This is a presentation on the theme of identity in Irish football and the identification that Irish football fans have with clubs across the water in England and Scotland (to a lesser extent within this presentation).

1. Football allegiances and tribal
identity across the water
FOOTBALL, FICTION & CULTURE CONFERENCE 2014
Paul Breen, author and university lecturer

2. About my presentation
 3 areas of interest –
 (a) Inter-national aspect – identities and affiliations
with the two Irish national football teams.
 (b) Domestic aspect – the long divorce of Ireland’s
two football associations – IFA and FAI
 (c) Phenomenon of football fans living in Ireland &
following the most successful British clubs.
 Not so much fiction examined as culture & identity,
and a set of academic articles and books.

3. About me
 Grew up in Northern Ireland near the border
 In childhood followed Liverpool, Celtic, and
both Irish teams – then in late 80s & 90s
became part of Jackie’s Army & lost all
interest in the North
 Did teaching degree in Huddersfield in late
90s, taught English as a Foreign Language
overseas & came back to England to live and
work in Greenwich
 Started following Charlton & wrote a book
about it
 Research interests – teacher identity

4. 2 teams – 2 cultures
 Absence of a middle ground and failure to create a
third space (Rapp & Rhomberg, 2012) which in
practice may be impossible anyway.
 Clash of identities expressed in symbols – flags,
emblems, cultural activities, and even sporting
affiliations (Hassan, 2002).
 Northern Ireland football team represents a
working class Protestant epistemology – ‘our wee
country’ – and what Bairner (2008) has described as
a confused and frustrated sense of post-industrial
masculinity.

5. A cold house for Catholics

6. Football at a national level
 Irish Football Association (IFA) based in the North is the
original association on the island, formed in 1882.
 It was the FAI which instigated the split in 1921.
 Between 1921 and 1950 there were two teams known as
Ireland.
 Northern Ireland more successful at start, playing in the
1958, 1982, & 1986 World Cup finals.
 Republic of Ireland emerged in the late 1980s thanks to
Jack Charlton & his 2nd generation players.

7. A PRISM FOR IDENTITY
 Hassan (2002) – The Republic of Ireland
team has become, for nationalists, “a
forum for the projection of Irish national
identity” whilst the Northern Ireland
team has been symbolically, and almost
exclusively, claimed by the unionist
community.
 Northern Ireland team has often been
used as a vehicle for “the denigration of
Irish nationalism and Catholicism more
specifically, through regular and
sustained vocal opposition to the
minority tradition” (ibid).

8. The question of a United
Ireland team

9. Contrasting perceptions
 Nationalists see this as much more than part of what
Hassan (2002) refers to as “a romantic desire for a
united Ireland” – belief that Ireland as a united
country will be more successful culturally.
 Unionists see the national football team as theirs in the
same way as they see the State as being theirs, and
accordingly shaped as they see fit – hence there is no
debate in unionism about choice of flags, anthems and
symbols, though there needs to be (Hassan, 2002).

10. History behind this
 Attitudes have hardened since the 1920s and
especially since the 1970s on the Unionist side in
terms of separateness of their identity.
 Semantics of the term ‘united Ireland’ to working
class Protestant Northern Ireland fan base.
 1970s & the case of case of Derek Dougan & the
Shamrock Rovers XI playing Brazil.
 Bad feelings in the 1980s – Charlton v Bingham
 Taoiseach Edna Kenny suggesting a united
Ireland team played charity games.

11. Political symbols on the
terraces
 The Irish flag – green, white &
orange and its associations in the
minds of the unionist community
 The chanting of sectarian slogans
and the singing of loyalist songs at
Northern Ireland football matches
& terrorist folkore on the terraces as
in Bairner (1999)
 Supporters’ tattoos – images tying
together loyalist paramilitaries and
N.I football team –at once a
celebration and a ”a cry for help or
recognition” (Bairner, 2008)

12. What it should be about

13. Recent developments
 FIFA 2010 ruling confirmed an
eligibility issue which had gone
back decades but was not
exploited for various reasons –
anyone born on the island of
Ireland could play for the
Republic.
 N. Ireland went to the Court of
Arbitration for Sport but lost the
case on grounds that legally all
citizens born in Ireland can have
Irish citizenship.
 Has involved players such as
James McClean, Darren Gibson,
and Marc Wilson.

14. Reasons for IFA grievance
 Many of these players have come up through the youth system
and been developed by that system.
 If they don’t want to play for their country then they shouldn’t
be allowed to play for anybody else’s.
 Northern Catholics are Irish by perception, rather than legality.
 Northern Ireland’s most successful periods have coincided with
strong Catholic representation.
 There is now a Catholic manager Michael O’Neill.
 Neil Lennon type of abuse no longer happens – warm Windsor
reception for likes of McGinn/McCourt.

15. Refusal to see the context
 Historic Unionist/loyalist failure to
understand why majority of Irish
nationalists and Catholics do not
identify with their ‘wee country’
(McGarry & O’Leary, 1995; Hassan,
2002; Bairner, 2008).
 A changing demographic &
pressing need to include Irishness
in the symbolism of the state
(Hughes, 2013).
 Death threats against Neil Lennon
& Celtic players in the early 2000s.

16. Critical examination of
identities
 Some fiction has touched
upon football and the
Unionist identity – Sam
Hanna Bell ‘The Hollow
Ball’ – 1961.
 Eoin Macnamee –
Resurrection Man (1994) –
and The Ultras (2004) look
at the roots of &
expression of violence in
the human psyche

17. Footballers’ perspectives
 Maybe some of the sores of the conflict
are too raw for fiction & this has led to
a greater output of poetry, crime
writing, and autobiography/biography
–even thriller comedy (Bateman).
 Important examples of ‘Northern’
football autobiographies are Derek
Dougan’s (1972) ‘The Sash he never wore’
and George Best’s two autobiographies
from 1991 and 2002.
 Dougan touches more on sectarianism
while Best makes some reference to his
media portrayal as the drunken
Irishman – echoes of Louis MacNeice
& immigrant experience.

18. Influence of domestic football
 Since 1921 there are two leagues in
Ireland – the League of Ireland and
the Irish League.
 Each league faces ongoing battles in
terms of economics & lack of support.
Low attendances compared to games
in Britain – relative to town & city
sizes – Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Derry.
 Irish League has a smaller
geographical area, and is mostly built
around clubs within 30 miles of
Belfast
 Recently participation has been more
geographically diverse

19. Lack of Catholic
involvement
 Two of the oldest and most successful clubs in
Ireland had a Belfast Catholic support base – Belfast
Celtic (1891-1949) and Cliftonville (1879-present)
 Derry City (1928–present) also played in Irish
League in 1971 & then withdrew, moving to the
League of Ireland in 1986.
 Donegal Celtic repeatedly refused entry to league.
 This has meant that the two largest areas of Catholic
population – Derry & West Belfast had no team in
the Irish League for most of the past 50 years.

20. The story of Belfast Celtic
• Most successful team alongside
Linfield –still even today more
trophies than Cliftonville.
 Catholic fan base but mixed team –
10 Protestants and a Jew urban
myth.
 Belfast Celtic players attacked by
Linfield supporters, in full view of
police at Windsor Park, on Boxing
Day 1948.
 They withdrew from the league &
this effectively alienated Catholic
support base.

21. Escape to England
 Logical for Catholics to follow English clubs but as political
underdogs why follow the mainstream in football as
opposed to everything else?
 Arsenal in the 70s & 80s big Irish contingent.
 Liverpool – following from both sides of divide.
 Scally (1998) – Manchester United as England’s Catholic
club – ethos inspired by Matt Busby
 United though also an Ulster Protestant’s club (Bairner,
2008) – the Tommy Doherty era of Jimmy Nicholl, Sammy
McIlroy, David McCreery, Tommy Jackson, and Norman
Whiteside.

22. References
Bairner, A. (1999) “Soccer, Masculinity, and Violence in Northern Ireland.
Between Hooliganism and Terrorism”, Men and Masculinities, 1 (3): 284-
301.
Bairner, A. (2008). the Ulster Boys : reflections on masculinity within
Northern Ireland’s Protestant community. Accessed at
ttp://hdl.handle.net/10086/16333
Bell, S. H. (1961/1990). The hollow ball. Blackstaff Press.
Best, G. (with R. Benson) (1991) The Good, the Bad and the Bubbly.
London: Pan Books.
Best, G. (with Roy Collins) (2002) Blessed. The Autobiography. London:
Ebury Press,.
Dougan, D. (1972) The Sash He Never Wore. London: Allison and Busby.

23. References
Hassan, D. (2002). A people apart: Soccer, identity and Irish nationalists in
Northern Ireland. Soccer and Society, 3(3), 65-83.
Hughes, J. (2013). ‘Is the Northern Ireland Peace Process Flagging?’ London
School of Economics blog. Accessed at:
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/archives/30225
McGarry, J., & O'Leary, B. (1995). Explaining Northern Ireland: Broken Images
(p. 206). Oxford: Blackwell.
McNamee, E. (1994/2012). Resurrection man. Faber & Faber.
Rapp, M., & Rhomberg, M. (2012). Seeking a Neutral Identity in Northern
Ireland's Political Wall Paintings. Peace Review, 24(4), 470-477.
Scally, J. (1998) Simply Red and Green. Manchester United and Ireland: A
story of a love affair. Edinburgh: Mainstream.