I had been to Southampton a few times, sometimes to fly from the airport back to George Best Belfast City. Other times, as band manager of the waves, I had been to rehearsals and gigs there. It is a big city, and much less busy than London. It was only a matter of time before Read more about Hong Kong Army Alfred! Southampton FA Cup Final Day (May 2006)[…]
Selling our self-produced ‘Here We Go…Again‘ fanzine (for the Northern Ireland national team) next to Marty Lowry for years had meant we chatted about all sorts of random things, including Marty telling me about Shaun with an H. This man was Shaun Schofield, who had been attending every single Northern Ireland home and away match Read more about Book Review: There’s Always One by Shaun Schofield[…]
Back in 1991, while in P7, final year at Kilmaine Primary School we often had football matches at lunch and break time. To this day, only one match from that period sticks in memory and what a cracker it was. The primary school used to let us eat lunch in the classroom and in warmer Read more about Kilmaine Lunchtime Premier League 1991 – P7R 3-3 P7T[…]
The second meeting of the South of England Northern Ireland Supporters Club was held in Torquay on the first Saturday on 2006. The reason for the meeting was that myself, Tim Beattie and Owen Millar wanted to get the club up and running fairly quickly and plan the year ahead. Owen suggested Torquay, because he Read more about Come on You Yellows!! Torquay United 0-0 Birmingham City[…]
I had lived in Bournemouth for the best part of five years before I actually went to watch Bournemouth Football Club! That is probably because Bournemouth Football Club are not quite as high profile as their Boscombe rivals, AFC Bournemouth. They are two completely different teams, Bournemouth Football Club were formed in 1875 and are Read more about Up the Poppies, In All Remembrance Services! :Bournemouth FC 3-1 Alton Town FC[…]
As detailed in other blog posts, during 2005 I helped set up and became chairman of the South of England Northern Ireland Supporters Club. The idea really was just to set up an amazing wee club in the south of England for Northern Ireland football fans, or anyone who enjoys a good day out really. Read more about Is this the way to Weymouth, Dorset??[…]
I always prefer pub crawls to sitting in the same pub for hours on end. Pub crawls provide more randomness, comedy, variety and you meet more people and sample more things. And you get to piss in more toilets. So for my 26th birthday, we stayed in some hotels close to oxford street London and Read more about Thirsty Thursdays: Football Grounds of London Pub Crawl![…]
The first time I saw my country win a match while I was there was this one. I had watched our two previous wins at home with my Dad on TV. They were Malta 3-0 and Uruguay 1-0 in 1989 and 1990 I think. This game was my first international of 1991, and it happenned Read more about Oh he can’t believe it can he???? – Northern Ireland 3-1 Poland (February 1991)[…]