1980s Glory Days

Hello and welcome again to Glory Days,

as we look back to the glorious 1980s.

And what a feat of nostalgia we have for you -

world champions,

world-class performances,

World Cups.

That's what was featuring on the back pages,

but what was on the front?

MUSIC: "Blue Monday" by New Order

Lovely car. I can still see myself in one of those.

Yes, the 1980s, a decade of excess and success.

And in the sports arena, our stars were eager,

they were hungry to take on the world.

'Tiny Hugh Russell, 20-year-old from New Lodge in Belfast...

'beats the Korean to the punch and he's finishing well.'

'Leon almost desperate now, wild with his punches.

-'Trying to land the big one...'

-BELL RINGS

'..but it's too late!

'Charlie Nash delighted with his performance.'

'That's Armstrong. That's Hamilton.

'Now can Hamilton get it in?'

CHEERING

'He just made it.

'Armstrong didn't get there,

'but Cochrane coming in from the far side did!'

'Armstrong in the centre.

'Support, too, from Brotherston. Can he finish this time?

'Oh, he has!'

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

'And a delighted Billy Bingham on the pitch, there.

'This is some of a... Quite a miracle in Irish terms.'

MUSIC: "Our House" by Madness

'It was a freezing cold night,'

and I remember going out to the ring with plastic bags on my boots

'and then I'm going out to have my pro debut.

'I knocked Selvin Bell down with a left hook to the body

'and Bob McMillan, I think, was the referee -'

he stopped the fight in the second round.

So, that was a start!

'You are looking at John Watson now.'

He was a great hero of mine when I was young.

What he never really got was a great car

when he was young enough to really show how good he was.

'John Watson, the man from Ulster. He can coast home now.

'Into the chicane. The crowd roars.

'And the British Grand Prix has been won by a British car

'with a British driver. His name, John Watson.'

'There's the offender. And the free kick to Northern Ireland.'

Here we were, one win away from the first World Cup final since 1958.

There was an awful lot of pressure, because people expected us to win.

'Big Gerry Armstrong, our saviour,

'always in times of need gets the goal.'

'Jimmy Nicholl takes it.'

'Billy headed it down and hit it, left-foot, on the volley.

'And it went in the back of the net and turned out to be the only goal.'

# What you give is what you get... #

'The atmosphere at the final whistle,

'it was just total euphoria.'

Qualifying was fantastic - I remember we did laps of honour.

'I don't think we did one, we did two or three!

'Nobody wanted to go home - the 40,000 fans were crazy.'

Yes, wonderful scenes there at Windsor Park - we had made it.

Now, it was Bill Shankly who said,

"Some people think football is a matter of life and death,

"but I can assure you, it's much more important than that."

And Billy Bingham must have been thinking that, back in 1982,

when he took the Northern Ireland squad to sunny Spain.

Was it viva Espana?

The plan was draw against Yugoslavia, beat Honduras,

and draw with Spain and you qualify.

That was the plan.

'And this scene in Eastern Spain...

'..says so much about the World Cup.'

MUSIC: "Eye Of The Tiger" by Survivor

I remember Martin O'Neill said, "Look, it's pretty straightforward."

he said, "They'll come at us, you know they'll come at us.

All we do is we get behind the ball, we make it difficult for them

"then we'll get some opportunities.

"We put one of them in the back of the net," he said, "and we win 1-0."

'Gerry Armstrong, what a worker he is.'

My earliest big football memory was being at Scout Camp at the age of 11

and actually listening to Northern Ireland playing in the World Cup.

We did get very excited when Gerry Armstrong scored that goal.

Armstrong!

CHEERING

Arcanada made a mess of it - he palmed it straight out to me

and all I could think about was, "Keep the ball low,"

because I knew there was a lot of bodies in front of me.

It was a wonderful goal, a wonderful moment,

and Gerry, who could talk for Ireland as well as play,

has dined out on it since.

We were such a determined outfit -

we had great belief in each other, we were so resolute that night.

I still believe, if we'd played another hour,

Spain still wouldn't have scored.

And he's blown! And Northern Ireland have done it!

'The proudest moment in Irish football history, surely?

'They've won the group!'

I think it's the greatest victory since 1958 for Irish football.

To me, it's the greatest victory of all time.

'Right-side backheel for O'Neill.

'And O'Neill for Armstrong.'

WHISTLE AND CHEERING

'Offside!'

'I'm still disappointed about the France match.'

His goal was disallowed.

You look at the replay and he's at least a yard and a half onside.

'Had it been 1-0, I think it could've been a different story.'

We might actually have made the semifinals.

# They stack the odds

# Still we take to the street... #

'Higgins. I loved Alex. I just loved the way he played.

'He played with such verve

'and such courage and devil-may-care attitude.'

'What can you say about Alex? Alex was... He was trouble.'

But I suppose his greatest talent was, he was trouble for any opponent.

# I heat up like a burning flame... #

APPLAUSE

'An audience wants to be entertained.'

There's such a thing as winning, and then there's winning...

with style.

'And when he was settled, when he concentrating,

'God, could he entertain.'

# Abra Abracadabra

# Abracadabra... #

-'Fantastic.'

-CHEERING

'Alex was something very special.

'There'll never be another one like Alex Higgins -

'he was a unique individual.'

'For 1982...'

People used to look at the tyres and they used to check the fuel

and they used to look at everything and think,

"Why is he going so fast? Why is he so good?"

But nobody ever stopped for a moment to think,

"It's what's sitting on the saddle, it's not what's on the bike,

"it's what sitting on the bike."

'There only was the one Joseph - he set the standards.'

# It's a kind of magic... #

'That was hugely emotional, because it was the first time

'the Triple Crown had been achieved since 1949.

'That first game, that was against Wales at Lansdowne Road in Dublin,'

and David Irwin, who was so combative it just wasn't true,

'tried to prevent a Welsh try

'and stuck his leg out and broke his leg!'

'I was put into the back of this ambulance,

'I was still in my Irish kit and thought my career was over.

'And next thing, these two guards brought this drunk Irish supporter,

'who was bleeding from his head round the corner'

and he looked me and goes, "Y'all right? Were you at the match?"

And that just brought it home to me, how sorry I was feeling for myself.

'Taken on by Duggin McLaughlin, brought there by Sherman.

'Driving for the line.

'The referee has given the try.'

'McGrath, along the line to Campbell, to Kiernan.

'Campbell on the pass. There's a chance...'

We had a tremendous experience on the side

and I think that blend of youth and experience just won the day.

'And Ireland have won the ball again.

'Ollie Campbell with the drop ball, hooking it round.

'And Campbell has struck again.'

'Ireland have won the Triple Crown after 33 years.

'The crowd invades the pitch.'

'The party went on for about three weeks.'

MUSIC: "Electric Avenue" by Eddie Grant

# Oi!

# Oi!

'We look at third and fourth

'and John Watson is coming up to take Niki Lauda.

'A spurt of smoke from his tyre, there.'

'The Long Beach one was amazing, because his team-mate was Niki Lauda

'and they had qualified hopelessly, right at the back of the grid.

'I can't remember the reason.'

But on the day, they chose possibly a bit of a gamble at the right time.

This is where he could do it.

As he moves over, John Watson goes up alongside and we have a new leader.

He came through from 22nd place to first.

'And there he comes, into the last straight.

'John Watson has won the Long Beach Grand Prix of 1983.

'A superb victory.'

The great goalkeeper, Pat Jennings.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CROWD CHANTS

# And then we'll take it higher... #

'The Ulster Hall used to rock.

'There were so many crammed in, you were shoulder-to-shoulder,'

you could smell the amphitheatre around you.

It was like the Coliseum. And McGuigan was the star and the hero.

We bowed to him and he never let us down.

'Chopping viciously and down he goes!'

CHEERING

'Oh, it only lasted two rounds.'

'The end of the second round, it's all been stopped.'

'That has been the difference between the sides.'

Australia at that time were a very strong side. In fact, they were...

I don't think they'd been defeated on that tour.

'You had players like Campese and Michael Lynagh.

'Sometimes, we underestimate the significance of it -'

we often talk about Munster beating the All-Blacks,

but really in sporting terms, it was right up there with that.

The Australians had scored a couple of tries and goal kicks

from Ian Brown and Philip Rainey were keeping Ulster in it.

These next three could be vital for Ulster.

Seven or eight minutes before the end, the Australians made a replacement

and on came the extremely eccentric but highly enjoyable David Campese,

and Campo came on and he really looked thoroughly out of sorts

and in the last minute of the game, for some reason,

he picked the ball up and he threw it deliberately into touch.

He didn't think it was, but the crowd did and, importantly,

the referee did and David Irwin asked Philip Rainey to step up.

And Philip Rainey, who only got one Irish cap

when he should've had 20 or 30, stepped up

and kicked THE most memorable kick from the touchline

and Ravenhill went ballistic.

It was a wonderful kick and a wonderful night.

CHEERING

That was magnificent play.

APPLAUSE

A nice switch inside.

A ball for Hamilton to chase.

And it must be and it is!

'The cross came in, I got between the goalkeeper and the ball,

'so I fall into the defence and managed head it into the back of the net.'

'Southall in trouble and there is the equaliser.'

We did get the draw that we wanted and deserved again.

And, once again, were British champs.

MUSIC: "You Spin Me Round" by Dead Or Alive

# You spin me right round, baby Right round

# Like a record, baby Right round, round, round

# You spin me right round, baby Right round

# Like a record, baby Right round, round, round... #

Now, by the mid-1980s, we were all going snooker-loopy,

as we stayed up until midnight along with 18.5 million other people

to watch the man with the big glasses

play in the greatest-ever snooker game.

Remember the black ball finish?

I went to school the next day, so I'd gone to bed early

and when it was going into the last frame, Mum came up and said,

"You'd better come down and see this -

"this is one of the moments in Ulster sporting history you'll want to see."

'And as the hour reaches midnight...'

'My nerves were shot to pieces that night, like everyone else.'

My whole face used to get red when things weren't going well

and I was under a lot of pressure.

And Steve was going the opposite way -

with each shot, he was getting whiter!

'People say it's the greatest frame ever seen on television,

'or ever played.

'But if it had have been the first frame,

'it would've been one of the worst!

'I'd made my mind up, with the four colours left,

'it didn't matter where the balls were going to finish, I'd have a go.

'And I potted a ridiculous brown down the cushion.

'You know, one of the best shots under pressure I've ever played.'

Potted a tricky blue,

and then a good pink and we're down to the one ball after 17 days.

And I go down and try to double the black

and the crowd started cheering and I thought, "I'm world champion!"

AUDIENCE GROANS

And the black has missed the pocket by a fraction.

He went for the pot and you're thinking, "No!"

He's up against Steve Davis, the man who was never going to

go for the pot, and yet he was the one that makes the mistake.

Steve never spoke about it for a few years, but these are his words.

As he got up to pot the black that everyone thought he was going to pot,

he couldn't feel his legs, and when he put his hands on the table,

he said his arms and hands felt like somebody else's.

-COMMENTATOR:

-No.

And then that final black.

When you see that shot, you know, it looks like it's on freeze frame,

because I took ages on the shot and I didn't even grip the cue.

I just let the butt of the cue rest on four fingers,

and then I just let go of the cue.

He's done it!

And the way I reacted afterwards, I nearly snapped my cue.

I was... I just didn't know what to do.

..for the first time,

becomes Embassy World Snooker Champion 1985.

The whole place here, at the Crucible,

erupting for this very popular Irishman.

Who will ever forget... when he won the world title?

Absolutely fantastic.

A very special moment,

and still the most-watched snooker final in the history of the game.

MUSIC: "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" by Tears for Fears

COMMENTATOR: Tonight it's the WBA World Featherweight title at stake -

the nine-stone championship of the world.

And the possibility of Ireland's Barry McGuigan

becoming the new champion has brought 25,000 people here,

with getting on for half that number making the trip across the Irish Sea.

They simply descended.

It was like a horde of soldier ants

coming from all directions on to Loftus Road.

The town was empty. Everybody was watching McGuigan that night.

I probably remember the excitement more from everybody else

in the living room, crowding round the TV

to see Barry win that world title.

19 million people watched it.

I could feel the atmosphere building and building

and it was really, really, really noisy.

It took us 12 minutes to get from the dugout to the ring

and in the meantime, Pedrosa came out and almost got to the ring before me.

He looked like he was carved out of rock,

and there wasn't a single expression on his face at all.

He'd been champion of the world, at that division, for 11 years.

Danny Boy was such an emotional song - my father singing it, too -

and 27,000 people singing it back.

There was quite a few people out there inebriated, in the crowd!

He was giving me the death stare before the fight.

I remember my brother sort of banged the ring and said, "Barry, Barry!"

I said, "What?" Mind you, and my dad's singing Danny Boy!

He says, "He's staring at you. Give him this towel bag!" So I sort of...

It helped me to keep my focus, you know?

He was a beautiful mover - very clever.

He won the first three rounds. Just boxed the ears off 'em.

BELL RINGS

COMMENTATOR: They break off at the end of a scintillating round.

Then in the seventh round, that was where it all changed.

McGuigan boxed out of his socks.

When he put the guy down, it wasn't that left hand of his.

My brother and I had worked on this right hand, where we'd throw

right hand to the body, deliberately,

so he would block it with the left hand and he would counter me.

Three attempts in a row and then the next time,

halfway through the punch, we'd change it to the head.

COMMENTATOR: McGuigan's work has not been so effective in this round.

He hasn't found the range. Yes, he did. He's gone in with a right!

Caught him!

..in the seventh. He felled him with a right.

That was it. Hurt him again in the ninth.

CHEERING

Hurt him again in the 13th.

He's found him with the right again. And Pedrosa's hurt.

And the ref's going to the left, and he's going.

He was a great champion. He just wouldn't let me... He wouldn't let me finish him.

And McGuigan has put on a show here

which has raised British boxing to almost unprecedented heights.

At the end of the 15 rounds, the referee and the two judges

gave it to McGuigan by big, big margins and the place erupted.

-Barry McGuigan!

-McGuigan has won.

McGuigan is the champion of the world. They all voted for him.

And all 25,000 people in the stadium had already voted for him.

Pedrosa was one of the legends of the sport,

and for McGuigan to beat him showed that he was truly, truly world class.

MUSIC: "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds

After the race, you know, everybody congratulating you.

I had another race to go out in, as well, to think about,

and that was the 2.50 race.

I was determined to win that, as well,

but it didn't happen. I lost the front end of it at the quarries

and crashed into the hedge

and broke my leg. So I celebrated that night

in the Royal Victoria Hospital!

COMMENTATOR: A very happy Irish trio, who have won,

for the first time, the Guinness World Cup.

Manchester United playing with great pluck and intelligence.

Everybody dreams about

scoring the winning goal in an FA Cup Final.

It wasn't a tap in, it wasn't lucky, it wasn't a deflection.

It was the most mercurial, fantastic, swerving goal.

That, to me, just can't be trumped as a Boy's Own dream.

MUSIC: "How Soon Is Now?" By The Smiths

COMMENTATOR: ..looking for Dixon.

And how did Jennings keep it out?

Northern Ireland have done it.

The Northern Ireland fans celebrate.

Anyone who says that's a fix can come and see me,

and I'll tell them it wasn't a fix.

Cos we bloody earned that, and anyone who says different is a joke.

Ireland's forwards still working it over the 22...

It really was the embodiment of what that team was about -

it said so much about who we are and the way we wanted to play.

That was a great try!

Oh! A chance found there by Mullen. A try for Ireland.

I was standing behind the posts, as a young boy, in the crowd,

on the terrace.

What Michael Kiernan did that day was fantastic.

A drop goal is one of those things - if you get it, you're a hero.

If you miss it, you're an eejit.

And fortunately, Michael Kiernan was the hero.

MUSIC: "I'm Your Man" by Wham!

COMMENTATOR: And it's Whiteside.

Oh, it's gone in!

Through the wall by Norman Whiteside.

It's the first time I'd seen Brazil play live.

The colour and the noise from the Brazilian fans,

and the scene was amazing.

We knew we'd taken it as far as we could possibly take it.

The conditions never suited us. They were the better side on the night.

I was behind Josimar when he hit the shot

and it did everything except loop the loop!

I think if there had been three goalkeepers in the net, they still wouldn't have saved it.

We knew we'd give it our best shot and it was the end of an era,

so we were a bit disappointed but there was a lot of happy people.

Pat had played 119 times for Northern Ireland,

which is still a record I don't think will ever be broken.

COMMENTATOR: As they come to the line, West Tip has won the National.

Young Driver is second.

MUSIC: "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel

COMMENTATOR: And already, the King's Hall atmosphere

is beginning to build.

Fighting a fella like Bassa, who can punch,

and he's a world champion, and he's a world-class fighter,

I thought, "Well, I hope I don't get knocked out in the first round."

That was my biggest worry. And what happens?

And over goes McAuley.

I was sore. You know, my jaw hurt and I was dazed.

So up I got and that was it.

Then after that, there was this full-scale toe-to-toe stuff.

Dave was such a skilful boxer. He was a clever boxer.

He could bring you in - he could fight.

He could throw a little dummy.

He could walk on to shots that you never saw coming.

I then put him down in the third round.

You've never seen a fight like it in your life!

Then I put him down in the ninth round.

And I threw a punch, and it came from the back of the hall, literally.

-And it happened to land on target.

-Oh, he's got it!

And down he went, and his legs were like rubber.

It was probably about the hardest punch I'd ever thrown.

I said, "There's no way is he getting up. There's no chance!"

And he got up! And I says...

I said, "Jesus! What do you do?!"

And then about 20 seconds later,

I caught him with a cracking right hand and he went down again.

And that may be good night.

The referee's counting. Up he gets! My heart just hit the floor.

And then during that round, he was open to my left hook again,

cos his hand was down.

And I went to throw the left hook to finish him off.

The referee put his hand on mine and sort of...

I moved back and the punch fell short by about this much.

And if that punch had have landed,

that would've been the third knockdown -

in those days, they had the three-rule knockdown.

I can punch hard, and he could punch hard and we were hitting each other very, very hard and very often,

and my strength was beginning to go on the wane.

And then he tired a little bit in the 13th round, and he got caught and the fight was stopped.

Bassa sees his chance. Oh, he's gone. McAuley's going.

Oh, isn't that sad? It's over.

I wasn't actually knocked out - I just lay there.

I was wide awake but I just had no strength to get up.

I have still not met a man who had as much courage

and as much bravery as Dave Boy McAuley,

and that is my outstanding moment.

MUSIC: "Theme From S-Express" by S-Express

Wright has gone right across to collect. And this kick by Sansom.

In goes Aldridge and Houghton!

One-nil!

We're still waiting for the ball to be returned. Here it comes.

Oh! And that is absolutely magnificent!

Ronnie Whelan - what a brilliant goal!

Comes to Sherwani.

Brilliant! Brilliant!

Stephen Martin, who got on.

Jimmy Kirkwood, the Irishman, has been one of those to come on.

MUSIC: "Another Day In Paradise" by Phil Collins

It was a memorable day, not least because, er,

I had been labouring in London with an ex-Guard,

and he said to me, "Look, I know things are tight with you, so don't worry about accommodation.

"Give my mate a shout in Store Street Garda Station."

It's the first time I've told this - I hope my mum's not watching!

I slept in a cell. They gave me a knock about 6.30 in the morning

and I merrily went on my way to Croke Park

and stood in the hill - hill 16.

And as things transpired, not a great day for Antrim.

Straight into the Cup - Ronan Rafferty.

25-year-old from Northern Ireland.

He wins the Volvo Masters by a shot.

I was a real big underdog, so there was no pressure on me whatsoever.

What turned this fight for me happened in the first round.

McKenzie came out and he was all guns blazing,

and I caught him with a left hook in the body.

It was a cracking left hook.

-I heard him go...

-HE GRUNTS

You could actually see him sort of pedalling back.

From that punch on, Duke McKenzie went into his shell.

As the fight progressed,

I got further in front and further in front. I knew,

around the tenth round, if I can stay on my feet for two rounds,

this world title's mine.

McAuley the new IBF World Flyweight Champion.

And the whole of Northern Ireland will celebrate.

So, those were the 1980s - the glorious 1980s.

Golden moments that will live long in the memory.

And I enjoyed some of the funnier moments, as well! See you next time.

Bye.

MUSIC: "Fools Gold" by The Stone Roses

..seven miles of a swim ahead of him...

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd