It was in March 2003 that John Dallat, the SDLP MLA for East Derry, brought up the issue of ‘God Save the Queen’ before Northern Ireland soccer matches. He said that the song was being exploited by bigots and that it was a deterrent for members of the Catholic community that wished to attend games. In two months’ time, it will be nine years since he raised an obvious and pressing issue, a timeframe in which nothing has changed regarding a song those involved in Northern Irish soccer believe is representative of their territory and people. Yet, it is against this background, that new manager Michael O’Neill has expressed his frustration and unhappiness about players declaring for the Republic.
“I have never hidden behind the fact that I think it is wrong,” O’Neill said at his first official press conference, only a minute later to dodge a question that is very much entwined with his grievance. “The situation around the anthem is not something I have given any consideration to,” he added. “That’s a decision for other people; my focus is on building a competitive and fully inclusive international team.” But there, in just a few words, he managed to talk out of both sides of his mouth simultaneously.
Being from Portadown, of course O’Neill understands the exclusion that exists in Northern Ireland soccer circles and exactly why some decent players, that he would have chosen, aren’t available to him. And of course he was always going to play the political game so early into his new job. But therein lies the rub. It’s about time the Irish Football Association and everyone connected with them stopped trying to play that political game and tried to develop something for all, and not just the some who choose to sing the British national anthem with interjections of ‘No Surrender’ in front of a Union Jack.
It has been James McClean’s form with Sunderland that has started this latest debate, as the winger from Derry played under-21 with Northern Ireland but more recently switched allegiances. But who could possibly blame him? Of course his move was about more than just a song but anyone who thinks it was to do with playing with a better team clearly hasn’t experienced life in nationalist estates. Instead his move was helped along because of an unwillingness to adapt and incorporate in Northern Irish soccer. Indeed if anything summed up that rigid stance, it was this misfiring paragraph printed in the
Belfast Telegraph.
“The campaign has made Windsor Park – in spite of its name, the history of Linfield as a Protestant-dominated club, the playing of God Save The Queen at internationals and the flag-bedecked Village area – a less-unwelcoming place for Catholics.” And there you have it. For all that the IFA have tried to do in terms of supporters’ associations and rhetoric, they are unwilling to move on the major issues. Instead, they’ve laid down new carpet without bothering to fix the leak in the roof.
Already, nationalists consider themselves to be Irish, not British, and the fact there are two teams on the island is, in terms of basic facts, because of a British presence here. So ask anyone on the Derry estates – where McClean and another Republic recruit Darron Gibson grew up – where they come from and it will become obvious why they have chosen the Republic of Ireland. Remember, these are players who grew up in a different era. Whatever about life away from sport, any nationalist kid who went to Windsor Park in the 1980s or ’90s will have decided there and then where their future’s lay courtesy of UDA flags, ‘The Billy Boys’ and even a refusal on one visit of the Republic of Ireland to play ‘Amhrann na bhFiann’ because it might upset the locals.
But how much have things changed? Of course there have been improvements and campaigns run by the IFA but just last year a game between supporters of the Republic and the North had to be called off because of security fears surrounded the latter group. A leaked email from a Police Service of Northern Ireland officer spoke of the “unfortunate anti-social/sectarian behaviour of a number of our fans at the Scotland game” which had taken place in Dublin last February. But actual incidents aside, there is a mindset amongst many in Northern Irish soccer that is equally troubling and stagnant.
Few seem to see that it is progressive that on an island of duel citizenship, players from Northern Ireland now have a choice. (And remember, this would have worked both ways only for the IFA to turn down an FAI proposal because they saw it purely as a numbers game rather than an acceptance of background and culture.) That members of the IFA want compensation for those who move shows up their draconian side. But nether cent nor penny seems to have dropped because not all that long ago a representative of the Northern Irish supporters’ association went on Ulster radio and talked about players who declare for "the other country" and when called up on his remarks refused to alter his wording.
Some may talk of bigotry in the GAA as a defence but that is a cultural organisation that has never claimed to represent both sides of a community, in the same way that Ulster-Scots events aren’t meant for all. And some may talk about the fact that the likes of McClean played underage with the North but ignore the fact that kids don’t always have a choice, travel is an issue, being recognised by a separate association is very difficult as a youth and there isn’t that same atmosphere of anger and unease at underage games as there is when Windsor Park internationals are in full swing.
All in all, anyone in Northern Irish soccer who has a problem with players declaring for the Republic are making the same mistake as those that have gone before and making sure that another generation of nationalist children will do just the same and make the switch. If those running Northern Irish soccer can’t see why it’s happening, then they are blind to the problem of exclusion that has been created. And therefore, they can never properly address it and the cycle will happen all over again.
QuoteOriginally Posted by DannyInvincible
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