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Religious suffering is,
at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest
against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature,
the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It
is the opium of the people.
~ Karl Marx (1818 - 1883)
From The Pulpit with Fr
Indefatigable
“They’re all Rovers
bastards and should never be allowed to wear the Red and Black of Bohs!”
“Feck off Palmer ye useless Rovers c@nt!” “ Grant your nuttin’ but a f@ckin’
Rovers toerag!” “That O’Brien fella’s feckin brootal. Another Rovers
reject bought by our useless board!”…. I can go on.
We F*ckin’ Hate Rovers
As a Bohs fan not brought up in the tradition of red and black save for
a few Sunday visits to Dalymount in the 80’s as Cabra Man (Dad) had
moved to the sticks in the 70’s, it is with sometimes amusement and
sometimes a sense of weariness that I listen to and read statements akin
to the few above and others like them.
Most of us remember Rovers sides of the past hijacking our own best for
the dark side and worse still, seeing them succeed in the green and
white hoops more times than you could shake a stick at. It was hard for
any self-respecting Bohs supporter to put up with, least still accept.
When Roddy Collins (aka The Rod) took us to the brink of relegation and
then on to win the double in the space of two seasons – one would nearly
think that it was all part of ‘The Rod’s’ master plan to accentuate his
achievement by nearly getting us relegated. Recent history would suggest
otherwise however. The thing is, it was more than just a league victory
for us, more than you could just say it was well worth the wait. More,
it was the Rovers monkey off our back. An injection of self respect and
justification for all the barren years (1992 aside) without a trophy
while those perennial sore winners lorded it over us and still do to
this day despite not winning a single trophy in,… how long is it now?
For years – and for years to come - we have listened to (and will have
to listen to) the great unclean singing songs of jubilation about 15
leagues and 24 cups etc. notwithstanding their relegation last year. But
our win in 2001 brought us above them, furthermore to achieve the second
league success in three seasons established Bohs as top dog in the
Bohs/Rovers rivalry.
These wins and our recent record suggests (last three seasons league
results below) that Bohs have ‘come of age’ in the derby stakes;
Apr 2003; Bohs 1 – 1 Rovers
Sept 2003; Rovers 1 – 2 Bohs
Sept 2003; Bohs 2 – 1 Rovers
Oct 2003; Rovers 0 – 0 Bohs
Apr 2004; Bohs 2 – 2 Rovers
Jun 2004; Rovers 2-1 Bohs
Aug 2004; Bohs 3 – 2 Rovers
Nov 2004; Rovers 0 – 1 Bohs
Mar 2005; Bohs 0 – 0 Rovers
Jun 2005; Rovers 1 – 2 Bohs
Sept 2005; Bohs 1 – 3 Rovers
Pld W D L F A
Bohs 11 5 4 2 15 13
The thing is this though. Rovers' great success had taken players from
Dalymount Park to Milltown and won, and won, and won. With some
justification it can be said that they had done the right thing in the
circumstances, but forgive me for bringing this up now – Bohs had done
pretty well to win the league in 2001 to be followed up in 2003 without
the help of Rovers influence to any great degree under both Collins and
Kenny’s stewardship – but why then do we seem to sign anything and
anybody that becomes available from the green and white stable when the
players we have gained from that particular stable have been less than
convincing in the best of cases. Is it because now we are ‘on top’ that
we enjoy ‘raping’ their club because they used to be in the position to
do it to us any time they wished to do so.
If my assertion is correct then, it does speak volumes about our club
and any onlooker with any inclination to look under the stone here may
just come up with the conclusion that we are still very much under the
influence of the great unwashed.
The fact that we have overtaken them on the pitch (for the moment) might
indicate that we are happy enough in our own skins and that we should
offer no more than a cursory look over our shoulder at the famous hoops
slip sliding into first division oblivion. So why is it then that we
still would seem to be insecure in ourselves so much so that since we’ve
shaken this monkey from our backs that we have consistently gone back to
Rovers to sign players that have practically won nothing in their
careers (with Rovers at least). Palmer, Grant, Keddy, Liam O’Brien, Mark
O’Brien, McGuinness et al.
To me this is not the sign of a progressive approach in team building
for the future and does not inspire me in the same way that I might be
inspired by the introduction of the very capable playing resources
learning their trade in our own Under 21 team.
Alas this is but a small point to a much bigger picture and a question
that I merely just ask.
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