Fields of Wonder
The Incredible Story of Northern Ireland’s Journey to the 1982 World Cup.
Evan Marshall
With a foreword by Martin O’Neill
Blackstaff Press
https://blackstaffpress.com/fields-of-wonder-9781780732404
By the end of the 1970s, the Northern Ireland football team was in the doldrums. Against a background of civil unrest, the team had endured long periods of playing all their matches away from home and had just finished bottom of the British Championship for the fourth successive year. Two years later they walked onto the pitch against France to play for a place in the 1982 World Cup semi-finals.
In Fields of Wonder, Evan Marshall charts Northern Ireland’s incredible World Cup journey in thrilling detail, from the appointment of Billy Bingham as manager and the winning of the British Home Championship in 1980 through the ups and downs of the qualifying stages, and that night of pulsating drama against Spain in Valencia
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A book about football. Here’s a declaration. I am not a football fan. I rarely watch any football on television. I have been to two matches in my life. But this book isn’t aimed solely at football fans. It has universal appeal. I might not be a fan of football but I am a fan of true stories told by passionate writers and this book is firmly in that category.
It informs, entertains and thrills. Researched thoroughly, it informs via the tremendous amount of detail therein; it entertains via a series of anecdotes and typical Northern Irish wry humour; it thrills in the descriptions of the games, especially the nasty game against Spain in June 1982. More of the latter later.
Manager Billy Bingham was an inspirational leader who placed a lot of store in team spirit. He could read individuals, their intelligence and skills, and he was not afraid to make decisions. He did a remarkable job with very talented players. The team was often plagued with injuries, setbacks, an often hostile local press and, as far as I can assess it, a sometimes dithering, indecisive Irish Football Association.
The team’s rocky road can be summed up thus. From March 1980 to July 1982, Northern Ireland played 25 internationals under Bingham in the campaign to qualify for the 1982 World Cup, won 9, drew 9 and lost 7.
One of the wins, and surely the most important, was against Spain in Valencia in June 1982. The Spanish considered Northern Ireland to be way beneath them and they banked on, amongst other things, their home supporters to push them on to victory. Spanish press laid on thick that these Irish boys were just a bunch of lazy boozers. But just in case, Spain also adopted brutal playing tactics and helped by a referee who had clearly missed a number of visits to Specsavers, very few of the Spanish players were booked. On the other hand, the biased ref punished Northern Ireland for some very minor offences.
But, despite Spain’s dirty tactics and a Mister Magoo referee, Gerry Armstrong with support from his teammates scored a goal that literally silenced the crowd. One nil was all it took, and for Billy Bingham and the team he chose, nurtured and encouraged, Northern Ireland’s football achievements reached a new level. Their next game against Austria was a draw but the final game against France ended in a four one defeat
But, history was made.
The chapter – The Night in Valencia – is a cracking piece of writing in an overall cracker of a book.
Fields of Wonder is a book that football fans, sports history buffs and, yes, lay people can enjoy because it is well-researched and wonderfully written by Evan Marshall.
Highly recommended to all human beings.
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