Getting paying customers into Airtricity League grounds is something that’s very high on each clubs list of priorities I’m sure, which is why I was flabbergasted when I heard a story from last week, to which one can only say: ‘You cannot be serious’.
In their wisdom the authorities continue to fix matches on a Monday night, right up against MNS, which as I wrote last week makes it difficult for all of us working on the programme to get to matches, but also gives supporters a choice to make.
Their favourite programme of the week on the one hand, or go out to support their local team on the other. What a pity the two can’t fit together without giving the fans Hobson's choice. It’s also interesting to note that nearly every manager has spoken publicly to criticise the fixture congestion at the moment, which means part-time players are being asked to play six games in 17 days. Go figure.
Kevin, who works on our programme, is a Bohemians supporter, and being the good fan that he is, he had his dad waiting in a car outside the studios after the programme, to drop him over to Morton Stadium to try to catch the last half hour or so of the Sporting Fingal v Bohemians match last Monday week.
Despite the fact the he and his friend were each willing to fork out 15 hard-earned euro to Sporting, they were denied entry to the ground. Their crime? Arriving too late! Having been told that they couldn’t come in by a jobsworth, a Garda then came over and asked the lads why they’d want to pay in to watch ‘that shit anyway?’.
The two lads (customers) were then told to clear off, so the friend who had spent 25 euro on a taxi to Santry for the match did so in vain. How can any club treat potential customers like this? It sounds like a case for Fergal Quinn.
I know for sure that any business trying to attract new customers 
could do without the scenes we saw broadcast at Oriel Park on Monday night. Of course some sort of perspective has to be maintained. Nobody was hurt, but it looked ugly. The so-called Shamrock Rovers fans who played the part of hard men in Dundalk did the club they purport to support a great disservice. The optics looked terrible with the Garda Dog Unit being brought in after bottles and pieces of wood were thrown on the pitch and the game was held up for a very long time. (It was held up for seven minutes I'm told, which is why I was surprised the referee only played 5 additional minutes at the end of the game. Could that have been influenced by the fact that Setanta Sports had to get off air before a certain time? It was the only explanation I could come up with in my mind given the number of substitutions and stoppages that would have given us 3 or 4 minutes of added time without the hold up for the trouble on the terrace.)
Incidentally, I'll be accused of bias so I won't say what I thought about the sending-off of James Chambers, which was the spark that lit the fuse at Oriel on Monday night, but the table I was sitting at, to a man and woman thought the sending-off was ridiculously harsh. Whatever about the sending off, what followed on the terrace is something the league can do without and hopefully it's the last time we'll see that sort of carry on for a very long time.
That being said, Dundalk are good value for their place at the top of the table, if only their fans would stop contacting us at MNS headquarters asking the panel to give them credit for where they are. For two programmes in a row I've posed that question, and for two programmes in a row the panel have heaped praise on Dundalk and the job Ian Foster is doing. The only question has 
been whether the Lilywhites panel is big enough to sustain a title challenge. A point that Ian Foster himself raised in an interview straight after Monday’s win over Rovers.
Sean Prunty praised UCD for what they've achieved so far this season on last Monday’s programme and that was before they took the scalp of Pete Mahon's Saints. It was interesting to note that when we went live to Tony O'Donoghue and Pete at the Bowl, TOD asked Pete about not underestimating the Students and Pete was quick to say ‘not us’, and I'm sure they didn't underestimate UCD, but the Belfield club have been quietly achieving good results and any three points earned against them will be hard-earned no doubt.
As for Pat's, two defeats in a row and a testing match against Dundalk to come. This is a good test of their title credentials now, and the game against Dundalk promises to be a cracker with Ian Foster’s men on a high now.
Incidentally, it was great to see a big crowd from Dundalk filling the away section at Hunk Dory's Park for the Louth derby. As I mentioned to Damien O'Meara on The Football Show on RTÉ Radio this week, Dundalk has a great history of football down through the years, and when things are going well at Oriel Park, the fans will come out. They’re also getting a good travelling support these days, which might have something to do with the fact that Dundalk is only just over an hour away from most away venues this season, and that’s without breaking the speed limit on the M1.
Likewise there was a cracking atmosphere at Inchicore for the St Pat’s v Shamrock Rovers match. A really good turn out from both sets of fans, lots of noise, and the sort of support we want. Lots of singing and chanting and none of the nonsense we witnessed at Oriel Park.
(I wonder did David Essex ever think that Hoops fans would be singing ‘Hold me close’ on the terraces of Inchicore 35 years after it was a hit – probably not I suppose).
Likewise, when in 1968 The Foundations released ‘Build me up Buttercup’ could they have imagined that Shamrock Rovers fans would be belting it out from the stands of grounds all over Ireland in 2010.
If Bohemians fans song is ‘Hold me now’ by Johnny Logan, and Derry City’s is ‘Teenage Kicks’ by The Undertones, what other songs are associated with other clubs from around Ireland?
Fógra: If you can get along to Tallaght Stadium this Saturday, a charity match in aid of The Caring and Sharing Association and the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association is taking place with a 2.30 kick off.
Ronnie Whelan, Packie Bonner, Paul McGrath, Gary Kelly and other well known faces are pencilled in to play and with tickets only 5 euro each, or 12 euro for a family ticket it’s great value, with clowns and face painting lined up for the junior family members.
After the match there’s a Gala dinner at the Citywest hotel which will include a Q and A session with Jimmy Magee.
