TG4 doc explores football team torn apart by the Troubles

A new TG4 documentary will tell the story of Star of the Sea, one of Ireland’s most successful youth football teams in 1960s Belfast, whose Catholic and Protestant players were torn apart as sectarian divisions intensified during the Troubles.

Réalt na Mara – An Pheil, Na Trioblóidí agus An Iarmhairt (Star of the Sea – The Football, The Troubles, and the Aftermath) is the feature documentary debut of director James Wynne, produced with support from TG4 and Coimisiún na Meán. It will be broadcast on Tuesday, 20 October, at 9.30pm, following its premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh in July.

The film follows the contrasting lives of former teammates, including Raymond McCord, who went from football prodigy with trials at Manchester United to becoming a prominent victims’ rights campaigner after the 1997 murder of his son, Raymond McCord Jr.

Other players experienced the conflict in different ways. Bobby Sands joined the IRA and died during the 1981 hunger strike, while former teammates Michael Acheson and Terry Nicholl joined the UVF and later served prison sentences in the Maze.

The documentary also examines Denis Sweeney’s narrow escape from a pub bombing, which influenced his decision to become a doctor, and the lasting impact of the Troubles on Tommy O’Neill, a childhood friend of Sands.

Director James Wynne said he was drawn to the team’s original ethos of bringing communities together.

“These players represented the ideal but were nonetheless massively impacted by the Troubles,” he said.

Wynne hopes the film will encourage audiences to protect peace on the island by reflecting on the devastating consequences of division and violence.