The Monday after the Friday night before. Bohs battered 4-0 in Dalymount. Goals from Gary McCabe, Gavin Brennan and two from Brandon Miele making it a great night for Rovers. But if you read RTE’s reports on the night, you’d think there was no game at all. “VIDEO: Violence mars derby at Dalymount” screeches the headline, with only 1 line dedicated to the football action. The Irish Times, on the other hand, merely mentioned the incident in passing in their match report. Quite the contrast in how to report on a 90-second event within a 90-minute Dublin derby, from 2 sources that traditionally avoided tabloid hyperbole. Perhaps RTE can no longer resist the clickbait. Someone should tell them they are the State broadcaster, not balls.ie.
While every one of those people that got themselves over the barrier for a bit of a mill on Friday deserves a life ban from all Irish football, let’s not exaggerate the state of the Irish game in this regard, and let’s not allow Sky et al pull the wool over our eyes in relation to English football hooliganism, which seems to have magically resurfaced only since camera-phones became available – just search for any football club name and ‘hooligans’ on youtube – there are videos up even from last weekend – unreported incidents, mainly because they are as minor in nature as Friday’s, also they tend not to occur inside the stadium. Incidents like that in Dalymount happen all over Europe, including England, but outside the grounds and generally beyond the reach of the TV cameras. And require massive, massive, police resources. Those videos would probably make for pretty disturbing watching in places for those who have been reared on Sky Sports’ sanitised version of English football. Those, like me, who remember the 80’s may not be too shocked.
And Friday’s ‘outside the chipper after closing time’ incident was all kicked off by one, then one other, Bohs “fan”. This is not pre-meditated anarchy on a massive scale. I wonder if the relaxed attitude of the Guards on these rare occasions has more to do with how much worse they have to deal with on Friday nights outside pubs and nite-clubs all over the country than any sort of unpreparedness or laissez-faire attitude in general.
Now I look forward to watching Soccer Republic tonight to see how the national broadcaster treats it a few days later, with some football knowledge in the room. Hopefully they will focus on the football and not the minor disturbances. Both clubs have been charged, and Bohs have released a pretty strongly-worded statement on the matter. So yet again, we hope that another half-dozen or so instigators are banned from the grounds. Until the next lot. Rovers definitely have a problem, particularly away from Tallaght. At least this time the blame for kicking it off seems to lie with 2 easily identifiable individuals from within the Bohs ranks, but a few Rovers lads were quick enough off the blocks out of the Des Kelly stand as well. It’s all a bit of a nonsense, but also a bit of a shame.
But the shame is shared by RTE as well, some of whose reporters seem to have an awful appetite for covering these incidents over any on-field matters, or substantive football-related content off-field.
Why does it take an English bloke to truly reflect the Dublin derby? This is brilliant. Apart from the result.
Until the next one. Friday 15th July in Tallaght.
A Yard of Grass 