Dublin Hammers - Club Meetings 2006 - 2007
Dublin Hammers Meeting -21st August, 2006
WELCOME TO THE NEW SEASON
A relaxed start to the seasons meetings saw members in a good mood after saturday's good start, a game which was attended by several club members.
With some committee members ill or unable to make the meeting, Liam did a grand job overseeing things, explaining how the Season ticket applications will work, first trip of the season plans, televised games at Gleeson's, general news etc. Membership renewals were taken and members started checking out who would be heading to Gleeson's for the Watford game!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 26th August, 2006
LIVERPOOL 2 vs WEST HAM 1.
We hadn't beaten Liverpool at Anfield since 1963. So we were told over and over again by both the commentators and the Dublin hammers themselves. In spite of this fact, many a dublin hammer had a flutter on an upset before the game and the atmosphere was good before kick off.
Liverpool got off to the brighter start but a first class strike from bobby z made it all count for nothing. The atmosphere was great in Brannigans but as West Ham sat back there nerves rose and there was an air of inevitability of what was going to happen next. But two goals in the last few minutes of the half was hard to take and the heads were dropped at half time. Bellamy was abused by most whenever he was seen moaning at the ref/hammer/Liverpool player/ball boy.
Sandwiches sausages and chips got us ready for the second half.
The hammers came out looking for a goal second half and played some quality football. Benayoun and Bowyer both looked very creative as indeed did most of the hammers second half. However the back 4 looked shaky on more than one occasion. Liverpool came close to cracking our offside trap on more than one occasion. At the end all were disappointed not to pick up a point but most were happy at the way we played second half. A good performance over all and we're well able to play away from home and put it up against the top teams in the country. Lapses in concentration at the back are a worry though. Brian started to collect deposits for the November trip and the Aston Villa match will be the last chance to pay deposits for this trip.
Many thanks to Paul Connolly for taking the time and trouble to send this report in!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 10th September, 2006
WEST HAM 1 vs ASTON VILLA 1.
A packed house for this one, with guests from Offaly and New York! Greetings to those lads, hope you enjoyed yourselves.
The first half saw West Ham put in a poor performance, with both the new Argentinian signings sitting on the bench, it was all a bit of damp squib! Villa were by far the better side and fortunately we were only losing by one goal at the break, it could have been more. The only chance we had was from a dodgy back pass which fell to Marlene... he missed it... how, none us were quite sure, but miss it he did! Thank heavens for the half-time food!
Fortunately the second half proved to be somewhat better, and before too long we had equalised, as man of the moment BobbyZ deflected a shot past the keeper to bring his tally up to 5! We pressed and started to look better, and then on came Tevez (is it me or does he look like he's wearing a comedy wig? There is one in the window of the joke shop next to the Gaity Theatre, he could have been wearing it!).
However, he looked good, a couple of times beating defenders and crossing the ball well, if only one of our midfield had bothered to follow up with a late run it would have been all over!
A fair result and on to the UEFA Cup... we had better improve at keeping the ball we'll be out of europe before we know it!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 14th September, 2006
WEST HAM 0 vs PALERMO 1.
A good turn out of members plus some new faces (welcome to the new lads who showed up, we hope to see you again) settled down for what we hoped would be the start of a run good in europe...
Palermo had other ideas... along with the ref? Perhaps it was the nice pink trim on the Palermo kit that distracted both the ref and lineman at a crucial moment just before half time. The ball had clearly crossed the touch line for a throw-in, but no apparently not... they scored as West Ham slowed to prepare for the throw-in! Perhaps we should have played to the whistle?
We huffed and puffed, but a clear lack of width saw us repeatedly heading down the middle into a packed penalty area. Very frustrating and along with niggley foul after niggley foul, let go by the ref, we seemed clueless.
Apart from two chances, the first as Zamora crossed for Tevez (who was sporting an Anton twigglet hairdo, suppose it beats the comedy wig look) his shot was saved, then in the second half Harewood clipped the inside of the post.. that was it, Etherington was booked for throwing himself to the ground in the penalty area... twat! Disappointing, very disappointing.
Thank heavens for the wise cracks!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 24th October, 2006
CHESTERFIELD 2 vs WEST HAM 1.
No report from this meeting!
Dublin Hammers Meeting -2nd October, 2006
QUIZ NIGHT
No report from this meeting!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 3rd December, 2006
EVERTON 2 vs WEST HAM 0.
No report from this meeting!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 5th November, 2006
WEST HAM 1 vs ARSENAL 0.
No report from the Dublin meeting. However, a report from the Members who travelled to this game with the official trip can be found on the 'galleries' page.
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 28th October, 2006
WEST HAM 2 vs BLACKBURN ROVERS 1.
At last! Someting to cheer about... but only just! A well attended and noisey meeting saw the Hammers just about deserve to win a game they had to win.
A peach of a goal from the head of Sheringham, after a slick one-touch move put us one up midway through the half-time. A half in which West Ham actually looked like they wanted to win... something I feel has been missing in recent weeks!
However, in the second half normal service was resumed as we repeatedly took too long to move the ball, backed off and let Blackburn run the midfield? why we did this I've no idea, but it led to a few uncomfortable moments! Only a couple of excellent saves from Green, kept us in the lead. And then against the run of play Mullins powered in his first goal in the premier league to send a great cheer and a huge sigh of relief around the room! Cue... Bubbles Time!
Blackburn got the goal their endevours deserved 2 minutes into injury time to set up a nail biting close, as Blackburn fired just over the bar. Thankfully it wasn't to be and we have broken that awful run of defeats! Lets hope its the turning point! Bring on the Arse!
One point... the language for a sunday afternoon (family) meeting wasn't good chaps? There were plenty of kids about. I know I'm no angel, so lets try and improve for the next sunday meeting!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 22nd January, 2007
QUIZ NIGHT & FREE TRIP DRAW!
A well attended Quiz with some super answers to Eddies questions. Eddie will never be allowed to do a quiz again, as the questions were way too difficult for our members!
Winners: Brian OF, Josh H and Mark N. Simpsons: Gerry M PLUS new member and spouse!
This year we had 3 free trips up for grabs... and the winners were... Graham N, Gary P and Gerry M (again!... Fix). Congratulations to those lads!
A note to say Thank You to Jim C who organised the Free Trip Draw, a tremendous effort in sorting this, and to have 3 trips is great value for money.
PS. The Bolton trip is looking good... 28 travelling so far!
Good Luck, Brian OF.
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 23rd December, 2006
FULHAM 0 vs WEST HAM 0
It's not easy writing the report a couple of weeks after the event...
A good meeting, well attended and everyone in good spirits! From what I remember of the game, we were the better side, having more of the possesion and chances, however it wasn't our day, the best chance falling to harewood, who hit the post from a few yards out when it would have been easier to score? Oh well! a point was better than nothing. Glad I didn't know what the christmas results were going to be at that stage... what a bunch of lightweights... I hate 'em sometimes!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 17th December, 2006
WEST HAM 1 vs MANCHESTER UTD 0.
Well, it was a packed meeting, as it always is against man.ure and low and behold the same players who looked like they didn't give a **** last week were galvanised into a good performance! Whether they were trying to impress the new manager or the fact that they were playing the league leaders it is hard to tell?I thought it was a good game with both sides going for it, and star man for me had to be Robert Green, what a performance! He pulled off a couple of world class saves, was commanding in the area and generally looked the part. If it wasn't for his saves we could well have been 2-0 down at half-time.West Ham also had chances, the best falling to BobbyZ who shrugged off Rio Ferdinand like he wasn't there, only to shoot weakly, allowing VanDerSar to save. Marlene also came close.
Half-time grub was the tops!As the second half progressed we had to defend more and more as man.u pushed for a winning goal... thankfully, it never came, with that 'orrible gay slime ball on the wing (wot a winker!) wasting chances time and time again...Then from a goalkeepers kick we picked up the ball on the man.u penalty area, after a couple of short passes, marlene wriggled into the box, got to the by-line, pulled the ball back and there was reo-coker to slam the ball into the back of the net... que total mayhem!The last 10 or so minutes were the usual nightmare, but we hung on and the three points were ours!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 17th March, 2007
BLACKBURN ROVERS 1 vs WEST HAM 2.
No report from this meeting.
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 4th March, 2007
WEST HAM 3 vs SPURS 4.
A well attended, and surprisingly optimistic meeting... until the final minutes that is!
It all started so well as West Ham put their pathetic performances of recent weeks behind them and had a real go at in-form Spurs. The pressure payed off as Mark Noble finished with a well struck shot! The noise level went up as we all urged the team on. Robert Green kept us in the lead as he twice made class saves!
Then low and behold we took a 2-0 lead as Carlos Tevez scored his first goal for the hammers with a free kick from the edge of the area.
And so as half time came we were all in good spirits and looked forward to the second half as we tucked into the sandwiches, sauages and chips!
The second half saw Spurs 'move up a gear' to put us under increasing pressure, and before long they got a goal back as 'King Rat' Defoe scored from the penalty spot! With West Ham now firmly on the back foot, it wasn't long before they equalised with (it pains me to say it) a great goal.
Thankfully, after that West Ham tightened up and started competing again. Then on came Zamora who scored with his first touch from Tevez's free kick. Que Mayhem! Now it was just a case of defending stoutly (ha! ha!) for the last 5 minutes
We gave a free kick away on the edge of the area... they scored! Harewood lost the ball and they raced down the other end and scored with seconds to go...Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse... it did!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 19th February, 2007
QUIZ NIGHT
No report from this meeting.
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 30th January, 2007
WEST HAM 1 vs LIVERPOOL 2
A good turn out saw a pretty poor performance from the Hammers! It wasn't until the second half and two substitutions later that they even looked like scoring? No confidence, schoolboy mistakes... as I say poor!
Still, thank goodness for the non-stop wise cracks which turned what could have been a depressing evening into a good night!Also, it was nice to see one of our new signings come good in the shape of Kepo Blanco, who scored with his first touch in English football, lets hope it's the first of many.
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 13th May, 2007
MANCHESTER UTD 0 vs WEST HAM 1.
By 3 o'clock Brannigans was packed to the rafters. There was very nervy athmosphere in the room.
Wigan going one up early did not help.
The Sheff Utd equalizer helped the nerves.
Gary and Scott started the singing.
We were hanging on when just before half time Tevez scored...
Cue bedlam!
Our celebrations were dampened a little by the news of Wigan going 2.1 up.
The half time grub went down a treat. I must say thanks to Winnie for the feast.
Any way on to the second half, it was a brilliant rearguard action even if we rode our luck at times.
I must say the singing from the club members was fab!
We held out, and the lads went beserk at full time!
Sheff Utd went down
Delighted, I hate that northern monkey Warnock!
The celebrations continued downstairs with Gary leading the sing song!
What a great day!
Many thanks to Liam for taking the time and trouble to send this report in!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 18th April, 2007
WEST HAM 1 vs CHELSEA 4.
A good turn out for this make or break game, althouth the general feeling was one of little hope.
The first half was a cracker, end to end stuff with West Ham giving as good as they got. However Shaun Wright Philips decided to choose this particular night to show his talents. He cut inside and scored with great shot that flew past Greens fingertips. A resigned hush fell over the meeting.Then 2 minutes later Tevez picked up the ball on the edge of the Chelsea area and hit an unstoppable shot past Peterfeckincheck (bloody silly name anyway!). Cue Dublin Hammers mayhem.
Then pretty much straight from the kick-off Wright Philips scored again with our defence asleep! We kept at them and Collins should have scored with a header, but it went straight to Peter.... you know who I mean
!Half-time then... where were the sandwiches? chips? Sausages? Gutted! The opening minutes of the second half were bright and Zamora had a half chance, but then Chelsea seemed to go up a gear while went down two! One way traffic in the end. Hats off to Tevez, he ran his heart out.
Then the fans took over as a mammoth version of "West Ham's Clarat and blue army" echoed around Upton Park (AKA Villa Park all those years ago). If only some of the 'Bling' representing West Ham this season had the same heart!
Dublin Hammers Meeting - 21st May, 2007
DUBLIN HAMMERS AGM 2007
A well attended AGM saw members discussing 3 main topics.
1. Club Membership Fee: It was proposed that the membership fee be increased to €20.00. This was voted on and passed.
2. Club Season Tickets: The first year of the club having 2 Season tickets for the use by members started slowly, but by the end of the season they were being used for every game. Although the club did take a loss over the season, it was decided to go ahead and again purchase season tickets for the new season.
3. Dublin Hammers Trips: When it came to appointing a new Travel Secretary, the usual problem arouse that no-one wanted to do the job... too much hassle!
After some debate, it was decided that the job would be done by 3 commitee members working together, but only after certain agreements were made.
A date for deposits will be set. Any member wanting to travel on the trip will have to pay a NON-REFUNDABLE deposit of €100.00 on the specified date. No deposit on the specified date... no place on the trip!
A second date for the remainder of trip costs will be set, again no pay... bye bye deposit... bye bye upton park!
These rules haven't really changed from the rules that have been on the info page of this website for a couple of years, the difference in the new season will be that they will be adhered to!
Could lead to ill feeling, somewhat harsh you might suggest... you are more than welcome to become travel secetary, please apply to any commitee member!
It's not a problem really, do you want to go on the trip? if you do, have your deposit ready when asked for. Pay your balance when asked for. Turn up on the day and have a great time. Simple!
Trips at present cost in the region of €220 to €250, including flight, transfer to hotel and match ticket, it's for nothing! Help the lads who are organising these trips by sticking to the above rules and hopefully next year when the chairman stands up and asks if anyone wants to be Travel Secretary, 20 members will not all look out the window
Enjoy the Summer!
A Summary of the Season...
What started with high hopes soon degenrated into a prolonged nightmare!
After a run of poor results Alan Pardew was sacked... a procession of rumours came out of the club... Pardew slept with a players wife? Betting scandals? Rift between white and black players? Players involved in violence outside a night club.... it went on and on! The press loved it!
West Ham were then taken over by 'Eggy'... goodbye Terence Brown and good ridence in my book. I will forever remember him as the man who split up the youth team which included the likes of Cole, Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Carrick and alittle later Defoe. What a wasted opportinity... All of these players have played for England and were invoved in this season's European Champions League semi-finals... goodbye Terence!
So, in came Eggy, out went Pardew, and in came new manager and ex-hammer Alan Curbishley. He registered his arrival with a 1-0 home win over Manchester Utd. Then things continued to get worse, losing 5-0 to Reading, then 4-0 to relegation rivals Charlton (now manged by Pardew) didn't help.
The Argentinians... Carlos Tevez and Macherano(?) arrived and brought a glimmer of hope, Mathew Upson and Lucas Niell were both injured on debuts... at this point I had given up hope and we were staring relegation full in the face!
Then after reports of disagreements between Curbishley and various players, things started to improve. We should have beaten Spurs after being 2-0 up. Although losing to 2 goals late in injury time, West Ham were scoring goals again and at last the players looked like they wanted to play for West Ham! Tevez seemed to have finally settled in and the introduction of Noble to the team freshened things up!
So the run in began, and just when I had given up hope, we started to win and then win again... Arsenal, 1-0 away victory was very sweet, especially as it sealed a double for the season! It wasn't all plain sailing as we lost to, again, relegation rivals Sheff. Utd.
Then it was Wigan away... relegation rivals and chief moaners about a supposed dodgy dealing over the Tevez signing. They then provided West Ham fans with an entire end of the JJB Stadium. The Wigan chaiman sat and watched as we took them apart, winning 3-0 to a wall of noise coming from the West Ham end of the ground. Live on TV too! Happy days!
We had to win against Bolton in the last home game and get a point away at Man Utd to stay up...Club members had the pleasure of witnessing our 3-1 demolision of Bolton with Tevez scoring 2 goals... We then went on to do the double over Man Utd, and stay up while still managing to piss on Man U's championship swansong... Tevez scored the goal... whether he stays or goes in the close season, he will forever be a legend in West Ham folklore!
While all this was going on, West Ham were fined by the Premier League over the signing of Carlos Tevez. The deal being done while Terence Brown was in the club (surprise, surprise). After being handed the fine, Eggy, West Ham, The Premier League and a team of lawyers put matters in order.
Then the whinging started with Wigan and Sheff. Utd being the main moaners... they should have been deducted points blah blah, Tevez this, Tevez that, blah blah... Sheff. Utd. went down, didn't get enough points, bye bye!
A fine end to the season was marred by the constant moaning in the papers, and it is still going on, more top meetings etc. etc. I'd love to see Wigan and Sheff Utd. done for bringing the game into disrepute!
And so I think the future looks bright! Eggy seems to have a genuine desire for the club to do well, and with money to spend we will hopefully not have to endure another relegation dogfight... get rid of the bling and lets go again... I can't wait!