Just heard that I didn't get lucky with the IRFU supporter's club lottery for tickets to the Six Nations game of Ireland vs. Wales. Damn! Aside from actually wanting to see the game, I also wanted to experience some of the atmosphere I remembered from the last time I had watched a game in Lansdowne (Munster vs. Leinster, 2001). The intervening years I have spent in Australia and New Zealand, which are, with some exceptions, atmosphere deserts.
In the three or so years I was in Australia, I was an avid rugby supporter. I attended about 90% of the NSW Waratahs' home games in Sydney, as well as travelling down to lovely Canberra for the final of the Super 12s (Crusaders vs. Brumbies). I also made it to an astonishing 13 games of the 2003 Rugby World Cup. The world cup games definitely had a much better atmosphere than the Super 12s games, but 200% of 'not much' is still not much.
Watching Ireland play, with about 20,000 fellow supporters (including my parents!) was, however, something special. In my (autographed!) copy of Stephen Larkham's World Cup Diary he states that when they played us, they found it almost impossible to hear the line out calls over the cheering of the Irish fans. He mentions this a few times, but in other parts of the book claims that Australia has the best supporters. The Australian supporters were given 'free' scarfs at hats at all of their games, which led us to one of our favourite songs of the world cup: "You're only wearing yellow cuz it's free." At one game in particular, I think it was the semi-final of Australia vs. New Zealand, we met an Aussie who told us he was being paid to be there and stand up and try and get some noise going. He was dressed head to toe in yellow, was sitting on his own and didn't know anything about rugby, so it seemed like a plausible story.
The highlight of the pool stage was the Ireland vs. Argentina game in Adelaide. During the game, I honestly thought that I was having a heart attack it was so tense. It was only when I went 'Ohmigod I'm having a heart attack', and had both Dave and Charlie shout 'So am I!', that I realised it was just nerves. The post-match celebrations were fantastic, but got off to a slow start as we were so emotionally drained.
The low point was the quarter final match against France, where we were comprehensively destroyed in the first half. I remember sitting there in numb shock, just thinking 'What happened?? I actually thought we were better than this!'. I had started to Believe in Irish rugby, that we were special, that with Woody and Drico, we were going places. But I think that belief was echoed in the Irish camp - the other 13 members of the squad believed in their talismans too much, and ended up not taking enough initiative of their own. Maggsy managed to snap me out of my disbelieving stupor by barging over for a try, and Drico even made me smile by crossing the line himself a couple of times. Still, it was a rude shock.
Once Ireland were out of contention, and my belief in the team almost shattered, it was possible to relax a bit more for the remaining matches of the world cup. The atmosphere at the other quarter final I attended (ABs vs South Africa) was pretty dead, and both of the semi-finals were a bit one-sided so the crowd never really got going.
The final on the other hand, was everything one might hope for in such an event. It was amazing, absolutely fantastic. Charlie and I were wearing our Irish jerseys (of course! at every match, there's always at least one!), and were seated between a pack of rabid English supporters and a flock of equally rabid Aussies. Both sides were confident that we would support them, and neither of us were quite sure who we were supporting ourselves. When Tuqiri scored the opening try, we both leaped from our seats - not in jubilation but complaining! That was when we realised it - we were supporting England! We managed, barely, to resist joining in the singing of 'Swing Low', but it was a near thing.
So aside from watching Ireland play, and the final, the atmosphere at almost every game I attended in Australia was dead, with most of the aussies around me talking about cricket, TV, dinner or beer, rather than the game. I remembered the friendly banter and singing at the Munster vs. Leinster game with fondness and was looking forward to the next time I attended a match in Lansdowne.
When I returned to Ireland in 2005, I managed to get tickets for all of Ireland's Autumn internationals. I also arranged tickets for Charlie, Louise and Caolan to see the first game against New Zealand, but unfortunately, their tickets were in the North Terrace which was closed for the game due to fire damage. As a result, Lansdowne was missing a quarter of it's crowd, and that resulted in a reduced atmosphere. Aside from the crowd, Ireland didn't do anything on the pitch to get the crowd going, except for their gutsy determination to score a try instead of taking 3 points when they had the opportunity.
The next two internationals, against Australia and Romania weren't much better, atmosphere-wise. The biggest difference I found was that the supporters were generally actually watching the game, and were quiet except when discussing the game.
I commented on the lack of atmosphere to a few people and they all suggested that I had to go to a Six Nations game for the 'Real Atmosphere'. I think I have a ticket to see France vs. Ireland, but am still hoping to get a ticket to Ireland vs. Wales here in Dublin! It might turn out to be the last international played in the old stadium!
