I was only able to attend one of the games at Euro 2016: the
one in Paris against Germany on June 21st. I
arrived in Paris the evening before and left Paris late morning on the
day following the match. This allowed me ample opportunity to witness first
hand how the image and reputation of Northern Ireland had been
transformed. Within a two week period we had gone from being perceived a nation
of crazy, narrow-minded intolerant bigots to being perceived as the most spirited
and jovial people in the world.
It all began prior to Northern
Ireland’s first game against Poland in Nice on June 12th.
Northern Ireland
and Polish fans celebrated together in a demonstrative display of human bonding
and sharing of joy. Okay Poland
won that game 1-0 but the really big result was a tremendous victory for both
sets of fans and the game of football. And if there is one international sport
that needed such a victory it is this one.
A great start and it gets better. There was a tragic moment
however as a young Northern
Ireland fan, Darren Rodgers, sadly lost his
life as a result of an accident following the game. Northern Ireland fans demonstrated
their grief by laying football shirts, scarves and flags at the spot where he
fell to his death. Polish fans and other fans also contributed to this
memorial: and this included Republic
of Ireland fans that were
in Nice at the time. Images that went out around the world showed a large Irish
tricolour in the middle of the various football related displays of tribute.
Darren Rodgers was 24
years old and Northern Ireland
fans planned to mark the young man’s death with a round of applause on the 24th
minute of their next game in Lyon on June 16th.
In advance of this however, on June 13th the Republic
of Ireland had a game against Sweden. On the
24th minute the Republic’s fans also paid a tribute to the young man
from Ballymena by singing “Stand Up For The Ulstermen”
To people from outside Ireland
and the British Isles it is difficult to
explain the significance of this. It’s not that long ago that there were
serious tensions between Northern
Ireland and the Republic as a result of the
‘Troubles’. This tension between the two national football teams has also
recently been exasperated through disputes over players born in Northern Ireland
who opted to play for the Republic instead.
However, following personal experiences earlier this year, performing as a folk
musician at events in Dublin Convention Centre and Croke Park, I had predicted
that the interactions between the opposing Irish fans in France would
all be positive and had great potential to transform previously
entrenched mindsets. Yes, this is the year of centenary commemorations for the
1916 Easter Rising. Perhaps what I
didn’t quite predict was the scale of significance of this.
As I write on June 28th, , four days after the EU
Referendum result, Northern Ireland is still being bombarded with tales of pending doom. During this referendum debate and ever since,
the government campaigners have threatened that there could be damage to the Peace Process and there could be
installation of a permanent hard border across the middle of Ireland to divide the EU from the UK. Well I’m
sorry politicos; media pundits, internet warriors and others who seek and thrive on division:
in Stade de France on June 13th there was a pivotal moment that
changes everything. We, the people from the north and south of the island
of Ireland;
unionists and nationalists, Protestant people and Catholic people: we all won a
tremendous victory. The war is now officially over and everyone should try to
get used to it.
The positivity for Northern
Ireland continued in Lyon with a game against Ukraine
on June 16th. The fans once again mingled in a jovial spirit with
fans from Ukraine
and we even won the game 2-0. There was another tragic death at this game as 62
year old Robert Rainey from Belfast died of a heart attack. Again, at
following games both sets of Irish fans paid their respects to the passing of
their two fellow football fans.
By the time I arrived in Paris
for the game with Germany it
was common knowledge that fans from Ireland, north and south, were the
best fans in the world. I may be biased but I do think Northern Ireland
fans slightly won the honours due to incessant singing, even when losing the
game: and one particular song about Will Grigg that went viral. The lyrics
claimed that “Will Grigg’s on fire, your defence is terrified”. The fact that
Will Grigg was just a Northern Ireland
substitute who hadn’t kicked a ball in France, and was unlikely to, seemed
to be understood by Parisians who didn’t even follow football. It gave them
insight into not only our spirit but our sense of humour and they liked it.
When fans took to the streets of Paris
mid-morning, in advance of the 6pm kick off, we received constant positive
response from the people of Paris.
They were full of smiles and constantly stopped to initiate conversations with
us: they honked their horns and waved at us out of car and van windows. I was
shocked. I had previously visited Paris and
other parts of France
on numerous occasions and constantly experienced very warm, friendly and
helpful people. But this really was something else and at a whole other level.
A few of the French people, who didn’t follow football,
didn’t seem to realise that there were two Irish teams in the competition: and
some of those who did know this, still went out of their way to ask us why this
was and what exactly the difference was between the two. It was very challenging to try to explain
this to Parisians: especially in a fusion of broken English, broken French and
Ulster Scots. I doubt that I or any of my friends were able to make them any
the wiser. They didn’t seem to care and we really didn’t care that much either.
From their reaction it was clear that we had brought joy into their day and of
course likewise, they brought great joy to us.
In mid-afternoon a dozen of us were slowly making our way on
foot to the stadium, a few miles away, when we came across a parade of several
thousand German fans also making their way to the match. There was a whole
solid army of them in team colours and waving German flags. Instinctively we
made a b-line for them and joined in. The crack was absolutely brilliant. We
tried to sing their songs and they sang ours. We all shook hands and had
friendly banter. At one point we went though a very long tunnel and the
thousands of Germans went for it and drowned us out. When we looked behind all
we could see was wall to wall people, as far as the eye could see, and they
were making some noise. It was one of
those memorable, magical moments.
The German Army
In the stadium we were mostly segregated and as usual the Northern Ireland
fans dominated the singing: before, during and after the game. Thousands of Northern Ireland
fans remained in the ground for at least 30 minutes after the game jumping up
and down, singing and chanting in jubilant celebration of the fact that the
world champions had only managed to beat us one nil. We were also making sure we got our money's worth.
The Green and White Army
Later that evening and into the wee small hours we continued
to celebrate Northern
Ireland’s tremendous victory with Germans, French, Southern Irish, Austrians and even
Americans. They were all happy to share in our celebration especially as it
seemed the rest of the world now knew the lyrics and dance routine associated
with “Will Grigg’s on Fire”.
We Northern Ireland fans discussed
this the next day amongst ourselves. We were overwhelmed as we had just been out
doing what we do best: having a bit of crack. But for some inexplicable reason the whole of Paris seemed to be
treating us like super stars. They continuously approached us to chat and get
selfies taken with us. Personally, I
think they liked the idea that we were all seemed a wee bit daft.
Just realised I haven’t, as yet, mentioned the players and
the manager of Northern
Ireland’s team. They were absolutely
amazing: their spirit on the field easily matching the spirit of the fans off
the field. Last night thousands of fans welcomed them home in a 'tremendous victory’
celebration in Belfast.
We have now been knocked out of the
tournament, by Wales,
but last night it looked as if we had actually won the tournament.
I was particularly pleased that we had had such a positive
interaction with the Germans as I was conscious of the fact that I was heading
off to Germany
just over a week later. I will be playing with my band at a folk festival in Dortmund [UZ- Pressefest
] from July 1st to July 3rd. That’s right I will be
performing on stage in Germany
exactly one hundred years, to the very day, after British and German soldiers
slaughtered each other at the Battle of the Somme in 1916.
Members of my family fought in both world wars against the
Germans. So this upcoming event just
might be another one of those pivotal moments. 2016 is transpiring to be quite the year.
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