Blog on France Trip

Good stuff,look forward to the additions 

muscles wrote: Good read but difficult, i mean white text on black background??

There is a button in the bottom right hand corner and it converts it to black text on a white background . I found it easier to read it that way myself

Blog on Belgian disappointment for anyone interested. Up to Lille tomorrow in hope rather than expectation....

http://afalsefirstxi.blogspot.fr/2016/06/bordeaux-bordeaunt-more-like.html?m=1

Drumcondra 69er wrote: Blog on Belgian disappointment for anyone interested. Up to Lille tomorrow in hope rather than expectation.... http://afalsefirstxi.blogspot.fr/2016/06/bordeaux-bordeaunt-more-like.html?m=1

Good read Drumcondra . Spot on about the fans aswell . A lot of people that never travelled to Poland in 2012 were not gonna miss out this time again on the "banter" . I also found a decent enough amount of English toffs had traveled over to Bordeaux to party because they heard about how much fun the Irish were . I know we have our 2/3 g's that travel but these lads were only in for the party as I spoke to them the morning after the game .

ConorMac77 wrote: Another good blog And I can certainly identify with the parts about poor service and organization which, at times, has been farcical to say the least and made absolutely no sense (sorry to hear about the hassle Louise had getting through security btw, that was just ridiculous). Like the night I was leaving the Paris fan zone after the France-Albania game intending to use the Champs de Mars RER station as it would have been handier for me (and God knows how many other people) only to find it was closed! Then, round the corner at Bir Hakeim metro station, the staff reacted to the huge crowd building up to access the station by...closing half the turnstiles! But the bit about the bizarre pricing for those multi-packs of cans has just trumped that. And them insisting on the 60c. You wouldn't get that anywhere else surely, would you?

Edited by ConorMac77 - 20 Jun 2016 at 11:05pm

Barna Bee wrote: Great Blog I am not the only one who felt a little bit over the hill when it came to the shenanigans outside the likes of the Connemara . I went up there after the game about midnight and just could not get into the craic  ..a bit of disappointment coupled with general fatigue and knowing of my early start the following morning drew me away from the place ...wouldn't have happened in Poland or Japan . Probably felt a bit old ....but good to know that all ours behaved themselves in any case

No, you're not alone! It was like Galway rag week on f*cking steroids. At this stage, spending a couple of hours drinking cans in the rain amongst thousands of pissed up bandwagoners after we've been humped 3 nil is my idea of hell.

Cabra Hoop wrote: tony grealish wrote: Barna Bee wrote: Great Blog I am not the only one who felt a little bit over the hill when it came to the shenanigans outside the likes of the Connemara . I went up there after the game about midnight and just could not get into the craic  ..a bit of disappointment coupled with general fatigue and knowing of my early start the following morning drew me away from the place ...wouldn't have happened in Poland or Japan . Probably felt a bit old ....but good to know that all ours behaved themselves in any case No, you're not alone! It was like Galway rag week on f*cking steroids. At this stage, spending a couple of hours drinking cans in the rain amongst thousands of pissed up bandwagoners after we've been humped 3 nil is my idea of hell.   Agree. I spoke with many lads on Friday and Saturday who didn't have tickets for the game and really didn't seem to give a fiddlers and were there purely for the "craic". Now I'm getting on a bit as well but half pissed clowns launching a football high into the air landing on roofs and bonnets in Saturday afternoon traffic to hoots and hollers really isn't to be applauded and encouraged. One lad was happy to tell me he was offered a Cat A ticket for FV but refused it because he wouldn't waste his drink money for that. He was about 20 and drinking by the neck from a bottle of Captain Morgan's at about midday on match day.   I got the impression that there were a large amount of heads there who missed Poland 2012 but had seen the vids/tubes of it and were looking to recreate Poznan and Gdansk. The football was pretext  to be there but in reality it was just a glorified piss up with the games as a backdrop.   Looking back to my first tournament in 1988 and maybe I've rose tinted glassed on but the football was the main thing and while we did have a fair bit to drink, it was a distant secondary concern.      Thankfully with the next WC being in Russia few of these gobsh*tes will be there.

I went on the piss every day in the states in 94 and every day bar one in Japan and Korea. Had great craic and even had a good session after the Mexico defeat in Orlando once we'd recovered from the heat. But there's definitely been something different this time even from Poland. The amount of lads I've seen knocking back spirits from the neck in Paris and Bordeaux was staggering. I don't think it's just a generation gap and maybe the fact that my first two tournaments in 94 and 02 were long haul meant it was a different crowd but anyone I've spoken to who was at 88 and 90 agrees that this sort of thing wasn't going on to anywhere near the same extent.

Edited by Drumcondra 69er - 21 Jun 2016 at 3:16pm

Bob Hoskins wrote: That's up on the YBIG page Drumcondra, thanks

Saw that, got the ybig link up on fb and twitter now.   

Gary McKay wrote: Drumcondra 69er wrote:  I don't think it's just a generation gap and maybe the fact that my first two tournaments in 94 and 02 were long haul meant it was a different crowd but anyone I've spoken to who was at 88 and 90 agrees that this sort of thing wasn't going on to anywhere near the same extent. True.   Some now are on a 2/3 day trips whereas 88-02 were 10 day to 3/4 weekers.

Blame Micheal O'Leary for that.