footballers

la muchedumbre

This is what the streets of Dublin look like when a match is on. It doesn't matter what sport--football, hurling, rugby, Gaelic--it usually involves jerseys, neck towels, and lots of shouting. People gather in the pubs to see the games and then spill out into the streets singing team songs and jumping around with each other. 

In this case, both teams in the Europa Leage Finals here at Aviva Stadium were Portuguese: FC Porto and Braga. According to the newspaper some 16,000 fans and 70 charter flights arrived in Dublin just for the day. 

Something unique to Europe is that fans can afford to travel and see their team's play in other countries. A few weeks ago when Leinster Rugby were playing a match, the DART was a mixture of different accents and races of people from all over Europe who came to root on their favorite team. I'm not into sports entertainment and following stats, but it's charming to see people connect on that level. I especially like the singing. 

the guards chatting amongst themselves