Three new murals are added to the walls of the Lecky Road underpass to brighten it up. Above, St Colmcille (St Columba) sails from Derry to Iona (Scotland), in order to start a monastery there; he founded a Derry monastery in 540. The smaller pieces show the emblem of (Glasgow) Celtic FC and a young mother in front of a (civil rights?) protest beside Free Derry Corner.
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Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
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Rangers Football Club, founded in 1873, has its home in Glasgow, Scotland but has a large following among Northern Irish Protestants.
Union Street, Portadown
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Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
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A mural to Manchester United and Northern Ireland soccer star George Best replaces a Billy Wright mural (J0320; see also this BBC article for tensions centered on the mural) in Brownstown Road, Portadown. With the URL www.georgebest.com
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Copyright © 2008 Peter Moloney
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“Remember collusion victims”. The graffiti refers to a Gaelic football game played between local club St Brigid’s and the PSNI. It was the first time the PSNI squad had played a team from the north (Irish Times | BelTel).
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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
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Ibrox Stadium is the home ground of Scottish club Glasgow Rangers, which has a large following among Protestants in Northern Ireland. The bar was formerly the Bunch Of Grapes (owned by the UDA’s Jim Gray). It’s initial attempt to rebrand itself using Rangers’ logo and the name “Ibrox” drew threat from the club (Irish Independent), and it changed its livery to the Eye-brox bar shown above.
Beersbridge Road, east Belfast
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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
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Established in 2004, Cumann Na Fuıseoıge (The Lark) is “ag soláthar spórt Ghaelaıgh don phobal sa cheantar Coılın” [providing Gaelic games to the people in the Colin area]. The club is named after the image of the lark (and barbed wire) used by Bobby Sands in his 1979 article The Lark And The Freedom Fighter. The choice of emblem proved controversial – Slugger.
Previously: a fundraiser for the club.
Jasmine Corner, Belfast/Dunmurry
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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
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Scottish soccer team Celtic won the European Cup (shown on the right) in 1967. Under manager Martin O’Neill (on the left, 2000-2005) Celtic reached the UEFA Cup final in 2003, losing to Porto.
Friendly Street, Markets, Belfast
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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
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“Equality for Irish”. At the 2006 Sınn Féın Slógadh, MEP Baırbe De Brún called for an Irish Language Act (Sinn Féin press release). The protesters in the mural carry placards reading “Is Gael mıse – teastaıonn Gaeılge uaım [I am Irish, I need Irish]”, “Naıre oraınn a Chomaırle [Shame on you, [Belfast City] Council]”, “Cearta teanga – cearta daonna [not “daonne”]” – “language rights, human rights”. “We demand respect for our culture.”
The same trio of Pádraıg Mac Pıaraıs, Winifred Carney, and Roıbéard Ó Seachnasaıgh appears in Cláraıgh Le Sınn Féın. Sands’s famous saying (“the laughter of our children …”) is translated into Irish: Is é gáıre ár gcuıd páıstí a bheas mar dhıoltas again.
Shiels Street, west Belfast
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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
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The Liam MacCarthy cup is awarded each year to the All-Ireland hurling champions. It was commissioned by and is named after London Irish-speaker Liam MacCarthy. He was elected a councillor for Peckham North and chaired the London GAA board, of which Michael Collins and Sam Maguire were also members (WP) – the All-Ireland champion footballers are awarded the Sam Maguire Cup. “Gael, patriot – Ireland’s forgotten son.”
Divis Street, Belfast
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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
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Frosted glass in the Bogside Inn, Derry, for the Free Derry Celtic Supporters Club, (the Derry No 1 supporters club – Fb).
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Copyright © 2006 Peter Moloney
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Peter Moloney Collection 