One week…just one week to go until the greatest football carnival Europe has ever seen kicks off in gay Paris. And after the ups and downs of Group D, the Republic of Ireland will be there, giving Irish fans (myself included) another chance to put themselves through the same pain and misery of Euro 2012. However this time things feel a little different. After Leicester's heroics in the Premier League, we all have that extra glimmer of hope that Ireland can go one step further than last time…and score 2 feckin goals over the course of the three group games!
Now most people would assume that all the anxiety, fury, tears and elation happen after the football kicks off in June, but all real BIG fans know we went through all these emotions in the months leading up to the tournament. First off was the group draw back in December when we were praying for a decent group for once and were landed with the big guns. Ah well, better to be there with the big boys than sat on the beach in Torremolinos with the missus. Then came the UEFA ticket ballot. For every ticket available to Irish fans, 10 people applied. Rumours spread like wildfire on Whats App once someone had heard of some lad that their cousin Tommo knew, who got an email from UEFA saying he got 2 tickets to every game. And we all darted to our mails to see if we were in luck. “Ah sure there’s always the resale portal!”.
That’s when the real nightmare began. Hours on end spent watching that feckin red bar load up, to eventually get in and realise that robots were snapping up tickets much faster than any hungover fingers could click on a Monday morning. I think every fan had that moment when they thought they had a ticket only to realise at the last moment that you’d been kicked out because your 15 minute session had ended. I eventually had some luck and got tickets to the Sweden and Italy games and I pray to Gary Doherty that I can get a Belgium one over there.
So with tickets in hand (kind of) came the fun part: logistics for the lads and I. “How can we get to France without investing a small fortune in Ryanair?”. After hours spent on Skyscanner, Irish Ferries and Eurostar we eventually settled on a route: flying into Amsterdam, a train down to Paris and then renting a car for the rest of the trip to make our way around the country. I’ve heard of at least 20 different routes and tactics undertaken by the Irish fans in order to make it to Paris on time for June 13th and return to the site of our greatest football scar, the Stade de France. I’m sure we’ll find time to lay a wreath before kick off.
With almost everything sorted, the packing of bags has begun…well one bag (thanks Michael O’Leary). Jersey, scarf, flowery shorts, random Penny’s merchandise, Ms Doyle’s Understanding Football for Women for any French cailíní we meet and plenty of factor 50 all packed in. No one knows what quiet to expect, but there is an air of belief, blind faith and a voice in our heads that says “we’ll go there and we’ll compete”. The past few months have put Irish fans through the ringer so whatever happens, Euro 2016 promises to be an epic journey for everyone travelling and I’ll be updating you all daily from inside the Irish fan zone on the roller-coaster of emotions and the guaranteed shenanigans that go on(perhaps even the Nippler 2016).
Come on you Boys in Green!
Now most people would assume that all the anxiety, fury, tears and elation happen after the football kicks off in June, but all real BIG fans know we went through all these emotions in the months leading up to the tournament. First off was the group draw back in December when we were praying for a decent group for once and were landed with the big guns. Ah well, better to be there with the big boys than sat on the beach in Torremolinos with the missus. Then came the UEFA ticket ballot. For every ticket available to Irish fans, 10 people applied. Rumours spread like wildfire on Whats App once someone had heard of some lad that their cousin Tommo knew, who got an email from UEFA saying he got 2 tickets to every game. And we all darted to our mails to see if we were in luck. “Ah sure there’s always the resale portal!”.
That’s when the real nightmare began. Hours on end spent watching that feckin red bar load up, to eventually get in and realise that robots were snapping up tickets much faster than any hungover fingers could click on a Monday morning. I think every fan had that moment when they thought they had a ticket only to realise at the last moment that you’d been kicked out because your 15 minute session had ended. I eventually had some luck and got tickets to the Sweden and Italy games and I pray to Gary Doherty that I can get a Belgium one over there.
So with tickets in hand (kind of) came the fun part: logistics for the lads and I. “How can we get to France without investing a small fortune in Ryanair?”. After hours spent on Skyscanner, Irish Ferries and Eurostar we eventually settled on a route: flying into Amsterdam, a train down to Paris and then renting a car for the rest of the trip to make our way around the country. I’ve heard of at least 20 different routes and tactics undertaken by the Irish fans in order to make it to Paris on time for June 13th and return to the site of our greatest football scar, the Stade de France. I’m sure we’ll find time to lay a wreath before kick off.
With almost everything sorted, the packing of bags has begun…well one bag (thanks Michael O’Leary). Jersey, scarf, flowery shorts, random Penny’s merchandise, Ms Doyle’s Understanding Football for Women for any French cailíní we meet and plenty of factor 50 all packed in. No one knows what quiet to expect, but there is an air of belief, blind faith and a voice in our heads that says “we’ll go there and we’ll compete”. The past few months have put Irish fans through the ringer so whatever happens, Euro 2016 promises to be an epic journey for everyone travelling and I’ll be updating you all daily from inside the Irish fan zone on the roller-coaster of emotions and the guaranteed shenanigans that go on(perhaps even the Nippler 2016).
Come on you Boys in Green!
