Yank Abroad: A KC Wizard in Ireland
Yanks Abroad, the website that specialises in Americans playing soccer in Europe, currently has a feature on Chris Konopka, the former Kansas City Wizards goalkeeper who is now playing for Bohemians in Dublin.
Though as Yanks Abroad phrases it, Konopka is plying his trade on “the Emerald Island”. I used to live a 5-minute walk from the home of Bohs, and there’s not a whole lot on that part of Dublin’s northside that’s particularly emerald I can tell you.
The U-23 US national team player has noticed differences in training and big differences in atmosphere:
The atmosphere here is fantastic! The fans and the seating are right up against the field, unlike in America where the games are played in 70,000-seat football stadiums and there are only 9,000 or 10,000 in attendance. The atmosphere [in Ireland] is loud and crazy for games and I love that!
Bohs is pronounced the way you would expect a word that’s short for Bohemians to be pronounced, rhyming with nose. And if you’re from Dublin then like all single long syllable words - shoes and film are another two - it is pronounced as 2 syllables “Boh-ez”. No-ez, shoe-ez, and fil-im are how you pronounce the other words mentioned.
Once upon a time - though not in those years when I lived that 5-minute walk away - I used to go to Dalymount Park every week to watch Bohs play. Watching the oldest football club in Ireland (founded in 1890) was also a convenient way to dislike Dublin’s southsiders, or as they were called, Shamrock Rovers.
There’s not a whole lot in the Yank Abroad article that mentions life in Ireland for Chris, aside from the football that is, but it seems Irish coastline living is closer to his Jersey home than Kansas was:
I’m living right on the Irish Sea, which for a Jersey Shore boy is a lot better fit than the farmlands of Kansas,” he admitted. “I actually have awoken to some surfable waves every now and again since I have been here. I am definitely going to invest in a long board in the future, and a very, very thick wet suit!
Update: Soccer365 has a bit more:
In Kansas I would look out and see corn fields so the views got a little better! The food is good and I have adjusted to the life well, I think in some ways despite being in the States while at Kansas I missed home more than I do here in Ireland.
I wonder how he’s feeling this week, as a team he had a trial with during his senior year at Providence College, Cardiff City, has just reached the final of the oldest cup competition in the world, the English F.A. Cup.
More On Soccer:
• Meeting Diego Maradona in Ireland
• Watching Soccer in America
• Irish Lose: O Dear, O-dear O-dear O-dear
• Memories of Going to Wembley
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
[…] his time in KC and how that compares to his new gig in Ireland. Soccer365.com, Yanks Abroad, and IrishKC.com all with coverage. Chris will also be on Fox Sports Radio today at 3:15; you can listen to The […]
Fortunately the Wizards aren’t in Arrowhead anymore. Where they’re playing now, Community America Ballpark at the Legends, is much closer to what Chris is describing at Bohemians. With 10,000, the stadium is sold out, and the fans right on top of the field. It’s too bad he didn’t get to experience it while here.
Best of luck to Chris. Hopefully he’ll do well in Ireland. Keepers are the US’ bread-and-butter, so he was the third string here in KC.
Yep Szazzy the move across the US is now firmly away from the mausoleum atmospherics and I really wish I’d experienced the Wizards in the environment you describe at the Legends, never mind Chris, rather than at Arrowhead where even the attendance record chasing games were no place for 30-odd-thousand people.