The open sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland, known as The Troubles, roared into being in the late 1960s.
Football did not escape.
One of the clubs most drastically affected by this low level warfare
was Derry City FC, a club founded in 1928 and based near the predominantly Irish
nationalist Bogside area on the left bank of the Foyle river, in the city known either
as Derry, or Londonderry, depending on which side of
the sectarian divide find yourself in.
Having won the Irish League title in 1965, by 1969 Derry City’s footballing future was in doubt.
Rioting around their ground, the Brandywell, meant teams became sceptical about
visiting and a number of their home games were postponed.
Their first fixture at the Brandywell did not take place until October
18th, ten weeks after the start of the season.
The rest of the season followed a similar pattern, and Derry City’s Irish Cup tie
with Linfield - a team supported exclusively by British Unionists
- the following March was the scene of violent clashes in the stands.
The return fixture was scrapped because the Royal Ulster
Constabulary feared a breach of the peace if it took place.
Though the next one was relatively peaceful, the 1971/72 season would be Derry City’s
last in the Irish League.
Tensions in the Bogside around the Brandywell were heightened once
more by the presence of British soldiers, and the opening three games of the new season
were either postponed or played thirty miles away in Coleraine.
I n early September 1972, a seven year old boy was killed when he was run over by a British
Army Landrover, leading to a further outbreak of rioting.
Amid the stones, bottles and petrol bombs a shot was fired at soldiers from within
the structure of the Brandywell and the police returned fire.
The next day there was a home game against Ballymena United, which went
ahead despite the objections of the away side.
Kicking off as rioting continued outside the ground, those inside could hear rubber bullets
being discharged and smell the familiar odour of CS gas in the air.
A small group of rioters entered the the ground, gaining access to
the Ballymena team bus and pushing it out of the
Brandywell and into the street, where it was set alight.
The security services and the Irish League were now adamant that Derry City could no
longer play their home games in the Bogside and would have to be hosted at the Coleraine Showgrounds instead.
The gate receipts were terrible, with one Ulster Cup match against
Crusaders yielding just £33.
Falling revenues and a precarious security situation were not conducive to sustaining a football team.
Though the Royal Ulster Constabulary indicated that football could return to
the Brandywell, the majority of Irish League clubs refused to agree and on October 13th
1972 Derry City issued a statement explaining they would be withdrawing from the league immediately.
After forty-three years, a league championship and three Irish Cups, Derry City
were gone, replaced in the middle of the season by Larne FC.
Today, Derry City compete in the League of Ireland, the competition for teams based in the Irish Republic.
After thirteen years in the wilderness of amateur football, the club received
special dispensation from the IFA, UEFA and FIFA to join the Football Association of Ireland,
a unique arrangement agreed to because of Derry’s location close to the political
border which separates Northern Ireland from the neighbouring Republic.
For the last three ​ decades, permission has been granted for the
club to police their own games, the presence of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and latterly
the PSNI seen as potentially inflammatory.
Several sites away from the Brandywell had been considered, including on the
predominantly Protestant Waterside of the Foyle, but ultimately the club returned to familiar territory.
Seven thousand fans were present for their first League of Ireland fixture against Home Farm.
By 1989 Derry City had pulled off a league and cup double and when Derry played Benfica
in the first round of the European Cup the following season they became the first team
to have represented two national leagues in the
same tournament, having done so against FC Lyn of Oslo and Anderlecht in 1965 on behalf of the Irish League.
In 2017 Derry City have spent a season away from the Brandywell while it is refurbished,
playing their home games instead at Maginn Park in Buncrana, County Donegal and
currently sit in fourth position in the League of Ireland table, thirty two years after finding
their home in greener pastures.