A true World Cup tragedy

By Fintan O'Toole

Adrian Rogan was a big sports fan and in his pocket, when the hazy mist of gun smoke had cleared, they found a blood-soaked ticket for the following day's Ulster Championship game between Down and Armagh. He had gone, in June 1994, to the Heights Bar in the little village of Loughinisland, two miles outside Downpatrick, to watch Ireland take on Italy in their opening game of the World Cup in the Giants' Stadium in New York.

He had his back to the door, his eyes on the television watching the heroics of Ray Houghton and Paul McGrath, when two thugs from the UVF's East Belfast brigade walked in, one carrying an AK-47, the other a Czech-made rifle.

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© The Irish Times

from the same article.

Quote:

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Football actually isn't a matter of life and death. When it comes to taking the joy out of a World Cup, there is a world of difference between the bodies piled up in Loughinisland and the petulance of men behaving badly on Saipan. A farce may be less noble than a tragedy, but bitter laughter is a lot better than real tears.

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here here.