1970s Glory Days

JIM NEILLY COMMENTATING: That's nicely done. Well taken by Croker.

Lovely transfer.

Here goes Humphreys! Has the Ulster skipper got the pace?

Has he got the pace? He has got the pace.

CHEERING

That is sensational!

Out of nothing whatsoever, David Humphreys...

Billy McAllen, into the start and finish chicane

to take the win of the Northwest 200.

CHEERING

He's done it!

The ball transferred inside to McConville.

It's a goal for Armagh!

CHEERING

Cochrane keeps it in.

Now is a chance. Armstrong! Yes!

Armstrong has scored for Northern Ireland!

CHEERING

Hiya! We all need the action replays.

They've kept me in a job for many years.

Hello and welcome to Glory Days,

where we will take you on a journey

through the extensive sporting archives of BBC Northern Ireland.

It's fair to say sport brings drama into our lives,

be it through glory or tragedy.

We all know the joy, of course,

of that last-minute winner hitting the net,

or the devastation of being on the receiving end.

But mostly, televised sport offers viewers an escape from everyday life

and that's where we at the BBC come in.

Capturing and broadcasting pictures since 1953,

we've been there as our wee country has punched way above its weight

over all those years.

So, we begin our trip down memory lane with the 1970s.

Here's a snapshot of life at that time.

EXPLOSION

Do you know, I have to tell you, I still miss my mohawk!

The '70s produced many glorious sporting moments for our heroes,

both here at home and beyond.

So let's kick off with 1970,

the year when a Bull was chasing gold!

10,000 have stayed to watch this.

Ooh, he's made it

and 10,000 leap into the air for him. Look at that!

He'll savour that moment the rest of his life.

APPLAUSE

'We had a wonderful working relationship.'

We used to travel quite a lot over to Crystal Palace and White City

and I used to have to run ahead of him,

so the automatic doors would open

to allow his pole to go through first.

Clements.

Best, just with Stiles between him and the goal.

And he's got a clear chance.

And that is 1-1!

CHEERING

As John Lister, three shots in the lead,

pitching to the last. Up it goes.

Oh, superb shot.

Stopped rather quickly.

But there you have it.

John Lister, a name to remember, wins the Gallaher Ulster Open

with a fine, fine score - 16 under par.

ENGINE REVS

The winner for the second year running, Brian Nelson in a Crosley.

People forget just what a brilliant driver Brian Nelson was.

The year before, 1970, he was on a real high.

The Crosley car company had built a machine called an 18F,

which was a Formula 2 car.

It's the one round in Ireland

where it's a part of the British Championships.

All these specialist guys come with their very specialist cars

and, in those days, it was the last of the gentleman racers.

They were a very tight clique.

Suddenly, this little car came from over the hill

with a local driver they'd never heard of and beat them.

CHEERING

Chance for Best.

And it's there!

Beautiful!

George Best, the idol of Northern Ireland...

That was the first football match I ever went to.

We, as supporters, probably felt

it was him against the rest of them, even though it wasn't,

there were some good names in that Northern Irish side.

When you were watching Besty,

it was like watching a pop star onstage. It was showbiz.

CHEERING

Best! A foul given.

Fascinating piece of football thinking by Best.

This is Patterson for Linfield.

Magee breaking down the middle...

..to Hamilton.

Coyle went in terribly strongly on Patterson. Hamilton getting it in.

And flicked in by Magee!

And I haven't seen a sight like this before at the Oval.

The Linfield fans swarming onto this pitch

and shouting, "We are the champions."

We move on to 1972,

an example of how our sporting icons gave us

an identity around the world, other than that of bombs and bullets.

So, take a bow, Mary P - the golden girl!

SHE YELLS

Mary Peters is one

of the all-time superstars, in my opinion.

And she goes clear yet again!

Her charm, the way she smiled all the time,

the image she gave,

was one of those things.

Everybody who was interested in sport at the time

will always remember that.

This is the one that matters!

It wasn't quite enough to ensure that

I was going to be as successful as I hoped to be,

because I had to run faster than I had ever done before

in the final race, which was the 200 metres.

Rosendhal will set them off, surely.

The roar for Rosendhal,

but Peters staying well at the moment.

I could hear the voices of people that I knew, calling my name,

so I knew that I had to run for them and for people back home

who would be watching.

Mary, come on, come on, you've got two yards to make.

Rosendhal hits the tape first,

Butler second, Pollak third, Peters fourth, but is it enough?

She's waiting for her time. The other three are up.

24.08. She may have done it! She may have done it!

The moment I knew was when Heidi walked across with outstretched arms

to give me a hug and say well done.

It was surreal.

It was a dream come true. I'd worked so hard for it.

I just felt so proud and so happy

for Buster, my coach, who had invested so much of his time

in making me an Olympic champion.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

I felt very much that Northern Ireland

was going through such a tragic time

that it raised everybody's expectations for a better future

for a few hours.

I went for gold, I won gold

and I've brought it back for you.

CHEERING

'I was proud to be coming home to my city.'

# Some people call me

# The space cowboy...#

Irvine the only Irish player in the six yard box.

Terry Neill is up there. Neill!

CHEERING

Irvine got a little touch and Terry Neill scores for Northern Ireland.

BARRELS CLANG

This is Tommy Carroll

'There was a lot of controversy

'behind the organisation of that.'

COMMENTATOR: The goalkeeper in trouble, not a good punch.

And it's finally there from Martin O'Neill.

Aldo moving nicely into space.

Jairzinho to his right. No cover there. It must be.

And it is!

The Irish FA and indeed the FAI

were concerned about its status.

Jairzinho.

Conroy giving up the chase.

Paulo Cesar...

Oh, what a goal by Paulo Cesar!

Pele says that this man is his successor

and Pele would have been quite proud of that.

'That there, I thought,

'was an example where it proved

'if you've got the players, you could achieve a lot.'

Goalkeeper not well-positioned and Derek Dougan the scorer!

CHEERING

ENGINES REV

# You're dirty sweet and you're my girl. #

Well, I think I've stood on the sidelines of this game too long.

I'll have to go and find out find out what this football's all about.

It was the first time ever

that a Lions team had been allowed

to play against a coloured team.

They weren't mixed but at least it was a beginning.

We were never political, but at least it was giving that

sort of boost to rugby football out there, which was terrific.

Bennett to McBride to Mervyn Davies.

We were the first team to beat South Africa in South Africa.

The All Blacks had never done it.

They were just marvellous guys and they had one thing - let's win.

Slattery with men outside. Inside beautifully to Phil Bennett.

Look at that acceleration.

'They went through South Africa like the proverbial dose of salts.

'They didn't take any prisoners.'

And the cornerstones of that were Sid as coach

and his fellow Ballymena man, Willie John,

as captain.

'I remember leading the team out in the Second Test

'and the sun hitting me.

'I just knew that there were 14 guys coming behind me

'that were not going to lose.'

When you reach and build that sort of confidence,

well, you've made it.

Palmed by Brown.

Edwards just eluding Ellis.

McGeechan to Milligan. Out to JJ Williams.

Williams showing a good turn of speed.

Flicks it back inside to JPR. Five yards short to JJ Williams again.

He's going to score under the posts!

It was a wonderful achievement.

They were denied a grand slam or clean sweep or a whitewash

by a try scored by a Fergus Slattery that was disallowed by the referee

who said afterwards, "Look, I have to live here, you know."

And that's it.

The Lions leap in the air. They've done it.

And there, the man that's led them.

We give them a heck of a hiding. I couldn't believe it.

We had a happy hour after!

'Northern Ireland, tremendous cheer for Northern Ireland.

The flag carried by Mike Ball

the Commonwealth pole vaulting champion.

And Mary Peters greets the crowd! She's having trouble with that wind,

but Mary Peters clearly enjoying her fifth Commonwealth Games.

Gerry Storey, the trainer of Northern Ireland,

delighted and, of course,

so is 24-year-old, Dave Larmour.

Bull is hauling himself along with 50 yards to go.

There he is, content,

confident that he's got the gold.

Oh, marvellous points for Mary!

But has she brought more sunshine to Belfast?

Mary Peters has retained the pentathlon title by only 32 points!

APPLAUSE

Another reason why she's known as the Golden Girl

- our Mary.

On we go to 1975.

And a welcome return for international football

back to Windsor Park after four very long years.

As the Troubles escalated,

more and more nations didn't want to come here.

Yugoslavia were heroes.

They were applauded by the government,

by the Irish FA.

They broke the mould.

Tommy Jenkinson to take this corner.

It's a good one. Alan Hunter!

And Hunter's there and Brian Hamilton!

A fine goal from that corner.

People walked out of Windsor Park that night lifted.

Suddenly, here was football back again.

Football with a win.

They were jubilant.

That was the start of the green and white army!

That's what's known as riding a clean section.

TYRES SCREECH

It's up to John O'Leary

as Brian Mullins has gone back to try to cover up.

O'Leary in now...

It's a goal. It's a goal. A great goal.

A great goal by Sean O'Connell!

Geoff Capes once again.

Geoff was an international shot-putter of repute.

Olympian, etc.

Huge man, I think,

probably about six foot six and muscles in his spit, as they say.

You wouldn't mess about with Geoff Capes.

And they announced towards the end of this meet

that there was going to be an invitation relay race.

And I jokingly said, "I bet you they have Geoff Capes

"running the anchor leg!" And they did!

I don't believe this. That big man could never run.

Boy, was I wrong!

Watch this changeover.

The big man moving and I'm sure he's pounding that track.

'Away he goes. The crowd roaring! What a beautiful action!

My word! He is moving. I wouldn't like to stand in his way.

And the crowd cheering him.

He blistered the track!

Probably the most spectacular one was Ronnie White from Armagh

in his little lightweight Mini. He rolled it over

and it just burst into flames and I think the producer

was pretty nervous at the time,

because he immediately cut away from it.

Ironically, the man who was just ahead of him at the time,

was a guy called George Warren from Neath in Wales.

He was a bus driver and an undertaker driver.

We thought maybe he was going to have to go back for this one.

We have the good news that Ronnie White is out of the car.

Ronnie White is out of the car.

Two cars touching. George Winter trying to come through...

Jameson's on his left. He's got nobody out right at all.

Nice play by Dickinson... to Jameson and Jameson scores!

Looks for Martin Malone and Paul Malone!

And there it is.

CHEERING

We ought to have the life terrified out of them.

That's Bryan Hamilton, for Best.

McIlroy wide on the left.

Trevor Anderson in the middle.

McIlroy, still McIlroy,

Anderson is there, so too McGrath. It's a goal!

Krol...the shot...

Oh, great goal by Krol, out of nothing!

McCreery still showing he can run. Well taken, Dave McCreery.

Chance for something here. Great save the goalkeeper.

But it's a goal!

It's there. Derek Spence has done it.

Connor giving Hamilton a bit of room to move

and Hamilton looking for Prenter.

Rafferty going. Bowyer's got a knock.

Prenter... Gary Prenter scores!

Crusaders covering well, though not so well on that occasion.

Bunsen for Keegan in the middle. And that's it!

This is Mike Gibson, McIlwrath, Joey Miles on the scissors,

Gibson's outside and this is Mike Gibson.

Great burst by Gibson. Mike Gibson, a classic try.

John Watson driving a Penske

stunned the world of Formula One racing

when he took the chequered flag at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Throughout the season, his consistently good driving

has brought him into the top rank.

And Mrs Ann Ferris

is about to win the Harp Lager Grand National.

This is a great moment in Irish racing.

Listen to the cheers for Mrs Ann Ferris. She has won!

Jimmy Smith.

Out to Joe Kernan,

Joe, on the 14-yard line, a shot and it's a goal!

A goal by Joe Kernan.

This is Colm McKinstry.

In now to Jimmy Smith,

across to Joe Kernan and it's another goal!

Another goal by Joe Kernan.

And look at that crowd!

Just in front of the goalkeeper.

And Moffatt sends it back now to Liam Beckett

but Beckett tries a shot.

I scored that day, I remember it well.

Bit of a volley from just outside the box

with the left foot

and with some assistance from the Linfield goalkeeper

and then we went on to score three goals in the second half.

Dessie Dickson ran absolute riot.

Dickson gets it onto his right foot, has a shot. And it's there.

4-1 away to Linfield

in a cup final. What more can you ask?

CHEERING

HE GROANS

WHISTLING

The design of the car

follows the latest trend

of using the entire car as a means

of increasing road holding, by using the bottom

of the car as a means of gaining downforce,

which makes the car quicker round a corner

and therefore makes the car a faster car on the circuit.

It's a game actually which can be played by anyone

but requires quite a bit of patience

and sometimes a little bit of skill.

As we'll be seeing, I think, during this short interlude

with Prudence and Penelope playing on the lawn behind me.

I do remember Black Saturday very clearly.

It's a very hard circuit and an unforgiving circuit.

I thought Tommy Herron was just a terrific motorcyclist

and he was a sharp, clever guy, too.

Anyone who followed the sport

was worried about him riding on that day.

He shouldn't have been racing because he came into the hotel

and the hand was all plastered up

and he says to me, "Could you take this off?".

So we cut it with the disc cutter, took it off.

The back of the hand was all messed up.

I said Tom, "I'd give this a miss." "Can't", he says.

"People's came from everywhere to see me out on these bikes."

He X-rayed it on Monday morning

and said it wasn't as bad as first feared.

He said, "Don't be silly. If it's that painful, don't go out,

"for you'll not be able to concentrate."

I have to wait and see how practice goes. At the moment,

I'm pretty optimistic about the whole thing.

He said he would race no matter what happened.

He was all right on the 500, but that big 750 thing,

nobody could ride it - too long on the wheelbase.

That was the one he went down on.

I was waiting to see where Tom was and in came Steve Parrish.

He came up to me and said, "You'd better go up the road.

"Tom's down hard up there."

So I went up the road and the bike was in two halves

where it's hit the lamp post.

He was still conscious, they were taking him in the ambulance,

but as I say, he didn't survive the crash.

I still think about him, especially at the North West when I go round.

I always look and say, "Hello Tom, how are you?"

Say hello up where the accident happened.

Sad times.

CROWD CHANTS

Holyk bleeding from the nose.

We're in the last few seconds now

and again...

BELL RINGS

There it is.

And there's a mass invasion of the ring here.

I'd like to win the first five

and then I could play exhibition snooker to entertain

the crowd even more, but I think

I did turn it on last night.

I made the 122.

And Peacock certainly putting on the pressure.

There must be contact there.

But it's Ronnie White and Peacock and they've touched

at an enormously high speed. Peacock over, Ronnie White out.

Norberg's going to win this one.

CHEERING

Do you have any regrets? You're keen on soccer.

Would you liked to have been a boy and played for Man United?

No, not really. I don't ever wish I was a boy.

Boys have their advantages, too, but so have girls.

If girls can play and get just as much enjoyment out of it, why not?

Ulster want this ball.

They have it through Paterson. Patterson goes left.

He's got Parr in support.

Outside him is number 13, David Irwin.

And David Irwin, two yards from the line, scores!

Great break by Patterson, well supported by David Irwin.

CROWD SHOUTS

Inside the final minute of normal time.

It's four years since the Irish Cup Final had to go to a replay.

Then Coleraine and Linfield

needed two matches after the final to sort it out.

Will Tony Bell fix it? Yes!

What about that?!

# You better knock, knock

# On wood... #

And it'll be Joe Watters of Grimsby Town to come on for his second cap.

But only when the ball has gone out of play - now.

Gerry Armstrong I would take as the tops

against the Republic of Ireland.

I thought that was a wonderful goal

and typical of Gerry.

It was an unusual piece of play because Sammy Nelson was left back

and he went down the left-hand side

and he checked back onto his right foot.

Normally, Sammy wouldn't cross the ball with his right foot

but he put the most delightful cross into the box and tempted

the goalkeeper to come for it

and I remember I got in in front of the goalkeeper

with a glancing header and that was the only goal.

It was an historic goal, as well.

It was the first goal between the two Irelands.

I do hope I don't get stuck behind that guy on the way home.

That's it from Glory Days.

We do hope you've enjoyed our trawl through the 1970s.

So many great memories.

But there were lighter moments, as well.

See you next time!

'Down the broadway and down into the bend.

'He'll be passing the pushed away Ronnie White's car.

'It's off the circuit. There he comes.

'And it's died! The car has died

'before he takes the chequered flag!'

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