HOW WE BEGAN

We came together on May 19th of 2012 when West Ham was fighting to get back into the Premier league. Two friends (Richard and Wayne) decided to go to the Londoner in Addison to watch West Ham battle Blackpool to regain entry to the Premier League. To their surprise, about a dozen other Hammers fans decided to do the same. A few beers into the match and an East End lad named Phil approached Wayne and said, “You look like the kinda geezer who likes to organize stuff!” and the Dallas Hammers were born with Wayne gathering everyone's names and emails.

The next couple years we watched matches at a number of different watering holes including the Allen Wickers, The Vickery Park, The British Lion, and the Londoner. We had no Pub of our own so we became nomads for West Ham leaving our calling card wherever we fancied. We had a right ole laugh and made some good friends. One time we were watching at the Man City Pub in Frisco and the Satellite TV went out. That didn't stop us from having fun as we huddled around our cell phones (see photos below). Perfectly in time, on the count of three, we jumped up cheering and all the City fans went quiet! We hadn't scored a goal, but they weren't smart enough to get on their phones and figure it out. We had a lot of fun that day and made some new friends.

In 2015 we started off the season visiting other pubs and West Ham was doing great, beating all opposition and shocking the Top 4 clubs. Those early games we watched at Vickery Park (now closed) and the Londoner, Addison. Of course we out sung other supporters, and the owner of the Londoner jokingly told us we weren't allowed to sit at the table we sat at every week as we beat eveyone when we were there. It was a lucky table for certain, but we knew really needed a place to call home.

Phil (One of the original dirty dozen from 2012) suggested we try his local in The Colony (North Dallas Suburbs) and we landed at McSwiggan’s Irish Pub. It was obvious from the first morning, with the hospitality we were shown, that this was was now gonna be our HOME!!! Its a great pub with great staff and we love it there! The Irish Breakfast isn't really Irish but it's a huge helping and the place opens up early for us to watch matches... even for a 6AM kick off if we can get 10 to promise to get up and go there then McSwiggans opens for us! Thanks to the staff at McSwiggans (Kat, Lindsey, Denai, and a few others along the way) we are at our pub for just about every match. West Ham scores a goal, the bar staff ring the bell, and the pub goes wild!!! What more could a rowdy bunch of West Ham fans ask for except maybe a visit from West Ham players LOL?

We muster crowds of 20-30 at watch events and our largest to date was for the Europa Conference League Final 2023!! Over 80 fun loving and nervous West Ham fans crowded into McSwiggans. All singing all match long and celebrating the win all day!!! We pride ourselves on having a welcoming atmosphere at our watch parties and love to see new faces whether you are a new Dallas resident, new to West Ham, or visiting from London for a few days and need a place to watch our lads.

If you are a Dallas local or plan on visiting Dallas and watching a match with us at McSwiggans, please join our Facebook Group.

Hope to see you at McSwiggans's!!!

#CockneyCowboys