Northern Ireland v Bulgaria

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I’m often asked general questions about the Amalgamation of Official Northern Ireland Supporters’ Clubs, especially when a group of friends are considering organising themselves as a supporters’ club.

instance, with smaller clubs sitting with perhaps 15 members and some of the biggest having more than 100 match-going fans in their ranks. Some members pay monthly dues into their club. My own club operates on that basis and the money we contribute not only helps to pay off our Campaign Card but also goes towards one away game each year. We usually try to choose a fixture in a country that we haven’t visited previously and one where hopefully there’ll be an adequate ticket allocation to allow us all to see the match. Other clubs will focus their membership mainly on home games, charging a nominal annual fee which will entitle members to a seat on the bus to the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park (or church as a friend refers to it, since we go there to worship, sing and, quite often, pray!) or to be part of social activities. If you’re considering forming a supporters’ club, becoming a member of a club or your group are interested in affiliating to the Amalgamation then we’d like to hear from you. We are always willing to welcome new groups. Gary McAllister Amalgamation of Official Northern Ireland Supporters’ Clubs

The common questions relate to what the Amalgamation does and what the benefits of being a part of the organisation are. In short we’re a group of supporters’ clubs who came together in the late 1990s to give a collective voice to the small number of clubs which existed at the time and this then evolved into a much larger network which still fulfils that role, but which also provides information to fans. We’ve seen a lot of our clubs come and go through the years, and the growth or decline in numbers is often dependent on how well things are going on the pitch. Surprisingly, though, one of the periods where we saw an increase in interest in forming clubs and getting involved was during the infamous ‘goal drought’ around 20 years ago. The Irish FA’s Community Relations Officer at the time, Michael Boyd, and one of our committee members, Jim Rainey, came up with the idea of our clubs being given several complimentary tickets with the proviso that they be passed on to young fans. This proved to be an extremely popular initiative and hundreds of children from the Boys’ Brigade, schools, youth clubs and kids’ football teams were invited along to different matches. It helped to boost attendances and cost the Irish FA nothing as matches weren’t selling out anyway. And it helped to spark an interest among a new generation and eventually led to a lot of them joining a supporters’ club or in some cases going on to form their own club and then taking the next step in the journey: away travel. While we are an umbrella organisation, or collective, not all our member clubs operate on the same basis. They vary greatly in size, for

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