Religious protest, Sunday football???!!!

Oh yes, of course - it's Northern Ireland!

Dabs & all,


In the 60's, one Easter Sunday, while I was making the dinner, Joe took my son aged 6 & daughter aged 4, to the Wallace Park with a big coloured ball & the children began to kick it around near the Cricket Pitch.

The Park Ranger came out of his house & said "No ball playing allowed on a Sunday"!!!!!!! Joe was taken aback at this & remonstrated with him that they were only children.

The Ranger pointed to the Rules of the Park Board & referred it to him so they had to leave the Park. We never forgot that incident.

Wonder what happens now in the Wallace Park on a Sunday, pity the rules didn't apply to other disgraceful incidents that happened there & that the Rangers were not following the rules so strictly near the duck pond.

My anger is still apparent, especially as the family landed back home too early......

Pat

Pat, That was typical of the attitudes among people in authority in Northern Ireland and even among a lot of ordinary people as well. I remember being told off for more or less the same thing kicking a ball around behind our house on a Sunday. I don't know what it is like now, have they caught up with the rest of the world re Sundays just being another day?, going back a good number of years some of the British Commonwealth countries were just as bad, when I first went out to Australia in 1950 everything closed up tight on a Sunday and was like that for a good number of years,also Canada though now in Canada just about everything is now open on a Sunday just like a weekday and I suppose its the same in Australia now as well,I remember also in several States in Australia the pubs used to close at 6pm so you had the 4-6 swill when people coming out of work would head for the pub to have as many beers as they could manage before the pub closed. I remember the my first experience of that was in Adelaide when my uncle took me down to his local hotel (pub) at about 4 30pm before I knew it I had two glasses of beer one in each hand and I had to drink one fast then pass the empty glass to whoever was buying and then grab another full one and so on no wonder we were half bombed by the time we got back to the house. Memories. Mauri

mauri,
the famous old ''six o'clock swill"? . a bit different now, but pubs don't do a lot of business, except in a big city. a lot of people ,like me brew their own beer and enjoy it at your leisure. get people round for barbeques and things.

When Northern Ireland reached the quarter finals of the World Cup, and the TV camera went into the team's hotel, I shed a tear listening to Gerry Armstrong sing The Wild Rover. I never thought we could reach those heights again. My hopes are raised.

Yes Tom, I should have mentioned that I have been back to Australia a couple of times since leaving and of course noticed the difference right away especially in Adelaide which used to be known as the city of Churches and trees and "Wowsers". For those of you who dont know what a wowser is, its a person in authority who is a teetotaler,very religous and who tries to impose his views on everybody else. come to think of it there were loads of people in other places with those attitudes as well. Mauri

I'm not in form for a big discussion this morning over the rights and wrongs of Sunday games. However, I am all in favour of people enjoying Sunday. It should be a family day, especially for those with young children. If football or other games are your preference, I see nothing wrong with that either. I do think, though, that we should remember Sunday is set aside as a day when we should remember we are Christians. Therefore, in my opinion, and in my case, we attend our church on Sunday morning; after that, we spend the rest of Sunday doing whatever else comes along Everything in moderation. Live and let live.

Ann, I love sport, and I hate war and terrorism. My country would like Sunday to be sport-free.
Today, I chatted to a lovely Muslim guy who shares my feelings.
I'm pleased you liked my humorous remark about a body search.

Donald
I cannot even bring myself to be a total vegetarian, because it is being pushed at me, even though I KNOW that makes sense.
I object to being ordered.

Being ordered gets my "back up". I do the opposite, although nowadays it doesn't really apply. We're a stubborn lot here and we'll never change, thank goodness. Stubborn, but genuine. No back doors. What you see is what you get and that suits me perfectly.

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/an-irishman-s-diary-on-football-legend-danny-blanchflower-1.2171688?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fculture%2Fheritage%2Fan-irishman-s-diary-on-football-legend-danny-blanchflower-1.2171688