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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)
Apathy Marks Our Build
Up To 2006 Season
With the eircom League under starters orders for 2006, it’s as good a
time as any to look toward the season ahead and see what is in store for
an important year for many reasons for the eircom League supporter.
Annual Merrion Square Fiasco
To this point we’ve had the annual licensing fiasco where one team
(Longford Town) failed in their application because they apparently
addressed their application to the wrong person in Merrion Square. So
instead of the envelope landing on the desk of a certain Mr. Delaney, it
(allegedly) landed on the desk of a certain Mr. Breen. If this story is
in fact accurate, one wonders why Mr. Breen couldn’t take the envelope
and bring it down the corridor to Mr. Delaney’s office explaining that
this was indeed the License application of Longford Town. Of course, my
own reading of the Genesis Report never alluded to such an eventuality
so as a precedence for this hadn’t been set, maybe it was safest to send
the details back to Strokestown Road and let them worry about it.
To be fair to Merrion Square though, the fixtures did actually come out
on time this year. This is a very important point for clubs planning
their season, not least the commercial aspects of each club. Where last
season the results were not ratified, and then released, until a matter
of a couple of weeks before the seasons first games, leaving very little
time for the selling of certain match sponsorships. For the supporters
it is also important for the season fixture list to arrive as early as
possible so that holidays and days off can be booked in advance etc.
From the point of view of this particular Bohemian, the time between the
end of last season,… in fact truth be told, well before the end of last
season,… in fact after our defeat to Drogheda in the FAI Cup last 23rd
September, my thoughts were turning to the start of this one. With that
long ‘between seasons’ it must – and did – lead to a sense of apathy
concerning what really should be one of the most exciting times for a
match going football supporter in Ireland and indeed further afield.
This is a sad state of affairs. However there are other reasons behind
this lethargy I sense from a large majority of friends of the red and
black persuasion as well as myself.
Apathy
So what has lead to this sense of apathy? Well a number of things I
suppose. First of all I think that a certain amount of this is down to
the general low expectation of our beloved squad. Last season I don’t
really believe that anybody thought we were going to win the league,
however there are some minimum requirements us Bohemian supporters have
tucked away in our unconscious and even though they may not have been
spoken about by many out loud, those expectations were there last season
nonetheless – good cup run and/or European qualification. We would even
have been happy with the much-maligned Inter Toto Cup competition. Yes
Gareth - that would have done.
Another reason for our apathetic nature comes from a sense of not really
knowing where we are going as a club. Off the field events have taken
quite a bit of precedence this year what with the plans being concocted
up in Merrion Square and over Tolka Park about what to do with Dalymount
Park. Obviously our eyes have been averted although this story has had
its fair airing on this and other forms of media recently so no point in
‘going there’ at this juncture. And also the relatively new phenomenon
and understanding of the support base concerning what can we actually
afford to pay for our football. This last one of course owes thanks to
our membership structure which we are so lucky to have.
If I may, I think another reason for a sense of lethargy amongst us
faithful could be the low-key element to our pre-season warm ups. To
this point we have played two sides – no disrespect to them and many
thanks for their time and the use of their facilities – who wouldn’t
normally even register on our Potential Opponents Scanner. We have also
played Athlone and Galway who we have accounted for 1-0 on each occasion
and believe it or not, we have managed to fit in a 1-1 draw with Wycombe
Wanderers. What doesn’t help in this new era of Summer Soccer, is of
course the fact that our competition kick off coincides with what is
commonly referred to the start of ‘the business end of the season’
across the water and therefore difficult enough to persuade our better
off cousins from across the Irish Sea to visit us for a friendly kick
around. Although at this stage, the hard workers behind the scenes at
Dalymount, have secured a friendly with Premiership side Everton in
April which deserves credit and hopefully a big pay day for the club.
Continued on
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