Sectarianism 'being driven out of international soccer'
Sectarian bigots are being driven out of Northern Ireland international soccer matches, a Catholic fan claimed today.
With IFA chiefs desperate to get both sides of the community behind the national team, followers who gathered in Manchester for the World Cup qualifier against England said they were winning the fight.
In a city centre nightclub hired out by 450 fans for a charity fund-raising event, members of a supporters’ club from Queen’s University in Belfast spoke of their loathing for the loyalist chanting that once dominated all games.
One of their number was a man from Co Down who only felt able to go to a match three years ago.
The 25-year-old, who claimed he would be labelled a token Catholic if he was identified, said: “There has been a sea change in attitudes among the fans.
“In any game some idiot will say something to offend you, but it’s your choice whether you let them.
“Three years ago I wouldn’t have gone to a Northern Ireland match because of the preconceptions. But if it was sectarian I would walk out. I wouldn’t stand for it because this trip has cost a lot of money – I’m heading out to Poland for the game on Wednesday as well.”
As he spoke the bar was emptying after a night when around £4,000 (€5,800) had been raised by cancer charities in Manchester and Belfast.
For hours fans had drunk and sung without a single rendition of The Sash or any anti-IRA chants so long associated with elements of the Northern Ireland faithful.
At the end of the night a cluster gave a rendition of God Save The Queen. The Catholic fan insisted this didn’t bother him.
“I might feel an affinity towards the Republic (of Ireland) but the fact is I was born in Northern Ireland and grew up in Northern Ireland,” he added.
“You might agree with a united Ireland and if we ever get there we will see about it then. But apart from casting my vote at the ballot box there’s not a lot I can do about it, so right now I’ll support my football team because that’s all it is, a football team.”
According to Alan Roulston, chairman of the Queen’s University club, the sectarian atmosphere during home games at Windsor Park in Belfast, has been diminishing over the last four years.
The accountancy undergraduate praised the IFA’s Football for All campaign as a major reason for the improvements.
“There’s still some bigots and chanting, but nothing in the ground,” he said.
“There are hangers-on, but if you go to an away game like Poland you will hear nothing. The IFA and fans have admitted there are those who are sectarian but we’re trying to change that, we’re trying to educate them.
“It’s not about telling them to clear off, just that we don’t want to be like that.”
