Eagles Fans Roll Deep in Boston

This Eagles fan report comes to us from James Conroy.
Can you imagine a group of 75 or more Browns fans, or Dolphins fans or Lions fans gathering at a bar in South Philly to watch their team each week? It wouldn't happen. Yet in the shadow of Fenway Park, dozens of Eagles fans who live throughout the Boston area meet up to cheer on the Birds each week and take over a bar.

I moved to Boston the day after the Phillies World Series parade - a pretty good sendoff. After never really living that far away from the Philly area, I was a little concerned that my time in Boston would have me watching Patriots games and missing out on my Philadelphia sports. But, with the wonderfulness that is the internets, I was able to find a group of Philadelphia expatriates who get together weekly to watch the Birds.

For the last two years, as many as 200 Philadelphia Eagles fans have gathered at An Tua Nua, an Irish pub just blocks from Fenway, to watch games on two big screens and celebrate their love of the Eagles without having to deal with the annoyances of opposing team's fans.

Although people have said that there are other Eagles fans who meet up at bars around the Boston area (like Champions), it appears the crowd at An Tua Nua are the only ones who take over an entire room and get food and drink specials all to themselves.

David Quinn, who is essentially the head of the group, said that for game one this year against the Rams, over 160 people turned up and the group was able to raise more than $140 for the Eagles' "Tackling Breast Cancer" fund and have raised close to $800 as of yesterday.

And from what I could tell yesterday, the bar loved the fact that Birds fans show up there every week. When I asked the bartender if she was concerned about Eagles fans bad behavior which is promoted by the media, she didn't know anything about it and said all the fans at An Tua Nua were great.

With close to 200 members on "Philadelphia Eagles Fans of Boston" Facebook group, they've proven that basically anywhere you go you're bound to run into Eagles fans. I mean, about five years ago I'm in St. Lucia on vacation wearing a Eagles t-shirt and a guy stops me to find out the score of the game the previous week because "these bastards were watching soccer."

And, unlike Eagles players, everyone at Au Tua Nua knew that a game that ends 13-13 after overtime is called a tie.
Thanks to James for sharing the great bar experience.

Comments

[Bill]

the same thing happens down in Washington, DC at Rhino Bar and Pumphouse. Eagles fans take that place over during every game.

[Chamomiles Davis]

Enrico, you're in Boston now? How the hell did I miss that?

[theKrisheim]

The Shack in Santa Monica, CA is very similar to this

They draw quite a crowd each Sunday and I usually go there if I am stuck in LA on a Sunday

[joe l]

Been once (it's a long ride from Acton). Enjoyed the game, wish there was better beer, but glad they would have us.

[Mike]

In case anyone is in boston reading this and wondering where the bar is, its called An Tua Nua and it's at 835 Beacon St. near fenway park. There's also a myspace page (myspace.com/phillyeaglesfansofboston) in case you're interested.

[Anonymous]

abby secretly loves the cowboys

[Josh]

Oddly enough, there is a Kansas city Chiefs bar in south philly. Big charlies at 11th and mckean. Next time the birds play the chiefs I may just have to go.

[raser]

abby secretly loves the mets too

[clearman]

Rhino Bar in DC is a fantastic place to watch the birds, used to hit it up when I went to school in DC all the time. Something like 34th and M Sts. Serviceable cheesesteak by DC standards, too.

[MikeD.]

Coincidentally, i moved to Boston the day after the Phillies parade as well. This is such great news. I'm going to have to join this group.

do you know if there's anything similar for phillies games? Did these guys gather to watch any of the playoffs or world series?

[miss bee]

i third the above Rhino bar comments. made dealing with redskins fans the rest of the week slightly more bearable.

[JD]

am checking out rhino bar this weekend. i used to go there for PSU games, but found it to be too chaotic as the season progressed.

[James C.]

Apparently everyone went to Champions which is in the Marriott at Copley Square to watch the Phillies. We don't have to worry about that for a few months though.

I think during the game last week there was some discussion about going to see a Flyers/Bruins game in Boston though.

[Dustin Diamond]

When I was in college (University of Pittsburgh) we all went to Silky's in Squirrel Hill to watch Birds games. Sometimes there were 100+ there.

Here is an article from a few years back:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_300192.html

[joe l]

Boston is such a lame NHL town. I was surprised to learn that no one cared about the Bruins when I moved up here.

[Mike]

@joe

Thats because they don't know they have an nhl team. They didn't know there was a football team that played an hour away until 2001. They just realized that a basketball team plays in their city. Bwoston fans are lame!

[dc]

I remember when the eagles and chargers played a few years ago ("MATT WARE!! MATT WARE!!") I was outnumbered in rochester by south californians... there is a bar for eagles fans closer to the "city" of rochester though, never got to go.

In other news I have a lot of pity for detroit fans. they had their first blackout in October despite having terrible teams for...forever? I dunno what i'd do in that event. go to the game and waste your money just to prove you're a real fan? curse the lions and watch another team? turn on the radio and finish a fifth of jack over the course of the four quarters?

[Matt S]

I also had the displeasure to move away from our beloved sports city, but im in Chicago. Mad River gets a great crowd every sunday, for all those philly fans in chitown, its a must.

[Joe]

Eagles bars all over the place.
Story here: http://phillyedge.com/node/2142

List here: http://home.comcast.net/~tdgryn/eaglesbar.html
Some may have changed since 2006.

Also, Josh is right about Big Charlie's.

[Alex F.]

I went to BC and lived up there for a couple years afterwards. Just moved back to the Delaware Valley in September. Went to the Flyers-Bruins games, etc. (one time I went it was at least half Flyers fans, although to be fair we got a foot and a half of snow that day and there were only about 8,000 people there total). Never made it down to An Tua Nua but there was another bar closer to my house, Sports Depot in Allston, that usually had a good contingent of Birds fans.

[Mike]

@alex f.

The group that goes to An Tua Nua used to go to the sports depot in allston. We no longer go to the sports depot due to so much douche baggery, which is why we found our own bar.

[joe l]

Good luck getting a seat at the 'Depot. Though when the misses was going to physical therapy across the street (weekdays), I found my own therapy watching the Phils at the bar.

[Steve]

Why was I not informed of this while I lived there. I had to suffer through that 18-1 season with a bunch of Pats fans and argh...

[nicky]

whoa the dude who writes these blogs lives in Beantowm?

[Kulp]

"Can you imagine a group of 75 or more Browns fans, or Dolphins fans or Lions fans"

Nope.

[Josh]

The Carriage House in Park Slope, Brooklyn always has a large group of Eagles fans. It's technically a Giants bar, but there are always more Eagles fans than any other type. Great bartenders too.

[glenn]

The Eagles Fan Club in Austin TX, checking in from the La Vaca Lounge in Downtown Austin. You shoulda seen 'em during the WS!!!

[glenn]

The Eagles Fan Club in Austin TX, checking in from the La Vaca Lounge in Downtown Austin. You shoulda seen 'em during the WS!!!

[glenn]

The Eagles Fan Club in Austin TX, checking in from the La Vaca Lounge in Downtown Austin. You shoulda seen 'em during the WS!!!

[The Phunyun]

I wonder if there's an Eagles Fan Club in Austin TX, that hangs out at the La Vaca Lounge in Downtown Austin. They were probably excited during the WS!!!

[mike o]

clearman,
we took over the champions bar @boston marriot. next best thing to being in philly. when they won, the place went crazy !

[Alex F.]

Mike--agree that the Depot is a haven of douchebaggery, but then again that's pretty much true of 99% of the bars in Boston. Never been to An Tua Nua for a Birds game but I've been there randomly a couple times and it definitely isn't immune to the d-bag plague.

[enrico]

The first line of the post (above the picture) is: This Eagles fan report comes to us from James Conroy.

So, no, I don't live in Boston.

[Sixers610]

Some of us Eagles fans watch the game at Champions at the Marriott in Boston.

[Ryan]

Going to BC now and facing the reality of spending the summer and possibly beyond working here, there is terrific news. Thanks for the update.

[Conroy]

Is Chamomilies trying to say I write like Enrico? I don't see it. I mean I didn't use the word schadenfreude once.

[B-rad]

Great fans at Tua's, highly recommended for anyone living in the area. I definitely miss hanging out there since I moved away from Boston. Here's a video of a few of us from last season, celebrating a TD against the smelliest of teams:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUMgU7kR8C8

[Joe]

The Town Tavern in New York City is absolutely packed with Eagles fans every week. I would estimate about 150 fans.

Woogies is another bar that is close to the Town tavern; however, this bar is a philly bar through and through. they have eagles/flyers/phillies/sixers fans for EVERY game.

[Lauren]

I moved to Boston in the beginning of the September, unfortunately missing the World Series champship which still gets me upset. Thank you very much for passing along this information. I will be there for this Sunday's game for sure.