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
on May 27, Belfast has been devoid of live
international football for 134 days; fanzones
are fine but they don’t beat the real thing.
That’s 134 days (over a third of a year) that
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
undoubtedly belong, is a truly significant
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,
Blanchflower, Jennings and Bingham - and
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
frozen some time in 1958). So with the
exploits of France firmly behind us and
suitably banked (the end of 30 years of hurt),
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
There are some things you just can’t live without. Ormo Veda,
a good plate of boiled spuds and butter, brown lemonade…
you know the sort of thing.
www.irishfa.com63
IT’S GOOD
TO BE HOME