A collision of two teams who rescued the Euros...
Innocent pleasure shown by Wales and Northern Ireland is joy to behold
AFEW days before Euro 2016 began, I wandered out of the Northern Ireland training base in the small town of Saint-Georges-de-Reneins, my tournament accreditation dangling round my neck and made my way to the main road to get a couple of cans of soft drink and a sandwich.
The only place that was open was an unprepossessing kebab joint next to the boulangerie. I put the cans on the counter and proffered my money. The man saw my accreditation and realised I was with the Northern Irish. He waved the money away. ‘C’est un cadeau,’ he said. ‘It’s a present.’
It was a small gesture but it was the first taste of the goodwill and the good humour that Michael O’Neill’s side and their Green and White Army of supporters have spread on their first appearance at a European Championships. When they met Wales here at the Parc des Princes, it is no exaggeration to say it was a collision of two teams that rescued the tournament.
At its start, it seemed cursed. It was born under a pall of fear about terrorist attacks, the drift of tear gas as English and Russian hooligans fought each other around the Vieux Port in Marseille and the chaos of a series of transport strikes that paralysed the rail and plane networks. It seemed the tournament would be starved of joy.
But to follow Northern Ireland and Wales here, to see the innocent pleasure they have taken in being on the big stage at last, has been to wallow in a kind of football nirvana. It has felt like being transported back to a time when camaraderie and bonhomie existed between football fans, when going to big tournaments felt like being part of a happy league of nations.
That spirit, that togetherness, has been particularly inspiring this week at a time when Britain has taken the decision to shrink away from the world and retreat into fearful isolationism. The mood of Brexit has no place at a meeting of countries like this, save from its appearance in those ugly scenes in Marseille when groups of England fans yelled their contempt for Europe.
Both Wales and Northern Ireland have embraced this tournament and it has embraced them. One of the highlights of Euro 2016 so far came last Tuesday night at this stadium when O’Neill’s team lost 1-0 to world champions Germany. The Germans played well but it was not the game that will live long in the memory but its aftermath. The Northern Ireland fans stayed in the Parc des Princes long after the final whistle. It was not because they were being kept in. It was because they did not want to leave. They did not know then that they would definitely be in the second round and they wanted to savour every last moment on this grand stage. And so they stayed and they stayed. Thousands of their fans remained in the stadium for three quarters of an hour after the match, singing and dancing. The stadium announcers got into the spirit too, and played the music to the ‘Will Grigg’s on Fire’ chant that has become the anthem of the Northern Ireland fans here. One end of the stadium bounced up and down in unison, a mass of green happiness. A Parisian friend of mine took his daughter to the match and she said it was one of the best things she had ever seen
The Will Grigg’s on Fire chant, actually, has become the anthem of the tournament too. In Paris, you hear people whistling it. It sums up the best of the tournament. It sums up the indomitability of the underdog and the importance just of taking part. It sums up the joy of being here and of striving for something that most believe is beyond their reach.
The Welsh have been superb too. Everyone who was in Bordeaux for their opening game against Slovakia spoke of the fantastic atmosphere between the two sets of fans. And after the violence between the England and Russia supporters, England’s match against Wales in Lens acted as a salve to soothe the angst away.
The Welsh have also lit up the tournament on the pitch and they deserved their victory last night. They have been one of the best teams in the tournament in its early stages. Their drubbing of Russia was one of the performances of the tournament and in Gareth Bale, Joe Allen and Aaron Ramsey, they have had three of the best players in these Euros.
Bale was excellent again last night even though for the first 75 minutes of the match the two sides cancelled each other out. But even though he was fouled repeatedly, even though he was buffeted and hacked and crowded, Bale would not be quietened and it was his driven cross as the match entered its last 15 minutes that was turned into his own goal by Gareth McAuley.
Northern Ireland did their best to force an equaliser but the Welsh were too strong to allow them a sniff of getting back into the match.
As the reality bit that they were heading for the quarter-finals of their first major tournament for 58 years, the Wales fans sang the name of the late Gary Speed, their former manager. As one fairy-tale came to an end, another continued.
Belgium or Hungary await Wales in the last eight and whichever side faces them will not believe they have an easy task. Wales have arrived as a respected footballing nation at this tournament.
The Northern Ireland fans continued to sing even after the final whistle, standing to give their players and O’Neill a rapturous reception and exulting in what has been the experience of their footballing lives. They have an awful lot to be proud of.
At the other end, the Welsh exulted too. ‘Don’t take me home,’ the red hordes sang, ‘please don’t take me home’. Thankfully, there is no danger of that just yet.