Sorry, yes we are a design blog, but Nationalism comes into this…Time for a history lesson.
At Lansdowne Road on 15th February 1995, Ireland played England in a friendly. It became an infamous night in Irish and English sport when a section of England ‘supporters’ (‘thugs’ being a more suitable word), following vile chants and Nazi salutes began tearing the seats from the stands and throwing them onto the pitch. The rioting of these hooligans caused the game to be abandoned and the two sides haven’t met since. That Ireland were winning at the time is irrelevant. It’s clear that these thugs were always intent on causing havoc. Let me be clear though, I am in no way suggesting that the actions of these vicious…well…criminals reflects on English supporters as a whole. They were rightly condemned by all sides. But the fear has remained that it could happen again.

24th February 2007. Ireland play England in rugby at Croke Park, national stadium for Gaelic Games and site of the killing of 14 civilians during a game of Gaelic Football by the Royal Irish Constabulary in retaliation for the assassinations of 11 British intelligence officers, and two Auxiliaries, carried out by the IRA earlier that day. To say there was tension in the build-up to the game was an understatement. Debate raged as to whether an English team should be allowed to play at Croke Park, whether or not God Save The Queen should be played (both on principle and amid the fear that it could be booed by Irish supporters) and when the day came, nobody quite knew what would happen. What did happen was a respectful silence for the English anthem, a surge of emotion for the Irish anthems and a game that saw Ireland thrash England (I had to get that in there). In essence, there was no trouble, no booing, no fears realised. It went off without a hitch, a measure of how far the relationship between the two countries had come.
Fast forward to this year. Despite the growing relationship between Britain and Ireland, the wounds of the past were still there. On 17th May, Queen Elizabeth II began a state visit to Ireland. No British monarch had visited Ireland since before independence. Once again emotions ran high, there were bomb threats, debates about the merits of the visit but there was also a sense that it needed to happen. And it did. Everything went smoothly, Queen Elizabeth received a warm welcome and the ties between the two countries were strengthened further.

So what’s the point of all this? Well, I think we’ve come a long way since Lansdowne Road in 1995 and while there is always the danger that small elements will want to cause trouble, we can’t be governed by fear and while the past shouldn’t be forgotten, it can’t be what defines us. Ireland and England could meet in the Quarter Finals of Euro 2012 (Ireland has a tough group but it’s not impossible. We’ve beaten Italy already this year) and there had been talk of a friendly match before that. Whatever happens in Euro 2012, I think Ireland and England should play each other at some point next year. It was a disappointment when England chose not to partake in the tournament now known as the Four Nations (Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) and until we play each other, our football history is going to be defined by that horrible night in 1995.

It’s time to put that to bed. Ireland v England, either at the Aviva or Wembley. Make it happen.

We are all cycle lovers at the studio, but things have become a bit too cool with the convergence of fashion and cycling. We all have got the shirt, the hat and indeed the books, now it’s time to follow the blog, all in helvetica. This site is a hilarious parody of some of those brands and cycle teams out there. internationale.teamjva.com/. Favourite statements found so far on the site:  ’Make sure that at least one team member rides without a helmet during the climb. Helmets just get in the way of handsome.’ closely followed by: ‘Like one time we lost our iPod charger. Luckily Best Buy had them. But still. That’s how you learn what you’re made of.’ With thanks to Chris Bedson, a supreme graphic design cycle pro.

Bring it on.

The day Eric Cantona retired from football was a sad one for all Manchester United fans. After acting for several years it was recently announced that Cantona has taken up a position as Director of Soccer at the newly reformed New York Cosmos, the team which captured the imagination of sports fans across America in the late seventies and early eighties. At their peak, the Cosmos attracted crowds of over 76,000 to the Giants Stadium as fans clamoured to see Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto, Chinaglia, Neeskens and, the star attraction, Pelé.

Currently, The Cosmos has no team, no stadium, no position in any US league, but they have just relaunched their shirts with Umbro. An accompanying campaign has just been released to promote them, using real people from the 5 New york boroughs.