65 / 72
And to add to that list what about
international football at the National Football
Stadium at Windsor Park?
Since Michael O’Neill and the team headed
off to France via Austria and Slovakia having
ceremoniously dispatched Belarus here
SR 1E] &IPJEWX LEW FIIR HIZSMH SJ PMZI
MRXIVREXMSREP JSSXFEPP JSV
HE]W JER^SRIW
EVI ƤRI FYX XLI] HSRŭX FIEX XLI VIEP XLMRK
8LEXŭW HE]W SZIV E XLMVH SJ E ]IEV XLEX
we have been without a Lafferty goal or a
Jonny Evans interception.
Yes, since then we have experienced the
delights of France, enjoyed the accolades,
suffered excitement and despair, cheered,
grumped, sang Will Grigg’s On Fire–ed. In
other words, we have been football fans.
And yet for all the sun and blue skies of
Nice, for all the thunder and hailstorms
of Lyon, for all the history and grandeur
of Paris, football at home at the National
Football Stadium at Windsor Park, the return
of the wee team in green to where they
YRHSYFXIHP] FIPSRK MW E XVYP] WMKRMƤGERX
event.
The stadium is to all intents and purposes
completed. There are 18,500 seats on all
four sides of the ground. When was the last
time we saw that at a Belfast international?
We have corporate boxes, the lounges
named after international icons - Best,
&PERGLƥS[IV .IRRMRKW ERH &MRKLEQ ERH
the wonderful press gallery named after
another icon, Malcolm Brodie.
Success, as they say, breeds success
so tickets are at a premium. Children
throughout Northern Ireland, from
Castlederg to Larne and from Newry to
Eglinton, dream of wearing the green shirt
and being the next Steven Davis or Kyle
Lafferty. Michael O’Neill is a man in demand
talking to business men and women and
feted wherever he goes – and why not?
But for all the glamour of France there is
something very special about World Cup
matches in Belfast in the autumn.
I have very fond memories of such matches
– the crisp autumnal evening air, the crunch
of the fallen leaves as we traverse the
Railway Bridge from the Lisburn Road, not
too cold, but not warm enough to go without
some sort of a coat. This is the time of year
that football was made for, and here we are
ready to go again.
Football never stops (if it did we would be
JVS^IR WSQI XMQI MR
7S [MXL XLI
I\TPSMXW SJ *VERGI ƤVQP] FILMRH YW ERH
WYMXEFP] FEROIH XLI IRH SJ ]IEVW SJ LYVX
we are ready to start again on another grand
adventure in our wonderful stadium.
What a delight this stadium is, our stadium,
not too big as to lose the raw Belfast
roar, but sparkling in its newness. Great
sightlines, comfy seats.
So all is set. The harvest moon is waxing,
the autumnal chill settling in our bones and
international football back home.
What else could anyone ask for?
Words:
William Campbell
8LIVI EVI WSQI XLMRKW ]SY NYWX GERŭX PMZI [MXLSYX 3VQS :IHE
E KSSH TPEXI SJ FSMPIH WTYHW ERH FYXXIV FVS[R PIQSREHIŷ
]SY ORS[ XLI WSVX SJ XLMRK
www.irishfa.com63
IT’S GOOD
TO BE HOME