New York is loving the World Cup, but Irish fans are left wondering 'what if?'
Fans gather at the Rockefeller Centre in New York to watch the semi-final clash between France and Spain. Photo: Alex Cunningham
While the pain of missing out on the World Cup still stings, the Irish in New York say they’re still deriving great pleasure from this year’s tournament.
One man who has experienced some of the highest highs the World Cup can offer without witnessing his birthplace play is Brendan Farley.
Forty years ago, Farley upped sticks from his native Longford and began working in the ‘Soccer Tavern’ in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, then known as ‘Little Norway.’
“I went there to Eighth Avenue, Brooklyn, here with the bars in 1986. A young lad, 18 years old. But when I went there, it was all Norwegians…so many Norwegians that I learned to speak Norwegian because as a young lad you could pick up the language easier,” he recalled.
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For Farley, witnessing Norway’s route to the World Cup quarter finals — having not featured in the tournament in 28 years — conjured up strong emotions. He sees himself as partly Norwegian and says they're the closest people to the Irish in terms of temperament.
“It was unbelievable. Any relatives or whatever of the older people that I used to know came out for the games; it was amazing…We still have a handful of Norwegians on Eighth Avenue, but for the games they came out in force," he said.
“I've been in the business 40 years, so I've seen 10 World Cups, and it's the best ever I've seen.”
Farley isn’t the only publican reaping the rewards of a busy World Cup, with Irish owners across the breadth of the city reporting increases in footfall.
“There was tremendous interest around the World Cup… typically the summertime can be a little bit lower in Midtown Manhattan,” said Mark Fox, who owns a host of hospitality establishments across that area.
“The atmosphere in New York is just magic because it's such an international city, so it's pulling not only tourism but all the international supporters coming out to support either their home country or their heritage,” he said.
Jen Murphy, from Mayo, who owns Banshee, a cocktail bar in Manhattan’s East Village, concurred.
“New York can tend to clear out a bit, a certain diaspora clears out for the summer and I’ve noticed that happening less, I think it’s the place to be,” she said.
She said the World Cup has functioned as a social glue for many across the city. “It’s a fairly neutral thing everyone can get behind, it’s not divisive,” she said.
While most acknowledge the impact of involved diasporas and travelling fans, others are less sold on Americans' appreciation for the World Cup.
Comparing the impact of the World Cup to the New York Knicks winning an NBA championship for the first time in 50 years, New York's passion for football inevitably pales in comparison.
The Knicks' win in June saw the streets of New York flooded with rapturous celebrations, with the NYPD deploying 10,000 officers to police fans. Similar scenes have yet to be conjured up in New York for the World Cup.
"New York is so busy in general that a lot of these things — they don’t seem to exist,” said Kevin Doherty, owner of the Tára Mor pub, located beside the Knicks’ home of Madison Square Garden.
“I would say if you didn’t know the World Cup was happening, it might not be the most obvious thing, but there’s definitely been an influx in fans…Overall, it doesn’t take me any longer to get to work.”
Mike O’Sullivan from Douglas, Cork, who operates two bars in Brooklyn and Chelsea, struck a similar chord.
“You wouldn't really know it every day that there's a World Cup happening,” he said.
“(Americans) kind of buy into it a bit, but it's not as if it was on in Ireland or anywhere; that’d be the only thing that people would be talking about,” he said.
Those thoughts of Ireland lining out in the tournament still prove torturous to some — and watching Scottish fans live out some alternative dream that Ireland could’ve nearly grasped adds insult to injury.
“The Scots drank Boston dry, I’m telling you we would have drank every place in New York dry, it would have been unbelievable, even as a neutral over here it’s incredible,” said J1 student Cillian O’Brien.
“It would have been unbelievable; it would have changed it completely — the amount of Irish in New York, Boston and other cities over here, the amount that would’ve travelled over because they’d have a couch to stay over here, it would’ve changed the game completely,” said Archie Dolan, co-owner of Bar Monto in the East Village.
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