Friends of Sport and Alcohol – Welcome to Belfast!

Belfast, a city that was known as the European Beirut, is now one of the most important touristic centers on the island of Ireland. Brief description? The locals are spending much of their time in pubs, while Catholics and Protestants are now conflicting just once a year.




Imagine a city where for nearly 100 years, half of the population is trying to massacre the other half. A city that was throughout the history ravaged by Vikings, plagues, fires, famine…A city where the greatest marine disaster in the history of mankind began…It’s hard to imagine such hell on earth, isn’t it? Have you ever heard of Belfast?

The capital of Northern Ireland is maybe not on the list of 100 most visited tourist destination but it is probably one of the most vivid places in the UK. This is, of course, due to the fact that less than two decades ago, it was carrying an epithet of European Beirut because of the war between the Irish Catholics (who wanted to be united with Republic of Ireland) and British Protestants (who were loyal to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II).

But today, 13 years after the Irish Republican Army laid down their arms, Belfast is almost perfectly safe city with the lowest crime rate in the UK and Northern Ireland. Incidents are rare, but Catholics and Protestants do get into conflict once a year, just to remind themselves of good old times. That usually happens somewhere in mid June when Protestants are marching through the city, celebrating the victory of King William III of Orange over Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. With that victory, the Protestants have strengthened their position on this part of the Island.

However, conflicts are rare these days, primarily because Protestant and Catholic neighborhoods are separated – often with real walls that have barbed wires.  There are twenty such structures in the city and the police often patrol near them. The British government has tried several times to remove these barriers, but the Catholic population insists that they remain. 

These walls are now decorated with many political sketches, slogans and famous murals. Thus, they have become a tourist attraction. For a couple of pounds, every taxi driver in Belfast will offer himself to take you to see them, and there are also bus tours specifically for that.

The second largest tourist attraction in Belfast is – shipyard. Of course, this is no ordinary shipyard. This is the famous Harland and Wolff shipyard where, in 1911, the biggest, most luxurious, most beautiful and, obviously, the most tragic ship in the world was made - the legendary "Titanic". 


One part of Belfast is even named Titanic Quarter. The place where the ship was built is still there, and it can be visited as part of tourist tour that costs around ten pounds. Large cranes with Harland and Wolff initials are still the highest structures in Belfast, and this year, in front of them, people of Belfast marked 100 years since the launch of "Titanic".

Person would think that those who claimed that they have built an unsinkable ship should perhaps not brag about him now, given that already on his first journey "Titanic" ended at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, taking with him more than 1,500 human lives. However, people in Belfast have a perfect excuse.

The Irish built the ship, the British sank it – is a line that you’ll find on pendants, lighters, magnets and so on. With this, the Irish are clearly pointing out that “Titanic” went from Belfast to Southampton, and on to New York, in perfect condition, but British crew, led by Captain Edward J. Smith, eventually destroyed him.

This kind of humor, along with conflicts on religious grounds that shook Belfast, are clear evidence that people from the island of Ireland, both Catholics and Protestants, have little in common with their neighbors from the British island. When compared to cold, measured, cynical and sarcastic Englishmen, the Irishmen appear as if someone has taken them from the Mediterranean and threw them to this piece of land in the Atlantic Ocean.

Restaurants and bars in Belfast are always full, no matter if it is working day or not.  Favorite leisure of any Irishmen in Belfast is watching football or horse races in a pub, with friends and a glass of whiskey or Guinness. The mentality of locals is sufficiently illustrated with the fact that one of their two airports is named after a man who is greatly remembered for saying:” I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered.” That man was, of course, the best UK footballer of all times - George Best.

This unsurpassed master of football was born in Belfast. He played for the national team of Northern Ireland even though he was offered to play for England.  The fact that the airport is named after him, and that his picture is the first thing every traveler sees after passing the passport control, is only a fraction of the honors that his countrymen have reserved for him.

Best is an icon in Belfast (primarily for the Protestant part of the population). His image is the second most common theme of mighty murals for which this city is known.  In the first place are, of course, fighters of the Irish Republican Army on Catholic side, and loyalist heroes on the Protestant side.

And even though world class football isn’t played on the fields in Belfast and across entire Northern Ireland, this sport is the main pastime of the local population. There are several teams from this city that are competing in the IFA Premiership (national football league in Northern Ireland), but the locals are more fond of several English and Scottish teams. 

The most popular English club in Belfast is Liverpool, regardless the fact that George Best played for Manchester United. Other English clubs also have supporters in Belfast, particularly those from the north of England - Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough…Among the Catholic population, the most popular is Scottish Celtic. 

Besides football, the main entertainment in Belfast is - drinking. But beware, it is strictly prohibited to drink alcohol on the street - the penalty is £500.

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Brazil's crusade for Olympics

When Brazil won the organization of Football World Cup and Rio the 2016 Olympic Games, the Brazilian statesmen were thankful to FIFA and IOC. These two organizations closed their eyes to the fact that Rio is the city with the highest murder rate in the world, and the authorities have no control over favelas, which are run by local gangs and almost represent a country in the country.

In efforts to change that, the Brazilians have hired Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York, as a consultant. Known for being able to calm things even in Harlem, Giuliani’s job is to use his know-how in Brazil.  Giuliani is known for his strategy of "zero tolerance", according to which everyone who breaks the system must be punished, from the Mafia to the sellers of hot dogs on the street.

There is just one catch – New York is not Rio and Harlem is not Brazilian favelas. Police actions there are not just fight against crime, they are literally war against crime. Police entry into favelas is referred in local media as "liberation of territory".

The operation of the police and the army against gangs in November 2010, on the territory of Complexo do Alemão, the complex of 15 favelas, was the biggest operation in the history of liberation of favelas. Unfortunately, this operation showed that even Giuliani’s "zero tolerance" will not that easily set things right in the favelas . This historic operation was named “reconquista”(reconquest), because the Brazilians are doing exactly that, reconquesting their occupied territory. 

Complexo do Alemão is one of the most famous favelas. Until the operation in November 2010, it was controlled by the Red Command, a gang of over a thousand drug dealers and arms merchants. However, Giuliani’s "zero tolerance" is now only functioning if the military and the police constantly keep favelas under siege. But even that is not easy to do because of the "philosophy of favelas”. Favelas are not just some hovels framed in the squatter settlements – they have become a way of life.

After five day of heavy fire, the Governor of Rio triumphantly announced the liberation of Complexo do Alemão territory. What remained in the shadow of that triumph was the fact that more than 40 people, some of whom were civilians, were accidentally caught in the crossfire, and were killed. The Brazilian media were fascinated with the fact that the police and army, for the first time, acted as one.

This attack forced the opposing gangs to unite, for the first time in history. This means that real fights are yet to come. The bandits have already started to burn cars and city buses.  The criminals are using this tried recipe for years.  Whenever the police tries to enter one of their favela, they start with the riots.

The Mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes, says that, in this way, they are trying to create a picture for the public that will suggest that the authorities have no control.  "We do not want peace with criminals and terrorists. This time we will not retreat”, harshly says Paes.

A large number of criminals fled to the favelas on the hills above Rio, carrying heavy weapons. The picture of them fleeing was like a withdrawal of an army. Heavily armed police forces are now patrolling the streets of liberated favelas . On the other hand, heavily armed drug traffickers and their troops are now patrolling gang-controlled favelas, in expectation of more attacks.

The Brazilian police have trained a special unit, just for fights in the favelas. The operation from November 2010 is considered their best performance so far.  However, there are very few of those who believe that this country can keep fighting these criminals to the end.

Antonio Carlos Costa, director of Rio de Paz, anti-violence NGO, said that Rio needs more police officers that are better trained and better paid. "There is no way they can pacify all the communities. If you push the traffickers out of one area, they naturally just flow to another" – he said.

A growing number of people believe that Brazil needs to try a strategy of total isolation of favelas before the Olympic Games, rather than bring them in line. For example, in Alemao favela about 120,000 people live in ramshackle hovels, often with no electricity and no water, and they do not know of a different kind of life. Kids who are growing up there know that they have only two choices in life - to play football or to be criminals. If they don’t start playing for Barcelona, they will be playing with cocaine. And this cannot be corrected in 5 or less years.

In 2009, just two weeks after the announcement that Rio won the organization of Olympic Games, gangs knocked down a police helicopter. This caused a series of police raids in which about thirty people were killed. In August 2010, thirty-five people were imprisoned in a hotel with five stars – criminals from favela did this, while fleeing from the police. About sixty "to the teeth" armed criminals were returning from some party in the early hours. They were headed towards their ”base”, Rocinha, which is the biggest favela in Rio. The police spotted them and intercepted. Fifty of them managed to escape, but ten couldn’t so they rushed into an exclusive hotel and took hostages.

Jenson Button, famous Formula 1 driver experienced the spirit of favela on his own skin. When he was in Brazil for a race at Interlagos, he was attacked on the streets by armed bandits. He barely escaped alive.

Elza Santiago, a member of women’s cooperative that sells handcrafted goods to raise funds for education programs offered to women and children, thinks that everything will return the way it was when the Olympic Games are over. “Our people don’t have water. We’re walking up the hill to our favelas with water because we don’t have any. No one is talking about the Olympics, that is our Olympics.”

City of God

Favelas emerged in the late 19th century when the first black slaves were winning their freedom. Later, the favelas spread in several waves, especially as people from rural areas came to the city in search of a better life, and found only the misery of favelas. And once you enter a favela, it is hard to leave. Today, only in Rio there are more than a thousand favelas. There are mostly along the perimeter of the city, and in the case of Rio, that means surrounding hills.

Brazilian authorities have several times tried to implement some kind of slum urbanization (that is why some of favelas have stronger walls), but the spirit of favelas has proven to be indestructible. Drugs, crime and life on the street is the only thing the people who live there know. Some studies show that only 15 percent of the population in Rio’s favelas has expressed a desire to leave them.

Favelas, though not in a construction sense, follow the trends, so today 97 percent of homes have a television, 94 percent a refrigerator, and about 48 percent have a washing machine. About half of the people there have a mobile phone and 12 percent of homes have a computer.

Most accurate impression of favela is shown in the famous Brazilian film "City of God", about life in the favela of the same name - "Cidade de Deus". That film was often compared to Scorsese’s “GoodFellas”, but Scorsese’s movie begins with “As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster" and characters from the "City of God" had no choice.

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The Best Gay Football Club in the World!

British Stonewall F.C. exists almost twenty years. It is considered as the most successful team in the world in which only gays are allowed to play. The road to success was difficult. The team came together in 1991, by responding to a classified ad in gay magazine.

The British managed to combine two things that sometimes sound incompatible - football and homosexuals. Stonewall F.C. is the most successful football club in the world in which homosexual players play, exclusively, and it exists for almost twenty years.

The road to success was difficult, with insults and discrimination all the way. It all began in 1991, when in certain London’s men gay magazine, an ad was published: "I'm looking for like-minded people with whom I could play football."  Although the author himself did not believe that so many gay men who wanted to play football will answer to his ad, this short article marked the beginning of establishing a football club for those of different sexual orientations. Just a few days after the publication, a dozen young men began to train on the court, in the eastern part of London.

Some of them have, for the first time, ran after the ball, but most of them have already, in the past, played this sport – of course, before the public acknowledgment of their sexual orientation.

- It was difficult in the beginning... We have all been, several times, faced with offensive chants at the expense of homosexuals, which are heard from the football stands and which, unfortunately, are an integral part of fan culture, so, it was extremely difficult for us. We had to, literally, rise above ourselves and gather enormous courage, to be able to play on a football field - recalls Eric Armanazi, the present coach and goalkeeper of Stonewall F.C. 

Their fears were not unjustified. Only two years earlier, near their club, in a garage, Justin Fashanu hung himself – he is, until now, the only professional footballer who, in public, spoke openly about his homosexual orientation. But, the pressure, insults, discrimination and death threats, which, after his public appearances, followed, nonetheless, made him do what he did.

- During training, we often talked about it. Most of us feared for our own lives, although, in fact, we were not famous nor popular - Armanazi says, and adds that, on the start of every game they perceived humiliation of all kinds: and from the audience and from the rival team. Even the referees often judged openly at their expense.

But the courage and persistence have paid off in the end. Ten years ago, Stonewall F.C. started playing in the Middlesex County Premier Division and since then it is playing in the league just below semi-professional clubs.  They have won numerous championships, and this year in Cologne they won, for the third time, the “Gay Games", and thus, they became, the most successful gay football club in the world. Among their sponsors is an English bank Barclays, and of this financial support even a large number of English professional clubs is dreaming.

- Despite success, we are still subjected to prejudice and abuse. Football was, and still is, a typical "male" sport, reserved exclusively for heterosexuals.  The media themselves play important role in this – says Eric, and adds that homophobia is one of the rare types of discrimination in the UK that is still "normal."

Changes

They still curse them, but it is much better situation than 10 years ago.

Coach and goalkeeper of this gay team, Eric Armanazi, says that, when we compare the situation today with the one 10 or 20 years before, the difference is like heaven and earth.

The society has changed, opened, and although there is still much that is wrong, a great progress is been made.  Today, on the stadium, we can still hear the offensive words and insults at the expense of homosexuals, but it is not like before. And, if a player of the opposing team, during a match, offends us with a sentence like: "Get up, faggot!", after the game he apologizes, while before it would have been unthinkable – Armanazi said.

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