SOCCER STADIUM COULD BE RENAMED BOBBY SANDS PARK AND PAINTED GREEN WHITE AND ORANGE, SAY SOURCES

FROM BELFAST

PLANS FOR THE GAELIC ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION to use Belfast football venue Windsor Park while its own stadium, Casement Park, is being used for the Euro 2028 Soccer Championship, are said to be well under way.

During this period, Windsor Park will be renamed and repainted to reflect the prevailing cultures of Hurling and Gaelic Football, according to well-placed officials.

Sources who wished to remain nameless have indicated that a petition to have the ground named after IRA Hunger Striker Bobby Sands has a significant support base. A green, white and orange color scheme will allow all shades of opinion stand on the color they feel most suits their sympathies, or prejudices.

The stadium will be formally blessed by a range of clergymen and women, including a Catholic Bishop and a Buddhist Monk, and will fly LGBTQ+ flags at appropriate times, and host occasional Sunday gay pride parades, during the GAA’s time there.

The pitch itself will have a paint scheme of orange and white beside the grass’s natural color.

“We hope to make it welcoming of all people living in the Six Counties,” said a GAA supporter. “Unionists of all hues are particularly welcome. Who knows, if it works out, we might just buy the place. Failte go leir, as we used to say in Long Kesh.”