Walk down Hill Street on a Saturday afternoon between August and May and you'll soon know when there's a big match on. The pubs are packed, phones are out, and every so often a roar goes up from a bar full of men who haven't been within a hundred miles of Old Trafford or Anfield in years. The Premier League is back for another season, and Newry is as hooked as ever.
Newry's attachment to the English game goes back a long way, and Pat Jennings has a lot to do with it. He was born and reared in the town, went over to Watford as a teenager and ended up in goal for Spurs and then Arsenal. Spurs fans still haven't fully forgiven him for that move, but it hardly mattered to people at home. He was one of ours either way. Add in 119 caps for Northern Ireland and you can see why older people around the town still talk about him the way they do. Most of them seem to know someone who played Gaelic with him as a young lad, and a fair few of them might even be telling the truth.
These days allegiances are split every way you can imagine. Manchester United and Liverpool probably have the biggest followings, as they do across most of the island, but you'll find Spurs fans who adopted the club because of Big Pat, and plenty of Arsenal supporters for the same reason. Local supporters' clubs still organise trips over on the boat for a weekend away, and for many families a first trip to a Premier League ground is a rite of passage that gets talked about for years afterwards.
The way people follow the game has changed a lot over the years. There was a time when a Saturday flutter meant queuing in the bookies with a biro and a docket, but these days most of it is done on a phone before the first ball is kicked. For plenty of fans around the district, a bit of Premier League betting is now as much a part of the weekend as the match itself, whether it's a fiver on a five-team acca, a punt on the first goalscorer or a running argument in the pub over who can call the most correct scores. Most people are only doing it to add a bit of interest to games they'd be watching anyway, and there's no groan quite like the one when the fourth leg of your acca lets you down in the 89th minute.
It would be a shame, though, if the glamour of the English game took all the attention away from what's happening on our own doorstep. Newry City AFC has worked hard to rebuild in recent years, and a Saturday at The Showgrounds costs a fraction of a ticket at any Premier League ground. Local clubs right across the area, from junior sides to Gaelic clubs, rely on people turning up. Watching on the big screen is great, but the lifeblood of sport in this district is still the volunteers, coaches and supporters who show up in the rain.
For those who do like a bet, the usual common sense applies. Set yourself a limit before the weekend starts, stick to amounts you can afford to lose, and don't chase losses. It's meant to be a bit of fun alongside the football, not something that takes over.
Wherever your loyalties lie, the season is long and anything can happen. With nine months of matches still to come, there'll be plenty more roars from the pubs of Hill Street before a champion is crowned in May.
