Gerry Armstrong, the former Northern Ireland and Tottenham Hotspur Footballer, who represented Northern Ireland at the 1982 and '86 World Cups, spoke to us about his memories of the '82 World Cup and reflects on footage of his family in the archive.

This family footage celebrating the victory of Spain at the World Cup in 1982, shot by Ulster Television with Eamonn Holmes reporting, is my archive pick as it has special personal significance. Brilliant nostalgia for the competition that year when Northern Ireland did so well.

It brings back wonderful memories. Because I was away at the time in Spain, I never got to see what was going on back home. It’s so good to see the members of my family and, of course, some of them are not with us now, which makes it all the more poignant. And there was also the fact of what it meant to Northern Ireland – and I mean all of Northern Ireland – and the community back home. It brought a lot of people closer together at that time and that’s what that team did. It brings back such wonderful memories and it’s a lovely time and place for people to go back and visit.

And it’s not just this footage. When the Digital Film Archive put together Yer Men in Spain in 2022, showcasing the footage from the tournament out in Spain in 1982, there were wonderful scenes of little boys who visited the team at the hotel. Then, on the night of the screening, those little boys turned up as grown men sharing in that great memory.

It was a different time back then in 1982. When we were away, we didn’t even watch the television as we could only see the Spanish TV and no one spoke Spanish. So we didn’t really know what was going on back home. That’s why footage like this is so nice to see.

To participate in World Cups is an incredible thing – especially when you’re such a small nation like Northern Ireland. Seeing this footage, and the film Yer Men in Spain, brings back such happy times. Not just for me, but hopefully for everyone who sees it.