Pub watch
Sean’s Bar
Address: 13 Main Street, Athlone
Well there could only be one bar that I could start the day of fun in and that would have to be Sean’s bar, just around the corner from Athlone Castle on the banks of the River Shannon.
The oldest pub on the island of Ireland, and also even in the whole wide world, with a history dating back to AD 900! Yes you read that correctly, nine hundred AD! But this isn’t just an Irish tale, the Guinness World Records have confirmed this amazing fact to be true, no fake news here!
I was lucky enough to get chatting to Timmy O Donovan who works in Seans Bar and who was kind enough to sit down with me for a small talk about the history behind the pub.
Was well impressed with Timmy’s vast knowledge of the olden times and it is quite clear that the bar does have an old, old history.
The bar itself looks very quaint from the outside, looks a bit small, but once inside you can wander around and see that it is quite big actually, a few floors too. A lot of history with many ancient artifacts on display, and the front bar is a nice and cosy place for a quiet pint. They do have a lot of space out the back and they have a large beer garden to cater for bigger crowds and to help ease the congestion from the nightly music sessions they like to have here.
When I was there early in the day there were a good few tourists in the bar, but also a nice mix of locals too, a good atmosphere was building, and the pints were a flowing. They do have a good selection of beers on tap and I tried their own stout and the red ale, both very good particularly the stout, excellent. Also had a wee drop of their whiskey. Now not a whiskey drinker, yeah I know as an Irishman that’s a mortal sin, but it tasted ok to me, least it was smooth enough! Sat at the bar and took in all the atmosphere and the mystique of the place. Loved it and would have been quite happy to have stayed here all day, but alas I had to continue on my trip around the town. Ancient Irish history, in the settings of a cozy relaxed bar, drinking great pints. If only history class in school was as interesting as this!!!
Great bar, and even if it had none of the history it still would be a top spot. Recommended, and I will be back!!!!!
So off on another League of Ireland ground-hop, into the Midlands this time to see Athlone Town, from the county of Westmeath and into the heart of Ireland. 
Athlone has two things that make it stand out from other midlands towns, the Shannon and the regional third level college, The Athlone Institute of Technology (AIT). The Shannon brings tourism while the college brings students. These amenities are a huge boost to the area, bringing technical and pharma jobs to the town, and with it the development of the area. The town has two big shopping centres, the usual top quality hotels to cater for all the tourists (Prince of Wales, Hodson Bay, Sheraton and Radisson ), has a few state-run and semi-state-run organisations (The Department of Education, Revenue Commissioners, Bus Éireann, Iarnród Éireann, IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland all have bases in the town), and money is flowing into this up and coming hub beside the Shannon. Sports wise too, the Athlone IT International Arena is Ireland’s first world class indoor athletics arena, while the town hosted the prestigious European Triathlon Championships in 2010, when approximately 5,000 athletes participated in the event.
On the River Shannon, one can take a cruise, or even go on a Viking adventure trip up the River on a replica Viking boat. Lough Ree is just up the road and a great place for boating. The promenade on the River Shannon is popular among anglers, birdwatchers and swimmers. 
After Seans I went for a stroll, to have a look at John McCormick’s old house, walk past the Castle and take in the cool breeze of the Shannon air as I ventured across the bridge to the other side of the town. Went into Nuts Corner, in the centre of the town, as it had a nice exterior, old fashioned and inviting.
This place was a little busier than the last bar, busy enough for the time of the day that was in it, bar was pretty full, still managed to get a place at the top table! Ordered a pint of Smithwicks from a friendly bar lady, who looked like she was worked off her feet, all alone in a busy bar, in a bar with some rather interesting characters! 
After a quick detour via SuperMacs (love the old SuperMacs!), dropped into this small bar for another quick pint. Small bar divided into two sections, went past all the regulars giving me the eye to the quieter section at the back. Ordered a pint of Smithwicks, my usual. Got chatting to the bar man who was great craic, very good sense of humour, good bit of ribbing. 
But by 2007, with the new move to the Stadium, 
Athlone AFC 0-1 Longford Town 
Getting to the ground itself by foot is a little tricky as it is a bit of a trek from the town centre, but luckily enough I managed to hitch a lift with a Longford Town fan. 
At half time had a wander around, and grabbed some refreshments from a catering van with some friendly staff, got a nice burger and some hot tea for myself and some coffee for two stewards/ball boys (Ball men?) I had noticed standing in the cold on their own behind the goals and across from the main stand. I wandered over to them for a chat, and a great chat it was, and was well surprised that they do this for the pure love of the game but it seems to me they dont get much thanks for their hard work, not even a cup of hot tea, ffs. Shameful from Athlone Town FC, you should always look after your volunteers. 
Bern, a German speaking city and capital of the canton of Bern, with a population of about 140,000, is the de facto capital of Switzerland. Technically the Swiss Confederation, with its many Canton’s, has no capital but since Bern has so many governmental institutions within its walls, such as the Swiss parliament and the Supreme court to name but two, it is referred to by the Swiss as their “federal city“. It is the political HQ of the country.
It is definitely a city rich in ancient architecture and lots of lovely sights to see. A very pleasurable experience walking round the streets, while looking for some bars to pop into, cough! The historic old medieval town (“Altstadt“) in the centre of Bern became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983, and includes an elaborate medieval clock tower with moving puppets and a covered shopping promenade, all along a beautifully cobbled street. 
First bar of the day was this little place in the heart of the city called the Burgundy Bar. Small but cozy, at that time of the day, which was midday, it was quiet. Easy to pass by as the frontage looks more like a discreet bookshop rather than a bar. 
Sat down and asked the friendly bar man (Alex) for some advice on what to order. Alex was kind enough to give me the low down on a few of the house specials. All beers are unfiltered, natural and are made without chemical additives. I opted for their Canadian Red Ale, which sure enough tasted fantastic. Even though the place was very crowded it was very easy to get a seat and also service was fast and efficient. I’d say you might have to wait if ordering food, didn’t look to be much spare room in the restaurant side of the place. It is a big place though so you never know!
They do offer tours of the brewery and explain how they make the beers, but unfortunately it’s only available in German. Hopefully they will offer an English tour in the future. 
Made my way to the “Altstadt“, along the cobbled streets in search of an Irish bar. On the phone it got me the exact location but I just couldn’t spot it, until I noticed that there are some shops and the like doing business at below street level, down cellars. So looking closely I managed to find the small Irish bar, at ground level, and down some steep stairs, so be careful!
Got chatting to the bar man, Mark, who was very friendly, chatting about football and the bar. I was surprised when he told me that the bar does live music. I couldn’t quite picture where exactly they would play in such a small bar, but then it is an Irish bar so I guess those considerations never really matter! Even musicians from as far as Ireland itself were due to play in the place over the next few weeks! Nice one. 
Not far away from the Irish bar, just down the street and at the corner is a football bar called Die Berner Fussball Bar. Another bar in a cellar where you have to step down into. 
Sat at the bar and ordered a Felsenau lager, a local brew. Bar was busy enough, a few Young Boy fans having their beers. Funnily enough I seemed to be the only one drinking from a large beer glass, while the young boys were all sipping beer from small glasses, typical Swiss style! Can never understand that kind of thinking, if you have a chance to drink beer, ALWAYS GO LARGE!!!!
Not much banter as everyone was concentrating on the football, but the bar man was friendly enough, had a nice demeanor. I spent the time just looking at all the scarves and shirts behind the bar. Boy I love stuff like this!
Have to say the three young women working behind the bar were pretty hard working, handling all sorts of interesting orders and all with good grace, excellent to see such good work in a bar. Was really good to see such friendly staff that care for the work they do providing good beer to the thirsty masses, take a bow the bar ladies of Barbière.
FC Breitenrain Bern are a football team from Bern, Switzerland, who currently play in in the 1. Liga Promotion, the third tier of Swiss football.
Good enough game from two teams who are mid table in their league. Possibly Basel could have shaded it in terms of play and style, but FC Breitenrain battled hard all game and deserved the draw in the end.
Founded in 1898, BSC Young Boys, or Berner Sport Club Young Boys to give its full official title, is a Swiss professional football club based in Bern, Switzerland, that plays in the Swiss Super League, the top tier in Swiss football. It is widely referred to as Young Boys, and the club’s colors are yellow and black. They are one of the longest-established and most successful clubs in Switzerland, with 12 Championship and 6 Swiss Cup titles. They play 
After WW1 the team moved to Kirchfeld, winning another league in 1920. In 1925 the club moved again, but this time to the new stadium called the Wankdorf, with a capacity at the time of over 20,000. YB now had a nice spanking new stadium, which annoyed their city rivals FC Bern no end, because the older association continued to play at the small and outdated Neufeldplatz. A championship win came in the new stadium when Young Boys once again won the title in 1929, and a first Cup title came in 1930 in front of a home crowd of 30,000 (Capacity expanded in time, upto 60,000 for the 1954 World Cup!) crowding Wankdorf as the YB beat FC Aarau 1–0. And that was to be it for a good long while, 15 years in fact until the next league title or cup victory!
But the Championship remained elusive, that is until the early 80’s when success came under manager Alexander Mandziara and his brand of attacking football that brought a title win in 1986, the first in 26 years, and 11th overall. Another Cup victory, the 6th came in 1987, when Young Boys defeated Servette FC 4–2. Beating Real madrid one nil at home in the European Cup, albeit losing the tie 5-1, another rare highlight in the 80’s.
I like watching Young Boys, they were definitely a team of unbeatables under Adi Hütter. Winning back to back Championships is some feat, but they did it in style, taking total control of the league and losing games at a rare rate. Watching Kevin Mbabu bombing down the wings is a treat, its a shame that the Swiss national manager, Vladimir Petković, takes the piss and continues to ignore his celar skills and ability. No wonder the Swiss national team are dull and dour. Other players that stand out to me are the Goalie, Marco Wölfli, defenders, 
The old ground was site of the 1954 World Cup final where Hungary were beaten 3–2 by West Germany in front of 62,500 excited fans, at that time a huge upset as the “Magnificent Magyars”, with the legendary Ferenc Puskás in their team, were the Brazil of their time. But that’s the Germans for you, grinding out a win no matter. 
Pretty much the whole game was Young boys attacking, especially down the wings and mostly with Kevin Mbabu whipping in perfect crosses for the YB forwards to hash it up again and again. Love watching Mbabu, easily my favourite player in this league. I do wonder when, and not if, he will leave to better pastures. 
Neuchâtel (“Newcastle”) is a small city and the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel located on Lake Neuchâtel, in the shadow of the Jura mountains and facing the Alps, in West Switzerland, not too far from the border of France. The French speaking town has a population of about 34,000 people and was originally part of the Holy Roman Empire and later under Prussian control from 1707 until 1848. (Prussia, a historically prominent German state, in case you didn’t know!!)
As for a day out, Neuchâtel’s has an attractive Old Town, with about 140 street fountains, a handful of which date from the 16th century, and classical Burundian architecture with rows of contiguous narrow houses on three or four storeys and through corridors. The beautiful Alps far off in the distance on view from the lake also offer something to behold. 
PMU Race Cafe 
This place wasn’t to far off the stadium so ventured in. Was intrigued as it had horse racing on, and seemed to double as a betting shop, a first for me to see in Switzerland. Fancied a flutter but unfortunately (or fortunately) it was only French racing so let that pass. 
Was heaving with Xamax fans who were very boisterous and all good fun. Had a few cheap lagers and sat down to enjoy the “show” the home fans were putting on…….smoke bombs and pyro, horse play on the roundabout, all good fun.
Had a few beers, well quite a few, in this bar, waiting for my train. Bar is dead handy as it is right next to the train station which is just damn perfect for me! Bar right at the door, dont have to make any effort so! Managed to grab a 
Small bar, but quite busy, as you can imagine what with it beside the train station. Service wasn’t exactly very friendly, bit grumpy in fact, dont think they were Swiss to be honest. A fella, serving behind the bar, Jesus a smile wouldn’t kill you! The waitress wasn’t much better. Ok we get it, a lot of noisy football fans are in town, but Jesus no one is forcing you to do work in a bar!
The name Xamax (and club nickname) comes from legendary Swiss international ‘Xam’ Max Abegglen, one of the founding members of the club. 
In May 2013 a merger happened between Neuchâtel Xamax and FC Serrières, another side from Neuchâtel, to create Xamax Neuchâtel FCS, to continue top tier football in the city. The quick success continued as the team won back to back promotions to find themselves at the Challenge League division, three successive promotions to the second tier of Swiss football. And then in the 2017–18 season, the club were finally promoted back to the big time, to the Swiss Super League. It was has if the near death of the club had never happened! 
As for Europe they have had some small success, relatively speaking for a small club. In the 1981–82 season they managed to get to the last 8th of the Uefa Cup, beating Sparta Prague, Malmo, Sporting Lisbon along the way before eventually losing to Hamburg, narrowly 2-3 on agg. If you thought that was impressive, well in 1985–86 season they repeated the trick, once again getting to the last 8th of the Uefa, but once again losing out 2-3 on agg, this time to the mighty Real Madrid, not without a brilliant 2-0 home win though. Pretty good stuff I think. They haven’t since reached those heights, but they did knock out Celtic in the 1991–92 UEFA Cup, four of those goals coming from the Egyptian footballing legend, Hossam Hassan, a result I well remember at the time as the Scottish giants were definitely not expecting their trashing, 5-1 in Switzerland. In that competition they were knocked out by Real Madrid, 4-1, but not without a lovely one nil win at home. In the 1987–88 European Cup, they also had an impressive victory over Bayern Munich at home, 2-1, but alas going out 2-3 on agg. So one can see, for a small club, they have had some notable achievements in European football. 
The team play in red with black stripes and line out in the Stade de la Maladière stadium where the club play its home games. Opened in 2007 the ground has a total capacity of 12,500 supporters. The attendance record stands at 25,500 spectators in the undeveloped Stade de la Maladière when, in 1986, Real Madrid came to town in the second leg of the last eight of the Uefa Cup to see the team win out 2-0 which sadly wasn’t enough to overturn the tie. Nowadays the stadium has been renovated to include a shopping centre, a sports halls and even a fire station! But its not all that impressive as the ground has a fucking plastic pitch, urgh! It is owned by the city council. 
Getting to the ground was dead easy as its not too far from the station, and you head downwards. The Maladière stadium is near the lovely Lake of Neuchâtel, and a stones throw from the red bricked Notre-Dame Cathedral that dominates the local skyline, you really couldn’t get a better location for a ground. 
Not the best game in the world, few chances, a lot of slow build up play, and huffing and puffing and hard endeavor, but will little quality on display from both teams.
After that chances were few and far between, with both teams having an opportunity to steal a winner, both the game petered out for a draw. A fair result to be honest.
A German speaking city, Zürich was founded by the Romans in 15 BC. However, early settlements have been found dating back more than 6400 years ago. The Romans founded the city as a tax collecting point for goods trafficked on the Limmat river. 
Zürich is a major hub for railways, roads, and air traffic for Switzerland and for Europe. Both Zürich Airport and railway station are the largest and busiest in the country, and the city has an extensive local train, bus and city wide tram network. The network also includes boats on the lake and river, funicular railways and even a cable car between Adliswil and Felsenegg. Zürich train station is the world’s most frequently served railway station, with 2915 trains every day, and has high speed trains coming from France, Germany and Austria passing through, and it is also directly connected with Zürich Airport which is less than 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) away. 
First pint of the day was to be in the Lion Pub, an English Pub, near the city centre. Was very busy with some premiership football on the box, but still plenty of space to sit down.
Nice interior, very swanky (wooden but all smart), good cozy atmosphere at the time, British style pub grub on the menu, but also some Swiss dishes, British and Irish beer on tap and in bottle. Also, while I was there they also had a gin tasting stall which looked pretty cool. 
A very nice interior, all modern and smart, and the bar was within easy reach so sat myself down and ordered a Carlsberg, which was served with a nice big friendly smile by the bar lady who also gave me some nuts to nibble on. Carlsberg was great, lovely and cool, and I had another one as I was beginning to settle in nicely, that and the fact that the bar lady was kind enough to recharge my mobile. 
I went in and sat down at the bar, was hungry too so ordered some food to accompany my beer. Service was very friendly. Had some regular local lager and got some fries and a steak burger, nothing too fancy! The beer was nice and cold but unfortunately the food was rubbish. Just tasteless, small portioned and nothing special, bit disappointing. Sit down food should be a bit better than this. 
Anyway had another beer then my eye caught a board listing various shorts and I was immediately intrigued by the hemp vodka that was an offer. Had a shot of it and it went down easy but I am not sure how much hemp was in it. 
The club was founded on 1 August 1896 by former members of the three local clubs (FC Turicum, FC Viktoria, and FC Excelsior). One of them was the FC Barcelona founder, Joan Gamper. Zürich won its first national championship title in 1901–02, but did not win it again until 1923–24.
Between 1925 and 1962, were the years of no success, FC Zürich winning sweet fuck all. Thirty seven years of nothing at all and including two relegation’s. Bet the supporters enjoyed those times. But not to worry, as the “Golden Years” came during the 60’s right up to the early 80’s, Zürich winning seven championships in the years 1963, 1966, 1968, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1981, and the Swiss Cup five times in 1966, 1970, 1972, 1973, and in 1976. FCZ also had some success in Europe getting to the semi-finals of the European Cup in the 1963–64 season, before losing to the mighty Real Madrid (8-1 on agg!), and also reaching the semi-finals in the European Cup in 1976–77, where they lost to Euro kingpins at the time, Liverpool (Losing 6-1 on agg)
They play their home games at the Letzigrund in Zürich, which seats 25,000 spectators. The Letzigrund stadium is some stadium though, wide and expansive, at night with the floodlights on it is a sight to see. An athletics stadium first and foremost but owned by the city of Zurich (buying it off FC Zurich who were in debt at the time), with the popular IAAF Diamond League taking place here every year, it also has held some pretty big music concerts down through the years (both the old and updated version of the stadium) from U2, Bon Jovi, Madonna, Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Rihanna, Beyoncé, the Rolling Stones right up to today with Ed Sheeran playing in the summer of 2018. The current capacity is 25,000, for football events, 30,000, for athletics and 50,000, for concerts.
As for rivals, I would say it has to be the other Zurich club, Grasshopper Club Zürich, and FC Basel. Grasshoppers are known as the club of the elite while FCZ are known as the club of the workers. But its the RotBlau who are regarded as the number one foe, mainly down to an incident in the last day of the 2005–06 season when FC Basel only needed a draw to clinch the title at home against FC Zürich, who had the cheek to spoil the party and score in the last minute to take the title. After the final whistle, players and fans from both teams started fighting on the pitch and in the stands. Since that day, fans from FC Zürich and FC Basel pretty much detest each other with a passion. 
And then six minutes later we had our second goal of the night, I. Aliu whipped in a nice high corner for A. Nef to power home a header where the goalie had no chance, albeit you might wonder why the Lugano defence were a little static. Two nil and I was barely even into my burger and beer!
You just know when you get a high scoring first half that Sods law dictates that the second half will be shit, that’s the way it always goes, and sure enough it was. Zurich did the work and relaxed a little to give Lugano some chances but they were mostly long ranges efforts and Yanick Brecher in the FCZ goals was equal to anything that came at him. Lugano quite simply were not up to the same high temp and level that FC Zurich were at. 
Like the days out in Zurich, a great city for drinking in, wandering round and for football hopping. Albeit it is expensive but heh ho it is Switzerland. Was good seeing how much of a crowd FCZ brought to the Stadion Letzigrund compared to their rivals Grasshoppers, it was slightly bigger but not as large as I had expected considering they are the “big team” in the city! Still they were a noisy bunch all game and I just love the Stadion Letzigrund big game atmosphere. One can only imagine what its like when the place is even half full!!