stadium, Munich, European Cup semi final-2nd leg, 18/04/1990:

Northern Ireland vs Ireland, World Cup qualifier, Windsor Park, Belfast, 14/09/1988:

Dinamo Zagreb vs Red Star Belgrade, Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb, Yugoslav First League, 13/05/1990:

Ireland vs Turkey, Lansdowne Road, Dublin, European Championships qualifier, 17/10/1990:

Cagliari vs Cremonese, Stadio Sant’Elia, Cagliari, Serie A, 15/09/1992:

Royal Antwerp (featuring Feyenoord) vs Club Brugge, Bosuilstadion, Antwerp, Belgian First Division A, 27/02/1988:

Japan vs Iraq, Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, Qatar, World Cup qualifier, 28/10/1993:

US Pergocrema vs US Allasandria, Stadio Giuseppe Voltini, Crema, Serie C2-Group B, 06/02/1988:

YouTube links:

Shelbourne vs Glenmore Celtic, 1993
Ajax vs Lokomotive Leipzig, 1987
Ajax vs Mechelen, 1988
Ireland vs Scotland, 2000
PSV Eindhoven vs AZ Alkmaar, 1985
West Germany vs Spain, 1986
Bayern Munich vs Milan, 1990
Northern Ireland vs Ireland, 1988
Dinamo Zagreb vs Red Star Belgrade, 1990
Ireland vs Turkey, 1990
Cagliari vs Cremonese, 1992
Royal Antwerp vs Club Brugge, 1988
Japan vs Iraq, 1993
Pergocrema vs Alessandria, 1988

*****

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.

*****

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: