04/19/24
August 21, 2002
Neil Lennon,: who was due to captain Northern Ireland tonight, withdrew from the game after receiving death threats, which the police took very seriously indeed. His crime? being born a catholic. The French player Bixente Lizarazu has been threatened by his Basque brothers for the heinous crime of turning out for Madrid. So much for sport being a unifying force. Maybe I am naive, but I would have liked to have seen Lennons team mates just say, fuck it, we are not prepared to play under these circumstances and just go home.
posted by Fat Buddha to soccer at 03:12 PM - 5 comments
Wearing the wrong Glasgow shirt in the wrong part of Northern Ireland - as a supporter, not just a player - can still get you killed. But this bigotry has crippled Northern Irish football for years, and pollutes Scottish football also. A reason for a single British team, if ever there was one. (And I don't think there are many reasons for it.)
posted by etagloh at 05:24 PM on August 21, 2002
It's a disgraceful situation. If I had been one of Lennon's team-mates, I think I would have announced my international retirement on the spot. I know that the Belfast Giants ice hockey team are absolutely paranoid about allowing sectarianism to take hold at their matches. Celtic and Rangers shirts are banned, as are national flags and any other paraphanalia which might have sectarian links. Good luck to them, because they're going to need it.
posted by salmacis at 09:56 AM on August 22, 2002
Seems silly to quit over this..but i don't know what kind of threat he got. Was it a phone call? A letter? What makes him think someone is actually going to go through with this? Has it happened before?
posted by StarFucker at 01:47 PM on August 22, 2002
Starfucker, he has suffered dogs abuse from the terraces and has been threatened before. It was taken seriously because whoever phoned used a code word that was recognised as a code word used by "loyalist" terrorists. The history of St Endas Gaelic football club suggests caution is the prudent way in that particular neck of the woods. Lennon has now retired from international football.
posted by Fat Buddha at 06:58 PM on August 22, 2002
In this case, the terrorists have won. Are we going to start seeing crap like this in Premiership and other high-level club games? Oh, never mind the Basquos have already been there, done that. Grrrrrr...