Football on Film

Football and film: two giants of 20th century spectacle.

Arguably the greatest sporting obsession of modern times, football, is the focus of this collection.

We kick-off with two games from the British Home Championship of the 1920s. First, in 1927, Ireland play host to England at a sodden Windsor Park. Two years later and the home side face a stern examination by a Hughie Gallagher inspired Scotland.

As part of Super8 Stories, we look back to the 1952 Irish Cup Final between Ards and Glentoran, as players and fans reminisce about the occasion.

In 'Football Under The Floodlights' we see two historic, prestige friendlies as Distillery take on English opposition. The game on 30 December, 1952, was the first floodlit match in Northern Ireland, with Burnley's Jimmy McIlroy and Billy Elliott gracing the occasion.

The 75th anniversary of the Irish Football Association was marked in 1955 with a glamour tie at Windsor Park between Great Britain and European all-stars. Amongst the GB 11 were such iconic footballers as Danny Blanchflower (Northern Ireland and Tottenham), Stanley Matthews (England and Blackpool), John Charles (Wales and Leeds United) and Billy Liddell (Scotland and Liverpool), whilst their European opposition boasted the likes of Bernard Vukas (Croatia and Hajduk Split) and Raymond Kopa (France and Reims).

Finally, in the poignant Legend's End, we look back to Saturday, 3rd December, 2005, as George Best, the legend, is buried in his hometown.