A season-ending injury usually brings about many emotions in footballers, whose ambitions become curtailed by their physical woes. Dejection, sorrow, despair, gloominess, depression and unhappiness is usually associated with the mental state players unlucky enough to meet such a fate.
However, Oakleigh Cannons defender John Black has found salvation in France, where he was in the stands witnessing home country Northern Ireland qualify for the Round of 16 with a series of inspiring performances in their first major tournament in three decades.
“My injury played a huge part in me going to the Euros as I was upset that I had to stop playing this year, but I knew it wasn’t right with my performances being a reflection of the injury,” Black said.
“I was performing well under par compared to last year on a personal level.”
The 27-year-old has featured 36 times for the Cannons since joining the club in mid-2014 from State League One side Malvern City, and credits his mother for convincing him to come back home for the time being and subsequently attend the Championships in France.
“The only reason I was able to attend the tournament was because my mother helped me a lot. I told her about my injury and that I had to write this season off and she said that I might as well come home see my newborn niece and go to the Euros while I’m at home,” Black said.
Going into the tournament, Michael O’Neill’s were rank outsiders to qualify from a group which featured world champions Germany, dark horses Poland and fellow Eastern European side Ukraine.
The former Glentoran NIFL Premiership winner attended all three of the Green and White Army’s fixtures in France, where the minnows produced an upset 2-0 win over the Ukraine and respectable 1-0 defeats to their two other more illustrious opponents, which saw them qualify as one the four best third placed teams to set up an all-Britain Round of 16 tie against the impressive Wales.
“I attended all three games starting with the opener in Nice, which is a beautiful city. We also traveled to Monte Carlo on the train and that was a great experience where we saw the super yachts while also soaking up the Rays on the marina. On the field, we played poorly as we went into it playing for a draw or trying to sneak in a win, but Poland battered us and in the end it could have been easily more than 1-0,” he said.
A lifelong Glasgow Rangers fan, Black believes the atmosphere inside the Allianz Riviera on Day 3 of the tournament exceeded the benchmark he experienced at Ibrox Stadium. “As for the atmosphere, I’ve never seen or been part of anything like that in my life.
The noise, passion and behaviour of our fans was unbelievable. I’ve been to Old Firm games between Rangers and Celtic, which I believed to be the best atmosphere in the world, but I was proven wrong.
I’m sure everyone’s seen the videos of Northern Ireland fans singing the whole game. Credit to the Poland fans who were also brilliant and well behaved.
Black spoke about the trials and tribulations of watching the national team over the years and their successive failures to qualify for major tournaments having last qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
“Growing up it was frustrating because we have never qualified for any major tournament in my lifetime, until these Euros,” he said.
“At one point we were 126th ranked in the world and at some stage hadn’t scored in nearly two years, but to top our qualifying group this campaign, and deservedly so, was unbelievable. I played youth football with some of the lads and know a few of them and they’re a credit to Northern Ireland.”
After the defeat to Poland, the 25th ranked nation faced the Ukraine in Lyon, with a 2-0 victory over the 19th ranked nation being one of the upsets of the tournament.
“When we beat the Ukraine, I’m almost sure that every Northern Ireland fan in the stadium shed or was close to shedding a tear with emotions running high. It was the best game I’ve ever been to in my life,” he said.
Following on from that experience, Black journeyed to Paris with the rest of his compatriots, where the Norn Iron faced the daunting prospect of facing the World Champions, needing a result or a narrow loss to qualify. A first-half Mario Gomez goal separated the two sides, despite Die Mannschaft being relentless in attack by constantly plundering the Irish goal.
“We rode our luck as our goalkeeper Michael McGovern was man of the match and had the game of his life to keep it at 1-0 and to give us the best chance of qualifying as one of the best 3rd place teams which turned out to be the case,” Black said.
“I think he actually earned himself a contract after that game as his contracts up in Scotland and he has been released by Hamilton Academical.”
A trademark of the tournament has been the success of the home nations, with Northern Ireland joined in the Round of 16 by England, the Republic of Ireland and second round adversaries Wales. Black is delighted by this and the good spirits shown by each supporter group when interacting with the other, with many neutrals noting the Irish – both from the Republic and Northern Ireland – to be the best in tournament.
“It’s great to see all the home nations qualify for the round of 16. Pity Scotland aren’t there too and we have already had a few lads bantering the Scottish back here asking will they out the bins out for everyone and water the plants, but all in good spirits,” he said.
“As for the republic qualifying, you’re always going to have bitter people on both sides of the border not wanting the other sides team qualifying. Personally I’m happy for Ireland. As a proud Northern Irishman I’m ecstatic that we have put our country on the map big time. Everyone is talking about our fans and how good we’ve been and well behaved, and to be fair that extends to the Green Army as well, given the Republic of Ireland fans have been unreal as well.”
He added: “There have been some great stories such as the one where the Northern Irish fans broke a restaurant window with a football and done a whip round and raised something like €2000 for the restaurant owner to replace it.
“The Irish fans also dented the roof of a car and threw a load of money into the car window to fix it, and it is these sort of acts which has led many to describe both sets of fans as the best at the Euros.
“Maybe I’m being biased, but in my opinion we are the best fans in the world as we are renowned for being a bit rough, although I have not seen or heard one fight while here. A special mention to the two Northern Ireland fans who lost their lives in France, one due to a freak accident and another to a heart attack, truly heartbreaking stuff.”
While Northern Ireland’s adventure in France came to an end overnight with a narrow 1-0 defeat to Wales – Black missed the game as he was on the plane back to Australia – the national team’s descent into popular culture has been helped by the sensation of Will Grigg’s on Fire anthem, not that Black is too keen to hear it again.
“I’m nearly sick of hearing it”, joked the Northern Irish defender. “But when you’re in the crowd and it goes off, it is quite an unreal feeling. Thousands of fans going mental to it – it’s a surreal feeling. I honestly don’t think one fan did not take part in the chanting,” he said.
Black’s league career back home has seen him turn out for the likes of Glentoran and Coleraine, two of the most successful club sides in the state, as well as rubbing shoulders with some of the stars who shone in France.
“I’ve played with a few of the players such as Stuart Dallas who is now at Leeds United, Jonny Evans at county level and Watford’s Craig Cathcart too, as well as playing against Niall McGinn,” he said.
“Both Corry Evans and his brother Jonny actually grew up in the same estate as me, and both have done very well for themselves.
“But the one that amazes me is our striker Josh Magennis, who played at my youth team at U18s level two years above himself as a goalkeeper, before moving to Cardiff City where halfway through his time there he was told he wasn’t going to make it as a goalkeeper. He tried out as an outfielder for the remainder of his contract and now he’s a striker and scored the crucial goal against Greece which sealed our qualification. I really can’t get my head around that as I’ve been trying to make it professionally for 28 years now and can’t get near it but he can in six months.” Black joked .
“But fair play to him as he’s a nice guy and they’re all doing our wee country proud.”
While Northern Ireland’s tournament adventure ended last night, Black has departed France with a lifetime full of joyous memories made possible by a twist of fate starting with his season-ending injury.