An Opportunity for a New Beginning: Soccer, Irish Nationalists and the Construction of a New Multi‐Sports Stadium for Northern Ireland

This essay examines two issues which for some time have dominated discussions on soccer in Northern Ireland. One is the long‐standing reticence of northern nationalists, Irish nationalists living in Northern Ireland, to attend home international matches. For a range of political, social and ideological reasons large numbers of this community have stayed away from these games for more than three decades. The other is the recent decision by the British government to build a new multi‐sports stadium on the outskirts of the capital city, Belfast. Viewed together, these developments give rise to a broader argument, as the present essay points to, which suggests that notwithstanding the well‐founded opposition northern nationalists have had towards symbols of unionist hegemony in Northern Ireland, including the Irish Football Association (IFA), it is now time to move on. In so doing it offers an ideal opportunity for all concerned to contribute to the birth of a new political and social context in this most divided of western societies.