I had my first visit to Windsor Park in years yesterday to witness the Germans scrape a lucky 4-1 win against the mighty Norn Irn. It was a good night out, even if my memory of it is a little hazy thanks to a few pre-match drinks in Ryans (great wee pub!). Decked out in my brand new 125th Anniversary Northern Ireland kit, waving my Ulster Banner, I made my way down Tate's Avenue amongst a mass of fellow-fans, towards the Windsor Park entrance singing "We're not Brazil, we're Northern Ireland (but it's all the same to me)" at the top of my lungs.

Looking at the pitch I was stood (I say stood because I only availed of my seat for 5-10 minutes and that was at half time) in the right hand side of the west stand. Probably not the best view in the house but, I've been told, anywhere in the Kop (as the west stand is also known) you're guaranteed a lot of singing and generally a great atmosphere. I certainly wasn't disappointed on that front! It was a great atmosphere and I had a brilliant time. Northern Ireland did well for the first half and were even (very briefly) in the lead against a team ranked roughly 100 places higher than us in the FIFA rankings. It seemed like the GAWA never stopped singing, and as the German's slotted in their 4th goal we still sang "We're gunna win 5-4!"

The match itself was good, even if the scoreline flattered our European guests but that's not what I want to talk about. One thing I wanted to know about was the extent to which sectarianism had been reduced at Windsor Park, during Northern Ireland matches, thanks to the IFA's Football For All campaign and the efforts of the Green And White Army to create a welcoming environment.

Follow up:

I'm sad to say there were one or two happenings that, while not marring the event, at least took the shine off it. Leaving aside the German penalty (yer man dove faster than any U-Boat!) there were a couple of wankers determined to display what ignorant, Neanderthal bigots they are. It started with these clowns booing their way through "Deutschland Uber Alles" and yelling "No Surrender" during God Save The Queen. If I'm honest I have more of a problem with the former, but shouts like that during our national anthem do little to welcome any Catholic supporters to the ground. It's been said before, but I think it's a great analogy: "Please leave your politics at the turnstyle."

Later the some of the same idiots insisted on referring to the Germans as Nazis attempted to start up a rendition of the "Billy Boys" which, I'm glad to say, failed miserably. I think this is an important fact since 10 years ago that particular 'party song' would have been a lot more commonplace. A small group, presumably the same one, got a very brief rendition of "No Surrender to the IRA" going later on. That's a sentiment with which I wholeheartedly agree, but nevertheless completely unnecessary and inappropriate for a Northern Ireland match given the efforts being made to attract a wider range of fans to Northern Ireland matches. Despite this, there was little evidence of widespread sectarianism, and I'm very glad for this. It's clear that more needs to be done though. I'm still a bit wary of what might happen should we be drawn against the Republic at some stage.

Moving on from sectarianism to just plain being a wanker, I did hear a rendition of "Where's your fuckin' Hitler now?" (to the tune of "You're not singing anymore") after Northern Ireland took the lead, which seemed a bit pathetic really. Almost as embarrassing were later songs of "Stand up if you won the war" to which I heard someone in front of me (referring to the singers) state that he'd "love to have seen them fighting the war!" Sporting rivalry is one thing but chants insinuating widespread German hero-worship of Hitler are taking the piss.

The thing that personally embarrasses me most though, truth be known, is that on texting a friend to tell them I'd got tickets, I received a reply something along the lines of "Happy days. Fuck the Germans!" and to be fair I think that was shouted at least once during the match. I mean seriously, this is a world-class team who are doing Northern Ireland a favour coming to play us in Belfast to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the IFA. The German FA probably could have used the date to take part in a more lucrative friendly against more glamorous opposition and I'm grateful they came. Of course I would have probably neglected to realise this too. The match, which was probably a near sell-out at Windsor must have raised nearly £200k for the IFA (my own personal very rough estimate).

I can't stress enough that the clowns involved in the 'party songs' and abusive chants (I refuse to describe them as 'supporters') were small in number and they only affected relatively short space of time during the match. The reason I noticed it so much was because I take a great interest in the extent to which things have changed in recent years. The reason I focus so heavily on the one or two incidents of concern is because I want to call on Northern Ireland supporters to think about what they’re doing and/or saying and what effect that might have on Northern Ireland, on fellow fans, on our image in the media and on our non-WASP players. While I’m on the topic, those who sang "Where’s your fuckin’ Hitler now?" would do well to remember our best-keeper-in-the-world, Maik Taylor, was born in Germany!

When Northern Ireland's critics claim that our fans are hostile/sectarian/racist I want to be able to say confidently that it's not a problem at all, rather than just keep pointing out that it's a very small minority (and in all honesty, it really is). Only then will we see how many of our critics really have a problem with sectarianism, and how many refuse to support Northern Ireland because of their own blinkered politics. It's becoming clear that many are of the latter persuasion, who won't accept that Northern Ireland fans have a right to support our wee country (going so far as making up lies about paramilitary flags at matches!!), but for each of them I'm sure there are many more that are open to persuasion. As such, I look forward to the day when the fans at Windsor are completely free of this kind of embarrassing nonsense, and hope that the perpetrators realise their childish bitterness and hatred of any and all opponents does Northern Ireland no favours at all. I do hope they're kept quiet when the media spotlight is on us for the visits of England and Wales this autumn.

In short, its obvious that progress still has to be made, but it's also clear that plenty already has. There's no comparison between Windsor Park today and Windsor Park 10 years ago, or maybe even 5 years ago. These few idiots, in a crowd of what must be around 12,000 won't put me off going back. I realise that, not being a block booker, I've no hope of England or Wales tickets, and it'll be difficult (if not impossible) to get tickets for the Azerbaijan match but the next home match that has tickets available you can bet I'll be there, be it competitive match against a team like Germany, or a friendly against the Faeroe Islands. In fact if anyone knows where I can get cheap flights to Malta in August I might just be at that one too.