Ireland’s recent knife-edge victory over Armenia at the Aviva made history in more than one respect. It wasn’t just the first time an international football team had qualified for the play-offs without stringing together five forward passes: the occasion was also notable for the piloting of Front Row Centre, a revolutionary (though utterly simple) concept which enabled Ireland fans to watch the match up-close-and-personal while also using earphones to avail of live audio commentary and up-to-date bulletins from the other games of relevance.

The concept is so wondrously straightforward it’s hard to see how it could fail. In truth, there are a number of seasoned sports fans – myself included – who have tended to actively prefer watching the games at home with the benefit of full commentary and replays of the key incidents, not to mention the immeasurable benefit of being able to keep fully up to speed with what’s going on in the other games that might have a bearing on your team’s eventual fate. Luxuries which, until now, have been denied to the punters who’ve actually forked out for tickets and dragged themselves along to the match.
As founder Richard Deegan explains: “I came up with the idea after I was looking for scores from other games at the Aviva while Ireland were playing. The real fans were supporting their team at the stadium but were losing out to the armchair supporter. I thought if you could bring the real-time commentary to your seat at the Aviva you would enhance the experience for the fans.” The experiment was a resounding success, and it’s hoped that if a suitable sponsor can be secured, this will become a regular feature of Ireland home games. Matthew Moran, one of the 48,717 who attended the match, confirms: “It was great fun getting the real time info from the earpiece – especially from someone with a better view of the game’s more dramatic incidents. I don’t mind that we got away with a handball for once though! Similarly, I wasn’t surprised when I heard Russia had gone up 1-0 but I can only imagine that the atmosphere would have been like if the stadium had been wearing earpieces and Andorra had somehow gone ahead!”
From now on, there should be no excuse to stay at home. We’ll see you all on November 15!