(http://www.thedetail.tv/system/photos/images/153/article/153.jpg?1301075084)
I can vividly remember this when it happened. Like the people in Loughinisland I was sitting in my local having pints and watching Houghton score that goal. At the time we were in a complete lock down in Cross as the barracks was being renovated due to the repeated damage it had suffered from a campaign of barrack buster bombs and there was a ring of steel around the town. As I live a few miles outside the town I had to endure the constant searching of the car etc. The pub were in was actually effectively under armed guard as there was a company of Scots Guards buried in holes around the main road, including my back garden and there was one actually 10 yards from the front door of the pub. When Houghton scored we all were well pissed and start goading them and doing a congo around them but they actually were cheering Ireland on and were delighted as England were at the WC that year and Scotland were!!
As we drank reports started filtering through on the grapevine that something had happened. There was a deathly feeling in the pub as in many ways it could just as easily have been us. Were the pub was located, given what was known, even at that stage, of suspected collusion, to us we could just have as easily been the target. It still makes me shiver when I think of it.
Never forget...RIP Adrian Rogan, Malcolm Jenkinson, Barney Greene, Daniel McCreanor, Patrick O'Hare and Eamon Byrne.
Well said, and RIP to the victims.
Good post bc.
Good post.
2 years ago on this day the Irish soccer team wore black armbands as a mark of respect to the victims with the support of the FAI & UEFA.
(http://cdn4.independent.ie/migration_catalog/article25316411.ece/ede5d/ALTERNATES/h342/ireland-team)
One of the survivors was on Good Morning Ulster this morning:
Fast forward to 1:38:30 at the following link to hear him being interviewed.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0460vy2
He reads a bit from his diary at the end. Very poignant.
RIP
Fortunately this is less likely to happen here these days.
Elsewhere evil people have the same idea
http://www.36ng.com.ng/news/boko-haram-militants-attack-football-viewing-center-during-brazil-vs-mexico-soccer-match-in-yobe/
20 years ago? Time really is moving along at a quick pace.
I remember this day, as if it was only a few years ago. It was one of the few times that the troubles truly terrified me. Not that I am in anyway a brave lad or such, but that we had become so used to seeing attacks and murders on the television on a daily occurance. This one really became etched in my mind.
A truly dark day in our troubled history.
RIP.
We were just talking about this earlier, hard to believe it is twenty years ago. Like everyone else I was at the pub watching the Ireland beat the Italians, the joy quickly turned to horror when the news came through about the events in Loughinisland.
Heartbreaking story on the BBC website http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-27899485
Yet another landmark. Thankfully things like this don't happen anymore. RIP
ESPN 30 for 30 on it.
http://youtu.be/2lnWWQaHeeg (http://youtu.be/2lnWWQaHeeg)
Very sad viewing there. Hard to believe its 20 years ago. RIP
Remember it vividly,took the shine off the victory.Also remember Down beating Monaghan in Armagh next day,in front of a very sombre crowd almost in complete silence.
Hard to think the ceasefires were only a few months away.Remember another atrocity shortly before when loyalists shot an 18 year old catholic schoolboy in an amusement arcade in Armagh city.Desperate times
Quote from: T Fearon link.msg1365368#msg1365368 date=1403120226
Remember it vividly,took the shine off the victory.Also remember Down beating Monaghan in Armagh next day,in front of a very sombre crowd almost in complete silence.
Hard to think the ceasefires were only a few months away.Remember another atrocity shortly before when loyalists shot an 18 year old catholic schoolboy in an amusement arcade in Armagh city.Desperate times
There was an anniversary match for Gavin McShane in Keady a couple of weeks ago.
Good post BC. I was in the throes of A Levels at the time and remember being in my granny's house watching the match when the news came through. Remember watching the Mexico match the following week in Ballycastle with all my class after the exams finished and someone mentioning that it could have been any pub.
Quote from: T Fearon on June 18, 2014, 08:37:06 PM
Remember it vividly,took the shine off the victory.Also remember Down beating Monaghan in Armagh next day,in front of a very sombre crowd almost in complete silence.
Hard to think the ceasefires were only a few months away.Remember another atrocity shortly before when loyalists shot an 18 year old catholic schoolboy in an amusement arcade in Armagh city.Desperate times
Yeah that was Gavin McShane, there was another young lad McArdle killed in that attack. The terrible irony of the tragedy there is that Gavin's mother was caught up in a bomb attack when she was pregnant with him and actually lost her eye. She survived that only to suffer the horrible murder of her son 18 years later. Too many tragic memories.
Quote from: brokencrossbar1 on June 18, 2014, 10:57:36 PM
Quote from: T Fearon on June 18, 2014, 08:37:06 PM
Remember it vividly,took the shine off the victory.Also remember Down beating Monaghan in Armagh next day,in front of a very sombre crowd almost in complete silence.
Hard to think the ceasefires were only a few months away.Remember another atrocity shortly before when loyalists shot an 18 year old catholic schoolboy in an amusement arcade in Armagh city.Desperate times
Yeah that was Gavin McShane, there was another young lad McArdle killed in that attack. The terrible irony of the tragedy there is that Gavin's mother was caught up in a bomb attack when she was pregnant with him and actually lost her eye. She survived that only to suffer the horrible murder of her son 18 years later. Too many tragic memories.
The Step Inn bomb. An interesting piece on this in Lethal Allies outlining how the RUC had intelligence reports weeks before that this bomb was being planned at the home of an RUC reservist, with the intention of being sent to Castleblaney before a change of plan directed it to the Step Inn. Despite the RUC Special Branch knowing the names of most, if not all of the bombers (as a result of intelligence and surveillance in the weeks leading up to and after the bomb, but surveillance conveniently lifted while the bomb was being transported), the RUC told the DPP that they had no suspects and to this day, nobody has been charged. This bomb came just months after the bombings of Kay's Tavern in Dundalk and Donnelly's Bar in South Armagh, both of which were carried out with the involvement of serving RUC officers. Another gun and bomb two months before the one at the Step Inn, took place at the Rock Bar. This shooting/bombing was carried out exclusively by (four) serving RUC officers. One of these was RUC constable Ian Mitchell. This same man, two months after attacking the Rock Bar, was taking a witness statement from the father of one of Step Inn victims. Obscene.
I was a very young lad at that Down game the day after the Loughinisland killings. I just remember the atmosphere at the game being very subdued. Most people at the match were standing in huddles discussing the previous nights events. It was a strange experience. Would I be right in saying that Loughinisland's Gary Mason played that day?
my mothers home parish is Loughinisand, one of her cousins was murdered that night, Frosty Rogan. My aunt lived in oz for a few years and married a guy from New Zealand, they moved back home in the early 90s and her husband got a job working with Frosty and they became close mates, what a welcome to the north, having a mate murdered by the uvf.
Quote from: DownFanatic on June 19, 2014, 12:11:22 AM
I was a very young lad at that Down game the day after the Loughinisland killings. I just remember the atmosphere at the game being very subdued. Most people at the match were standing in huddles discussing the previous nights events. It was a strange experience. Would I be right in saying that Loughinisland's Gary Mason played that day?
Yeah and I think he kicked a few frees too. You are right it was very obviously subdued and from what I remember theren't wasn't a big crowd on the then large gravel banks in the Athletic Grounds.
The other thing I remember was the very overcast weather - the gloom and haze of the sky fitted the mood of the day all too perfectly.
Quote from: Aristo 60 on June 20, 2014, 01:33:37 PM
Quote from: DownFanatic on June 19, 2014, 12:11:22 AM
I was a very young lad at that Down game the day after the Loughinisland killings. I just remember the atmosphere at the game being very subdued. Most people at the match were standing in huddles discussing the previous nights events. It was a strange experience. Would I be right in saying that Loughinisland's Gary Mason played that day?
Yeah and I think he kicked a few frees too. You are right it was very obviously subdued and from what I remember theren't wasn't a big crowd on the then large gravel banks in the Athletic Grounds.
The other thing I remember was the very overcast weather - the gloom and haze of the sky fitted the mood of the day all too perfectly.
My memory of the Athletic Grounds that day was clearly hearing the calls of the players across the field to each other as the crowd watched the game almost in total silence.
Desperate times indeed.About a week later I was driving past Daveys (just over the border on Newry Omeath Road) another World Cup game was on and there were two armed Gardai standing outside the front door of the pub,obviously on guard
Quote from: T Fearon on June 22, 2014, 11:02:17 PM
Desperate times indeed.About a week later I was driving past Daveys (just over the border on Newry Omeath Road) another World Cup game was on and there were two armed Gardai standing outside the front door of the pub,obviously on guard
I appreciate that post because it serves as a reminder of the insane life that living in NI was then. The barricades, constant checkpoints, the black wreaths being sent to establishments during another spate of tit-for-tat killings, roads closed, things that are forgotten now. I can still see the hut that everyone had to go through when travelling to Belfast International Airport, the queue of traffic, and why did it always seem to be raining back then?
That is why, when in the company of family/friends talking about the childhood they had and that their parents never did x, y and z with them, I always point out the situation that this country was in. Our parents were worried about keeping us alive, never mind visiting France or even the new McDonalds in Belfast. It was madness, spelt out all too tragically in Loughinisland that night. A dismally new low, regardless of which side it happened to.
Never Forget.
The tragedy was that we thought that life was normal
Quote from: T Fearon on June 22, 2014, 11:37:38 PM
The tragedy was that we thought that life was normal
That's the sad truth. Looking back to my childhood in the 80s, it was perfectly normal to see helicopters landing outside your house and seeing British soldiers hiding in ditches, with a gun pointed in your direction.
Madness looking back now.
Quote from: T Fearon on June 22, 2014, 11:37:38 PM
The tragedy was that we thought that life was normal
You are so right. I still drive past the Ardmore Police Station in Newry, and am subconsciously expecting a queue of traffic/checkpoint - strange feeling.
And the circling red light at night time and you wondered as you approached it in your car was it the police or the UDR!
Quote from: Gaffer on June 23, 2014, 12:06:14 AM
And the circling red light at night time and you wondered as you approached it in your car was it the police or the UDR!
Or the Paras on the last few weeks of a Tour, bastards >:(
Or worse again the Marines a few hours after an attack on Cross barracks
Quote from: brokencrossbar1 on June 23, 2014, 06:31:58 PM
Quote from: Gaffer on June 23, 2014, 12:06:14 AM
And the circling red light at night time and you wondered as you approached it in your car was it the police or the UDR!
Or the Paras on the last few weeks of a Tour, b**tards >:(
Yeah and the Scottish regiments were the same bastards before their tour of duty ended
The ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "Ceasefire Massacre" premieres in the UK on Friday at 9pm on BTSport 2
The name Loughinisland still stands out. I was in Down a while ago driving around and saw a sign for the village and was thinking about what happened. Awful . At least things are 'normal' now.
I have to say as a 23 year old it's hard to believe what N.Ireland used to be like, especially reading the comments here, I went to university over in England and was even friends with a girl whos father is a British soldier, either its a completely different world over there or times have seriously changed.
Just reading some of the stuff on here and it's easy to see why there are different attitudes to some issues between north & south. I can honestly say that very few people living in the south have ever countenanced the type of stuff described on here, hats off to those who have and who have lived through it
Quote from: Minder on July 29, 2014, 08:36:00 PM
The ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "Ceasefire Massacre" premieres in the UK on Friday at 9pm on BTSport 2
watch it here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2mA_TsBmjk
Thanks for putting that up Gabriel, I remember that night very well, I was at the Down game the next day and met a few boys from loughinisland who I went to school with. The football was an afterthought to be honest. I was 19 at the time and a 19 year old in the north now have more or less grew up in a different country thankfully.
21 years now.
R.I.P.