Northern Ireland v Belarus (15/11/2024)

(for any purists reading this England won the game 1-0 with a disputed goal by that arch goal poacher Alan ‘Sniffer’ Clarke, after a blatant handball by Manchester City’s Francis Lee; this just goes to show that football fans with a grudge have long memories). Let’s come a little more up to date and two games that stand out for me as ‘I was there’ moments. Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium hosted Northern Ireland in September 2004 in a World Cup qualification match. You may recall the excitement: Michael Hughes and Robbie Savage being sent off after nine minutes, Jeff Whitley scoring after 11 mins and then David Healy scoring and being sent off for his celebrations by a hapless Italian referee. In the 10 v 9 match that ensued Wales scored twice, through John Hartson and Robert Earnshaw, and both teams had late chances to win it. I remember coming out of the game on that balmy September night bathed in sweat, lacking voice and physically drained. A definite ‘I was there’ moment. Finally, my thoughts move on to Paris in 2016. Not the lame duck against a Gareth Bale inspired Wales, but the clincher against Germany a few days earlier. Yes, the Michael McGovern match. It remains with me for the drama, for the atmosphere the fans generated, and for the hope that following the 1-0 defeat our journey had the possibility of continuing (depending on other results). Big Michael was superb. No matter what the Germans threw at us/him he managed to stop it, with hands, body, legs. Eventually only a miskick from Mario Gomez broke our hearts, but what an occasion. The fans sang and sang and remained long after the final whistle. Even German midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger acknowledged the boisterous Northern Ireland fans after the match. That was one day I was proud to be able to say ‘I was there’. Maybe tonight will give us more thrills and memorable moments? Let’s hope so and in years to come you can say ‘Northern Ireland v Belarus… I was there’.

Did you witness the first hat-trick by a Northern Ireland player in Belfast since David Healy put the mighty Spain to the sword back in 2006? What an experience, and what a night. It got me thinking about other ‘I was there’ matches, the ones which, in the words of the late Malcolm Brodie, would be ‘seared into our minds’. [Editor: Is this just an excuse to reminisce about old matches? Me: Yes!] If we take as read the obvious candidates – Ninian Park 1980, Valencia 1982, Wembley 1985, Healy 2005 and 2006, Kings of Lyon 2016 – I wonder what other Northern Ireland games deserve their place in the pantheon of greatness? Here’s my quirky guide to the matches we should have been to and often pretend we attended. Let’s start with a match I would have loved to have been at. It is spoken about in revered tones: Northern Ireland 1 Scotland 0 in 1967. This is THE George Best international, the match in which he destroyed Scotland single-handedly, turning Celtic’s European Cup winning full back Tommy Gemmell inside out in the first half before he swapped wings to do the same to Chelsea’s Eddie McCreadie. Dave Clements might have scored the goal, but this was George’s match. Old timers (as Cunningham Peacock would refer to them) are always proud to say ‘I was there’. Sticking with a George Best theme and to a match that I actually was at (albeit as a young boy): Northern Ireland v England in 1971. Why this game, you may ask. Well, this was the time that George flicked the ball over Gordon Banks’ head and ‘scored’ after Banks threw the ball up to kick it. You will remember the scene: a sunny May afternoon, a full Windsor Park and a sparkling moment of George Best magic destroyed by the timidness of a Scottish referee, who the commentary tells us had his back to the incident! No doubt today VAR would have ruled it out anyway as it always seems to do. It remains a classic piece of footballing folklore and, of course, ‘I was there’

IRISHFA.COM

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