A number of weeks ago, I was inspired by seeing Máiría Cahill attend the Royal Black institution parade as as a Nationalist. Máiría’s actions got me thinking “has our country moved on and if so what can I do?” Just then, my oldest son came in and said to me “Dad you love football, right?” to which I replied “Yes I sure do”, then he hit me with words that left me stunned, “if you love football why do we never go and watch Northern Ireland games but we watch them on TV? Well, here’s why.

I was born in West Belfast and my first memory of football in Northern Ireland was sitting around TVs in Twinbrook watching Northern Ireland in 1986 (the golden years) and nobody dared mention going to the games as Windsor Park was a no go area for Nationalists. I once brought the question up with my grandfather who simply replied “it’s not safe”. A year later my beloved Everton FC came to play Linfield FC at Windsor Park and I went to the match with my uncle to see my heroes. Let’s just say I don’t know the result but I came home knowing what a ‘fenian’ was. That experience stuck with me for a long time.

Back to my son asking could we go to a Northern Ireland match. I thought to myself “do I tell him of my experience in 1987 or purchase the tickets?”

The next night I wrote a Facebook status about my intentions to attend the upcoming friendly. Despite expecting responses such as “what are you doing man?” I was surprised to get messages of ‘you will love it’, ‘what a great gesture’, ‘good man’.

On match day we arrived at the fan zone only to be greeted by a young girl saying “come on in”. Cormaic even got some green and white strips painted on his face, matching his big smile that exposed his excitement.

As we went into the ground my phone rang, it was Tony McCormick, an NI fan like no other. I answer “alright Tony”, he responds “do you or the wee man need anything? I am delighted you’re attending”. As I approach security I was asked by staff “do you mind if I search you?” I respond “yes no problem, Cormaic you wait there”. Yikes I said his name. “Enjoy the game” the guy says, not batting an eye lid.

Into the stadium we go and by total coincidence we are in the same area I was in when I was at the Everton game 30 years ago. The National Anthem plays and I respectfully listen on, as my son watches on with a big smile across his face; at that point I thought to myself, “why did I stay away for so long?”

The atmosphere was amazing. However, I instinctively panicked when an elderly man asked Cormaic what his name was. “There was a time when people with names like yours wouldn’t come here and rightly so, but please come back and bring your friends”, he replied. I felt the scars left by thugs in the 1980s starting to leave me, being replaced by a sense of pride in my country. I felt included.

Despite being an active SDLP member, for those two hours I felt the weight of politics lift and the divisions of the past slip away. As I watched the match, a quote by John Hume came to mind- ‘Difference is an accident of birth and it should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace – respect for diversity.‘

Thank you to all the GAWA fans who made us feel welcome and to the IFA who are doing a superb job of giving sectarianism the red card.

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