Here are two soccer-related images from Gardenmore Road, in Twinbrook. Above, James McClean in his Ireland strip – “Like James McClean we won’t bow down/To a British Army or and English crown.//I wear no poppy upon my breast/Just a three leaf shamrock upon my chest.” (though McClean is shown wearing the 2016-2018 jersey which featured a ball rather than an FAI shamrock).
The other three leaf shamrock familiar from soccer is that of Scottish team Glasgow Celtic, which is widely supported among the CNR community.
In 2019, images of Bobby Sands before his (second and final) arrest and imprisonment were rediscovered in the collection of French photographer Gérard Harlay. Sands was serving as a flag-bearer in an August 1976 march from the Busy Bee to Dunville Park to protest the withdrawal of political status. (For some of Harlay’s images, see Bobby Sands Trust.) This new mural in his home area of Twinbrook copies one of the images (though presents him as carrying a Tricolour rather than a harp) along with protesters protesting for “Public transport for Twinbrook now” and “Social housing for Twinbrook now”.
Glencolin estate was built next to Moyard House (which in 1984 became home to the Roddy’s (web)) on the Glen Road in 1979 (Belfast Forums). For the fortieth anniversary of “eastát Ghleann Collaınn” the mural at the entrance to the estate was (belatedly) repainted. The composition of the mural remains as in the previous version, with the Roddy’s and Oliver Plunkett church in the shadow of Dubhaıs and Slıabh Dubh; they are now joined by images of Gaelic games. The Bobby Sands quote has been removed.
Players from Scottish football team Celtic and local team Cliftonville “do the huddle” together. The mural was painted in 2013 to celebrate the visit by Celtic to Solitude (Cliftonville’s home pitch) for a Champions League tie between the two teams.
A mural outside Solitude was also painted for the occasion – see The Red Army.
St Malachy’s (tw | Fb) is a junior (i.e. 2nd division/B-tier) GAA club established 1936 in the Markets area of south Belfast. It is not known who the six portraits are of (there were originally only the four at the corners – see M08137) or who the four players are. Get in touch if you have any information.
With sponsorship from Pulse, Belfast City Council, New Belfast Community Arts Initiative, the Housing Executive, and ?Brighten Belfast?
As a player, the Dublin-born Patrick O’Connell started with Belfast Celtic before moving on to various English and Scottish clubs, including a period at Manchester United at the time of WWI. He then went on to manage a string of Spanish clubs. As manager (“Don Patricio”) of Barcelona during the Spanish civil war, he accompanied the club on their tour of Mexico and the United States. The money from the tour saved the club from bankruptcy but 12 of the 16 players went into exile in Mexico and France. (WP) Barcelona returns to the US this month (2015-07) for games against the LA Galaxy, Manchester United, and Chelsea. (FCBarcelona)
The newspaper in the mural above crams all of this news onto one page: “Civil war erupts in Spain – Barcelona bombed”, “Football suspended – President [of FC Barcelona] Josep Sunyol assassinated” [by Franco’s troops] (WP); “Irishman O’Connell takes players on tour – FC Barcelona saved from extinction”; “Funds lodged in Switzerland”. In the bottom left-hand corner of the newspaper is Robert Capa’s famous photograph of ‘The Falling Soldier’, purporting to show a Republican soldier at the very moment he is struck by a bullet and dies. The image is now thought to have been staged (WP).
The player on the right is Lionel Messi. The Argentinian forward is shown in front of the Spanish League cup, which Barcelona won in the year the mural was painted (2014-2015) with a goal from “La Pulga” (“the flea”) – Messi is 5’7″ but four-time world player of the year.
The stands of three football stadiums are shown in the background: Belfast Celtic’s Celtic Park (“Paradise”), Manchester United’s Old Trafford, and Barcelona’s Camp Nou. The Old Trafford stands bear the emblems of the teams Patrick O’Connell played for and managed: Liffey Wanderers (whose shirt is also featured, on the left), Sheffield Wednesday, Hull City (The Tigers), Manchester United, Dumbarton, Real Racing Club de Santander, Real Oviedo, and Real Betis Balompié (also shirt on the right).
Kickhams is the local Cumann Luthchleas Gael (GAA club) (Fb | tw), founded 1907, named for republican writer Charles Kickham. The mural shows a football, hurleys and sliotar, and a handball.
mural featuring (from left to right in the image below) Ardoyne Youth Club, Ard Eoın Kickhams, and the John Paul II Youth Club as alternatives to bullying, racism, homophobia, addiction, and other social ills. This panel shows Irish dancing, soccer, and Gaelic games; there are also images of young people practicing martial arts, DJing, and boxing on a side wall.
“Mol an óıge agus tıocfaıdh sÍ”. [Praise youth and it will flourish/Youth responds to praise] Above is the Joe Cahill mural in Beechview Park, next to the GAA pitch. The mural was unveiled on September 2nd, 2013. (Images of the unveiling from An Phoblacht.) Joe Cahill (WP) holds the cup aloft. The group in the bottom left corner (see the second image, below) are Pat O’Hare, Frank Cahill, Tom Cahill, (the three Cahills were featured in the previous mural) Ned Maguire, Jr., Ned Maguire, Sr., Alec Crowe, Paddy Meenan, Tommy Crowe, Dal Delaney, and Hugh Elliot. In the crook of Cahill’s arm are Rita McParland, Sean Wallace, Paddy Corrigan, John Pettigrew, and John Stone. None of these adults is still alive; all were from the local area.
The chalet bungalows in the background on the left are gone, but you can see images of them on the Belfast Forum.
The plaque on the left names others in addition: Billy Kelly, Alice Cush, Kate Campbell, John Mulligan, Mary Mulligan, David Mulhern, Margaret Mulhern, John Clarke, Margaret Farrelly, Marie Williams, Kevin Sullivan, Michael Rock, John McColgan, Bridget Maguire, Martin Maguire, Sally Corrigan, Sonny O’Reilly, Maggie McArdle, Jimmy McArdle, Kathleen Wallace, Maragret McGuinness, John Flanagan, Maisie McGuckian, Charlie McGuckian, Anthony Muldoon, Jim Logue, Ellen Weir, Liam Mackie, Oliver McParland, Sadie McMahon, Tommy Crowe, Maddie Holden, Sarah Doyle, Jimmy Doyle, Kathleen Pettigrew, Mary Cushnihan, Bell Cosgrove, Gerry Campbell.
Paddy Duffy Collection 