Weekend Summary in Gifs

Northern Ireland lost to Wales and are out of the Euro.

Ireland lost to France and are out of the Euro.

Attended friend's birthday tea party. There were lots of finger sandwiches and desserts.

The season six finale for Game of Thrones aired.

England lost to Iceland and are out of the Euros.

The weekend pretty much broke even. I'd write more but it's late, and I have to go to bed because I'm my boss this week.

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

Ireland and Northern Ireland have made it through the Group Stage and are into the Round of 16 at the Euros.

I repeat, BOTH MY TEAMS HAVE MADE IT THROUGH!!

WHO FUCKING CARES IF WE WIN OUR NEXT GAMES?????!!!!?!?!? WE MADE IT TO THE ROUND OF 16!!!!!!!!!! BOTH OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I follow a couple of Irish people (not just Irish family) on the old social medias and the Snapchats, Instagrams, Tweets, Facebook statuses of the Ireland-Italy game were incredible. (That's how Ireland made it through, by the way, beating Italy 1-0. We were third in our group, but we... you know what? You probably don't care.)

To be honest, I didn't have a whole lot of hope that even one of them would make it out of the Group Stage, never mind both of them. I immediately went to the desk of my English coworker and started singing (quietly). There are not a lot of people in my office who would understand my excitement, but he did.

While it might seem like an overreaction to be this excited about teams that still haven't actually won anything, it isn't if you're Irish. Either one of these teams could go on and win Euro 2016 and we probably wouldn't be as excited as we are about this. "Oh great, yeah, won the Euro, BUT WE WEREN'T EVEN SUPPOSED TO MAKE IT OUT OF THE ROUND OF 16!!!!!!" Dare I say it, it is almost as exciting as another unexpected Ireland result 26 years ago...

As my dad said on the phone tonight, "I've never seen so many grown men cry."

Northern Ireland faces Wales on Saturday and then Ireland faces France on Sunday. This will either be the best weekend of my entire life (and that includes any potential future wedding I may have) or it's the weekend that I will spend the rest of my life pretending never happened. (Or they split the difference and I'm both elated and depressed at the same time.)

Regardless of this weekend's outcomes, it is going to su-uck to work with me on Monday.

Sorry, not sorry.

Happier Post

I mentioned in Monday's post that the Euros are currently on with France playing host this time round. The event has been marred with the actions of some groups of English and Russian supporters. (Should I even say supporters? If you really support the team, would you go to an event with the intent of fucking shit up?) The sad thing is you know it's a relatively small fraction of the English and Russian "fans" that are doing this. Sadly, their actions may have real world consequences with both teams now having the threat of disqualification hanging over them.

How disheartening that must be for the players. You've possibly played your best soccer in your life... and you're sent home because some asshats don't know how to behave like decent human beings.

Anyway, I said this was a happier post than the last one and it is. Not only are both Ireland and Northern Ireland in the Euros, but the Irish fans are being praised in France for their behaviour during this tournament. Honestly. The French actually like something not-French, and that something is Irish fans!

From pictures of Irish fans helping a French couple change a tire, to singing "Stand Up for the Ulstermen" during the Ireland-Sweden game in memory of a Northern Ireland fan died on the weekend, to reciting "Our Father" to a nun on a train, to singing and dancing with Swedish fans in the streets after their teams tied, to cleaning up their own beer bottles (while singing) after a night of drinking, to singing Boyzone songs in the street... WITH A MEMBER OF BOYZONE, the Irish fans have represented their country with pride.

I am so proud of them!

And the French have been so impressed with them, they went ahead and did this:

Heck yeah! Irish tri-colour on the Eiffel Tower.
Photo originally found here

(In the time it took me to write this, reports have been posted that tensions have risen between English and Russian fans again and the riot police are already on the streets of Lille. The day has barely started there and already they're at it.)

I just want to backtrack for a moment and acknowledge the death of Darren Rodgers who fell to his death Saturday night. After a day of drinking in Nice, he got past a barrier at the edge of a promenade and fell 8 meters. Darren was reported as 24 years old (some reports are now putting him as 25). At the 24 minute mark of the Ireland-Sweden game, Irish supporters sang "Stand Up For The Ulstermen". The song is the cheer for the Ulster Rugby team (as you'll see in the video below), but as an Ulster descendant (just from the other side of the border) I'd be hard pressed to think of a better song to sing. The Northern Ireland team publically thanked the Irish fans for their gesture.

The actions of the Irish fans? This is what sporting events should be about.

Focusing on the Positive

Note: I'm not ignoring the events of the weekend; I just need to be in a better headspace before I say anything about it. Right now, I would just be screaming incoherently and crying.

The Euros have started. For the first time in... well, in my lifetime (I'm too lazy to go look it up). both Ireland and Northern Ireland are going to the competition. Northern Ireland lost to Poland on Sunday. (And rightly so. They played like a Sunday fun-league team.) Not a great start.

Today, Group E - Ireland, Sweden, Belgium and Italy - start their Round Robin. Given that Belgium and Italy are ranked 2nd and 12th respectively and Ireland is ranked 33rd, I'm not very hopeful about their chances of moving to the next round. Still, if Italia '90 taught me anything, it's that I should never count Ireland out until they're actually out. (We beat Romania on penalties. It was kind of a big deal. You can see a retrospective on the penalties here. If you have a spare 20 minutes, you can watch the penalties in their entirety here. If you want to hear the greatest song ever written about that moment, you can watch it here. I so clearly remember watching this game. I remember how nervous I was during the shoot out. I remember my dad throwing his full glass of red wine against the just-painted white wall when Ireland won. I remember screaming and crying and singing on the phone to the family in Ireland. It will always be one of my favourite memories.)

But we're not here to talk about Ireland's past sporting glories (everyone one reading this "we're not?"), but for the Euro they're currently in. As has become tradition, Ireland has put out a song for the competition. A rallying cry for Irish fans everywhere to get behind.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Irish Roar.

Good luck to the Boys in Green against Sweden tomorrow.

UPDATE: Ireland tied because of an own-goal. Nothing like an uphill battle to spur them on to victory ;)

(I want to take a moment to acknowledge that Irish rugby had a fantastic weekend. The Under-20s beat New Zealand and the National Team beat South Africa. Both are pretty big freakin' deals for us. So proud of the other Boys in Green.)