The South of England Northern Ireland Supporters Club was officially formed in Weymouth at 11.17 am on Saturday 10th December 2005 having been the brainchild of the founding members firstly on a drunken party train to Warsaw, Poland in March 2005 and secondly in the Red Panda in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 7th September 2005 (the night that Northern Ireland bate England 1-0).
However it is reported in folklore, the history of how the club was actually formed could
easily be attributed to any of the following:
1. The club began in Berlin when a culture-struck Jonny Blair met the beer-hunting Tim Beattie
in a Sailor's Bar near Oranienbergerstrasse on Easter Monday 2005 (March 28th 2005).
The main idea on why the club was formed was that these handful of loyal supporters felt that Northern Ireland
fans living in the South of England needed their own club, as the London NISC and North of England NISC were too
far to travel to, and in many ways far too sensible. The day the club was formed we decided that we should dress
in green and white for every meeting whether its in a dingy rock club, by the beach, at a Torquay match or in a
posh restaurant.
Since 2005, the club has grown from strength to strength, adding members all the time and spreading the word
of the Northern Ireland football team far and wide. Either in official or unofficial capacitys, the club can now
claim to have met up in: Weymouth, Torquay, Bristol, Bournemouth, Manchester, Southampton, London, Isle of Wight,
Oxford, Gillingham, Weston Super Mare, Dartford, Basingstoke, Exeter, Bath and Colchester (all in England), but
also in locations such as Bangor and Belfast (Northern Ireland), Copenhagen (Denmark), Berlin (Germany), Riga
(Latvia), Reykjavik (Iceland), Vaduz (Liechtenstein), Zurich (Switzerland), Gran Canaria (Spain), Stockholm
(Sweden), which often revolved around watching Northern Ireland matches. Ths club has had members at Northern
Ireland matches throughout the years, including the 1982 World Cup in Spain, the Thailand match in 1997, the 1-0
win in Germany in 1983 and the 1-0 defeat in Portugal in 1997.
The club also takes pride in supporting all Northern Ireland teams and squads, and as such have been to
Belarus to watch the Northern Ireland ladies team and Belfast to watch the Northern Ireland under 21s team. There
are almost 50 members signed up, but normally between 10 and 18 at every meeting, due to the wide geographical
spread. We are constantly looking to expand and gain new members all the time.
We raise money for charities at nearly every meeting. In the past we have donated to the Earl Mountbatten
Hospice on the Isle of Wight and The Cherries Nursing Home in Weymouth. We like to give money back to the local
communities where we hold each meeting. To help promote the club. Original club secretary Owen Millar also helped
raise money for the George Best foundation in 2005, with Tim Beattie and Tim Acheson also running marathons for
charity and Jonny Blair raising money for Comic Relief with a naked FM radio show.
We have also appeared in a wide range of national and local media, including BBC1, The Dorset Echo, Ireland
Saturday Night and Isle of Wight Beacon. We have also appeared on many and varied websites and matchday football
programmes, including Oxford United FC and This Is Exeter.co.uk. We see this as another way of spreading the word
of the Northern Ireland football team throughout the world
The club owns several flags (or flegs) to show their support for Northern Ireland. These include one main fleg
with the words South of England NISC: Good Times Never Seemed So Good. This quote is taken from the Neil Diamond song
"Sweet Caroline", which Northern Ireland fans have adopted and changed to "Sweet Northern Ireland." We also have a club
fleg with "Ulster Fry G.A.W.A (Green And White Army)" on it, in respect of the national meal of Northern Ireland.
Further flegs are owned by specific members, including Squid who has a Northern Ireland fleg with "Wellington, Somerset"
on it.
The club also has merchandise to help spread the word and add to club funds. These include pin badges, specially
designed print outs for each meeting and polo shirts, with more merchandise planned.
The club also likes to meet famous Northern Irish people during their meetings. We have met Darren Patterson, Sammy
Clingan, Jimmy Quinn, Maik Taylor and Damien Johnson at club meetings throughout the south of England, with more planned.
Our members are wide and varied and we have members living in places such as the Isle of Wight, Hong Kong, Bristol,
Dartford, Weston Super Mare, Bournemouth and Southampton to name but a few. Most of our members are originally from and
born in Northern Ireland from places such as Belfast, Bangor, Newtownards, Larne, Portadown and Londonderry.
At every meeting we dress in green and white and turn a random English location green for the day. Members also
bring 1 random item per person to each meeting. In the past this has included a Cardboard NI fan called Zulu, an
inflatable crocodile, a guitar and a large variety of headgear, of which Owen Millar is by far and away the most creative
member (at one point even ordering at hat from Texas, USA just to wear to a meeting). As mentioned our meetings are rotated
round various locations in the South of England. Past ventures include Oxford, Bristol, Weston Super Mare and Gillingham
(to support Northern Ireland ladies team). Future meetings are planned for Colchester, Brighton and Swindon.
Our meetings are exciting days out and we urge anyone to attend, but preferably football fans from Northern Ireland
now residing in the south of England. Thank you for visiting. We are the South of England NISC!
Our club mottos are : "Good times never seemed so good" and "More than just a piss up on the seaside"
Anyone wishing to join the South of England NISC should
e-mail us . It is highly recommended.
Greenest regards,
The SoE NISC
