A Black Cat With Green Eyes

By Lar Lonergan
January 2 2007

You may have heard the phrase- 'It is a long way to Tipperary' well from my point of view, it's quite a long way to The Stadium of Light. I am an Irish lad from you might have guessed Tipperary, a little town called Clonmel in actual fact. I watch my football in a nice little pub called Gleeson's!

Most saturdays during the 3pm Premiership match, someone will mention Sunderland are one up and what ensues is a flurry of 'who scored' and 'where will that put them in the table' from all four corners of the pub. I live with a West Ham supporter and Sunderland's result is always one we look for when the final scores are listed. I doubt in our little town we are the only ones so I saw this as an opportunity to learn more about the club and also give an Irish fan's perspective on Sunderland AFC.

Many Irish people look to England for their sporting entertainment especially football fans, this is simply because the quality of league football in Ireland is very poor when compared to its counterpart in England. The interest in football in Ireland is huge and Roy Keane and Niall Quinn are heroes in Ireland to many people, Roy is probably the Republic of Ireland's most successful sportsman ever and his appointment as manager alone aroused a lot of interest in the Black Cats here. Now the number of Irish players at the club has further raised the club's profile. Manchester United would be a very popular club in Ireland and Roy Keane's recent acquisition of Jonny Evans and possibly Phil Bardsley will get even more people interested I am sure.

It is strange how things work, only a couple of years ago Niall Quinn partly owned a pub in Clonmel, now he is the chairman of Sunderland AFC and I am composing my first article for this Black Cats website from Clonmel. My first wish is to hear from Sunderland fans those maybe very local to the ground or even regular matchgoers who might like to contribute and add their wealth of local knowledge to this website- if you are interested please contact me here.