Northern Ireland Soccer Mob Beats Catholic Kevin McDaid, 49, to Death Due to His Religion, Sparked by Sports Rivalry Inspiring Sectarian Violence

Kevin McDaid, 49, bludgeoned to death by mob of Protestant youths, Times Online

I was horrified to learn that militant Protestant supporters of a Scottish soccer team, Glasgow Rangers, bludgeoned Kevin McDaid, 49, to death because of his religion. He was a Roman Catholic and this atrocity has shown the world how sports rivalries can inspire sectarian bloodshed in Northern Ireland and that racism still manages to rear its ugly head repeatedly in Ireland. According to media reports, witnesses said that more than 20 Protestant supporters of the team drove into a Catholic district of Coleraine after the Rangers won the Scottish Premier League Championship yesterday. They were hellbent on starting trouble. These men were reportedly armed with clubs and literally attacked the first person they came in contact with, according to Billy Leonard, a former policeman. McDaid was killed, while his wife Evelyn and a neighbor were both injured. Police arrested six men on suspicion of involvement in the attack.

The Glasgow Rangers enjoy support exclusively from the British Protestant side of the community in Northern Ireland, while archrival Glasgow Celtic draws support only from the Irish Catholics. McDaid had four children and did volunteer youth work in the town. He had reportedly been encouraging local Catholics to cooperate with Northern Ireland's traditionally Protestant police.

According to Times Online, last summer violence erupted over a bonfire marking the anniversary of internment, when mainly Catholic civilians were rounded up in 1971 and held without charge on the suspicion that they were involved with the Provisional IRA. This month the killers of Michael McIlveen, a Catholic schoolboy battered to death in a sectarian attack, were given life sentences. This is really crazy and it is time that people shed more light on such atrocities that continue to fly under the radar of mainstream news, which would rather tell us about the breach of security by a chauffeur at Buckingham Palace, rather than informing the public that sectarian violence still continues in Northern Ireland.

I write about this because it is a disgrace to race relations across the globe. There is so much racism in Ireland, along religious lines, that is beyond normal comprehension. In Northern Ireland, Catholics and Protestants reportedly attend separate school systems and sports plays a big role in the division of the population, rather than promoting unity. In Belfast, may pubs refuse to admit customers if they are wearing soccer jerseys or scarves, especially the rival Glasgow colors, because it will provoke a fight. Are we living in modern times or in the dark ages? This is a travesty, no matter which country it occurred in.