| Haka back at the Showgrounds |
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| Thursday, 11 May 2006 | |
 HAKA-time has arrived. I was anticipating a feast of mongrel-type football. A crossbreed of a game which would include Brazilian flair (Finn Harps looked like Brazil until the game kicked-off) and the best of New Zealand’s rugby tactics (Sligo Rovers looked like the All-Blacks).This black kit must be sent to the nearest skip. If Tuesday night had been 1st April it could have been absorbed under the guise of an ‘April fool’ but it was 10th May. And Sligo is not 40 days behind GMT. However, it might be appropriate to get out the sack cloth and ashes and banish everyone (supporters included) into the wilderness of deepest Hazelwood or Lough Gill for 40 days and 40 nights. A kind of cleansing of the spirit – an opportunity to usher in a new beginning. Modern technology can produce instant solutions – condense the period in exile into 40 minutes. Do it yourself rehabilitation is required here. And it must be completed by 7.30 on Saturday night – otherwise there’s no point in showing up. Any of us. The players were below par on Tuesday night. The supporters were even worse. At least the players huffed and puffed around the pitch and provided us with a distraction from 8pm – 10.30pm – value for money. The supporters – we had no puff and we went home huffed. We sat in silence. Simon and Garfunkel wrote the song for us. The Sound of Silence! “Hello darkness my old friend,” La La La, La la La.  The darkest corners of The Showgrounds, plenty of them, especially with six lights on strike. Playing in black – hard to see a colleague, maybe that’s why Keith Foy passed to a Finn Harps player on no less than six occasions. At least Man Utd got rid of the grey jerseys following a fiasco against Southampton. So can we be like Man Utd? And Benny the Bull – what is your role? Come on and show a bit of leadership by trying to get us supporters up of our arses and shouting for the team – the way we used to, they way we do (sometimes) when we are away. And the committee (have to blame the committee for something) – We appear to have a good public address – is there a volume switch? “Sweet Home Alabama” is a good solid song, but it needs volume. We don’t want to hear nice, quiet, low key, gentle tunes wafting through the evening air – it’s sleep-inducing. “Pump up the volume” get the supporters warmed up before the game, let’s get behind the team, if we had supported the team properly on Tuesday night we would have won. As for the HAKA. We played them in 1983 in the Cup Winners Cup and we lost. Remember all the furore over some ‘breach of discipline’ on the away trip. At least in that era there was a bit of passion about the supporters. Ah!Now I feel better – I’ve done my 40 minutes of inner soul-searching and cleansed the spirit. Bring on Drogheda Utd for the backlash. Come on the ‘Bit o’Black’ by Conall Collier |
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