My cousin, Sean, sent me a message in the wee hours of Wednesday night.
He had just got home from France after watching the Republic of Ireland playing Sweden. He said he had enjoyed some ‘great craic’ with the Swedish and French fans.
The Irish had danced, sung and drank with the Swedes in a display of the European unity that English fans had eschewed in favour of annexing parts of France and and trying to turn them into Little England.
Supporting your team in a foreign country is not an invasion, nor an aggressive hit-and-run piss-up.
For the Irish, it’s a movable party, it’s about singing and dancing to Abba songs with the Swedes. It’s about celebration, not confrontation.
For the Irish, it’s about having two teams at Euro 2016.
Two teams that are different and the same.
The BBC kindly explained the difference between Irish and Northern Irish football in a video released this week. Here are some of the best bits.
Northern Ireland fall under the the Irish Football Association (IFA), the Republic under the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). “They are two very different organisations,” say the BBC, “and not at all like the People’s Front of Judea and the Judean People’s Front”.
The IFA can pick players from the ‘south’ (the Republic) and the FAI can pick players from the ‘north’. “Northern Irish fans are the Green and White Army; the Republic the Green Army”, although the Republic shorts and occasionally the socks of their kit are also white.
“Both sides are managed by a Mr M O’Neill. The M O’Neill who manages the Republic won 64 caps as a player for Northern Ireland and the M O’Neill who manages Northern Ireland joined them after a two-year stint as a manager of the Republic of Ireland’s most successful club side.” The Republic’s anthem is not “Ireland’s call” (that is an invention for the Ireland rugby team that includes players from the north and the south), but “Amhrán na bhFiann” or “A Soldier’s Song”. Northern Ireland sing God Save the Queen as their anthem, but their unofficial anthem is “Sweet Caroline” by well-known Irish singer Neil Diamond.
The three McCallum brothers spent much of the early part of our childhood with Sean at his family’s house in Kircubbin, on the shore of the Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland during the 70s.
That was the time of Pat Jennings and, occasionally, George Best.
The 80s were the best time for Northern Irish football, with qualification for the World Cups in Spain in 1982 and in Mexico in 1986.
The Republic began their rise in Italy in 1990 and then Ray Houghton’s winning goal against Italy in the United States in 1994.
Sean now lives in Spain. He sends messages that begin with hola.
Both Irish teams will probably not win Euro 2016. But, then again, their fans have already won in Europe. - The Star