It made for a better atmosphere too. Remember watching those Clare-Tipp games in PuiC from the terrace, and it would look like half the stadium was lifting off the ground when Tipp would score. Shelly’s point in the '99 drawn game and Eoin Kelly’s goal in '02 are two I’ll always remember.
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One difference I was commenting on this year to my family was flags. I remember going to games in the nineties and the place would be a sea of flags, especially for goals and the parade and especially the terraces. People down seem to bother with them any more. Maybe we’ve become too sophisticated and urbane. I think it’s if it because there’s so many scores now you couldn’t be putting the flag up and down for all of them.
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https://x.com/DanielHussey2/status/1685336463985037312?t=NFFVl0t3EnD3HCCsLKu6qw&s=19
This clip gives a good insight.
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100%. Would love to have seen Davy’s penalty in '99 from the Tipp terrace.
Wasn’t the Canal End one set of supporters and the Hill the other before the redevelopment? The lads who liked offering everyone their opinion would be in one or the other, and well away from any opposition.
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I’ve been going to matches across the country for 30 years and I’ve seen plenty of fracas among supporters. Although the above story is awful (what kind of weasel bites somebody?) I’ve seen many instances of it, both at Galway games and as a neutral. I’d put it more down to lads putting to much emphasis on their county filling a gap in their own life rather than a societal shift. You’ll unfortunately never get rid of the utter loo-las that take things too personally, especially with drink taken.
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Christ it used to be some craic down in the Pairc back in the 90’s and 00’s when after a game - both crowds from the terrace would join the walk back down the tree lined road out of the Pairc - used to be some shouting and roaring.
Great days.
There really isn’t as much colour anymore - the flags, bodhrans, straw hats etc are badly needed.
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In the old Croke Park there were two terraces. All-Ireland finals would have the terraces largely segregated but the stands were mixed.
That changed when the Canal End was demolished and Hill 16 was the only remaining terrace.
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It stopped well before the 50 score games. I think it might just be that flags are a pain in the hole to be looking after for the day.
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That’s it really, after you bite someone you can have few enough complaints at what is coming back
That’s actually mad, that lad is a principal now, he’s one of my brothers best mates, his older brother is a serious muso, you’d have a lot in common with him, he was a great sportsman when he was younger.
I’d say I’ve often mentioned the dad here, he was a massive influence on me growing up, probably a big part of why I became a teacher,
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That’s an awful low blow to be kicking a lad when he’s down like he is
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Where did the young fella go after the guards took the ould lad
Fuck him, I have less than zero respect for that cunt
In truth they’ll go when JP says so……
He’d probably tell you himself it wasn’t his finest hour. Cork did a job on him yesterday, they’re obviously more tactically astute than they were getting credit for.
Takes a lot for a lad like you to get so animated. I won’t antagonise it anymore
Bad aul form ruined it for the kid ffs.
They’re all used by rugby supporters now.
The booing of diarmuid byrnes standing over his 65 was a disgrace by the cork fans as Well.
These guys are amateurs. Get behind your own team by all means but this booing and stuff is simply awful.
What makes children want to go to games above all is colour and noise, a slight feeling of danger even. The intoxicating atmosphere. Going to the terrace for young lads was all about a slight whiff of danger. I know other people tend to disagree on this but the klaxons or air horns were an integral part of the 1990s GAA boom. That deafening noise, it was intoxicating. Big flags, I mean the really big ones that used to get passed over the heads of crowds on terraces, again annoying to some but they created something, they created a feeling of bigness. I mean if saw the big Tipp flag with “Slievenamon Hill Ardfinnan” on it being passed around you knew you were looking at something that mattered to people.
That feeling of colour and noise and being part of a sheer mass of heaving humanity has steadily declined since the 1990s and it’s a bit of a vicious circle. The more the colour and noise declines, the less people want to go.
Mobile phones probably killed off flags more than anything. That and health and safety.
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