I was on Off The Ball with Bohs’ Daniel Lambert recently and he made a good point about how fans have lost touch with the live game experience.
The vast majority of football supporters in Ireland tend to ‘experience’ a live game from watching it on TV. They’re not immersed in a crowd week on week where people group together and lose themselves in the moment.
It’s one of the purest forms of joy. But so many Irish football fans don’t feel it, they just see it.
I finished my latest song this week called ‘Are We At War’. It’s about how fractured modern society has become.
But live sport - in our case League of Ireland - has a huge role to play in ridding conflict and restoring calm in our lives once the turnstiles reopen.
There’s a line in the song that goes “I look at you, you look at me, the tension between us is all I can feel”.
You can apply that to any walk of life whether it was America’s simmering racial tensions under Donald Trump or here, on our own doorstep, with the homeless crisis.
I’ve always been drawn to social justice issues and feel I’ve an obligation to understand and learn about it. It’s the same with historical conflict. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been obsessed with World War II and the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
I’m not really a TV or Netflix watcher, but I’ll devour the Discovery Channel and if I’m cleaning the house, I’ll always stick that on instead of music or podcasts.
I’ll also read any book about World War II or the Troubles to the extent that my wife just rolls her eyes as I don't look at anything else.
There’s a strong Republican background within strands of our family, so maybe it’s ingrained in me.
I’ve also vivid memories of playing in the Milk Cup up North as a kid, travelling through the border checkpoints and seeing the British soldiers with their guns.
Driving to Derry for the Drogheda game two weeks ago, I was passing through Omagh and memories of the 1998 bombing came flooding back.
The devastation it caused to that community - one that is practically on our doorstep - is just impossible to comprehend. I had all of this sort of stuff in my head when I wrote ‘Are We At War’ about 18 months ago.
I felt uneasy about the world and where it was heading with other issues too such as the huge corporations ignoring climate change and, well, the list just goes on.
I’m no social justice warrior by the way, but this stuff genuinely concerns me.
When you think about all the obstacles that come between us or drag us apart, sport is a great unifier - and live sport in particular.
The person standing beside you might be your mother or father, brother or sister, best friend or just a complete stranger. But for 90-minutes, you can forget about your worries and just lose yourself.
Sport can heal social conflict but, for me, watching on TV doesn’t compare. The sooner we feel that live game experience again the better.
Spotlight’s been off the Lilywhites..but not for long
Dundalk have a lot to thank St Pat’s and Sligo Rovers for.
Because those two clubs are going so well, it has taken the spotlight off the Lilywhites.
Nobody is talking about a Shamrock Rovers-Dundalk title race anymore and instead Dundalk are under the radar as they try to recover from a shocking start.
They’ll hope the derby win over Drogheda is a turning point and that it stops the bleed so they can crawl up the table.
They’re at such a low ebb they need results by any means, if only to give the players a confidence boost ahead of appointing a new manager.
But we’re seven games into the season and that’s the point where the top sides pull away from those struggling to keep up.
With quick-fire games away to Waterford and Longford, Dundalk will know on Monday night if they’ve any meaningful part to play in this title race.
He’s Murph it
Kevin Sheedy is making a huge mistake over this Brian Murphy mess.
From what I know of Brian, he’s a super bloke. But more to the point, he’s Waterford’s best player.
Sheedy is making a point by freezing his goalkeeper out of the team for whatever reason, but it’s counterproductive.
Sheedy's standing as an Ireland legend won't save him if results are poor so he needs to resolve it quickly.
Someone at that club needs to bury their ego and strike a compromise.
This is a Higg deal for City
I enjoyed some ding-dong clashes in the middle of the park with Ruaidhri Higgins over the years and wish him well as Derry City’s new manager.
Declan Devine’s time was up but I wasn’t sure who they would turn to. I thought it might have been someone in the Irish League.
But as soon as Higgins was linked and then appointed, you immediately thought ‘yeah, that makes perfect sense’.
I didn’t think he’d leave Stephen Kenny’s Ireland staff so soon but you don’t know how ambitious someone is and Ruaidhri clearly felt the time was right.
He lacks managerial experience but the league is littered with young gaffers who have made a success of it.
Pat Fenlon, Stephen Kenny, Stephen Bradley and Stephen O’Donnell spring to mind and they all faced a baptism of fire.
But it’s a league that can suit a young manager if they get a bit of luck and make things happen for themselves.
Higgins and Derry are a good fit and I’ve a good feeling about it.
Sort it out Weso!
My old mate Wes Hoolahan has been nominated for League Two’s ‘Player of the Year’ after a smashing season with Cambridge United.
He’s still doing the business at 39, which is remarkable. Win or lose, I hope he celebrates ….by cutting that ridiculous barnet. Sort it out Weso!
