Political football's peace dividend

So the myth goes, prior to the Battle of Waterloo and with the British fleet engaged in regular scuffles with their French counterparts, a French boat was washed ashore near to the coast at Hartlepool. There was only one survivor. A monkey.

Now, the local populace, not being in contact with many Frenchmen and fed a diet of propaganda that painted the French as animals, mistook the monkey for a French sailor. Pondering what to do, they did not choose the path of tolerance. They hanged the monkey.

People from Hartlepool have, ever since, been derided as "monkey hangers", and on Saturday afternoons the mockers will ask how the "chimps" got on. The insults help add to the image of Hartlepool as the last place you would want to go to.

Yet, when you visit Hartlepool, the first thing you notice is the relative prosperity of the town, in particular the estimated £1 billion spent on regenerating the coast as a dockside-marina-leisure facility designed by Norman Foster. You wonder how this could be.

Then you remember who the MP for Hartlepool is - Peter Mandelson. Mandelson may not have won Hartlepool's image war, but he has made a tangible material difference to an isolated town. That is about as much as you can ask from any MP.

Political influence and political will matter. In the last few months of his time in Ireland - it seems certain he will move after the general election - Mandelson has the chance to make the material difference to the Irish which many would argue he has failed to do so far. Sadly for him, it involves football, not normally a topic you imagine gets Peter going.

Strange it may sound, but it is this column's belief that football could play a fundamental part in a healing process. No other cultural activity has such popular crossover potential.

Why? Firstly, football matters. Most people follow some team, Irish or British or both, no matter how distantly. There is huge interest. Secondly, a large slice of those who ardently follow frontline clubs like Linfield and Dundalk tend to be the ones who hold the fiercest political opinions, unionist and nationalist. To coin a phrase, if ever there is to be peace and understanding, these people need to talk. It used to be called the working class. This may be too Gusty Spence for some, but they fought the war, they must create the peace.

Yet how many unionists from violent sink estates such as we see in Larne or Portadown know Galway or Cork? And vice versa.

Physical contact is vital to understanding. Which is where football comes in. To be precise, an all-Ireland competition of some format. Portadown fans in Cork might frighten some - and of course security is an issue - but that is what must happen if there is to be meaningful contact.

From Finn Harps and Sligo Rovers to Ards and Glentoran, a worryingly large chunk of Irish clubs are in serious financial peril. Several could go under, and soon. In the North, the Irish League has been strangled by the Troubles and it is to be hoped that in the debates last week there was full recognition of the damage done by sectarianism and hostility. In the Republic, the obsession with England plays a major role in its continued struggle.

There are too many clubs in the two leagues. But an all-Ireland, 12-team league? It makes sense: economically and geographically. Sponsorship and television coverage would be certainties, and an FAI spokesman said on Friday that, following meetings with their Irish League counterparts, an all-Ireland competition, initially a knock-out cup, should be up and running by season 2002-2003. A stated scenario is: "A Shamrock Rovers v Linfield semi-final in front of 10,000, live on tv, generating revenue of £150,000."

That is not some happy-clappy fantasy. It is also achievable. And viable.

But it is an idea that will meet opposition. Therefore it needs to be pushed, and it needs to be pushed financially and emotionally by government. That's where political will comes in. If Hartlepool can get the money . . .

Simultaneously, other ideas need to be defeated. Thankfully, Wimbledon for Dublin is now redundant, but it was depressing to be in Belfast last week and still hear people banging on about a Belfast United Premiership club. Hey numbnut! It won't happen. They won't even let Rangers and Celtic into England. It's against the rules. And the cartel.

"I want us all to visualise where we would like to see soccer in 1015 years from now," said Stormont Sports Minister Michael McGimpsey at the outset of the study into the state of football in Northern Ireland. "Realistically," should have been inserted somewhere there, but at least McGimpsey is addressing the present and is brave enough to want to shape the future.

Michael Collins dismissed football as part of "the peaceful penetration of Ireland by the British". But it could be a vehicle for the peaceful penetration of Ireland by the Irish. Of all shades.