Northern Ireland v Greece (02/06/2022)

WORDS: HEIDI McALPIN

IT WAS A WONDER-FUL TIME

It was 40 years ago this month when Gerry Armstrong punished a fumbling Arconada and Norman Whiteside eclipsed Pelé as the youngest ever World Cup finals player.

España 1982 delivered these and many more special memories as Northern Ireland fans relished their moment in the sun. In his new book Fields of Wonder, writer Evan Marshall recounts every twist and turn of that incredible FIFA World Cup 1982 journey. I caught up with Evan to find out more. What, or who, inspired you to write Fields of Wonder? It was always the book I wanted to write most . As an 11-year-old I was entranced by that remarkable tournament , and by Northern Ireland’s heroics. However, due to the reality of the dwindling number of people involved in the 1958 World Cup I prioritised focusing on Northern Ireland’s previous journey to the World Cup quarter-finals. I made a movie and wrote a book called Spirit of ‘58 and the success of those projects turned my attention to my boyhood heroes for the next book. Speaking of boyhood heroes, how easy was it to get Jennings, Whiteside, Armstrong, Bingham and Martin O’Neill onboard? There wasn’t any problem in approaching the players and they all seemed eager to share their memories. The thing I have learned from speaking to them all is that , although many enjoyed huge club success, their most precious memories are with Northern Ireland and what they achieved as underdogs. They remember the spirit and togetherness of the team as the favourite time of their careers. Time after time I would be told something like, ‘I achieved

a lot in my career with medals and awards but it’s the Northern Ireland team I have the fondest memories of.’ Did you manage to unearth any forgotten or never before revealed memories? I enjoyed hearing how Bobby Campbell , a bit of a rogue whose lifetime international football ban was overturned for the tournament , was given the tickets for the non-playing squad members on the day of the Spain game. He promptly sold them all and those players only managed to get into the stadium thanks to a Northern Ireland TV crew. There are a lot of revelations like that but doing the hard research in the newspaper libraries also brought forward a wealth of forgotten facts and context which I hope the fans will enjoy, such as why it took so long for Billy Bingham to be appointed as manager, why he wasn’t first choice, and just how critical the local press were at the time towards the team. How much of a part did the Troubles play in your book? I remember starting out thinking I wasn’t going to mention the Troubles and how nice it would be to focus on something more wholesome from the period. That went out the window almost immediately. You have to give context to a subject or you’re not providing a real history and doing your job properly. To tell the story of why it took Northern Ireland 24 years from 1958 to get to another World Cup I soon found myself sucked into the unrest of the period.

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NIR V GRE