Tony Matthews was inspired to write the account of his time as interpreter for Northern Ireland at the 1982 World Cup in Spain by his cousin, journalist Henry McDonald, who sadly passed away earlier this year. Proceeds from the sale of ‘Yer Man Will Look After Our Language’ will go to the Children’s Cancer Unit at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. The book can be purchased via Amazon
SUMMARY OF THE BOOK
Yer Man Will Look After Our Language is a wonderful time machine which vividly depicts the day to day life of the Northern Ireland football players and coaching staff behind the scenes in the 1982 World Cup in Spain as they play, train and relax.
The reader is transport ed right back to that sweltering Spanish summer when Billy Bingham’s unlikely lads shocked the football world. Whether it’s sitting around the pool with ‘el niño’ Norman Whiteside and Big Pat Jennings, travelling to the matches with Bingham and his technical team or jumping for joy with the bench when Gerry Armstrong’s winner hits the back of the net on that hot Valencian night you, the reader, are right there in the front row.
The narrative is also sprinkled with context and accurately portrays the social and political climates of Spain and Northern Ireland back in those days and emphasizes what the World Cup tournament meant for both of them off the field as well as on it.
The wounds of the Franco dictatorship had still not healed and Spain strove to present itself on the world stage as a modern democratic country while Northern Ireland availed of the grand opportunity to show the world that there was more to it than the bombs and bullets of The Troubles.
Some space is also devoted to the Falklands Malvinas conflict and the potential damage for the tournament with PM Margaret Thatcher threatening withdraw England, Scotland and N. Ireland.
It is an original first-hand account which in addition to providing a look at some of the important organizational aspects of the tournament, contains its fair share of humorous and interesting anecdotes which capture the mood behind the scenes. It is subtitled ‘A Granular Account’ and the great attention to detail brings 1982 Northern Ireland and Spain to life for younger readers and offers older ones a nostalgic trip down memory lane.
The reader is transported with the team from airports to hotels to training pitches to matches and can’t help but gain a very up close and personal picture of ‘the spirit of ‘82’ and what that famous moment in time meant for those who lived it.
Any football fan will enjoy the walk on roles by many famous names of the day Jimmy Hill, Eusebio, Joh an Cruyff, Bobby Moore and George Best all get a look in but it’s the warm, detailed storytelling which lingers when the last page is turned and it’s all for charity.
