Sunday, June 6, 2010

East Belfast's pride and joy

Much of the artwork on the murals in Belfast centres on the religious differences and the hatred and bigotry which has destroyed the city over the past several decades.

On both sides of the divide however the one thing which appears to resurface again and again is the common man's love of the game of football. A classic example is the familiar mural of the man who appeared to unite the differing factions, George Best, but additionally dotted around the city is artwork which pays tribute to lesser-known and more "local heroes".

The artwork below, photographed last Thursday, lauds the Glentoran team of 1973-74 which reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup-Winers Cup before losing 7-0 on aggregate to Borussia Moenchengladbach. To reach this stage they beat Brann Bergen of Norway and a now dissolved Romanian team,Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea. Already out of the competition at this stage were the LOI, English and Scottish Cup Winners - Cork Hibs, Sunderland and Rangers respectively.



Before the season closed, in April 1974, the troubles would have claimed its' 1000th victim.