Editorial: Unexpected Swiss pilgrimage by St Gallen football fans to seaside town of Bangor

This week, some 2,000 Swiss football fans visited Belfast, to watch St Gallen play Larne in the UEFA Conference League.

Many of these supporters made an unforeseen pilgrimage to Bangor, which confused the locals, but turned out to have a perfectly rational explanation.

The city and canton of St Gallen in Switzerland were founded around the hermitage of Saint Gall, who was a disciple of the famous missionary Columbanus. The two saints are said to have studied together at Bangor Abbey, which, during the sixth century, was one of Europe’s greatest centres of Christian learning.

Saint Comgall, who was born in County Antrim, founded the Abbey and educated monks, like Columbanus and Gall, who would play a key role in bringing Christianity to pagan tribes.

The Swiss fans, who made quite a spectacle at Bangor pier and other landmarks, visited Northern Ireland’s Gold Coast to celebrate the heritage of their city, which they link to Irish monasticism. It was impressive proof of the supporters’ curiosity about the past, particularly when the pubs of Belfast offered a counter attraction.

It also reminded us of how much Northern Ireland has to offer tourists, some of which locals may find surprising or unexpected. We should try to make the most of local attractions, rather than doing them down or letting the areas around them go to seed.

In the end, St Gallen’s fans had a successful trip to Northern Ireland, as their team beat Larne narrowly at Windsor Park on Thursday evening – a 79th-minute winner ending the plucky resistance of Tiernan Lynch’s side. No doubt they also enjoyed their outing to the seaside, and their brush with monasticism in Bangor – a place that had such a central role in the history of Christianity in Europe.