Northern Ireland v Slovakia

WILLIAM McCRUM WOULD HAVE BEEN SO PROUD!

So now we know. It might have taken us 129 years to get there but now we know that Northern Ireland can win matches via a penalty shootout, or as you perfectionists out there call them: kicks from the penalty mark as approved by the International Football Association Board.

How did you cope on 8 October? I have written here before of my love of penalty shootouts, however the theory and the reality are two separate things. It’s quite all right when it’s club teams involved, teams in which you have no investment. We can admire the skill, the hoppers, the Panenkas, the blasters. We can squirm with the goalkeepers as they confidently dive into the empty space as the ball whizzes past them into the opposite side of the net or they nearly get a hand to it. And we can also cheer when the cocky taker blasts the ball over the bar or sees their effort parried by the spread-eagled goalie. We can enjoy the finale, the winning penalty or save or indeed miss. Metaphorically we are diving on top of the kicker or the goalie. It is, we all now know, a very different experience when it’s your team; your team that has never participated in such a process before. Unchartered waters. To use the 2020 cliché: unprecedented. There were three of us sharing the pressure in our house as Stuart, Kyle, George, Conor and Liam strode forward in Sarajevo. We were all standing in front of the television, three of us pacing, three of us turning away not able to watch, but peering through our fingers nonetheless, three of us cheering and fist pumping. It was something you needed to share with friends and loved ones. This was not a time to be alone. Neighbours (not watching the match – could any have existed?) would have no doubt wondered about the agonies we were experiencing should

they have phoned the emergency services to report the goings-on in our living room? Given the decibel levels of the guttural yell of elation as Liam Boyce’s kick smashed into the net it’s a wonder it wasn’t heard in Sarajevo. As the instigators of the penalty it is surely only fair that we should get our chance to shine in its spotlight. No doubt William McCrum and his mates from Milford FC in Co Armagh, who came up with the concept of the penalty kick all those years ago, would have been pleased. Of course tonight we bring another piece of football history to Belfast. This will be the first match in Northern Ireland with VAR. Now, that’s a sobering thought. Pitchside monitors and a team of video officials secreted somewhere in the stadium. My thoughts go back a couple of years when we might have been glad of such an innovation. It’s great to be in this position. Extra time, penalties and VAR are all part and parcel of the latter parts of tournaments, and that’s the place we always want to be. Let’s hope it’s not another 129 years until our next penalty shootout and that VAR can operate in the National Football Stadium many more times. It’s what the class of 1891 would have wanted and

expected. Bring it on!

Words William Campbell

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