The Rebel Army!

Ok, this post isn't as exciting as the title implies. Monday I went and saw Cork City FC take on University College Dublin. City's nickname is the Rebel Army, so of course they sang that a lot. Well, a bit. Ya see, Ireland really isn't a soccer country - they're into the Gaelic football and hurling, so even though there are tons of people walking around in ManUtd and Celtic jerseys, the turnout for live soccer is pretty small. And yes, they call it 'soccer', not football; it's not just North America. The stadium only holds about 8,000 and it was about half full, maybe a tad more. The supporters section was a lot like the Timbers Army, in that they hang out behind the goal and wear green and white, but they were a lot younger. It seemed to be made up mostly of teenagers and the only ones older were parents of five-year-olds. I'd say the average age was 14. A lot of the chants were the same (as I'm sure is the case the world over), but with a slightly different tune, and of course, different words. In the first half they sang maybe four chants intermittently, which was kind of disappointing, but it picked up a lot in the second half and most people in the Shed were singing and there was even some pogoing! (Firefox doesn't think 'pogoing' is a word. Shame on it!) I bought a couple overpriced scarves (what isn't overpriced in this country?), but refused to buy a jersey for my friend who wanted one, as the prices were really outrageous.
In the end, City won 4-1, even with the ref really taking it easy on the Dubs. Refereeing aside, just the blindingly obvious shots Cork missed meant the score could have been much, much higher. In any case, the Timbers could easily have taken on UCD, and I think CCFC v PTFC would make a great preseason friendly. That way we'd have the Rebel Army v the Timbers Army and the People's Republic of Cork v the People's Republic of Portland! And yeah, I am going to get one of those cheesy PRC tshirts; it'd go nicely with my PRP scarf.
Oh, and there's no alcohol sold in the stadium(!!!). That, and the age of the crowd were the biggest differences from a Timbers match. A good night out, all in all.