World Cup Fever In Kildare
These images were published in the Leinster Leader on 16 June, 1990, showing Kildare fans cheering on the national team in their match against England at the Italia ’90 World Cup.
Reports in the lead up to the tournament described preparations: ‘BETWEEN specially minted coins to honour the occasion, wines imported in special World Cup shaped bottles, rip-off package holidays being sold for thousands and soccer songs, the Irish teams qualification for the World Cup finals in Italy has spawned a mini-industry in hype. Paddy O’Brien has become the first country artist to record a soccer song — following the Dubliners and the Pogues, and Liam Harrison whose song ‘Give It A Lash Jack’ has captured the imagination with its humour and mockery. It has already spent weeks in the Leinster Leader/Top Twenty local charts.’ (Leinster Leader, May 19, 1990).
The nation was on the cusp of a ‘moment’, or so it would seem. It is easy to misremember scenes from your youth as exceptionally sunny and carefree, with not a cloud on the horizon and a sense of optimism abounding. But, for that brief period in 1990, with Ireland, and Kildare, gripped by World Cup fever, anything seemed possible. At half time during Ireland’s crucial matches, there was no pausing the TV. Parents nipped into the kitchen to make a nifty cup of tea. Kids sped out into the garden for a very quick game of football, each kick of the tattered leather ball emulating the exploits of their heroes that they had just watched on the screen. Then, just as you were getting into your groove, the shout came from the sitting room: ‘Will you hurry up, the second half is starting!’
For the unlucky few, who, god forbid, had to work during Ireland’s games, there was a solution. This advertisement was carried in the Leinster Leader on April 28, 1990:
We all know what happened at Italia ’90, but that doesn’t stop us from dreaming of ‘what might have been’.
An editorial from the Nationalist And Leinster Times from Sep 21, 1990 took a slightly different view on the events of that summer : ‘Other sports must look at Gaelic games and weep. For much of the summer, the Irish sporting — and not so sporting — public was force fed a diet of “world class” soccer which was boring in the extreme and would have been deemed the damp squib it was but for all the media hype. If the World Cup did not exist, it would be necessary or, at least profitable, for the media to invent it. But Gaelic games need no such crutches. The breathtaking pace and excitement of the all-Ireland hurling final can stand alongside any great sporting occasion of this century.’ Each man to his own, as my mother used to say.
The excitement carried on for a long time in some quarters. Our kick-out specialist Packie Bonner attempted to nab a quiet pint in Leixlip’s Salmon Leap bar after watching his brother play for Sligo Rovers. But, as the Leinster Leader, Oct 18, 1990 reported, it wasn’t long before he was surrounded by excited fans: ‘At first it appeared that the Glasgow Celtic keeper, in Ireland for this week’s European Championship clash with Turkey, might enjoy a drink unnoticed in the Leixlip hostelry. But it was too much to ask in a public house frequented by members of one of County Kildare’s leading soccer clubs, Leixlip Utd.’
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By Kevin Dowling, Kildare County Archives And Local Studies.
