Why does it always seem to rain on Friday evenings? Last Friday, we had intended to go to the Carlisle Grounds in Bray for the match between Wanderers and St Pat's. I haven't seen either team live so far this campaign, and was looking forward to going to one of my favourite venues.
However, when the heavens opened at about 6pm last Friday, the prospect of watching Bohemians versus Cork City on the box became more appealing. I wonder how many potential attendees at all the venues across the leagues this weekend had that same change of heart.
Travelling to Bray on the DART on a fine summer's evening for a game at the Carlisle Grounds is a really nice way of spending a few hours. Add a torrential downpour into the mix, and the idea loses some of its gloss.
Let's hope that the sun shines on future Friday evenings, as it's an important element in keeping the crowds coming out to the games. I'm a big fan of summer soccer, for a myriad of reasons, but it would be nice to think that summer soccer actually means that we might get some summer-like weather to boot.
Spare a thought for the Cork City supporters who travelled to Dublin last Friday to follow their team against Bohemians at Dalymount, only to be corralled into the Connacht Street stand, with no overhead cover on one of the wettest nights in weeks if not months.
For some, the RTÉ TV gantry provided some protection, but in these days when we're trying to encourage families to games, asking supporters to sit in an uncovered stand in a monsoon is a sure way to drive the customer away.
Fortunately, somebody saw sense and moved the Cork fans to the covered main stand and it was a win-win for everyone. The fans had overhead protection, and they were suddenly visible to the TV cameras as well, instead of a large swathe of empty seats.
I think the segregation of supporters at matches is occasionally necessary, but should be taken on a match-by-match basis. In general, I think most would agree, that the relationship between opposing supporters here is good, and it's totally over the top to keep the opposing fans separated.
It's actually more likely to create an unhealthy atmosphere. Did the Cork fans thrash the Dalymount stands, or attack Bohemians supporters in the vicinity? Of course they didn't. Mind you, at Turner's Cross, the away fans are always penned into a corner of the ground near the St Anne's end with a huge no-mans land separating them from the home support.
I wrote last season about the fact that this big divide seemed over the top, and it strikes me as sad that as a kid going to away matches with my dad in the 70s and 80s, we could sit in the main stand at whatever ground we went to (except St Mel's Park, where the main stand wasn't really a main stand at all), without any fear of being sent to a separate segregated area of the ground.
Never once did we come across any threat of trouble. It's sad that in 2009 we're asking a father/mother and son/daughter who make the effort to travel to Dublin from Cork for a game, to sit in an uncovered stand in the rain, all for so-called security reasons.
This week, Damien, Eoin and Dave came into studio.
We had one or two technical problems - a computer glitch led to the playing of last week's Raiders Ireland versus Italy, so we replayed the correct version, the 1998 FAI Cup final after the ad break. All three guests had some involvement. Dave and Damien on the sidelines as managers and Eoin in the commentary box alongside George.
We had another minor problem, when the pre-recorded voice over the photos in the Fanscope segment failed to play out, but we'll make it up to those who sent in the photos in the coming weeks.
Apart from those issues, I think the panel was very strong. If you were looking for three wise men of Irish football you wouldn't look much further than the trio we had in studio on Monday.
I'm not sure how many times I'm going to have to slag Dave about his bald pate, before he gets in his retaliation about my blue rinse hair. I'm sure it's coming, but you heard it here first! (No I don't put blue rinse in my hair lest you think the slag is genuine when he eventually delivers the punchline!)
We had intended chatting about the arranging of midweek fixtures for the same week as Manchester United play live on TV in the Champions League but we ran out of time. It seems incredible to me that the league is trying to encourage new fans to attend games and then fixes a series of matches up against one of the biggest nights of European football in the entire year. It seems absolutely crazy.
I know the clubs were offered the option of switching to Monday night, but it would take the agreement of both sides and with some clubs having played on Saturday night it was always going to be a non runner. It's a pity because some of the games have real potential. Needless to say we'll have all the goals in next Monday's show.
Finally, the lads and ladies in the studio gallery; the director, editor, broadcast assistant, vision mixer, etc all nearly fell about laughing when I said we got the guy from 'Lock, Stock and Barrel' to do the guest VT voice over. Of course I knew it was actually the guy from that other well known gangster movie 'Snitch' who did the v/o. He's expensive but worth it.
Until next Monday enjoy your footie, and keep the e-mails, videos and calls coming into us at mns@rte.ie.
