15/12/2022
A rather heart-warming tale following on from Sunday's screening. Many of you have been in touch to share memories of this meeting of fans and players and it makes me very happy indeed to have reconnected people to such a joyful time. One of the nicest things I've ever had the opportunity to work on.
Let’s take a walk down memory lane…
In 1982 nine-year-old Paul won a Dale Farm Spot the Ball competition securing a two-week holiday to Spain with tickets to all of the NI World Cup group matches.
On his 10th birthday, Paul and his brother Dave accompanied by their mum, were on the touchline to see Gerry Armstrong score that iconic goal and they celebrated with the fans as Northern Ireland National Team beat Spain in Valencia.
Unfortunately, the camera Paul’s mum used to capture images of her sons with the NI players at their hotel hadn’t worked properly. The photos were lost and their only memories were destined to be tales of their experience.
Until now….
As the family sat in the Odeon cinema last Sunday evening at the screening of Northern Ireland Screen's Digital Film Archive YER MEN IN SPAIN, they saw footage of themselves at the World Cup in 1982 for the first time, dressed in their finest football kits and cheering for the players.
“The film was an incredible time capsule which brought the memories flooding back and brought some of them to life again.” Paul
