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Class War issue 81: Belfast Bhoy
It will be interesting to see how the Northern Ireland football authorities handle the campaign of sectarian abuse directed at Northern Ireland midfielder Neil Lennon. Lennon was booed and abused throughout Northern Ireland's friendly defeat by Norway in March, despite being one of the best midfielders ever to play for the country. Loyalists make up virtually the entire Northern Ireland support and Loyalist bigots for the heinous crime of being a Celtic player targeted Lennon.
The previous Celtic player to be capped for Northern Ireland, Anton Rogan, hardly set the football world alight as a player, and this helped ensure the Irish FA could sweep such abuse under the carpet. Lennon however, is the sort of player who teams are built around and journalists want to speak to day in day out.
Rather obviously, football in Northern Ireland mirrors the wider society of Northern Ireland. If Northern Ireland's football supporters have a problem with a player of Lennon's ability it tells us quite a bit about Northern Ireland and quite a lot about the nature of Loyalism.
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