Tales from the Road.

World Cup 2002.

By the time Brazil 2014 rolls around, it will be 12 years since Ireland last had the experience of a world cup (if we are good/lucky enough to make it) . As a regular away game attendee, I can say that Irelands fans come in all shapes, sizes and ages, but it has occurred to me that most of them under the age of 30 would not have been at a world cup. I was one of the lucky ones to be in Japan 2002, Neil has invited me to share a few experiences, so here goes.....

Following Ireland on their travels is my main hobby, it combines my love of football with a fondness for travel, you get to see parts of Europe that you otherwise may not, and usually in the company of a few thousand like minded lunatics for the beer, as a travel experience, its hard to beat. Everybody starts somewhere, and I'm guessing I would be one of the few to start at the top, so to speak, my first ever Ireland game was in Japan 2002 Vs Cameroon. I was always a mad Ireland fan, but neither my friends nor famliy would have been attendees at games, so like many thousand people, settled for watching them on TV. Toward the end of 2001, 2 things happened to change this, firstly, my good friend Damo Fitz decided he was moving to Japan to work, and Ireland made the playoffs, with a 2 leg match Vs Iran to come. Damo moved before these 2 games, we had the usual going away do, and after a sizeable number of pints, he kindly invited about 10 of us to stay with him should we qualify. Seemed like a good idea, as I recall, all 10 of us were well up for it that particular night. Well, we know what happened Vs Iran, but we still had the venue draw to come. Most of the Irish fans were hoping for Korea (cheaper) but my mate was Tokyo based, so when we got drawn in venues near Tokyo, I felt I would never get a better opportunity to go.

The next month was spent badgering the rest of the lads into making a decision, all pulled out one by one, I had a day off somewhere in mid January, went to travel agents, deliberately booked a non refundable flight (so it would cost as much NOT to go if I had 2nd thoughts), so I was on me way, just had to wait until June. The Saipan incident blew up 3 days before I was due to leave, my overriding memory of it is being the lead item on SKY news (the actual news, not Sky sports news)for 3 days in a row, something I think only the recent British general election can claim since. Arriving in Japan, we were very much dependant on calls from home re the Roy Keane situation, personal internet access was not something people carried with them, most fans took the attitude that we are here to support the 11 that Mick picks to represent our country, and those that were not there, could do whatever they liked, to put it politely. Con Houlihan wrote of the 1990 world cup that he missed the 1990 world cup, he was in Italy. That was Houlihans genius, I never understood the comment until Japan. Because we were in Japan, we missed the row between Dunphy and Brady, the calls on Joe Duffy, the interviews with Delaney and other FAI jokers, the Tommie Gorman interviews with Royston, the intervention of Bertie/JP Macmanus/Alex Ferguson etc, more or less all of it. It was still there when we got back though, and some would say , still is.......

Tokyo is a great city, it is as off the wall as it looks on TV, neon everywhere, permanent rush hour, the sheer volume of people has to be seen to be believed. The railway networks actually employ people to push you into the train (politely, of course) in the rush hours due to the crowds on them. Tokyos rail network is superb, but it is run by about 8 different companies, you need different rail company tickets to travel different lines. The organisers, in their wisdom, recognised this would not work and cause confusion, so they brought out a World Cup pass that enabled you to travel any of them, essential piece of equipment. The only thing with it was, it was a document you had to show to a guard, you could not put it through a machine like a ticket. This was an unlikely source of entertainment on our first few days. I'll explain further, Guinness had brought out a ' drinking passport' a guide to all the Irish pubs in Tokyo. It was the same size as a passport, it was black, had a harp on one side and a picture of a pint on the other side. The first few times we showed the (genuine) world cup pass to the rail guards, we could tell by their expressions they hadn't a clue what it was, but they let us through anyway. This led me to think we could get away with showing them the 'passport' with the harp on it, and sure enough, it worked at about 4 train stations in a row, much to the amusement of our mate Damo, who was sure we would be arrested. As we got more drink on board, by the end of the night, we were showing them the picture of the pint of Guiness and sailing on past the security barriers, for some reason, the memory of it still makes me laugh.

The games themselves were something else. Arriving at Tokyo central (a kilometre square on 6 levels in size) and on to the bullet train to the Cameroon game, coming down a flight of stairs, seeing an absolute sea of green as far as the eye could see the length of the platform, the singing on the train for 4 hours , arriving at the train station at the other end (to be interviewed by Japanese TV, I dont know anybody who wasn't ) singing the national anthem, looking at the size of the Cameroon lads in comparison to , say, Matty Holland, the same Mr Holland getting a superb equaliser, the journey back on the train, then on to Roppongi (party district) and staying out until bright with thousands more doing the same, it was all just a build up to the big one, the Germany game.

We were in a routine at his stage, on non match days, we would do a bit of sightseeing in the morning before heading to Damos local Irish pub to watch the games that were on that day, a highlight being the England Sweden game, where we persuaded everybody to wear yellow for the day....Another highlight was the games involving the hosts, Japan. Locals coming in in their business suits, off to the jacks, change into Japanese jersey, buy one drink for the entire match, final whistle, head home. They were mad when the game was on, but seemed to just switch off at he final whistle, just another example of the cultural difference I suppose.

The Germany game was do or die, we knew the Saudis were weak, we had to get a result. Didnt look good when Klose scored, but we were getting better as the game moved on and we put more pressure on them. I genuinely did not know how close we were to FT when Robbie got the equaliser, I didn't realise it was injury time until we were leaving the stadium looking at the repeats on the small screens they had dotted around. What can I say about this? I have never experienced the utter bedlam, the roaring, the outpouring of emotion, I could go on, but words just don't do it justice. I'm normally a pessimistic fan as well, but for some reason, on this night , I was totally convinced we would get the equaliser, I just knew it. Christy Moore may have put it best in 'Joxer goes to Stuttgart' - That day will be the highlight of many peoples lives. Well that day is mine, make of that what you will. The party? Well , we got a taxi back to Roppongi, the driver said traffic was terrible, we were about 2 miles away, I thought I heard something, put down the window, and sure enough, the unmistakeable sound of ' come on you boys in green' all the way from Paddy Foleys in Roppongi, 2 miles away. We said thanks to the driver, we would walk the rest of it.... Just about got the voice back in time for the Saudi game...

That passed off relatively easily, once the genius that is Gary Breen scored, we knew we were off to Korea. Incidentally, the first time I heard the 'team of Gary Breens' song was in Roppongi after this game, I have met nobody who can pre-date it. For me, due to work commitments, the world cup was over. Japan is an expensive country, it cost me € 2500 and I had free accomodation, just to give you an idea. Damos father headed home the day before me, I went to the airport with him to make enquiries about changing flights, but the airline I was with could not give me a definite flight for another 10 days, and that was even before I enqired about the cost.

Well, from the highs to the lows in no space of time, I arrived back the day before the Spain game, back in the local to watch it, but I was struck by Con Houlihans comment again, for all the genuine enthusiasm and roaring at the TV from the regulars and my friends, it just isn't the same as being there, it doesn't even appear on the same radar to be honest. One thing I do know though. If we had won, I was on the next flight to Korea. People don't believe me when I say it, but thats the powerful draw Ireland football can have on you.

To finish, there is a man known to meself, Neil and others as ' 3 World Cups' because he was lucky enough to be born in an era where we qualified for 3 of them, and had the financial means to go to them. Thing is, he is not slow to remind people of this, which is how how aquired the nickname. I am aware I can be a 'world cup bore' when I talk on this subject, I could say more, I have more stories etc, but I hope I gave ye a small idea of what 2002 was like from the perspective of an Irish fan, and I haven't bored ye too much. I will say only one thing, we are a small nation, we will not qualify for every one of them in the future, if you have a chance to go to one, and the means to do it, then take yer cue from Nike - Just do it. You won't regret it.