The game was politics
By Laura Friel
The very public wrangle at the heart of the West Belfast
community precipitated by the Donegal Celtic football club's
initial decision to go ahead with a soccer match against the RUC
has left all sides of the argument saddened and hurt.
Even many of their most vociferous critics recognised the club's
predicament. It is not unreasonable for a club to wish to compete
within a prestigious league to the best of its abilities and the
talents of the club's young team. Built in one of the most
economically deprived communities in Western Europe, the prospect
of accessing funds on the back of agreeing to play a match with
the RUC, was understandably persuasive.
The club never wanted to play the RUC; members hoped to go
through the competition without being drawn against them. In the
event Donegal Celtic was faced with the very decision it had
wished to avoid.
Their team was tipped to win the Steel and Sons Cup, a
substantial lottery grant was waiting in the wings. No wonder the
club's management was tempted to turn their faces away from the
reality of life in West Belfast. If only they could momentarily
forget the pain and suffering inflicted on this community by the
RUC. If Sinn Fein could speak to its political opponents in
Stormont, why couldn't Donegal Celtic kick a football around with
the RUC? What about reconciliation? What about the Good Friday
Agreement?
On Sunday 8 November members of the club met to vote on the
decision whether or not to play with the RUC. The meeting lasted
less than 20 minutes. There was no debate. 108 voted yes, 79
voted no, with one abstention. Everyone was treated to three free
pints in the bar.
``We did not want the game to go ahead because we support the RUC,
it was because we support football and don't believe politics and
sport should mix,'' said club secretary Brian McCartney. Those who
claimed a dichotomy between sport and politics had won the day
but their argument was unsustainable and everybody really knew
it. A community at the apex of 30 years of struggle, West Belfast
is a highly politicised community.
Founded in Lenadoon in 1970, Donegal Celtic grew, root and
branch, out of that community's experiences of marginalisation,
demonisation and conflict. When the club tried to turn its face
away from the relatives of Julie Livingstone, Seamus Duffy and
all the other victims of RUC brutality it was turning away from
itself. The contradictions cut to the very heart of the club,
down to the very team itself. One player, whose father was shot
dead by the RUC, initially supported the club's decision, only to
find himself at odds with the rest of his family. Other families
were also divided by the decision. Players were divided, the club
members were divided, the club was at odds with many in their own
community.
Intense lobbying by Relatives for Justice, backed by elected
representatives in Sinn Fein, and with the possibility of a
damaging boycott looming on the horizon, Donegal Celtic faced the
reality they had been trying to deny for weeks.
On Thursday 12 November, just two days before the match against
the RUC, club officials announced they had withdrawn their team
from the fixture. In a statement announcing their withdrawal, the
committee admitted that their original decision had ``become a
source of controversy and division.[which] obviously caused
annoyance and upset to a great many people especially within our
own local community and patrons. This controversy has taken its
toll on committee members, the team management and especially the
players who have been, against their will, thrown into the eye of
the storm.''
But the storm wasn't over yet. ``Play RUC and we'll shoot you'' ran
the Newsletter front page, ``Donegal Celtic players were told they
would be kneecapped if they didn't bow to IRA demands.'' Sinn Fein
was ``enforcing cultural apartheid'', using ``bully boy tactics'',
Ian Paisley accused the IRA of blackmail, David Ervine called
Sinn Féin fascists and RUC Chief Ronnie Flanagan hinted at
intimidation. ``IRA forced players to cancel game,'' ran the Sunday
Tribune, ``Donegal Celtic players ready to claim IRA intimidation
to cancel RUC match.''
``The Games's Up,'' concluded the Sunday Times, ``Republican strong
arm tactics...'' and so it went on. As the media indulged in a
furious anti republican diatribe, one thing was clear, it had
been political all along.
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