Northern Ireland v Norway Official Match Programme

Heidi McAlpin reflects on how she became hooked on supporting Northern Ireland and reveals her daughter has now joined her in the ranks of the Green and White Army… A BITTER-SWEET SPORTING ADDICTION

The Green and White Army in full voice

registered. It was a different story for my fellow spectators who, naturally enough, cheered his every silky brush with the ball. I was to meet George many years later, having booked him as a guest on a local TV game show. By then I knew all too well I was in the presence of a legend. But back to Windsor in the ‘80s. That celebratory night was instantly seared in my memory, and it sparked a desire to return to the hallowed turf and start following Northern Ireland proper. I owe this bitter-sweet sporting addiction to my dad, journo Colin McAlpin, who had also dragged me to many’s a drab Irish League match as he reported for Downtown Radio and various local newspapers. Long drawn out Saturday afternoons spent slumped in a bored fug in a dingy press box couldn’t compare with the fizz of an international fixture at this mighty stadium. Decades spent

Walking up the steps on that crisp early December evening in 1986, I gazed in awe upon the emerald expanse of the floodlit Windsor Park pitch. This was my first visit to what was to become a space I hold dear to my heart. Somewhere that quickens the heart, engenders a smile and would, over the years, illicit more than a few shrugs of resignation and tears of unsurpassed joy. The match that night was, as any statistically- steeped superfan will assert, Pat Jennings’ testimonial. Kenny Dalglish was rumoured to be playing and I, a Liverpool FC supporter at the time, was giddy with excitement. Alas Dalglish was a no-show but Bruce Grab-The-Air did appear, which was good enough for me. And then there was a certain former Northern Ireland international, George Best. So obsessed was I with King Kenny that George barely

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