GAA in The Troubles: ‘Results were smuggled into jail. You would hear a cheer if their club won a big game’

Fifty years ago, Antrim looked set to establish themselves as the coming power in football. With numerous underage and schools titles adding up and a senior final appearance in 1970 having beaten the mighty Down, they were on the cusp of something special. In a few short weeks at the start of 1971, The Troubles ignited and everything changed in a Belfast that soon resembled a war zone. Declan Bogue tells the story of that decline.

A British soldier on patrol in Belfast in March 1971. Picture: John Minihan/Evening Standard/Getty Images

For those signing up to the Provisional wing of the Irish Republican Army, the choice was spelled out to them before they took their oath.

The fluffy stuff, the romance and all that, they got from monuments and old songs and stories about the glory of Old Ireland. The Belfast Brigade would dispense with niceties.