April 8th this year I turned 40 which confounds me a bit, but I can’t argue my way out of it. 4-0 it’s a pretty big deal. So my wife Amanda decided to surprise me with a trip to Dublin Ireland for 4 days. I’m so glad we went and I have nothing but good things to say about Dublin. The food was good, the people were friendly, Whiskey and Guinness were in abundance and there’s things to see everywhere.
My one request was that when we go abroad, I want to see a soccer match, as I’ve become a budding soccer nerd over the last couple years. So she found us tickets to the Bohemians FC vs Sligo. I’d never heard of these folks so I didn’t know what to expect.
We took a cab to Dalymount Park. Our cabbie pulls over and says “ok, it’s across the street.” All we saw was a bunch of row homes with a little alley in between. He said “Yeah, that’s it, it’s back there” So we join the people funneling in to this alley and immediately Bohemians FC Murals and graffiti were everywhere. The entrance almost looked like I’d need a secret handshake to get in. The guard steered us to the side entrance which they referred to as Des Kelly entrance. As we walked around the arena we could hear the roar of the fans getting pumped up for the match. There was so much energy about this place.
Des Kelly section turned out to be the standing room section behind the goal. Imagine Sons of Ben for reference. It was twice that amount of people standing shoulder to shoulder. People of all ages going nuts and cheering on the “Bohs”. The BOHS chant sounded an awful lot like the E-A-G-L-E-S chant in Philadelphia.
Compared to larger clubs I’ve seen, there were only about 4600 people in this stadium. I tell you what though, these BOHs fans had just as much energy as a 20,000 person stadium. Even in their excitement, they were well behaved and orderly and still friendly. No sloppy drunks, or fights. We heard them shout the C-Word about a million times but that’s not nearly as malicious as it is in the states.
I met two folks during this match. A fellow American, who was a self proclaimed soccer nerd and his friends from Minnesota. They had flown there specifically to attend a Bohs game. The other person I met was a rather large, rather drunken Bohs fan who screamed his head off the whole match in front of me. He was extremely passionate about his team. He asked if I was a Bohs fan and I replied “Dude this is my first time ever hearing of them, I’m a Philadelphia Union fan” He excitedly responded “Oh you’re American! I love America, I’ve always wanted to go to a Union Game. Hey your Eagles fans are f-ckin crazy” So we bonded over Philly Sports and how nuts our sports fans can be which was hilarious. 5,000 miles from home and they know us for cheese steaks and Eagles fans. He told me he had a season ticket to the Bohs which he paid $250 euros for, and that was what he did on Friday Nights rather than stay home. In conversation, I started to realize this Bohs team wasn’t just a team they paid attention to once in a while. This was their neighborhood identity. Everyone in attendance lived within walking distance and the Bohs were their “lads” so to speak. I wish I had gotten his name, but he became my bestie during the match. Every time they scored I got an excited high five and a big jumping bear hug from this massive Irish dude.
Attending a Bohemians game was an amazing experience and I’m super thankful Amanda thought of it. The passion these people had in support of their team and their stadium really struck a chord with me. In researching the team a bit, there is apparently talk of them tearing down Dalymount Park since it’s 100 years old, and rebuilding a new stadium at some point in the near future. I worry for these folks that in rebuilding they might lose the neighborhood club they love and ticket prices will sky rocket, but that could just be me being cynical. In all seriousness though if you want to have a neighborhood soccer club experience like no other definitely check out the Bohemians FC in Dublin. Dublin was the easiest international travel I’ve experienced, and by far the most fun.
