Leather Hat Brigade 44 - The Truth!
A special undercover report by Harps fanzine Down To The River

There have been some strange goings on around Finn Park in the last month, particularly in that twilight zone that is "behind the nets" A mysterious organisation has emerged it seems, styling its self the new force at Finn Park, just who or what is the Leather Hat Brigade 44!!!

The first signs of the Leather Hat Brigade 44 appeared through cryptic messages on an internet message board, and of course the unusual head gear sported by certain individuals at Finn Park. The strange goings on in the wilderness behind the goals continued unashamedly culminating in a strange ritualistic dance waving their hats during the Div 1 Cup Final which was captured on camera by a local paper.You, the Harps supporting public have a right to know the truth, so DTTR went undercover to investigate this sinister group and their deranged activities.

Having infiltrated the organisation, with a combination of blackmail, bribery and coercion we dragged the story out of some terrified Harps fans close to the leadership of "the Hats".At a secret rendezvous in a Drumkeen cow shed, our frightened informant confirmed to us that contrary to Paddy Walsh's information, the Leather Hat Brigade has its origins in Turkey as opposed to Amsterdam (that's a relief then) and is a result of a holiday to that country by a number of prominent Harps supporters, all of whom are big fans and indeed friend of a certain young Harps player, who in order to protect his reputation shall remain nameless.

The Leather Hat Brigade 44

So anyway these mates of Niall Bonner's went to Turkey on a holiday on which Niall himself had hoped to go till it became clear that football commitments would prevent him. Having promised NB a memorable present the lads decided, in one of those moments of inspirational clarity usually only attained after several days heavy drinking, to buy him 44 leather hats from a traders stall. The reasons behind this decision, and indeed the choice of the number 44 remain unknown, we believe even to "the Hats" themselves.Sparing no expense our undercover reporter travelled to Turkey and spoke to Umit, a traumatised leather stall owner. "Zeez crazy Irish people come to my friend Gumbit's stall all wearing strange blue jerseys, and are asking him if he had 44 leather hats for sale. Gumbit is a leetle crazy too and he tell them to feck off and stop wasting his time. Then they come to my stall, I very frightened but I show them my hats and the crazy men buy 44 hats, all different!! Then they go back to Gumbit with all the hats and they are dancing and waving them at heem. He very annoyed, I make good profit from crazy blue men."To complete our research we spoke to another insider who alleged that Niall was none to impressed with his "present" till the Div 1 Cup Final when his wonder goal sparked off the aforementioned wild hat orientated celebrations among his new fan club. Allegations from several sources of a pink track suit wearing "High Hat" being the leader of the group are as yet unproven, though we believe that video evidence exists of one of their stranger practices - nude poolside races.

To conclude our investigation we put the rumours directly to Niall Bonner himself!! When he appeared as a substitute in St Mels Park against Athlone he was greeted by chants (lead by our DTTR Undercover agent) of "Where's your Leather Hats?" to which he responded with a surprised look followed by a fit of (guilty) laughter. Seeing the suspect beginning to crack we tried a different line of questioning with "Finn Harps F C - Niall Bonner's Leather Ha-ats" Having completed our extensive research we fear that this exposé merely scratches the surface of the strange world of "the Hats". However we are happy to conclude that, however weird, they are our fellow Harps fans and we have nothing to fear from them. We would recommend caution though, as anyone who wears a Turkish Leather Hat to Finn Park must be deemed at least a little bit crazier than the average Harps fan. Long may it continue, and lets hope it inspires Niall to more wonder goals, and the FBTN men to even more singing!!!

DTTR UNDERCOVER