St Patrick’s Day Parade 2009

The parade was a great success with an excellent turn out for the parade itself and then with more members joining us for drinks as we moved through the town

The festivities started at Milanos on Queen street which was the meeting place for pre march drinks and for people to get their shirts and stubbie coolers for the day

Before the march even started we adopted our own Leprechaun who led us on the march. In addition to the shirts some guys had brought along bandanas with green hair attached to provide an Irish pirate look and these were a great success

Bubba went one step further and cleached his hair in order to pass himself off as a pint of Guinness - see photos in the Gallery.

The march went through the city and involved several renditions of the club song which was greatly appreciated by all spectators including the Lord Mayor - Campbell Newman for whom we stopped and provided a special rendition

We finished in front of Parliament House where drinks were provided along with a stage where we could enjoy some free Irish music

From here (when the free beer ran out) we made our way to the Brisbane Irish Club on Elizabeth St and took over a large part of the bar area upstairs. We stayed here until about 5pm and were very liberal with our singing and did a great trade in T Shirt sales which will provide valuable funds to the club

The next stop was Kitty O'Shea's Irish pub on Caxton Street - one of the club's main sponsors - where the festivities continued. More people who could not make the march in the morning were able to catch up with us here and it was great to see so many who have moved from Brisbane making the trip back to catch up with us for the day

With the Reds playing the Sharks just next door quite a few took the opportunity to go to the game which turned out to be a fantastic performance and result for the Reds while just as many elected to keep up the "support" of our sponsor

As the day started to come to an end for most the diehards made their way to the Pig & Whistle on Eagle St for the 3am kick off for Scotland v Ireland in the 6 nations

A hard fought win for the Irish meant the perfect end to a fantastic day where old friendships were renewed and many new ones created. Thanks to all who took part at any time in the day and the fun and cameraderie shown bodes very well for a great season ahead both on and off the pitch.

Finally for all those who met us for the first time and are thinking of coming to join the club you are more than welcome and for those I spoke to who are considering returning you presence will be greatly appreciated 

All in all a fantastic day for the Irish both as a nation and for us as a club

Got to Gallery on the left to see the pics I took and if you have any of your own you would like added please email them to me on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or bring them along to training on a disk

Angus