As part of our ongoing link-up with Baltimore Bohemians, former Bohemian FC president Chris Brien travelled Stateside earlier this month as a representative of the club and attended the Maryland Irish Festival alongside our Baltimore Bohs partners.
Baltimore Bohs were founded in 2011 by the Angelos family, owners of Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles, and the Tirabassi family. The club’s crest features a tribute to our own famous black and red stripes.
This year, Baltimore Bohs this season secured their highest league position of to date. They enjoyed an improvement on their sixth-place finish in 2012 in the Mid-Atlantic Division of the US Premier Development League to come second to Ocean City Nor-Easters (New Jersey) as the division’s highest scorers with 42 goals in 14 games. They were subsequently defeated 3-1 by Reading United (Pennsylvania) in the league play-offs.
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Brien said: “As supporters will already be well aware of, the club formed a partnership with Baltimore Bohemians in July. The partnership covers a number of areas, including commercial opportunities.
“In early November, I was invited by Baltimore Bohemians to join them at the Maryland Irish Festival and was obviously only too delighted to accept their invitation. The Baltimore Bohs were kind enough to cover all my travel expenses.
“The Baltimore Bohs had a stall at the festival and we showcased some of our own Gypsies gear on the stall alongside Baltimore Bohs merchandise in what was a very worthwhile exercise in increasing both clubs’ profiles and creating awareness about the clubs’ ongoing partnership.
“Baltimore Bohemians only came into existence in 2011, so they have a big job ahead of them in trying to attract fans, particularly as they are competing with the Baltimore Orioles baseball team and the Baltimore Ravens American football team.”
Chris was delighted to finally be able to put faces to the names of people with whom he had shared regular correspondence in recent months.
He said: “As well as the enjoyment of the festival itself, it was a great opportunity to meet with the people I had been in contact through email over the previous four months. I met with Joe and James Tirabassi, who own the Baltimore Bohs along with their business partner Louis Angelos. Unfortunately Louis was unavailable during the weekend.
“I also met Judge Phil Tirabassi – Joe and Jim’s dad – who was my host for the weekend together with Brian McMearty, a huge fan and stalwart of the club. We spoke about our plans and hopes for the future, and the sharing of ideas was extremely beneficial to both parties.
“It was a short visit – I flew out of Shannon on Friday November 8th and returned on Sunday the 10th – but it was certainly worth it.
“It is one of the aims of the partnership to provide exposure for one another in our respective countries. It is for this reason that the trip was organised and hopefully we will see the benefits of our relationship grow over the coming years.
“My thanks again to the Tirabassi family and Brian McMearty for making me feel so welcome and for sharing their ideas with me.”
Show your support for our American friends by following @BaltimoreBohs on Twitter and liking Baltimore Bohemians on Facebook.
Picture shows it’s Joe Tirabassi, Chris Brien, Phil Tirabassi and Jim Tirabassi
