Dublin Hammers - Liverpool - Saturday 4th November 2017
West Ham United 1 vs Liverpool 4
Another cracker of a trip started in the airport bar as 20 Dublin Hammers gathered… or was it 22? Confusion reigned as Facebook and Twitter said 22 but travel sec. Tom seemed sure it was only 20, members pondered on this quandary for all of 2 seconds before ordering more pints and discussing the current shambles that is West Ham United.
The flight over (once we actually took off), was largely uneventful, straight onto the train and an hour later we were at Liverpool Street where we walked the short way to the Premier Inn at Aldgate East! It all went very smoothly indeed.
As the rooms were not yet ready we left the bags at the hotel (One member caused hilarity as he put his own spin on this as he tells us a story about the woman who asked him what we do… ah sure, we arrive at the hotel and all 20 of us go into one room and drop our bags… at this stage the woman says she not interested in hearing anymore… anyway) we then head around to Weatherspoons for some much needed food.
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After a good feed we made our way to the Bar-Locks pub. Pints were bought, on went the juke-box and out came the darts. Members took part in a hotly contested game of Shang-Hi which was eventually won by the Travel Secretary Tom, however controversy followed when it was discovered that someone had put a dodgy fiver into the winners pot! (just to warn you the culprit is still at large). Come 2pm we headed back to the hotel in drips and drabs, checked in and then made the short journey by tube to Stratford. Wading through the throngs of Saturday afternoon shoppers we reconvened in the busy Black Bull on Stratford High Street.
It was here we met up with Josh and the pre-match drinking started in earnest! Kick-Off was at 5.30pm so come 4.30pm we left the pub and made our way to the ground. The security checks took 20 minutes or so to navigate, but once through we took our places in the stadium. With Rememberance Sunday only a week away Sir Trev stood up and did a reading after which 2 minutes silence ensued. Lest We Forget was spelled out by the crowd who held up coloured placards. The whistle blew and the match kicked off… our last trip over was also against Liverpool, a 4-0 loss, surely we would put up a better show this time?
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Well, what can I say? Usual story really, started brightly enough, Ayew went close (and should have scored), we had a corner, the crowd were in full voice… 15 seconds later Hart was picking the ball out of our net! A missed tackle from Fernandes and Liverpool broke with 3 versus one West Ham defender! Minutes later they were 2-0 up as our defence failed to clear the ball after Hart had made a save, they reacted quickest and again the ball was in the back of our net. Dear oh dear. At half time I walked around the concourse… the natives were not happy!
The beginning of the second half saw us rally, on came Andy Carroll and we started applying some pressure, we pulled a goal back with a sublime finish from Lanzini with the outside of his foot… right game on… er no, 30 seconds later we conceded again… 30 fucking seconds? That knocked the stuffing out of the crowd, the atmosphere died and as we tried to press, Liverpool broke free repeatedly and eventually scored a fourth after missing a hatful of chances. Sakho came on and was roundly boo’d. We stayed to the end, but the stadium was half empty by the final whistle.
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All back to the Black Bull where we stayed for a couple of hours. Despite the result everyone was in good form with the whole pub joining in with Sweet Caroline. Then at around 9pm we headed back to the hotel for a ‘wash and brush up’ before heading back to the Bar-Locks where we were joined by Gary Warren (originally from Tallaght, now living in London) a fellow West Ham fan, his season ticket being 2 rows in front of Liam's. The evening progressed with more songs and craic, but come 11.30 members started to drift off back to the hotel as the all day drinking finally started to take it’s toll. Others went on to another pub, others a 70s/80s karaoke club. I fell into bed at that stage!
Sunday morning saw us all gather in the restaurant for breakfast and some serious craic… the state of us all! Some members were sporting the 100 yard stare as they attempted the self service breakfast… the 'Day of the Dead' zombie movie comes to mind here... then there was a crash of plates hitting the floor, unfortunately that was me causing chaos at the counter as I accidently knocked a stack of plates off the shelf, a fine mess they made too!
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With food inside us we were in better order and a another day Dublin Hammers day beckoned. Some headed straight to the pub, while others, including myself, went back to Stratford to visit the club shop. The walk to the stadium in the chilly sunshine went down well and low and behold on the way back to the station we found ourselves back in the Black Bull? Fancy that! They made us feel very welcome and a great couple of hours was spent chatting. Must say it was nice to be in there when the place wasn’t heaving... nice pub, nice people and good Guinness too!
Come the afternoon and we had all met up again at the White Hart/Horse? in Aldgate East. A sing song ensued amidst the usual laughter and banter as the football played on the tvs around the pub. After a couple of hours we left, headed to Liverpool Street and boarded the Stansted Express. We had half a carriage to ourselves. Due to Frans absence Quizmaster Tommy took over proceedings and the train ride passed in a haze of quiz questions and joke telling.
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Stansted was very busy and it took us longer than usual to make the Weatherspoons, but make it we did and food/pints were consumed. Flight left on time and most members slept the entire way home, I fell asleep as we took off and awoke when we landed! Sweet!
I had to wait nearly an hour for my bus, so went to the bar for a swifty (as you do), even though everyone had gone their own separate ways the banter and piss taking continued on WhatsApp. I got a few odd looks as I sat there laughing at my phone.
Thanks and well done to Tom for another well run trip. Thanks to all who came for your company, I did nothing but laugh and although West Ham tried hard to put the dampeners on the weekend, the spirit of the people in this club would not allow it! Here's to the next one!
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Report by Paul Smith. Photos from everyone!