BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer

Paul and Cyndi Dawson of East Brunswick own Mulligan's Pub, Hoboken, which is known for its devotion to the sport of soccer and the World Cup. EAST BRUNSWICK - Though professional soccer has taken a back seat in America, to some it's still the top sport in the world.

An East Brunswick couple is using their own pub to get the word out about professional soccer and its international appeal.

Paul and Cyndi Dawson, East Brunswick residents for 10 years, run what some consider to be the preeminent soccer pub in the United States. Strolling into Mulligan's Pub in Hoboken, one would get the idea that it's soccer, and not baseball or football, that's tops here. For one thing, soccer jerseys will catch your eye on either side of the room.

"As soon as you walk in, you know what you're walking into," said Paul, a native of Dublin, Ireland, who carried his love of the sport from his native country through England and finally to the United States.

Paul and Cyndi opened the 1st Street pub in 2000, and Paul's love of soccer was the inspiration for the bar's theme. And in case anyone doubts his devotion, they can simply glance at one of the 14 pub televisions that are broadcasting the ongoing World Cup, an international soccer event that takes place every four years.

The pub uses five plasma sets and nine LCD systems to broadcast the games, which have packed the place with soccer fans of all backgrounds since the games began last week.

"It's like the U.N. in there. It's great. They all get along because they love the game. They'll all get on, and that's what it's all about," he said.

In fact, the pub has become a sort of unofficial World Cup headquarters for New Jersey, according to its owners.

"You couldn't get to the bar [Saturday] to watch the England game," Paul said of David Beckham's squad's 1-0 victory over Paraguay.

For Paul, it's been quite a journey to New Jersey. After growing up in Ireland, he moved to England, where he lived for five years and met his future wife. In fact, he and Cyndi met in the part of London that's home to his favorite soccer team, Chelsea Football Club. Paul was working in London; Cyndi was vacationing.

"I'm a fanatical fan of the Chelsea soccer club," he said. In fact, Paul and Cyndi, who married 15 years ago and made their home in East Brunswick, named their daughter Chelsea. She's now 10, a student at Lawrence Brook School, and of course, she plays soccer.

"East Brunswick is fast becoming a multi-ethnic community with diverse cultures, for many of whom soccer is actually a way of life," Cyndi said. She noted that many local residents go to her pub "to have an Irish breakfast and watch the games."

The pub has been getting attention

too, since it's a sponsor of the New Jersey Red Bulls and has been featured on television and in print.

"It is known as far as England and Ireland, and has been visited by many a famous personality," Cyndi said.

Paul, who predicts Brazil to be the World Cup winner, said he's thrilled to see that soccer is so big among children in towns like East Brunswick.

"I think it's great, and especially for me because I'm used to it. Now my wife got into it and my daughter got into it. The name soccer is huge in East Brunswick," he said.

Of course, one place the word soccer isn't huge is outside the U.S. In most other countries, it's known as football. And though American soccer has a long way to go before supplanting American football as the nation's most popular sport, Paul predicts a renaissance.

Paul noted that a team like the New Jersey Red Bulls has the funds to lure international soccer superstars, and that's what is needed to revitalize the sport in America.

"It's gonna come back big time," he said.