LOCAL FOOTBALL PLAYERS STUNNED AS NEWS FILTERED THROUGH TO BELFAST
Local football players stunned as news filtered through to Belfast
THE opening weekend of the football season was always one of excitement for Omagh town FC, and to be drawn at Glentoran for their first game of the 1998-99 season the local side faced a massive test early in their campaign.
However, the match was rendered meaningless when news began to filter through about the Real IRA's bomb in Omagh on Saturday, August 15, 1998.
Local radio presenter, Paddy Hunter, was with the team that day, and he admits that from the beginning of the match there was a sense that all was not as it should have been.
"When we'd have gone to Glentoran there would have been a bit of atmosphere and a bit of banter, but the match started at 3 o'clock and before half-time there was a sort of lull, there was a mumbling around the ground, but we passed no remarks on it," he recalled
"It was funny because there was nothing, no real action in the game. Glentoran were dominant, we had a very weak team and there was no real buzz. But at half-time, myself and Charlie McCrea were delayed in the changing room getting things organised and the second half had started. Roy McCreadie, who was the manager then, came over to myself and Charlie and said there's been a bomb in Omagh, there's been people injured, so you'd better ring home."
Having been given access to a telephone by a Glentoran steward and having discovered that his family were safe and well, Paddy remembered how the news started to filter through about what had happened and how it continued to worsen.
"There was a kind of shellshock and at that stage there was supposedly only two or three people dead. During the second half, there was no atmosphere at all," he added
"There was nothing said on the bench at that stage, but the guy who had been kind to us and brought us to the phone kept relaying the next update as he heard it and by the time the match was over we were told there were 12 dead and hundreds injured.
"The realisation still couldn't set in at that stage so one of the reporters from Radio Ulster came looking to see if he could get talking to anyone, but Roy had kept them away at that stage and the players didn't know. But as soon as the match was over, he took everyone in and told them that there was a bad bomb and that it was serious".
Before the team left Belfast, Paddy and a few players stopped for some refreshments, and he remembers that they encountered a strange atmosphere in the shop: "We stopped at a wee shop outside the Oval before we left and we walked in with the Omagh Town gear, tracksuits and all on. There was a bit of talking going on in the shop - these woman going on about how terrible it was that these boys were all the way up here today - and as soon as we walked in there was silence.
"It was strange to walk into the shop with these typical Belfast ladies talking away and we walked in and just silence immediately."
Even after 10 years Paddy admits that, even though he wasn't in the town when the atrocity took place, the events that unfolded were something he'll never forget.
"That particular day sticks in your mind completely. You can run it through your mind from start to finish. We left the town at around 11.30am, it was the start of the season and there was eagerness and anticipation to get started, but football took a back seat.
"It was a weird scenario. The memories of it are vivid. It's one of those things where you can relate the story over and over and it doesn't change.
"You wouldn't want to relive it. You can really feel for everyone else who was caught up in it during the day, especially those families who didn't get good news.
"And you always think of that and I always have down through the years because at the end of the day, everyone from the town knew someone who was caught up in it".
THE opening weekend of the football season was always one of excitement for Omagh town FC, and to be drawn at Glentoran for their first game of the 1998-99 season the local side faced a massive test early in their campaign.
However, the match was rendered meaningless when news began to filter through about the Real IRA's bomb in Omagh on Saturday, August 15, 1998.
Local radio presenter, Paddy Hunter, was with the team that day, and he admits that from the beginning of the match there was a sense that all was not as it should have been.
"When we'd have gone to Glentoran there would have been a bit of atmosphere and a bit of banter, but the match started at 3 o'clock and before half-time there was a sort of lull, there was a mumbling around the ground, but we passed no remarks on it," he recalled
"It was funny because there was nothing, no real action in the game. Glentoran were dominant, we had a very weak team and there was no real buzz. But at half-time, myself and Charlie McCrea were delayed in the changing room getting things organised and the second half had started. Roy McCreadie, who was the manager then, came over to myself and Charlie and said there's been a bomb in Omagh, there's been people injured, so you'd better ring home."
Having been given access to a telephone by a Glentoran steward and having discovered that his family were safe and well, Paddy remembered how the news started to filter through about what had happened and how it continued to worsen.
"There was a kind of shellshock and at that stage there was supposedly only two or three people dead. During the second half, there was no atmosphere at all," he added
"There was nothing said on the bench at that stage, but the guy who had been kind to us and brought us to the phone kept relaying the next update as he heard it and by the time the match was over we were told there were 12 dead and hundreds injured.
"The realisation still couldn't set in at that stage so one of the reporters from Radio Ulster came looking to see if he could get talking to anyone, but Roy had kept them away at that stage and the players didn't know. But as soon as the match was over, he took everyone in and told them that there was a bad bomb and that it was serious".
Before the team left Belfast, Paddy and a few players stopped for some refreshments, and he remembers that they encountered a strange atmosphere in the shop: "We stopped at a wee shop outside the Oval before we left and we walked in with the Omagh Town gear, tracksuits and all on. There was a bit of talking going on in the shop - these woman going on about how terrible it was that these boys were all the way up here today - and as soon as we walked in there was silence.
"It was strange to walk into the shop with these typical Belfast ladies talking away and we walked in and just silence immediately."
Even after 10 years Paddy admits that, even though he wasn't in the town when the atrocity took place, the events that unfolded were something he'll never forget.
"That particular day sticks in your mind completely. You can run it through your mind from start to finish. We left the town at around 11.30am, it was the start of the season and there was eagerness and anticipation to get started, but football took a back seat.
"It was a weird scenario. The memories of it are vivid. It's one of those things where you can relate the story over and over and it doesn't change.
"You wouldn't want to relive it. You can really feel for everyone else who was caught up in it during the day, especially those families who didn't get good news.
"And you always think of that and I always have down through the years because at the end of the day, everyone from the town knew someone who was caught up in it".
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC10An/40
Published Date: 14-Aug-08
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