A game between Rangers and Celtic in Belfast with both teams wearing each others shirts. This isn’t some kind of utopian fantasy but a suggestion from 1998 than has been detailed as part of UK government records.
What could possibly have gone wrong!
The context was the period leading up to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 which was a major development in the Northern Ireland peace process and effectively ended ‘The Troubles’.
In order to publicise the upcoming referendums on the GFA, then-advisor to PM Tony Blair and No.10 ‘spin doctor’ Alistair Campbell had a very cunning plan, as detailed today by RTE:
“A special football match between Celtic and Rangers in Belfast to publicise the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement was proposed by No 10 adviser Alistair Campbell, according to British cabinet papers just released.”
“Mr Campbell suggested that the teams wear each other’s jerseys in the match.”
To think that @campbellclaret wanted Rangers and Celtic to wear each others shirts? 😆 That has to be a wind up.
The answer would be the same in Buenos Aires, Rome and anywhere else where partisan, entrenched football rivalries exist regardless of the divide. https://t.co/qkq5LF6Ccv
— Graeme Hanna (@graeme818) July 19, 2022
Out of touch
It is amazing to think that a serious political operator like Campbell would believe that such an idea would have even the slightest chance of happening, showing an acute lack of understanding on the depth of feeling in the real world, both in a football rivalry context as well as the precarious situation that Northern Ireland was in, during those delicate peace negotiations at the time.
As for wearing each others shirts, that suggestion deserves nothing but contempt and actually disrespects people and the reality of what the Old Firm divide represents in many ways.
Did they really think that suddenly the people of Belfast and beyond would be swapping shirts and flags, dancing and singing together in circles of love and joy. Absolutely ridiculous stuff.
Just months later after the arrival of Dick Advocaat at Ibrox, Rangers were drawn against Shelbourne of Dublin in a UEFA Cup qualifier. That the away leg for the Gers couldn’t or wouldn’t be held in the Irish republic capital tells you all you need to know about that time.