Twenty one years after a heroic night on the Spanish coast for a Northern Ireland football team, a white shirted and green shorted male walks through the (almost) Franco-resistant city of Valencia to investigate the demonic effect that a goal by Gerry Armstrong has had on a patriotically Spanish population. I walked through Valencia on Read more about Hunting Down The Ghost Of Luis Casanova: Valencia, Spain, 2003[…]
My first Summer living in Bournemouth, Dorset was still probably my busiest time ever. At the time I had 3 jobs, all running at the same time! But I still loved it, enjoyed every moment of it and look back and take some great memories with it. To go with my part time jobs in Read more about One Mr. Softee with a flake please: FIRST Summer at Best Break, Bournemouth (Summer 2004)[…]
Having lived in Dorset for nigh on five years and devoted so much time to watching and supporting AFC Bournemouth (The Cherries), the time came to support Dorset’s other big team (albeit only for 90 minutes). Weymouth is a beautiful English seaside town, lined with narrow streets, traditional shops, a beach, a pier, some excellent Read more about Oh we do like to be beside the seaside…Weymouth 2-1 Droylsden (15.04.2008)[…]
In June 2006, only 7 months after the South of England Northern Ireland Supporters Club was formed, I invited everyone down to Bournemouth and thought we could have a day out at the seaside – trip to the pier and beach and laugh at my co-workers who were slaving away while I had the day Read more about SOENISC Days: Bournemouth turns green for a day! (22nd June 2006)[…]
Northern Ireland’s support was pretty shit in the 1990s. That’s just the way things were. I attended at least one home match a year, and for the last 4 years of the decade, I didn’t miss one. I have fond memories of EVERY trip to Windsor Park to watch my beloved Norn Iron (win, lose Read more about The night the world champions came to town – Northern Ireland 0-1 France (August 1999)[…]
* This is a very old post, I cleared things up a bit better on the Great Exam Heist and the Aftermath on those articles. This story also appears in my book, Backpacking Centurion Volume 1 – Don’t Look Back In Bangor! It was June 1997 and I said my farewells to a school Read more about “I threw a brick through a window” – ending things appropriately in Bangor Grammar School[…]
It was March 2005 and I was in Poland’s capital Warsaw on my 25th Birthday. I had taken a mobile phone with me, but didn’t expect to use it. I turned it on just to check and I had received a text message from Jason Hawkins, head of media at Nerve Media, Bournemouth University. I Read more about National Student TV Awards🏆!! Attending The NASTAs, Loughborough, England🏴Easter 2005[…]
It’s a great honour and a privilege to play sport and to take part. What is an even bigger honour is to tell people that you were the champion at that sport in your country. I was and we were. I am proud to say I was and really, I wouldn’t have had it any Read more about 10th Bangor Boy’s Brigade⚓: Northern Ireland🔴✋️☘️Champions🏆1997 – 1998[…]
I’d watched Big Brother since series 1 in the year 2000 (wasn’t it strange that we were all fully grown?). I even applied to be on it, sending in a video of me cutting meat in Steenson’s butchery (I’m going to have to find that video sometime and fire it up!). I also appeared in Read more about The Lock In Part One: Auditions, Voting and The Big Night![…]
I had been to Southampton a few times, sometimes to fly from the airport back to George Best Belfast City. Other times, as band manager of the waves, I had been to rehearsals and gigs there. It is a big city, and much less busy than London. It was only a matter of time before Read more about Hong Kong Army Alfred! Southampton FA Cup Final Day (May 2006)[…]