Northern Ireland v USA

BIG PAT AND BIG GUYS UP FRONT

The past year has provided lots of time for reflection and reminiscing. My friend and colleague David Currie and I have, from time to time, shared questions on Northern Ireland teams and players.

Of the match itself (a tedious end of season 0-0 draw) I remember little, but there I was watching my heroes in the flesh, subject to the roars and moans of the crowd. Big Pat Jennings, hair immaculate, standing tall, George Best all straggly hair and trickery, and the midfield threesome of barrel chested (the word was coined for them) stalwarts Clements, Jackson and Nicholson. I do remember clearly, however, our opposition, be- splendoured in Welsh red and boasting their three big men up top – Messrs Ron and Wyn Davies and John Toshack – all giants of men and straight from the pages of my Shoot magazine. The Welsh also featured the impossible to spell Peter Rodrigues and an equally barrel chested Alan Durban of Derby County, who I recall sliding in the rain off the pitch in front of where I was standing beside big brother in the unreserved terracing opposite the South Stand. How I loved the experience, how I dreamt of being part of such matches. Of course, my dreams were fulfilled in a curious way as years later I was the match manager for over 100 international matches, but as a 10-year- old I envisaged trotting out on to the pitch to the roar of the crowd and scoring the winner, or making the incisive pass to allow our George to round the keeper and smash the ball into the net. They say the journey of 10,000 miles begins with one step, and my journey commenced that rainy spring afternoon. It maybe explains why I have always had a soft spot for scoreless draws but that (as they say) is another story! Words William Campbell

Can you name the 10 players with most caps for instance (I was kicking myself having only managed nine – it’s not so easy after the first five!)? Or what about the internationals currently playing in the NIFL Premiership or the one cap wonders? Or indeed why certain players only managed a few caps, like Iam McFaul who plied his trade in the First Division (when it was the first division) for Newcastle United but only earned six caps between 1967 and 1974 due to a guy at Tottenham Hotspur called Pat Jennings. These questions made me think of the very first international match that I attended way back in May 1969. It was a Home Championship game against Wales, and I went with my big brother and his student friends, having not been allowed to go to the match versus England the weekend before. Memory is a tricky thing. Summers of childhood are always sunnier, skies are bluer and life so much less stressful. My memories of that game some 50 years later are rather sketchy, but I do remember getting on a crowded bus, that it had been raining and the pavements were wet and there were puddles everywhere. I also recall the cries of the programme sellers on the Railway Bridge and the crowds of (to a 10-year- old) giants all crushing onto the terraces. I remember the less than salubrious open urinal at the North East end of the ground (and always had a wry smile years later when the North Stand was built that the NE corner was turned into a ‘snack bar’; needless to say I did not rush to purchase from there!). I recall the heady mix of aromas – the tobacco smoke, the onions, the beer and the body odour. This was sensory overload for a quiet schoolboy. What wonder, what excitement.

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