Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

With all the blanket coverage of the Pope’s visit to Britain it’s very easy to forget that the real story is how few people actually care.  In fact those who do care can be name-checked relatively quickly and easily. Some school children were persuaded to care by a morning out of the classroom.  They lined the streets of Edinburgh in order to scream and wave Scottish Saltires as the pontiff’s entourage swept by. Devoted Catholics care.  Yesterday they mustered in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, having travelled from across these islands and beyond.  Despite congregating in a venue with a much larger capacity, they numbered fewer than 70,000. Ian Paisley cares .  He gathered with a handful of fellow enthusiasts from the ’reformed church’ to record his opposition to the papal visit.  It’s fair to say that even he cares less these days though. Fellow Presbyterians have been subject to more vituperative protests by Lord Bannside in the past.     T...

This will be your lot today I'm afraid, due to an engagement. Still it's a goody. For the fifth time in five years Ballymena have put Glentoran to the sword, at the Oval. Kevin Kelbie scored both United goals in a 2-1 win. Extremely disappointed that I couldn't be there. Still, what a tonic for a team that were rooted to the bottom of the table.

The Barclays Premier League begins next weekend and Liverpool new boy Alberto Aquilani could be called into immediate action against Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield (pending medicals). Closer to home the rather grandly titled Carling Premiership kicks off on Saturday. Perennial favourites, Glentoran and Linfield, face trickier opening fixtures than they might ideally have chosen. The reining champions face Distillery in Lisburn whilst David Jeffrey’s shower travel to Coleraine. However all eyes (or at least these eyes) will be trained on the Showgrounds where Roy Walker’s Ballymena United side begins its title challenge against Cliftonville. The Sky Blues’ pre-season has been rather compact this year and I have only managed to attend one of the friendly matches. It was a rather patchy display against Dunmurry Rec, which the senior outfit eventually won by three goals to one. That game saw the debut of former international player Andy Smith, a striker of whom much will be expecte...

Deirdre Nelson, the Ballymena councillor who recently defected from the DUP, has officially announced her intention to fulfil council duties as a member of the Conservative party. It is, admittedly, a little curious that Nelson’s disillusionment with her former party seems to date from Ian Paisley’s departure as leader. The North Antrim MP’s rabble rousing style hardly conformed to the inclusive, pan-UK unionism which the Conservatives espouse. But that is the type of politics which the councillor explicitly endorsed when she explained her decision to colleagues at the council’s offices at Ardeevin, according to the Ballymena Times . “I have watched, with interest, the recent moves by the Conservative Party to begin to steer Northern Ireland away from sectarian politics into normal UK politics and to ensure that Northern Ireland fulfils (its) role as an integral and necessary part of the United Kingdom, in which all traditions are welcomed. “This, coupled with the recent visit by Da...

Yesterday I had the dubious pleasure of driving to Ballyclare, buffeted by wind and lashed by rain, in order to watch 45 minutes of football, half-covered by a leaky shed. Ballymena United's cup tie was subsequently called off, at half-time, with the Sky Blues leading 1-0. Conditions had not worsened noticably in the 45 minutes which were played. If the pitch was unplayable, or there were safety considerations, why was the match started in the first place? The referee inspected the pitch just five minutes before kick-off. Several other ties were similarly abandoned at half-time. The cynic in me suspects that playing enough minutes in order to negate the necessity of refunds for supporters might have been a prime consideration. Of course the clubs and the IFA can help allay such any suspicions by opening up the gates for the re-arranged fixtures. In the light of some very dubious decision making, surely this is the least fans deserve?

Whatever family delights Christmas Day can provide, for me the essence of the season is Boxing Day Irish League football. It offers much the year's largest crowds and frequently it is a rare occasion for Northern Irish fans to feel that they are attending a 'proper' big match. I have spectated at a number of seasonal Big Two clashes, including the famous occasion when the sides took to the pitch with an invisible white ball on a snow white surface, but for me Boxing Day normally features Ballymena United versus Coleraine and all the local rivalry which that fixture entails. Tomorrow Ballymena host the Gasmen at the Showgrounds hoping to extend a four game winning streak. Points have been at a premium for Roy Walker's men this season, but wins against Glentoran and Linfield suggest a big derby win in eminently possible. So hear's hoping that Kevin Kelbie bangs in a couple and sends Coleraine home with a sound beating. I'm convinced that the Sky Blues are not...

I hope they ultimately win the league, but what a delight to see Glentoran vanquished by a late Kevin Kelbie strike at the oval yesterday! Ballymena may still be bottom but we're too good to go down. Good luck to both the Sky Blues and Glentoran on Boxing Day.

I couldn't let this go past without a plug. Ballymena United will grace Sky Sports 1 tonight , as the game against Newry City is broadcast throughout the UK. The mind boggles. For those who can get to the Showgrounds tonight value for money is to be had. Admission is £3 for adults and U16s get in free. Let's hope Walkers' men play like they did against Linfield and don't reproduce some of their other form so far this season. If you can't make it, crack open a can and settle into your favourite armchair or (if like me you are a freeview pleb) get yourself down to the pub!

Long may it continue ! I'd settle for this come next May. The restyled Irish League gets underway this Saturday. Ballymena have a new manager and appear to be playing football on the ground this year. It's difficult to tell from a couple of friendlies how that'll develop as the season gets going properly. Our opener is against Glentoran who will be seeking revenge for a 4-2 defeat last year.

In May 1989, still some six months before the Berlin Wall fell, Ballymena United lifted the Irish Cup at the Oval in Belfast, Paul Hardy’s back heel accounting for Larne in the final. The Braidmen have not lifted a senior trophy since and on Saturday another manager announced his departure from the club . Like all his predecessors since Alex McKee masterminded the cup win, Tommy Wright’s tenure at the club has ended in failure. The big ex-goalkeeper has been in charge for three seasons having previously enjoyed comparative success as manager of Limavady United. Although he cites personal concerns amongst the reasons for his resignation, the tenor betrays a disappointment with results and the conviction that he has taken the Sky Blues as far as he could. Wright traces his disillusion to the end of February. Around Christmas Ballymena had strung together a fine run of wins and threatened to mount credible campaigns in the Irish Cup and in the league, where a strong finish might have ...

Ballymena United boss Tommy Wright has been recognised for the startling turnaround he has affected at the club. The Sky Blues’ manager has been awarded with a deserved Harp Manager of the Month award for December . As you will observe, the trophy for this achievement features some manner of bizarre hexagonal pattern reminiscent of the Giant’s Causeway. Wright turned down the opportunity to take up a position as Norwich City’s goalkeeping coach last Friday. He will remain instead at the Ballymena Showgrounds and attempt to extend United’s 12 game unbeaten run to 13 as we face Newry City in the Irish Cup on Saturday. A boisterous Ballymena support is expected to roar on their team, given the early departure of several buses on Saturday morning. These are changed times from the beginning of the season when Wright’s charges went on a 6 game losing streak . It is therefore unsurprising to read that Tommy feels some solidarity with Sam Allardyce, who was sacked from Wright’s old club...

I’m almost reluctant to raise the subject lest my acknowledgment presages a dramatic return to type, but I can no longer ignore the remarkable form being shown by Ballymena United. The chant “United are back” has rung out on innumerable false dawns since the Sky Blues’ last major trophy in 1989, but yesterday at the Oval it carried the stiffened intent of 12 games without loss as it echoed across the East Belfast gloom. I have retained a degree of cynicism during the unbeaten run, although I’ve welcomed the increased resolve and spirit which have enabled the team to string together a consistent series of results. Beating Glentoran 4-2 , away from home, having twice fallen behind, is an achievement of a different magnitude however and the manner in which this accomplishment was realised has sparked in me the sneaking suspicion that perhaps what Tommy Wright is constructing at the Showgrounds could be genuinely special. Ballymena proved yesterday that not only can they eke out results,...

Earlier this season David Jeffrey lied about Ballymena United fans and gifted those with an agenda against local football and against perceived unionist fans . Unsurprisingly the fact that Ballymena's fans have been unequivocally vindicated with the IFA finding that there was " no basis of fact in the allegations made by Mr Jeffrey " has attracted less publicity. Mud sticks and the damage has already been done by the bald obese liar. Jeffrey and Linfield have been given offical warnings by the IFA - this is of course an ineffective slap on the wrist.

There is something almost pleasingly symmetrical about Slugger’s resident Shinner bigot parroting the defamations of another abhorrent mouthpiece from a different tradition. Clearly incoherent republican propaganda on the internet is one thing, but when the public face of obesity in local sport unravels the sulphurous sphincter of his imagination to dump lustily on the clean floor of truth, the snivelling sycophants who comprise local sports’ journalism gobble up his diarrhoeic offerings with ravenous enthusiasm. The porcine liar’s vendetta against Ballymena fans seems to date back to taunts referring to his marital break-up. But the fat philanderer seems to see no substantive difference between songs sung by a football crowd and delivering bare-faced lies in a news conference. Anyone with a modicum of experience of either Ballymena fans or the Irish League in general knows this incident didn’t happen and even Linfield fans are tentatively suggesting that their imbecilic boss has got ...

I have missed the handful of Ballymena friendlies played thus far this season, including a fine 2-0 win against St Johnstone. This Saturday, however I will be in attendance, as the real Sky Blues play another team who answer to the same nickname: Coventry City. Happily there is a tremendous bonus as it transpires that Northern Ireland's legendary winger Michael Hughes is likely to play some part in the game. OWC supporters have many happy memories of Hughes, who began his career as a skillful, pacy wide player and has evolved into a crafty midfielder as age has diminished his pace. Who can forget his brilliant goal against Germany which put us into the lead deep into the 2nd half and awoke the beast of Oliver Bierhoff, Northern Ireland eventually being defeated 3-1? Michael won the last of 71 caps at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff in 2004 and copper-fastened his cult status with a fine challenge on Robbie Savage, which saw the little Larne man picking up a red card and a 3 match ...