EOn September 20, 1978, the Republic of Ireland e North Ireland They faced each other for the first time on a soccer field. Since 1921, a border separated the 32 Catholic counties from the 26 districts that from 1968 were the epicenter of the war between unionists and republicans, Protestants and Catholics. A conflict that did not end until the agreements of Good Friday 1998. The wounds still hurt and bleed today.
Framed in the same group on the way to the 1980 Euro in Italy, sharing it with England, Denmark and Bulgaria, the duel between the two Irelands was a huge security problem. The violence had turned the island into almost daily news and nothing remained of the atmosphere in the states of the 1930s and the anecdote of Gerry Morgan.
A cradle Catholic, he returned to Northern Ireland after playing in England to coach the Protestant Linfield. In a Belfast derby, against Glentoranthe fans of the team Windsor Park They sang “there are no Catholics on our team.” The response of the Glens was “What is Gerry?” He got up from the bench, approached the band and greeted the entire audience by taking off his cap to provoke laughter and a standing ovation.
The weather
In 1978 that sense of humor had given way to blood. Security measures were extreme in a Lansdowne Road packed in its 40,000 seats. Two weeks before, on September 6, Gerry Adamsvice president of Sinn Fein, had been acquitted of the charge of membership in the IRA. The match (0-0 with the goalkeepers, Kearns y Jenningslike stars) passed without any incidents other than certain provocations, such as the northern fans giving up the green on their shirt (Eire played white) and choosing clothes that mixed red, white and blue, colors of the British flag.
The next day, the IRA attacked the airport Eglinton (Derry) causing serious damage.
The fear that football would become a scene of violence that bled the Irish and British was avoided in that first duel between the countries, but it erupted a few months later in another competition of the UEFAthe European Cup.
The alarms went off when on July 11 the draw in Switzerland tied the Irish champion in the previous qualifying round (Dundalk, less than an hour from the border) with the Northern Irish (Linfield). It was the only match of that round and the second time that teams from the two countries met after the duel between Waterford y Glentoran in the first round of the 1970-71 European Cup.
The atmosphere was very tense and nervousness had multiplied due to the announcement of John Paul II’s visit to Ireland on September 29. The two clubs called for calm ahead of the first leg, set for August 29 at the Oriel Park in Dundalk.
the murder
The calls for calm blew up two days before the game. He United Kingdom woke up on the morning of August 27 to the IRA murder of Louis Mounbatten (79 years old), first cousin of the queen. The method was a bomb placed on the boat in which he was going fishing near Sligo. They also perished Laidy Brabourne (83 years old), Nicholas Knatchbull (14 years old and grandson of the count) and Paul Maxwell (a 15-year-old boy from the crew).
Hours later, 18 British soldiers were killed by the explosion of a 227 kilo bomb in Warrenpoint (County Down). A subsequent shootout between members of the IRA and soldiers caused the death of an innocent citizen in the republican zone. Hours later, unionist paramilitary groups executed several Catholics and on the 28th John Hardya 43-year-old Republican Catholic, was shot dead in Belfast by the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force).
In that climate of extreme violence, a party was born that could not be anything other than its continuation. The problems began long before the 60 buses with followers of the Linfield They will arrive at Dundalk. In Bandbridgehalfway there, a pub was stoned and in Carrickarnanbefore crossing the border, 12 fans of The Blues They were arrested because of a fight.
Extreme violence
The incidents in Dundalk They emerged as soon as the unionists arrived. The Catholics responded to their provocative songs and flags with stones. The 300 members of the An Irish Garda Síochána (Irish Peacekeepers, National Police) deployed around Oriel Park were overwhelmed.
The disturbances were such that the match reports claim that when the referee (the English Pat Partridge) gave the opening whistle “the stadium was a battlefield”.
And it got worse. In the middle of the match, Northern Irish fans knocked down a part of the fence about two and a half meters that separated them from the rival zone. A group climbed to the upper part of the stadium to place a huge flag of the Union Jack and burn an Irish tricolor. While he was playing on the grass, the stands were a pitched battle. The Garda, He received reinforcements, but of the hundred injured, more than half were police officers.
Out of control
Given the uncontrollable situation, Linfield’s general secretary (Derek Corbett) made an appeal over the public address system begging his people to stop throwing stones “because it is the name of our club that you are attacking and damaging.”
The seriousness of the incidents left what was a good football match with 1-1 in the end (goals from Feeney, 0-1, and Devivne’s tie). The both of Linfield It ended with a small invasion of the countryside that the police were able to control. Another stoppage came when a stone hit Terry Hayescenter of the northern champion, but the referee and the Garda They knew that this could not be suspended.
It was over, but there was more. On their march, the unionists destroyed everything they found while receiving stones, bottles… A man was arrested for standing in front of a bus of Northern Irish followers with a gun. The police discovered that it was a toy.
To the UEFA He had no choice but to take action. Linfield was fined 5,000 pounds for the damage caused at Oriel Park, choosing a city far from Ireland to play the second leg and running with all the cats of that trip. To the Dundalk800 pounds for lack of security.
The second leg was held in Haarlem (Netherlands) on September 5 (2-0 for Linfield with a double from Muckian). It was played before 2,000 spectators and after several bomb threats. Linfield were grateful that their rival only asked for a hotel night in Haarlem and not the two or three that is usual. Since then, the institutional relationship between the two clubs is extraordinary.
Two months later, on November 21, the Irish team visited for the first time Belfast (1-0 for those from the north). In that period of time, more than a dozen people were murdered by paramilitaries from both sides and The Ulster Freedom Fighters made public that any member of the IRA was a priority target.
Ireland’s first visit to Belfast (it has been four in total) had incidents, but nothing comparable to what was experienced in Dundalk. A goal of Gerry Armstrong (executioner of Spain in the 82 World Cup in Mestalla) decided the match and gave England a place at Euro 1980. Gerry Daly, Eire midfielder, received three stitches in the head after being hit by a stone from the stands. Even that was minor compared to the War of Oriel Park.
