Everything and Anything lrish

[Flaming Pie]

I thought this photograph might interest Seand and Garyspain. The title is Phoenix Park on a Sunday. It’s from an exhibition currently running in London showing the work of German/ American photographer Evelyn Hofer. This photo was actually taken by her assistant Andreas Pauly. When l first looked at the photo , l thought it was a 1920s or 1930s pic that had been colourised. The photo was actually taken in 1966.. The shirts with the laces look like they are from that pre- war era, but the player in red and the ref look relatively modern. Looks like Gaelic Football to me. Just wandering why one of the teams is playing in such old fashioned shirts?

[garyspain]

Thanks. No idea if football or gaelic football. The Phoenix park hosted a lot of amateur football.

[Flaming Pie]

It’s a massive park Gary. I remember having days out there as a kid. I never saw any football, but l tended to just be in Dublin for the school holidays , so the season had come to a close. There was a racecourse, a zoo and l recall even watching cricket there.

[seandel1]

Dubliners liked to claim that the Phoenix Park was the biggest city park in the wortld! It is pretty enormous, over 7 square km. The racecourse is gone a couple of decades, but there are still many playing pitches, including cricket and polo and loads of soccer pitches- I played my home games there for a number of years in the early 00s. I can't say for certain if there are Gaelic football pitches, but I'd be surprised if there were none. Most GAA cubs have their own grounds though, and soccer clubs are more likely to use council facilities. Regarding the picture I suspect it's junior soccer for the reasons above and because I think it looks a bit more soccer than GAA, maybe the baggy shorts.

[Flaming Pie]

Seandel,,, l remember the polo. First time I’d ever seen that and never seen it since! Not much of that malarkey going on in Merseyside

[garyspain]

Bohemians used to play in the park before moving to Dalymount in 1901. One of our auction houses made a major error a few years back. They got some early Bohs items but told the vendor that small tickets with Bohemian FC Phoenix Park and date stamps were worthless and to throw them away. By the time they realised what they were they were gone.

[Flaming Pie]

Had no idea Bohs played at Phoenix Park Gary. Over the years lots of rare items must have just been dumped.

[garyspain]

Flaming Pie wrote:

Had no idea Bohs played at Phoenix Park Gary. Over the years lots of rare items must have just been dumped.

An incredible amount but these tickets were frustrating as in the recent past eg past ten years or so. A Bohs v Preston programme from 1901 turned up in the same auction. It remains the oldest known extant programme for what is now the Republic of Ireland. Note I'm assuming nothing still known for Ireland v England 1900 at Lansdowne Road.

I struggle these days to recall if something was 10 years ago or 25 sometimes. Best guess is early this century so perhaps 20 years ago a journalist friend mentioned the passing of a very eldery man who lived in a gate lodge style house owned by a religious order of nuns. He seemed surprised that nobody else seemed to know this man who regularly called into a newspaper office showing off programmes and other memorabilia from before WWII. When he made enquiries it transpired the nuns emptied the house and burned everything two weeks after his death.

[Flaming Pie]

Gary, are you sure they were dumped? I sold some stuff at Graham Budds a few years ago and there was definitely a group of nuns at the auction with lrish accents showing a keen interest in proceedings Being serious, l bet lots of people have similar stories of rare items being binned. Our next door neighbour was a very reclusive elderly guy, who didn’t bother with anyone. My wife used to send him in some home baked cakes and the ice was broken. When he died , a couple of his nephews turned up to clear the house out. They emptied it so they wouldn’t have to pay rates. I was out at work, but my missus said they filled one of those large wheelie bins with his lifetime collection of toy trams and dinkies still in their boxes. His relatives stood and watched as the bin men took them away. There was no chance of rescuing them. I hope someone at the local tip got lucky!

[sharrowblade]

There is an article on the net somewhere that definitely describes the picture as a group of soccer players.
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharrowblade/sets
A Sheffield United Programme guide

[Flaming Pie]

Sharrowblade, many thanks.Those shirts with the laces seem to be very unusual for the 1960s , even for amateur football. If l spotted one of those at a carboot l would have thought l’d found a shirt from pre-war days!