Maltese flag in Ireland

I thought readers might be interested to know about a Maltese flag being flown at every match in the Irish League and indeed, every game Cliftonville football club from North Belfast play in.

My brothers, cousins and I are ardent supporters of Cliftonville and we (and a few friends) decided that we wanted to have a banner made to display at Cliftonville matches. Well, as Cliftonville wear red and white, and as we are the grandchildren of a Maltese woman who moved to Ireland in 1946, we thought that a Maltese flag had to be the back-drop to our banner.

The photo was taken at a recent match away to Ballymena United, which Cliftonville won 1-0 (Barry Holland scored in 61 minutes), which took The Reds to joint first in the league on 10 points with Linfield and Glentoran. The banner was also on display recently when Sky Sports televised their first Irish League game from Solitude, a thrilling 2-2 draw between Cliftonville and reigning champions Linfield.

My grandmother was Annie Camilleri, from Senglea and she met my grandfather Billy McClelland when he was stationed in Malta during WWII.

She moved to Ireland towards the end of the war and lived the rest of her life in north Belfast, regularly going home to Malta, and bringing the rest of her family back also - to the island of sunshine! Since the mid 1970s my grandfather has taken us to see Cliftonville play at their home ground "Solitude" and I believe it is a fitting tribute to both my grandparents to have the Maltese flag flying proudly all over Ireland.