Tag Archives: IFA

by | January 16, 2013 · 5:26 pm

Finding Positives in Northern Ireland

PPI - NI Managing Director, Gareth Haper, doing a cheer at a PPI Tournament

PPI – NI Managing Director, Gareth Haper, doing a cheer at a PPI Tournament

This week, we hear from PeacePlayers International – Northern Ireland (PPI-NI) Managing Director Gareth Harper. Gareth took up the position of Managing Director in March 2009, having previously worked as Programmes Manager with Rural Community Network NI, a regional rural community development organization.

On Saturday morning, my wife and I were taking our two daughters for breakfast in Newcastle—my home town in County Down—as a treat at the end of their first week back at school after the Christmas break.  When I’m with my girls, as much as possible, I try to keep the time sacred and normally I don’t even have my phone with me, let alone answer it.  But this time I had it, and the number came up as international which usually means it’s one of my extended PeacePlayers family members in DC, Cyprus, the Middle East or South Africa. So I took the call.

However on this occasion it was not one of my “PPI siblings”; it was a gentleman of the French press.  I’m still glad that I took the call. The man’s name was Olivier, and he explained that he had been sent to Northern Ireland to cover the riots in Belfast.  Just before I jumped in to say that I would only be interested in talking to him about the positive work that PeacePlayers and others have been doing and that I am fed up with only the bad news being reported (well, he did interrupt my sacred family time!), he explained that after three short days he had come to recognise that both the local and international coverage of the current situation was presenting in his view a highly disproportionately negative image of the city of Belfast and indeed of  Northern Ireland.

PPI-NI's Darryl Petticrew leads a community relations session with children from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

PPI-NI’s Darryl Petticrew leads a community relations session with children from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Yes, he had witnessed the rioting first hand and he had been shocked by what he saw. But he had also been able to get lunch, walk around the city and to talk to people going about their daily routines.  He decided and had taken it upon himself to invest in seeking out what he suspected to be behind the negative.  His investigation led him to me for a meeting at Peace House on Monday morning at 10 a.m.  Olivier was delighted to hear about the great work which PeacePlayers and others been involved with, about the Game of Three Halves, the Belfast Interface Games and the fantastic work being done by the Gaelic Athletic Association, Irish Football Association, and Ulster Rugby.

He decided that he wanted to present an alternative and perhaps more proportionate picture of the actual situation and reality.  This for me is great and indeed depressing all at the same time. It took a French journalist only three days to see that there are many more positive than negative stories to be told about Northern Ireland.  Wouldn’t it be brilliant if we all took the time to invest in thinking about what a great place this is?  Perhaps then, we could think about how it can still get better.

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by | May 30, 2012 · 1:00 am

Not Your Average Day In the Park

Participants pratice their soccer skills in Alexandra Park, one of the three sports that make up the Game of Three Halves.

This week’s blog was written by PPI-NI Local Coordinator, Tony McGaharan, who led last Saturday’s Game of Three Halves event in Alexandra Park. The event was coordinated in partnership with Groundwork NI and was supported by the Fulbright scholarship program.

On Saturday, May 26, the PPI-NI team took to the park for a ‘Game of Three Halves’ event with a twist. Coaches from the IFA, Ulster Rugby, GAA and PPI-NI gathered together in North Belfast’s Alexandra Park, the only park in western Europe to be divided by a peace wall, for an afternoon of cross-community fun. Originally erected in 1994, this interface has been a contested space and a flashpoint for sectarian conflict. It wasn’t until September of last year that a new gate was created, allowing park-goers to wander freely from one end to the other.

The PPI-NI Staff head through the peace wall for the Game of Three Halves event.

On the morning of the event, we drove towards the park only to be diverted by a number of police officers lined in front of two armored vehicles blocking the road. A pipe bomb was found earlier that morning and military bomb disposal experts were on site.

We eventually found an entrance to the park, using an alternative route, and as we walked through the gate of the peace wall, there was a strong sense among our team that this was exactly where we need to be.

Arriving at the caged five-aside field, the park was desolate. The only sounds were coming from the group of coaches huddled around each other in one corner of the field.  As we waited for the young people to arrive, I noticed another police truck driving towards us along the street parallel to the pitch where we stood. I was certain that we were about to be evacuated, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

PPI-NI Fellow Meghan Houlihan leads a community relations discussion about stereotypes in sport.

Out from the back of the vehicle flooded ten children with the supervising police officer carrying two cases of bottle water. The sergeant had driven the young people from the opposite side of the park to the other. It was obvious that these children were in foreign territory; the chance to ride in the back of a police truck was the only way that they were ever going to make it across the divide.

As more and more young people drifted into the area, our program was in full swing. There were three stations of Rugby, Gaelic and Soccer. A group of the Fulbright scholars joined in and helped encourage the younger participants.

Participants compete in a fun-filled rugby match.

We then led a Community Relations activity, which challenged the group to reflect on the concept of prejudices and stereotypes within sport. The day concluded with the young people competing in a game of three halves; Rugby, Gaelic and Soccer.

The context of a pipe bomb in one of the nearby streets, the peace line dividing one of Belfast’s most beautiful parks, and the transportation of a group of children in an armored police truck, created an even greater awareness of the important role that sport can play in uniting young people.

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by | December 14, 2011 · 2:34 pm

The Game of Three Halves Festivities

This winter's Game of Three Halves Groups

Over the past week PPI-NI has worked with 180 young people from across Northern Ireland and Ireland, delivering The Game of Three Halves (GO3H). In partnership with The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), The Irish Football Association (IFA) and Ulster Rugby, PPI-NI has finished the December run of GO3H events as part of a new programme with Young Enterprise Northern Ireland (YENI).

Coach Darryl teaches Community Relations lessons.

The GO3H is an exciting initiative that gives young people, in particular, the opportunity to try a sport that they may not have been able to play in the past. The promotion of diversity through sport is at the heart of PPI-NI, and this gives us the chance to show young people that sport is open to all, no matter what age, gender, religion or race you are.

Over the past two weeks we have worked on three GO3H events in Omagh, challenging the young people’s perceptions of sport in Northern Ireland. They get a chance to learn some skills, play matches against each other but also have a separate space to discuss the significance of what the day is all about, and breakdown barriers preventing them from participating in all sports.

Each group provides a new perspective on sport in Northern Ireland, and the sharing of opinions and ideas about sport for good is what the GO3H is all about.

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by | August 17, 2011 · 1:27 pm

Partner Spotlight: Good Relations Between Irish Football Association and PPI-NI

Today, we give you a closer look at the Irish Football Association, one of PeacePlayers International’s partner organizations for the Game of Three Halves. 

A recent IFA game, Northern Ireland vs. Faroe Islands, held at Windsor Park in Belfast.

The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body in the soccer world of Northern Ireland; its main responsibilities include overseeing association-level soccer in the six counties. In addition to its role within the soccer community, IFA is well known and respected for its community relations work and commitment to curbing sectarianism that is often found in sports within Northern Ireland.

Recently, PPI-NI partnered up with IFA, in addition to Ulster Rugby and the Ulster Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), to deliver the first-ever Game of Three Halves at Ballysillan Leisure Centre in north Belfast. IFA has been an integral part of the development of the game, which aims to bring together children from both sides of the divide in Northern Ireland to experience sports that have been historically separated.

Michael Boyd, Head of Community Relations for IFA, says:

“The IFA’s partnership with PeacePlayers, the Ulster GAA and Ulster Rugby via the Game of Three Halves is a very positive development which is supporting all the partners to further use sport as a hook to promote good relations in Northern Ireland, challenging sectarianism and racism. Through this partnership, we are all reaching further than ever to promote respect for diversity and create sustainable links to foster new friendships that otherwise would simply not be possible.”

PPI-NI International Fellow Meghan Houlihan supports IFA by rooting for the Northern Ireland national team at a recent Euro 2012 qualifying game.

Last week, the Northern Ireland national team took on the Faroe Islands in a Euro 2012 qualifying game. Many thanks to IFA for inviting PPI-NI to attend! International Fellows Shannon Brown and Meghan Houlihan braved the stormy night to watch Northern Ireland win 4-0. The highlight of the evening wasn’t the awesome cheers, the four goals, or the sold-out crowd’s energy: the best part of the night was seeing the signs supporting anti-sectarianism around the field. Slogans like “Love football, hate bigotry,” and “Football for all: giving sectarianism the boot” could be seen from all over Windsor Park’s stadium.

Kudos to IFA for their involvement in promoting peace in Northern Ireland! Keep an eye on PPI-NI’s blog posts in the coming weeks to learn more about the Game of Three Halves and the involvement of Ulster Rugby and Ulster GAA.

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by | August 10, 2011 · 1:19 pm

A Full-Time PeacePlayer!

This week, Darryl Petticrew talks about finishing up his University degree and returning to PPI-NI as a full-time Local Coordinator. 

Darryl coaching a team during the Spring Jam.

After four long years of balancing my University course work, working with PPI-NI and of course my busy social calendar, I can finally say, I’m FREE!

I began studying at the University of Ulster Jordanstown (UUJ) in September 2006 and began working with PPI-NI as a local coach in early 2007. This seemed like a perfect fit for me, studying the social science of sport at UUJ and putting it into action with PPI-NI.

Darryl instructing participants.

I was lucky enough to gain a work placement as part of my degree with PeacePlayers last year as well. Over the course of the year, I gained a lot of experience and my passion for the PeacePlayers mission in Northern Ireland (and globally) grew considerably.

When my placement ended and I began my final year at UUJ, I decided that I would write my final paper on the significance of basketball as a neutral sport in a divided society. I selected my classes carefully, focusing on the sociology of sport, sport & culture and sport & identity. A combination of work in the field with PPI-NI and academic study challenged me to think about the importance of sport, in particular basketball, in our program but also its role as a vehicle in bridging divides, changing perceptions and developing leaders. In the past, sport in Northern Ireland has been a contentious issue, but organizations like PeacePlayers International show how it can be used to help reach a more stable and peaceful society. PPI-NI has led by example and has begun to work with other sporting organizations to demonstrate the value of sport as a means of stimulating dialogue and creating new friendships.

Darryl has been able to meet his professional and academic interests through his work with PPI - Northern Ireland.

With my coursework complete, I can now focus all of my energy into PPI-NI. We are moving into some exciting times, working with major sporting organizations (GAA, IFA, Ulster Rugby), expanding our program outside of Belfast, and delivering diversity through sports training across the province. I am truly thankful to be a part of PeacePlayers International and look forward to helping grow the program to be bigger and better!

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