Old Football Shirt & Good Memories

My mother dropped by the house the last day and brought with her this old Rep. of Ireland football jersey of mine which she found. The shirt dates back to 1996-98 and I remember it well for a number of reasons. Firstly it was the first Irish football shirt I ever owned. I bought it in Roaches Stores (now Debenhams) when I was 13 or so. I wore it during my first ever Senior International Football match, a Rep. of Ireland vs Mexico friendly in Lansdowne Road.  .

Funny thing is, although this was their away strip, Ireland wore it that day as the green Mexico shirt was too similar to our own. It was such a nice surprise to see the team unexpectedly wearing the same shirt as me, especially given the rest of the crowd were predominately wearing the more popular green replica home kit! I got a huge kick out of being one of the few in the crowd donning the bright orange (rather unpopular) shirt. I know all these little details are probably pretty boring to all of ye...it's kind of funny the memories one holds on to. I guess this match and shirt are especially important to me because this was the first and only game my father and I ever attended together. I'm getting a bit of deja vu here so forgive me if I've mentioned all of this before. The hat below is one of my favorite possessions. It's been years since it fit, but it is a hat my father bought me all those years ago at the aforementioned match...Any one have any similar sporting/family bonding memories?