Remembering John Hume by Tom Hanley
Just as we uploaded tonight’s edition for print, we heard the news of the passing of John Hume, a man whose impact and legacy on the island of Ireland in terms of peace and reconciliation cannot be overestimated. In 1997, he did an interview with Tom Hanley for the St Patrick’s Athletic programme which detailed his passion for football and Derry City FC. This is that interview reprinted. Given your very heavy commitments in Northern Ireland, Westminster and in Europe, what opportunities do you have to follow the progress of your native Derry City team? It is almost impossible for me to get a chance to go to a match because of work pressures and other commitments. But I follow progress through the local media. As well as the local papers in the Derry area, Radio Foyle, with its great sports pieces, is great for keeping someone like me in touch with the progress, problems or prospects in local soccer. Some might argue that this is spoiling local fans, who may have got lazy about getting to the Brandywell. From your position as a keen observer of Derry’s progress, how would you assess their title prospects? The current Derry team are obviously performing well, with a fair degree of consistency. The fact that they have maintained their leading position recently, in spite of injuries and other problems is a testimony to the players, as well as Felix Healy. In politics, prophecy is the most gratuitous form of error,
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so I have to be careful about predicting the Championship for Derry City. A week is a long time in football, as in politics. Derry City attracted massive crowds in their early years of League of Ireland football. Do you see such crowds returning again given the team’s recent success? The big gates that Derry used to get have of course dropped. Something like this was to be expected as the novelty factor wore off and as financial limitations tended to curb on field presence, with some favourite players moving. The impact of live football on satellite has been another factor and even moving games to take account of this, creates a variable pattern of matches, which does not encourage habitual support. I hope that approaching success will generate an uplift in support and income at the Brandywell. The team deserve it, the manager deserves it, the board deserve it, as do all the back-up workers for the club, and not least, the steady supporters.
2020 Season • Vol. 32 • No. 3 • St Patrick’s Athletic v Derry City / Finn Harps
