“In memory of Gary McCann (Magoo) – one of Ulster’s finest. GBNF [Gone but not forgotten].” In addition to being a Linfield supporter, McCann was also a volunteer in the Village UVF. He died in 2016. See The Battalion Of The Dead.
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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This is the new ‘Welcome To The Shankill (Road)’ mural in Gardiner Street, which replaces the one that had been there since (at least) 2009 (see Welcome To The Shankill).
The mural is a version of the old Beverley Street ‘welcome’ mural (by Blaze FX), with the same four panels (parades/bonfire, blitz, sports, murals) and the same three hands. But instead of “Proud, Defiant, Welcoming” we now have “Proud, Resilient, Welcoming”. (I Am Not Resilient in the lower Shankill complains that the word is used to justify neglect and/or maltreatment.)
It escaped no one’s notice that, although the number of languages expressing a greeting is now much greater than the original ten, Irish is not included among them. Also Ulstèr Scots. (Also French, for some reason. Polish is included – “Witamy”). (See similarly “No Irish” in the lower Shankill estate but also All Flags Are Welcome in Divis, which omitted the Union Flag.)
The claim that the Shankill area dates back to AD 455 is used in The Original Belfast. The claim was made by the Greater Shankill Partnership.
Despite the appearance of bricks, the main panel is not in fact a mural but a board.
Held over from the old mural are the two strips of ‘famous faces’ on the left and right (see below).
Images of the July 10th launch from sponsors Alternatives.
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06703 X06704 X06705 SignLink NI with local youth; norman whiteside baroness may blood william conor henry montgomery wayne mccullough jimm wornock james cunningham johnny mcquade
A holy trinity of Liverpool FC flag, the west Belfast “peace” line, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Finn Square, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Although not completely visible in the image below, the ‘Britain remembers’ Remembrance Day flag includes the Ulster Banner, the flag of NI parliament until 1972, rather than the St Patrick’s Saltire. This is also the flag used by the Irish Football Association, the governing body of soccer in NI, to represent its teams, as is shown by the personalised supporter’s plaque in Cosgrave Heights. The organisation’s name derives from the fact that the body pre-dates partition and used to govern the whole island and not just “our wee country”.
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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Glentoran FC’s emblem features a cock (similar to the rooster on Le Coq Sportif, which made the team’s strip from 1996-1999) and its slogan is “le jeu avant tout” (“the game before/above all). The sources of the French influence is unknown. In the mural above, from outside the Oval, he gives “East Belfast” the boot.
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Copyright © 2018 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Irish Football Association (web | tw) is the governing body for Northern Irish soccer, overseeing both domestic and international events. The original Our Wee Country (fan organisation Web | tw) mural was in Carnforth Street, east Belfast. For another and one of the emblem with Ulster banner and Union flags, see Irish Football Association and Our Wee Country.
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Lisburn boxer James “The Assassin” Tennyson, current Irish super-featherweight champion, (BoxRec | tw) provides the centre-piece between soccer and gaelic games in this Glenbawn mural: on the left, the Celtic Boys Club (tw | web), established 1983) and Gaelic games club Seán Uí Mhistéil (web | Fb) originally formed in the New Lodge in 1899.
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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New Lodge soccer club St Patrick’s (Fb) have a new mural on the New Lodge Road, painted earlier this month by Ed Reynolds (steadyhanded.com | tw).
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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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You’ll Never Walk Alone is most famously sung by the fans of Liverpool Football Club, but this Creggan mural draws on the song’s association with Celtic. Leeds United is the other club in the mural, at the right-hand end.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“Come on, you boys in green!” Here’s a mural from the summer, when Ireland (and Northern Ireland) took part in the European soccer championships. The Euro 2016 trophy is at the centre of an Irish Tricolour.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Extramural Activity 