Going extra mile to give ex-pats helping hand

Leinster were probably thrilled when ERC chiefs handed them a Saturday evening slot for this week’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Cardiff.

It is a sentiment most of their fans will have shared given that it allows a generous amount of time to enjoy the watering holes that surround Lansdowne Road. But the kick-off time isn’t so convenient for everyone.

Take New Zealand, where the game will begin at 4.45am local time on Easter Sunday, which just happens to be one of only three days in the entire year when the sale of alcohol is forbidden by law.

For ex-pats hoping to catch the game that spells trouble and the Official Leinster Supporters’ Club (OLSC) has spent much of the last week attempting to find out whether some fans can get around the problem by watching it in a casino in Auckland.

Luckily, the OLSC is well accustomed to such challenges.

The club possesses a network around the globe and regularly receives desperate queries from Irish people in all manner of exotic locations scrambling to find a venue showing Leinster games.

“It’s just about trying to make it as easy as possible for guys abroad,” said OLSC committee member Jarrod Bromley. “It’s a bit of craic for people if they are in a new city and don’t know a lot of people or where to watch the game.”

Bromley understands the importance of getting people together abroad more than most as he was born and bred in Palmerston North, New Zealand and came to Ireland a dozen years ago for a 12-month stint that has mushroomed into as many years after meeting a local girl.

The OLSC had long been doing it informally but at one point last year they decided to go at it in a more co-ordinated manner and began to set up official bases for supporters to watch games in cities such as London and New York.

Designated as ‘Overseas Bases’, The Porterhouse in London and McCormacks in New York were the first but they have been joined by others in Sydney and Dubai and there are plans for more in New Zealand, South-East Asia and Abu Dhabi.

An expanding operation is being serviced by Bromley and five other committee members, all of them volunteers, and the plan is to hold special events at the overseas bases and arrange travel to away games for those fans based in the UK, France and Italy.