View From Behind The Nets - November 2003
by Rodney Dullaghan

BELIEVE!

The last fanzine of the season and I was hoping that I would be writing about a championship win. Unfortunately this last month has brought us one victory out of four and we’ve slipped to third in the table. The sense of the all familiar dread that Harps fans are so accustomed to come the end of the season was all so evident as our largest crowd of the season in Finn Park trudged wearily out of the old ground after the Limerick game.

But we are far from out of it. Starting with Dublin these next three games are going to show everyone what we are made of – as a club, manager, players and fans. If we win these next three games I still think we will do it as it is quite possible that Bray will drop points and a win over Dublin will put us ahead of them. If not then we have no option but to lay our playoff bogey to rest once and for all……AND WE CAN!! Our role as fans cannot be underestimated. We have to remain positive even though we have had our hearts broke before.

One of Harps biggest fans said to me the last day, “I’m not getting my hopes up again. She’s not going to break my heart again but I’ll never look at another bird.” I know exactly what he means. We all know what it feels like after so much heartbreak and disappointment over the years but we have to stand by her again. We have to trust her again.

Great players come and go, managers may last a few months or bring us to glory, matches, playoffs and cups are won and lost but fans go on forever. Handed down through families like priceless heirlooms a passion for Harps is left with people for life. That shared desire to go to Finn Park at the weekend to roar them on to that victory, to share the exuberance of that goal, to feel the energy of the crowd get behind your team. We all know what that means to each and every one of us.

This is the time that all fans need to stand side by side and believe. We have to show the team that we believe, they need to believe and we have to get out of this bloody division. We don’t belong here, so be it the playoffs or be it that last day in Cobh we need all that passion to transcend onto the field to show the players what we think of this club so they in turn can show us.

Starting in Whitehall, lets start believing again.