France: Euro 2016

England 1-1 Russia
Euro 2016 Group B, Stade Velodrome, June 11 2016

My first visit to a major tournament (not counting the Olympic football here, hipsters), and one that at first glance of the fixture looking back, you may say an "eventful" one.

Let's get the formalities out of the way first. On a Saturday night in the South of France, England were the better side but struggled to break the Russians down. Eventually, Eric Dier smashed home a free-kick to put England ahead. But just when we thought we could reach out and touch the win, some haphazard defending made sure Alexei Berezutski managed to get a late equaliser.

OK. On the pitch stuff over. Time for the stuff you probably want to know more about. You had to live under a rock to not know about the violence preceeding and following the game, and also the scenes in the ground at full time.

In my case, the truth is I actually saw little of it at first hand. Like many I arrived in Marseille early on Thursday morning. The Old Port seemed like a good place to go down to at some point, but my hotel was elsewhere, not for from the Velodrome in fact. After finding an Irish bar nearby to drink in (and finding a Bolton Wanderers scarf, being the massive club we are) while waiting for my hotel room to be ready, I went off and fell asleep, being up since 4am.

I woke up and saw reports of what had gone on, and after hearing more stuff on Friday, I made the decision that I just couldn't be bothered going up to the Port, even if any violence was in short sharp bursts. I've never tasted tear gas, but it doesn't sound like a good experience. So **** that.

In any case, when the nearby Avenue du Prado had a number of brasseries with beer on tap and the other games on, why the need to go down there? I understand those who had hotels there and probably didn't know where else to go, but those who kept going back, well it just seemed like a very unwise decision.

Most of the England fans, the vast majority in fact, were great. The atmopshere where we was fantastic, a few locals with drums came down and helped turn it into a carnival atmpshere. But all the time you could hear police siren after police siren, making the quick journey to the Port, where as we know it was a different story. At the same time, some of our fans don't help themselves. The IRA stuff is just out of date and irrelevant now for starters. Not that should legitimise Russian thuggery.

After the game, the charge of the Russian fans happened down the other end. As we weren't heading in that direction, we just got out of there knowing if we didn't hang around, it would be fine. But it was a tense few minutes and the sight of armed riot police was anything but reassuring.

The matchday experience obviously didn't feel particularly French. UEFA's continuing McDonaldisation of their competitions ensured we had the same pre-match music and 'entertainment' as every other game at the tournament, any noise the fans making having to drown out Jump Around by House of Pain which we were all asked to dance to. No. Just no. And of course, the vast majority of fans were English.

The entrance procedures to the ground left a lot to be desired. Fans went through one gate, then a security check, then finally got to the turnstile. It was very crammed outside the first set of gates, with no queueing and people still desperate to hold onto their booze. While people remained calm and there were no problems, it could have been easy to cause chaos out on that street.

The rebuilt Velodrome is a stunning stadium though. Up in our top tier, you could see just over the beautiful roof and into the scenery behind.

Easter in Ireland

Republic of Ireland 1-0 Switzerland,
Aviva Stadium,
Friendly, March 25 2016

It was a short flight across the Irish Sea to Dublin for the first of two games in two days on the island. I've always followed the Boys In Green due to some Irish ancestry on my dad's side of the family, so I was actually fairly excited to see them live.

What I wasn't aware of was the fact that one or two of my plans were to go right out of the window. While not a big drinker, I still like a visit to a pub. But this was Ireland, and this was Good Friday, where bars and restaurants can't actually serve you. Even though churches offer you free wine every Sunday.  But there are exemptions, and one notable one is sports venues, so the Aviva Stadium had my back on that one. As did Ryanair, even though their flight attendant asked if I wanted ice with my Heineken. I managed not to laugh.

The view from the back of the South Stand ten minutes
before kick-off

The Aviva is a great stadium too. Going through an underpass to get to my end of the ground, the large stand at one end, the tunnel is decorated with commentary lines from Irish football and rugby union's most famous moments, and a predictable line about Roy Keane going in with a big tackle. The atmosphere was fairly good, especially compared with the England friendlies I have been to. Not difficult though, I suppose.

Anyway, as for the match, it was pretty poor. Ciaran Clark scored a header in the second minute in what proved to be the only goal of the game. Switzerland pressed and pressured the hosts, but that was about it. Kevin Doyle picked up a nasty looking gash, and that was the sum total of what happened.

It was however a hugely significant weekend to be in the country. 2016 marks a century since the Easter Rising, which was a pivotal event in the eventual establishment of an independent Republic of Ireland. This was marked before the match with a reading of part of the original proclamation and guests from the Irish forces.

I also had a bit of spare time on Saturday morning, so I went down to O'Connell Street and saw the General Post Office, which was the base of the Irish rebels during the Rising. Access was fairly difficult though, as preparations were being made for official events taking place on Easter Sunday.

Crusaders 2-0 Dungannon Swifts,
Seaview,
Irish Premiership, March 26 2016

The following day I travelled north of the border to tick off Northern Ireland. My choice of game was table-topping Crusaders at home to Dungannon Swifts in the semi-professional domestic top flight. Crues would go five points clear with a victory and take another step in defending their title.

First, was the walk from Belfast city centre to the ground. This proved a reminder of Northern Ireland's schizophrenic identity as I went up Shore Road. I walked through a neighbourhood full of Irish flags and the odd mural, then crossed a junction where the kerbs were painted red, white and blue. On the walk back a giant sign told me this was 'LOYALIST TIGER'S BAY' with the red hand of Ulster to boot. Fair enough.

Seaview, with no view of the sea

Anyway, I paid my £10 on the door after finding an Asda with a cash machine and got in a fairly tidy Seaview. I'm not sure what the attendance was, but gathering from the number of fans wearing merchandise from English Premier League clubs (and also a Rangers and a Wolfsburg jacket) the international break may have brought about a few extra fans on the gate.

The weather was absolutely awful. Despite being in a small, but covered stand, I was drenched twice, then at half time was almost blown away by a gale and a very brief hailstorm. All the day before we were meant to put our clocks forward for summer.

The football was dominated by Crues. They had several chances to win it in the first half but couldn't break the deadlock. There was some frustration as the afternoon went on, but eventually man of the match Paul Heatley managed to score a brace, the second being a decent curling effort
to send the Crues fans home happy.

Belfast is a decent city though, and that night I watched England's win in Germany in a great pub called Lavery's. It has an off licence and a pool room which becomes a club night on Saturdays. And the beer isn't too pricey either.