Following on from the first post in this series, which aims to highlight how good the football played on this island by our teams can be, and following Dundalk’s slaying of BATE Borisov and ascent into the play-off stages of the Champions League, this sweet victory for the Northsiders stands out for many reasons. I’m too young to remember this at the time, but it’s been an integral part of Irish football folklore for over 3 decades. Bohs beat Rangers, beat them well, and took that lead to Ibrox, where they went out only 4-3 on aggregate. This was back in the days when the Scottish League was good. When it was competitive. And when Scotland qualified for every World Cup. Long before relegation and Sevco threatened to make a century of half of Glasgow’s football history irrelevant, Rangers were a credible force even in Europe. While Bohs have had their ups and downs since this game, in 1984 as these days generally, they were a part-time team in a mainly part-time league. Their successes and falls from grace in the intervening periods, while fairly spectacular, were nowhere near the disgrace that Rangers became. And that’s coming from a Rovers fan. (Glasshouses etc….)
And then, as now, there was no way in hell a team whose fans flew Union Jacks and can be found in large numbers in the most hostile parts of Northern Ireland, would be able to play a match in peace in Dublin. I suppose the main difference from now for me, as you’ll see in the footage below, is how ill-equipped An Garda Síochána were to deal with the violence from both sides. When you see how tooled-up they get for run-of-the-mill Dublin derbies, I can’t imagine them showing up for a game like this today with a wee truncheon, a shield and a soft hat.
Despite the very-well intentioned preparations of Bohemians, including putting in brand new fences to pen Rangers fans in away from the home fans, there was some trouble at half-time which carried on during the game and into the streets of Phibsborough afterwards. Sectarian chanting before hand had turned to flag-burning, pitch invasions, and some fighting. It was inevitable. This RTE Today Tonight piece details all of this. I suppose one thing that certainly has not changed since 1984 is that the Irish media will piss all over success in the League of Ireland by focussing on the negative. Look how little attention is given to the fact that a mainly-ignored semi-professional outfit from Dublin with falling attendances had got one over on a massive British club playing in a league with which so many Irish were obsessed. (I accept that this wasn’t a sports show, but did they give it its due elsewhere?)
Anyway, there was a match as well. “Rocky 2, Gino 1, Orange Bastards On The Run!!!!”, I’ve been told by a Bohs fan was the chant of the evening. Rangers led twice in the game, thanks to Question of Sport arse Ally McCoist and Dave McPherson. Twice David “Rocky O’Brien” hauled the Gypsies back level. But the game was settled by an appropriately spectacular strike from Gino Lawless on 50 minutes.
I can only imagine the reaction on the terraces. Guttural and tribal come to mind. Violent and nasty also. Despite all of the focus of the media on the off-pitch shenanigans however, the game will be remembered as one of Irish football’s great performances. Certainly were it to happen today it would be a massive event. Personally I’d rather see an Irish team do Celtic in but that’s just petty!
And by the way, if you think the Gardaí could relax after that game, Linfield were due in Milltown the following week. Fortunately their fans were not given tickets and only 200 showed up, in peace. Unfortunately a few dozen Rovers fans gave the cops a bit of work to do, but the Hoops lost on away goals after a 1-1 draw. Glasgow Rangers and Linfield in Dublin in the space of 7 days though, jaysus.
I’d like to end by giving the highest, albeit belated, praise possible to Dundalk for their performance last week. More often Irish teams squeak through the odd big European tie, salvage draws, or win one leg which goes down in history and get battered in the other which becomes a footnote. This was very different. Dundalk outplayed BATE Borisov. They outclassed them. They outdid them in every way and deserved the 3-0 win on the night and the 2 goal win overall. I don’t know if they’ll have it in them to beat Legia Warsaw. Pat’s epitomised what I’ve just described against the same opposition in 2014 where a more than creditable 1-1 away draw was followed up by a 5-0 hammering at home. Dundalk are a better team now though than Pat’s then. It would be such an incredible thing for Irish soccer were they to get through. If that doesn’t wake up the nation’s football community to the potential of the football played in Ireland by our teams in our own communities, it’s a lost cause. I’ll be in the Aviva that evening and I hope the rest of you are too.
(PS Only a Rovers fan could end a post on Bohemians talking about 3 other clubs eh…)
A Yard of Grass 