The island of Ireland is not as big as you might think. In a few hours’ drive, you can cross the island from north to south.
In the past couple weeks, fans of Linfield (Northern Ireland) and Cork City (Republic of Ireland), both runner ups of their respective leagues, have been travelling the same road for their Europa League qualifiers clash.
It's not that rare for teams from both sides of the island to play each other. The last European meeting was in 2006 when Glentoran and Shelbourne met in the Champions League qualifiers. Lately, we have seen the Setanta Cup taking place, an all-Irish tournament, with the major clubs from both leagues.
The second leg in Cork will be another normal and peaceful Europa League fixture, but there were times that it was totally different. Linfield fans can tell you all about that, when they recall their first official European match in the Republic of Ireland in 1979.
In 1916, republican rebels declared their intentions to establish an independent Irish country. Five years later, after a bloody war between the Irish and British forces, a ceasefire concluded the division of the island. The south, with its Catholic majority, became an independent country, while the north and its Protestant majority remained part of the United Kingdom. For years, this decision led to an aggressive conflict between the IRA, the Irish Republican Army who wanted to unify Ireland, and the British forces, who were trying to maintain the status quo along the border.
In the 70's the conflict became even more violent. In 1972, British soldiers killed 14 Catholic people during a civil rights march in Northern Ireland. This event became well-known as ‘Bloody Sunday’. This ruthless attack accelerated the intense environment on the island, and led the IRA to engage in more powerful and violent actions. There were no rules, as they believed that everything was legitimate in the fight for Ireland.
One of the most extreme events occurred on 27 August 1979. Louis Mountbatten, former British naval officer and the uncle of Prince Philip, was on holiday in his summer home at Mullaghmor, in the Republic of Ireland. While he was out fishing with some of his family members, the IRA bombed his boat and assassinated him and his grandson. On the same day, the IRA carried out another serious attack, killing 18 British soldiers in nearby Warrenpoint, on the border between the Northern Ireland side the Republic of Ireland.
Only two days after the assassination of Mountbatten, while tensions in Ireland were running high, Linfield had to travel to Dundalk, for their first leg match in the European Champions Cup qualifiers. Even before the match, things got a bit tasty, as a bar was closed due to Linfield fans rioting, which led to the arrests of twelve of them.
After the short trip between Belfast and Dundalk, the Linfield fans were escorted by 300 police officers, the biggest show of police force ever for a sports event outside Dublin. Oriel Park, the home stadium of Dundalk, looked like a warzone. There was not too much room in the stands, so the sidelines were full of fans, as well as stones that were thrown from the crowd.
When . Northern Irish Linfield went to the Republic of Ireland in 1979, the conflict was on fire
That didn't prevent the kick off, but the clashes were far from over. In the early stages, the fence between the crowds was pulled down and Linfield fans targeted the roof of the stadium. A few of them climbed up, took the Irish tricolor flag from its pole and ripped it, while Dundalk fans threw more stones at them. The fights in the crowd became worse when the Irish police went into the stand. The Linfield fans kept antagonising the Dundalk fans, as they climbed to the top of the floodlights and waved the Union Jack and Northern Ireland flags.
It was chaos. The sidelines were littered with stones, bricks and bottles that didn’t make it to the other side of the stand. From time to time, you could have seen either of the flags in flames. The police made the tension reach another level, as the game was stopped a few times, in order to lead the injured and arrested fans away from the field. Nobody cared from what happened on the pitch, nobody saw that the match ended in a 1:1 draw.
Unsurprisingly, the end of the match didn't stop the fights. Linfield fans celebrated on their way to the coaches, but the localss didn't like it. Stones and petrol bombs were thrown at the supporters of the northern Irish club. At the end of the night, there were 100 injured, 56 of whom were police officers. The second leg in Belfast promised to be one to remember. For the police force, of course.
UEFA intervened immediately after the match. There was even talk of UEFA banning both clubs from the competition. In the end, both teams were fined – Dundalk £900 and Linfield £15,000, mainly for the damage caused in the stadium.
The return leg was moved to a neutral venue. Linfield planned to host it in Ibrox, the home ground of Rangers, but pressure from Dundalk led to the match being at a non-British ground.
The second leg was played in Haarlem, near Amsterdam, Holland in front of few hundred fans. It was a quiet fixture, with no interesting or terrifying events, as Dundalk won 2:0 and qualified for the next round. From there, Dundalk had a great run that only ended with a double-header against Celtic in the round of 16.
The Good Friday Agreement in 1998 was the sign for the end of the Irish conflict, but in the football grounds, it had already been quiet for a while.
In 1984, Linfield travelled to the Republic of Ireland once again, this time for a match in Dublin against Shamrock Rovers. 500 police officers were ready for the battle of their lives, but nothing actually nothing happened. The next day, the Irish press praised the behaviour of the fans and even said that you couldn’t even tell that there were supporters of both teams in the stadium.
It will be the same tonight, when Cork City and Linfield play each other.
Both teams will enjoy a good atmosphere, exactly as it was in Belfast last week. The fans and the players from both parts of Ireland are ready, the police, the politicians and the die-hard nationalism politics are no longer part of their beloved game, which is a real dream for many sports fans around the world.
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Thumbnail photo by George Kell