Ian Parsley: SDLP soccer motion was divisive but sport in NI is still divided

For the reasons he outlines, the SDLP motion was indeed divisive.

However, we still have to address the fact that part of the reason for this is that sport in Northern Ireland is divisive, not least in the symbols and anthems associated with it.

We have not yet done anything like enough to tackle this.

Fundamentally, sport has still not gone far enough to recognise what we agreed in 1998: Northern Ireland exists; and the “people of Northern Ireland” may be British, or Irish, or both. In other words, either a British identity or an Irish identity, collectively or exclusively, may be derived from an association with Northern Ireland.

How far does the Northern Ireland football team accommodate this?

There is no doubt that it has moved significantly in the right direction since the Agreement in its community relations work, and attitudes towards the Northern Ireland team among the broad population have greatly improved.

However, there is still a way to go. Both the flag and anthem due to be used by the Northern Ireland team this summer are representative only of the British identity, and are therefore understandably seen as exclusive by a considerable section of its population.

For this reason, many “people of Northern Ireland” prefer the Republic of Ireland team.

No party claiming to be “for everyone” can ignore that, however frustrating it may be for those of us who are lifelong Northern Ireland fans.

It should be noted that, similarly, other sporting bodies operating on an all-Ireland basis have yet seriously to come to terms with recognising both the Irish and British identity clearly established in 1998 for part of the territory in which they operate.

This too has led, understandably, to something less than absolute support for “Ireland” teams among some groups in Northern Ireland, and this too needs to be addressed rather than dismissed.

The problem in all of this is that managing change is difficult and time-consuming.

In the meantime we have to deal with things as they are, not as we would like them to be, and we have to strive to do so on behalf of the whole community.