cultural

The Bould Bhoys

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Carling last sponsored Celtic FC in the 2009-2010 season, which means that the heroes shown in this 2009 mural are another decade in the past. In the apex are Charlie Tully (of Belfast and Glasgow Celtic), Willie Maley (the first manager), Br. Walfrid (founder of the club in 1888), Billy McNeil lifting the European Cup in 1967, Jock Stein (player 1951-1957 and manager 1965-1978), while on the field are former players Henrik Larsson (1997-2004) and Jimmy Johnstone (1962-1965).

In the centre of the image, the team is “doing the huddle”, which is also practiced by Cliftonville.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X09040 X09041 X09042 Friendly St

The Loyalty Of Northern Ireland

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Two final pieces from Lower Waterloo Road, Larne: above, Winston Churchill, and below, Rangers. The Churchill quote comes from a letter to NI Prime Minister John Andrews when he stepped down in 1943. In full it reads “But for the loyalty of Northern Ireland [and its devotion to what has now become the cause of thirty Governments or nations,] we should have been confronted with slavery and death, and the light which now shines so strongly throughout the world would have been quenched.” Had the board been been erected more recently, it might have quoted another line from the letter: “During your Premiership the bonds of affection between Great Britain and the people of Northern Ireland have been tempered by fire, and are now, I firmly believe, unbreakable.”

Below is Walter Smith, two-time manager of Rangers, who died in 2021. See The Gaffer.

This post completes the set from Lower Waterloo Road in Larne – the wide shot shows Mephedrone to the far left; then Rangers, Duke Of Edinburgh, NI Centenary, and Churchill; Women Are A Whole Community is out of shot to the right.


Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X09326 X09314 X09316 X10569 let the others come after us we welcome the chase

Norman Anderson

Extramural Activity1 Comment

RUC Constable Norman Anderson was set upon and executed in 1961 by the IRA on the Fermanagh border as he returned from visiting his Co Monaghan girlfriend (SEFF) but he and his family hailed from Larne and he is remembered by the Constable Anderson Memorial flute band (emblem below), which was formed in the same year (Fb), and the Auld Boys (emblem above). These are two of three flute bands in the Factory area of Larne, along with the Clyde Valley flute band – see The Gunrunners.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X09330 X09328 X09329 Herbert Ave border campaign auld boys

We Are Albion Star

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Albion Star (Fb | tw) is a soccer club founded in 2003. It fields youth teams for players ages 5 to 17.

The plaque in the top right corner is to Phil McDonnell of the OIRA and INLA, who died in 2017; Anthony MacIntyre has a profile.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X09065 X09064 stanfield pl

Let Us Shout Joyfully

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For He is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep under his care.” In Psalms 95, the current generation of Hebrews is exhorted to declare Yahweh as their god, or suffer the fate of the previous generation who did not believe and were left to die in the wilderness during the exodus: a wrathful Yahweh declares, “They shall not enter My rest” (Enduring Word). After ten years in the wilderness of the Scottish league minor divisions, Glasgow Rangers are again champions and the Rangers faithful are shouting joyfully – here is Sandy Row on the hoarding around the site of the old Gilpin’s shoe shop and the UFF funeral volley mural.

See previously Order Restored (which will link to even more posts).

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X09087 X09090 X09091 [X09086] [X09088] [X09089] the battles we refuse to fight today become the hardships our children must endure tomorrow

‘The Glory Continues’ Continues

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Martin O’Neill took Celtic – and about 80,000 fans (ESPN) – to the UEFA Cup in 2003, losing in extra time to FC Porto of Portugal. This mural off Friendly Street in the Markets – which shows the Champions Cup rather than the UEFA Cup – is still rolling in 2022. Peter Moloney took a picture of it in 2006.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X09063 X09062

Rubicon

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“‘Rubicon’ – the family home of Pte. William F. McFadzean, Victoria Cross, who gave his life to save his comrades at Thiepval Wood on 1st July 1916 immediately prior to the Battle Of The Somme.” McFadzean died when he threw himself on a fallen box of grenades; for this action he was awarded the VC (WP).

The plaque is on Cregagh Road at Cregagh Park. There’s a picture of McFadzean standing outside the house at Royal Irish.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2021 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08696 X08681

The Beautiful Game

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This Tigers Bay house is showing its support for soccer teams in all territories and at all levels: Rangers from Glasgow, Scotland; Northern Ireland internationally; Liverpool from England; and local team Crusaders.

For the UDA memorial garden to the left, see Honur, Loyalty, Liberty, Sacrifice. The remembrance day board was also seen in east Belfast.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08896 [X08897] X08904 X08902 [X08903]

Order Restored

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Rangers went into administration in 2012 and the “new” club played in the 4th tier of Scottish football. After four years, they had played themselves back into premiership football. Ten years after their previous league championship, they topped the table at the end of the 2020-2021 season, prompting the board shown above “order restored”. See also: 55 | F*ck Your Ten In A Row | Blues Brothers | We’re Back (and Legends Never Die).

The area in front of the Tiger’s Bay Flute Band mural bears an “Anfield Road’ street sign; and there is a Chelsea FC crest on the house across the street (not shown).

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2022 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08859 [X08860] X08863 X08861 [X08862] watp we are the people

H&W Welders

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Titanic was built at Harland & Wolff shipyard in east Belfast; it took more than three years to build but was in service for only five days, as it famously hit an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic ocean. The welders formed their own football club, in 1965. The football and hockey players on the right are perhaps associated with Ledley Hall.

The final image is of the piece in 2014.

Cluan Place, east Belfast.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X08783 X08782 X02460