Ireland is an ancient and mystical land, filled with historical and near magical structures. These manmade offerings to the gods act as a conduit between this world and the next, between man and the ethereal. There is one such structure that has stood as a totem for generations of Irish people. A sacred place where pilgrims from every corner of the country come to worship in a ritual as old as time itself....well.... as far back as 1996 at least.

No we’re not talking about Newgrange but somewhere altogether more symbolic and magnetic. 

Yes we are of course talking about Copper Face Jacks. *Cue angelic chorus*

Coppers turns 20 this year so we thought we’d pay homage to the 'The Dance Floor of Dream', 'The Sultans of Scoring’, ‘The Cathedral of Copping Off’.

Here are the 5 people you’ll meet at Coppers

1 - The Veteran

Declan has been coming since the first year of engineering in Kevin St. He knows the lads on the door and hasn’t had to queue since Kerry beat Donegal in the All Ireland in 2014.

Declan met 4 of his last 5 girlfriends there and broke up with 3 of them on the dance floor. He knows exactly what the DJ is going to play when he’s going to play it and he can spot the difference between a guard, a teacher and a nurse just by looking at their shoes. Declan wants to call his first born Copper.

2 - The Rookie

Sinead has just got a job with AIB HQ and is getting to grips with life in Dublin with her first trip to Coppers with the girls. They get the timing all wrong and turn up too early. She can’t make any sense of the layout and gets lost twice coming back from the toilet.

She asks the DJ if he’s going to play anything from The Dirty Dancing soundtrack. He smiles kindly and says he ‘just might’. She can’t get over how friendly all the lads are here and ends up kissing this lovely guy from Kenmare. He even asked for her number and said he’d definitely give her a text tomorrow. She believes him.

3 - The Pack

The boys go to Coppers in a group. They call themselves The Wolfpack because The Hangover is "the funniest sh** they’ve ever seen". There has to be a minimum of 3 in The Wolfpack and no more than 6.

They will queue in groups of 2 and will immediately start to scan the crowd for any potential ‘prey’. Seamus has a strict 'no teachers' rule after he had his heart "fecked into a ditch" by one last year. Gary isn’t fussy but plans on marrying a nurse one day. His mammy is a Nurse.

The rules of the pack:

• Nobody is ever left standing alone
• If one of the pack has been chatting to a girl for more than 5 minutes she’s off limits for the night.
• If one of the lads gets kicked out they all leave with him.
• Nobody is to wear the same chequered shirt
• You have to be free to act as a wingman at any time unless you’re scoring.

4 - The Tourist

Carlene is over from the states on a college exchange out in UCD. She has asked her parents if she can stay for the rest of the semester. She has told them she’s learning so much about their ancestral culture and history and wants to take even more of it in.

Carlene wants to stay longer because Coppers is “like the most awesome club like ever!". Irish guys are way more fun than the guys back in Oregon and she just loves their super cute accent. She goes at least twice a week, thinks Riverdance is the National anthem and is going to use her business degree to open one in her hometown.

5 - The Bouncer

Ted has been bouncing the door of Coppers for 11 years. He’s seen it all and can spot an eejit from 25 yards. He’ll have the banter but there’s no messin’ on Ted’s watch. He goes to the gym 9 times a week and has to have his white shirts especially tailored to manage his neck. He knows the Dublin footballers and they’ll always sort him out with an All Ireland ticket. They’re sound lads. He likes it when the girls flirt with him but he has a strict ‘no pulling the punters’ rule. When Ted stops you and glares into your eyes it feels like he’s reaching into your soul. A nod from Ted has reduced grown men to tears. 

Happy Birthday Coppers - it’s been, ehhhh, eventful.

If you want to be in with a chance to win one of three Coppers Gold Cards - simply click on the picture below and you can enter on our FaceBook page.