Film/movie Michael Collins

[johnnyboy]

Apparently there is a scene in this flim where the British massacre innocent civilians at a football match. I have seen several claims on the web that this scene is false and the event never happened - anyone know a reliable source to confirm/deny this?

[johnefitz]

I didn't know there was any doubts about this event actually taking place... although there does seem to be disagreement about who fired the first shots. This website seemed pretty reliable to me - http://www.historyireland.com/magazine/features/11
.2Feat.html

[sft42]

As far as I can remember the whole thing was set up in retribution for the killing of a dozen or so english intelligence officers earlier that same day.....It very much did happen but I think the previous respondant is correct in saying that just like 50 years later both sides claimed and counter claimed about who was the aggressor and instigated firing.

[gazzawazza]

Just one little bit of nitpicking sft. Not knowing anything about this story I've just had a quick look at the link provided by johnefitz. I think it's worth pointing out that the intelligence officers killed by Collins' squad were british and not necessarily english...

[thewillow]

Of course, it was a gaelic football match not soccer.

[mcgoveb2]

There is no doubt that this event happened however exact details are disputed. The best source of info is the linenhall lib in trinity college dublin.

[thewillow]

The Linen Hall Library is in Belfast.

[c0mpliant]

That is fact. The British Army was well and truly a discusting organisation in Ireland. As for who shot first. The IRA in the begining had only a handful of guns, with only a handful of ammo. There was a policy in the IRA that no matter what the gun has to get back, even if your dead, the gun had to get back to base. With this in mind, do you really think, that the IRA would bring all of its weapons (because the British claim that over 150 open fired on them) to a GAA match? No, those weapons were needed else where. Second, why would they bring weapons to a GAA match? Its a sport, not a target range. Third, why would IRA members go to a GAA match when there was a war to fight? The next day a lord (or MP or onr of those government people) had to explain the events to the government. He said that "they were fired upon by a large part of the crowd, and that it was not part of the British Army policy of reprisals". So this means that there was a policy of reprisals in Ireland. The fact that anyone disputes that that event happened at all makes me sick. Just like the Bloody Sunday that followed this Bloody Sunday, the British Army are all too quick to fire live ammunition into civilian populations, and NEVER take responsabilty for it afterwards. Th�ochaigh �r l�