The ‘Candystripes’ are in an unusual position. Manager Declan Devine draws on history to put Derry City on road to Europe
LONDONDERRY, Northern Ireland - At a time when so much focus on both sides of the Irish border is on the European Union and its future relationship with the United Kingdom, Declan Devine has another kind of Europe on his mind.
That would complete a swift turnaround in fortunes for a club that finished last season one place above the relegation zone in the 10-team league, which plays during the summer months.While based in Northern Ireland, violence in the Bogside area where Derry’s Brandywell ground is located in the 1970s during the conflict referred to as the “Troubles” led to them switching to play in the Republic’s football league in 1985.
“It was the same with the fans, everyone was down. Attendances were down... there was no rapport between fans and players,” he told Reuters in an interview.Such a state of affairs rankled with Derry-born Devine, who was a young fan at the club’s first game after they joined the League of Ireland following 13 years in the wilderness — they had quit league football in the north in 1972.
“People all singing and in the scarves... the enjoyment, the roar and the smell of the football in those first few years it was a release for everyone. “We heard about the tough times, about the siege of Derry, about Bloody Sunday, about hunger strikers and all the rest. It gave us that wee bit of feeling that we are only a small cog in the machine here and one day we will be gone, but that the history of Derry City is very important to the people of Derry,” he said.
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