Play on Windsor Park sectarianism heading to Dublin

[thejuice]

.....and when Ireland scored the 4th goal.......

wasnt it 1-1??? or am I thinking of a different game

[Chrisowc]

.....and when Ireland scored the 4th goal.......

wasnt it 1-1??? or am I thinking of a different game

Yes it was 1-1.  It was 0-4 a year later for Euro 96 qualifier.

[his holiness nb]

The play does sound interesting and the posts of stew and illdecide seem to indicate that while techically a work of fiction, a lot of whats in the play actually did take place. Would this is a correct assumption Stew, Illdecide?

I'm not sure about the play and it's contents but that game in Windsor Park that cold night was unbelievable, seriously it was scary shit. I'll never forget the chants of "f**k the ceasefire" and "shoot the Fenian Bastards" and when Ireland scored the 4th goal this big fat **** got up of his seat and said to me as we got up of our seats to let him out "how can you sit there and watch that shite" of course i was trying to hide my grin saying "I know its crop this".

As i stated earlier when the ROI fans were escorted from the stands by the RUC there were 20-30 Norn Iron fans left to go after them even though the cops had them. If I'd have had a camcorder that night to record those incidents it would have hit CNN although i doubt UTV and BBC would have shown it they would rather show someone shoving an opponent on a GAA field

you were there right enough!

There have been several eye witness accounts over the years to suggest this sort of thing did take place that night.
I have no idea as I wasnt there, nor have I ever been to windsor park.
Are the OWC boys denying this sort of thing happened that night?

I know the play is based on fiction, but I am talking about eye witness accounts here.
Also it seem Illdecide mixed up his games, which to me suggests this wasnt the only game in which this sort of carry on took place.
A great shame but given all we have heard about the IFAs efforts since I'm sure this wouldnt happen if the teams met now. Or would they?

[nifan]

Are the OWC boys denying this sort of thing happened that night?

No.

I wasnt there that night but i had heard enough about it to know it wasnt a good atmosphere. Many NI fans were not happy with the atmosphere either.

I would hope there would not be a similar incident today, but unfortunately some element would certainly be involved in some of that carry on. Additionally there would be plenty willing to come along to a game simply to indulge in this shite.

[his holiness nb]

Additionally there would be plenty willing to come along to a game simply to indulge in this shite.

From my personal experience of some Eircom League fans, I'd have to agree.
I'd like to think I am wrong here.

[Chrisowc]

I haven't seen any Northern Ireland fans deny what happened on this forum.

There have been several 'eye witness' accounts that should be taken at face value until evidence appears to the contrary.  Like getting the score wrong for example.  I have also read an eye witness account from a southern Republic fan, who has said the atmosphere has been exaggerated somewhat.  I have personally met this guy and know he is a genuine football fan.

Northern Ireland is a very different place to what it was in November 1993 and what went on that night should be put in some context.  In no way am I condoning anyone's behaviour but tensions were extremely high at that time.  Couple that with the fact that a win for Northern Ireland would prevent their nearest neighbours/rivals a place in the World Cup finals then the atmosphere was always going to be that more charged.

The game that illdecide refers happened a year later (again I was there) and the atmosphere was better.  Maybe the game being over by half-time had something to do with that?

The two teams have met twice since then.  Both times in Dublin.  Not being at either of those games I wouldn't comment on the atmosphere.

As for now?  I'm not sure what would happen.  To be honest I'm glad they won't be meeting in the foreseeable future as there will always be idiot supporters of both teams with their own agenda.

As far as I know there hasn't been any major bother in the Setanta cup.

[his holiness nb]

I was pleasantly surprised to hear of feck all trouble in the setanta cup I must say.

Back to the play though, dissapointed to hear of the poor reviews as I would genuinely have been interested in seeing this should it be very good.

Then again its probably for the best, cant imagine having much luck dragging the pregnant missus to a show about soccer.

[illdecide]

.....and when Ireland scored the 4th goal.......

wasnt it 1-1??? or am I thinking of a different game

Yes it was 1-1.  It was 0-4 a year later for Euro 96 qualifier.

Well sorry about that

It was the 4-0 game at Windsor i was rambling about and not the 1-1 game so sorry if i got my wires crossed on the specific game.

BTW are you sure the 4-0 game was not first and then the 1-1 game??? not sure, just asking. Fecking long time ago

[nifan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_1996_qualifying

The 4-0 game was for euro 96.

Very gutting to get hammered at home in such tight group.

[Chrisowc]

The 4-0 was definately for Euro 96.

Something has just occurred to me illdecide.  If the atmosphere in the 1-1 was so bad would it not have put you off going a year later?

[Chrisowc]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_1996_qualifying


Very gutting to get hammered at home in such tight group.

Indeed!  The 2-1 home defeat to Latvia pains me most.

[stew]

I haven't seen any Northern Ireland fans deny what happened on this forum.

There have been several 'eye witness' accounts that should be taken at face value until evidence appears to the contrary.  Like getting the score wrong for example.  I have also read an eye witness account from a southern Republic fan, who has said the atmosphere has been exaggerated somewhat.  I have personally met this guy and know he is a genuine football fan.

Northern Ireland is a very different place to what it was in November 1993 and what went on that night should be put in some context.  In no way am I condoning anyone's behaviour but tensions were extremely high at that time.  Couple that with the fact that a win for Northern Ireland would prevent their nearest neighbours/rivals a place in the World Cup finals then the atmosphere was always going to be that more charged.

The game that illdecide refers happened a year later (again I was there) and the atmosphere was better.  Maybe the game being over by half-time had something to do with that?

The two teams have met twice since then.  Both times in Dublin.  Not being at either of those games I wouldn't comment on the atmosphere.

As for now?  I'm not sure what would happen.  To be honest I'm glad they won't be meeting in the foreseeable future as there will always be idiot supporters of both teams with their own agenda.

As far as I know there hasn't been any major bother in the Setanta cup.

The man was at a diferent game. I was referring to the game that ended up a draw, the republic got the draw they needed to go to the world cup. Illdecides games was a euro qualifier which i was not at. It is scary to think that he and his wife seemed to think that the atmosphere at that game was the worst, i cannot see how that is possible given what i experienced.
I met up with two norn iron heads after the game, before we said anything they apologized up and down and were absolutely ashamed of what happened and I was angry, angry and full of resentment as one of the lads is a close mate and he had assured us everything would be fine, it was far from fine. I was badly rattled and had nothing but hate in my heart for norn iron for years.

Chicago changed that insofar as I saw that there were good people following them as well and so to me all this talk back and forth on here comes down to this. A visit to WP should let me know how far things have progressed and I look forward to finding out for myself. I hope that it is a good experience and i take heart from the fact that no matter how bad it could be it wont touch the game against the republic in what became Binghams last stand.

[Chrisowc]

I hope it is a good experience for you too Stew and I look forward to hearing how you get on.

[illdecide]

The 4-0 was definately for Euro 96.

Something has just occurred to me illdecide.  If the atmosphere in the 1-1 was so bad would it not have put you off going a year later?

It might have if i'd been at it. I was only at the 4-0 game because the chairman of Glenavon offered me 2 tickets for the game and i had never seen ROI in action b4 so decided to take him up on his offer.

[stew]

I hope it is a good experience for you too Stew and I look forward to hearing how you get on.

I am sure that if the experience is a good one, if not I am equally sure I will be labelled all sorts of nasty things Chris.