Linfield manager caught offside

The presence of Linfield soccer manager David Jeffrey at a mini-12th parade in Glengormley, North Belfast, has provoked an angry response from Sinn Féin Councillor Breige Meehan.

The march, which included up to 400 hundred Orangemen and a number of loyalist bands, marched through the mainly Catholic Church Road area of Glengormley.

"What does his presence at this parade tell us when efforts are being made to get rid of the sectarianism that permeates soccer in the Six Counties?" asked Meehan.

Michael Boyd, who heads the Irish Football Association's (IFA) anti-sectarian programme Sport for All, said the IFA had no comment to make on Meehan's criticism of Jeffrey.

He said that the Linfield manager's presence at the march had nothing to do with the Football for All project.

Linfield and its supporters have one of the worst sectarian reputations throughout soccer in the North.

Among the supporters repertoire of songs are The Sash and The Billy Boys.

In 1979, when Cliftonville went to play in the final of the IFA Cup at Windsor Park, loyalists threw a grenade into a stand housing Cliftonville fans. No one was injured.

It was while playing at Linfield's home ground, Windsor Park, for the North's soccer team that Celtic player Neil Lennon was on the receiving end of the intense sectarian abuse that forced him to retire from international soccer.