A Unique Species: Soccer Fan Cavan

He’s the best of the fans, he’s the worst of the fans. He is the fan who would walk a thousand kilometers through the snow and hail, barefoot, to be able to see the game with his own eyes and proclaim, in person, how useless his team is.

In truth, Cavan’s soccer fan is a peculiar beast.

He, or she, of course, but we’ll stick with him for his ability if everyone agrees, he has some similarities to Donald Trump fans. The main defining characteristic is painful nostalgia and bewilderment about how things got so bad. And no, before any clever interjection from Monaghan, the secondary isn’t bad hair and narcissism.

Our tribe’s brand is a longing for the past, to ‘Make Cavan Great Again’. Seamus O’Rourke mentioned it in his brilliant recitation on Leitrim’s run to Croke Park in 1994.

“We got a partner to milk the cows on Sunday morning. Some Cavanmans long for the days when All-Irelands would be played again at the Polo Grounds … and Cavan could win again. “

I wonder if O’Rourke rubbed us there; I do not think so. What I detected was sympathy and a kind of amazement at all the carry-on luggage.

The thing is, the moment we long for, well, now it’s a popular memory. If you’re 82 years old, you’ve seen Cavan win five Ulster titles in your adult life. If you’re 36, like me, you’ve seen them win back-to-back Ulster Championship matches twice as adults: 2013 and this year. Glory days will pass you by …

And of course, it can be argued strongly that unrealistic expectations have plagued teams for many years. What got me thinking about all this was when a longtime Cavan fan described Saturday’s win over Antrim, a four-point victory over a defensive team that had beaten us five times in the last six games, as “disgraceful. “.

That a sensible and sensible person can make such a serious comment says a lot about the curious condition of Cavan’s follower, a species that I believe is unique to Irish sport and should have its own anthropological study, in the absence of which I’ll provide my own.

First of all, Cavan’s fans don’t get too mad at the league. Oh, he’ll get excited, okay, with a good win and he’s always ready to go completely crazy from a loss, but most of all, he prepares for the championship. The big hitters, the heavy hitters of traditional soccer, focus on the championship. And dear man, it’s us, that’s right.

After a championship game is when we see the Cavanman in one of the few easily identifiable states, each of which is instinctive. Telling the Cavanman not to feel like this would be like instructing the eyes not to see and the ears not to hear. Or the Monaghan people don’t pronounce ‘Nudie’ and Darren’s last name as Kews. It would go against nature.

A big loss, of any kind, or a small one for a mid-rank or lower team, is received in the same way. Without a doubt, this defeat will have been “the worst of all”.

“Ah, now,” the Cavanman will say, with a deep inspiration. “I never saw so bad. That’s the worst I’ve ever seen. “

There are five stages to the grieving process, but as a more advanced type of human being, Cavanman skips denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance and moves straight into anger, a process like getting the letter out of jail. in a game of Monopoly. “Don’t pass. Go, don’t collect £ 200. Don’t hit, say, Clare at home? Never, never – ‘and I’m serious this time, I’m telling you now’ – go see them again.”

Sometimes this will spill over into a game. Exhibit A: The Cavan fan with the courtside seat at Croke Park in the 2013 Ireland quarterfinal who leaned in and threw his program at a player who kicked a ball on the sideline towards his own goalkeeper.

Now, if Cavan draws or narrowly misses a game, it’s his own fault, pure and simple.

“They threw it away,” the Cavanman will affirm with the infallible air of a man whose great-grandfather won several Ulster medals. “In the name of Jaysus, what was your man passing that ball?”

You will often hear the classic “lost control” in this scenario.

(It should be noted at this point that blaming the referee is ubiquitous regardless of the outcome. Whether saluting triumph or disaster, to paraphrase Kipling, the Cavanman will treat the imposter with the whistle anyway).

What leads us to win. If Cavan wins against a lower ranked team, the reaction is silent. The Cavanman waits – no, demands it is more accurate; this anyway, so you’re unlikely to get any praise. And if the elements of the work are not satisfactory, they will stand out, you better believe it.

And then Lord bless us, there is what I like to call DEFCON 1. It’s that weird thing, that almost holy thing. A Cavan win against a good team, say a Division 1 team? All bets are off. This is when the Cavanman lets his guard down and partays Like it’s 1949.

Yes, the anger may linger a bit, towards a dismissive expert, perhaps, or an opposition player who acted like a puppy, perhaps celebrating a score or selling a doll, but overall, it is anger born out of deep satisfaction. It’s exhilaration, relief and, most of all, the feeling that we’ve finally been restored to our rightful place as rulers of the Gaelic football universe.

Mickey Graham brought it up after the Antrim game last Saturday.

“Cavan, as you well know,” he said, “we have to play one game at a time. For years and years, we have gone ahead and looked beyond. This performance has brought our feet firmly back to the ground. “

Graham was right. One major victory is all it takes for Cavan’s standing army of supporters to mobilize, parading at dawn with their moth-bitten flags, restored ‘Cavan Are Magic’ decals on the rear windows of the car. The last few years, 50 or so, more or less, are dismissed as a passing problem because, honey, we are back!

All of these reactions could be seen in the last fortnight alone, with relegation, a dramatic win over Monaghan and then a lame victory, but still, against Antrim. The Cavanman has been up high doh, hi. And he doesn’t really know what to do with it.

So where are we now? Well, here is an exercise you can try. Take a poll of Cavan’s supporters and see how many think the county will win the Anglo-Celtic Cup this year. By thinking, I mean they actually believe it, as they would publicly profess it, knowing well that the reaction will be “would you listen to your eegit?”, Among other non-printable murmurs.

The reality is that while we all hope for it and some of us dream about it, not many can honestly believe that it will actually happen this month. And that’s fair enough.

However, what will the response of these same fans be if the team loses to Down on Sunday? I think you know the answer!

Never change, Cavanman …