Brave Palestine overcome all the odds to beat Bohemians, win friends and make a point about their survival
A fan wearing a T-shirt demanding ‘Close Guantanamo Now’ matched with the keffiyeh, the black and white scarf associated with Palestinians, plus a player on the field of play wearing a headscarf.
Dalymount Park has witnessed a lot since a previously itinerant Bohemians landed on the Pisser Dignam’s Field, and turned it into a home 123 years earlier, but there was still something unique about last night’s action.
The record books will show that Bohemians lost to Palestine’s senior international women’s side 2-1. Not many winning goals, like the fine strike from Nour Youssef 12 minutes from time, get the warmth for an away side as this one did from the sold-out crowd of 4,290.
But these are not normal times as evidenced by Katie Malone’s celebration after her 53rd-minute goal when she held up a T-shirt which honoured the first official language of the home team and the trauma of their opponents, with the logo Saoirse Don Phailistín.
President Michael D Higgins, a regular visitor to Dalymount, was in the house but again, with different mood music.
Last month, Bohs unveiled a mural in the laneway leading up to Dalymount Park which honoured club greats like the much-loved and never-forgotten Jackie Jameson, Dave Tilson, Kevin Hunt and Derek Pender.
But on the evening of this game there was a new mural to be shown off, dedicated to Hind Rajab, the six-year-old killed in one of the more tragic incidents – if there can possibly be such a thing in the daily carnage there – in the current war in Gaza.
Everything about this match hinted at that, a difference to the norm of the Friday night lights in Dublin 7.
Like Mary Black – a late call-up for Christy Moore who was sadly unavailable – making her way politely through the crowd enjoying their pre-match pints in the club members’ bar ahead of her half-time show, or Radie Peat, the voice of the critically-acclaimed Lankum, putting her twist on Amhrán na bhFiann as part of the pre-match formalities.
The game, Palestine’s first match in Europe, was being played on the anniversary of the Nakba, an epochal moment in Palestine’s history, so it was never going to be about the result.
As the away team had pointed out before the game, visa issues and travel restrictions meant a number of the usual Palestine squad were unable to travel.
Others came from faraway fields – Dina Abdeen, impressive in her No 16 jersey, is a daughter of the diaspora, born in the USA, and was the only player to wear a headscarf.
The first hour was one-sided, as Bohs were superior to the visitors in terms of physique and fitness, but a raft of second-half subs, after their lead goal, saw Bohs drop concentration levels on a night when the scoreline was irrelevant. This game was about far more than football.
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