Whilst on my visit to Belfast the other month, I spent most of my pre-match build up talking to a number of Northern Ireland fans that had spotted my Burnley scarf and called me over.

They were members of the North of England Northern Ireland Supports Club, and we chatted about the game, our Ulster trio, some of our past NI internationals and Burnley as a football club in general.  Then, one mentioned about the NoE NISC planning a group trip to Turf Moor for the Birmingham game.

The club was formed in 2003 by a group of exiles living in England’s North West who planned to travel to internationals together.  Now, almost four years later, the group has grown substantially and now has over 40 members from around the north of England.

In addition to travelling to internationals together, the club also make several trips to see their players performing at domestic level, and that brings them to Turf Moor tomorrow.  With Burnley now sporting three Northern Ireland internationals in their first team squad, along with the historic connections between NI and BFC, the club were eager to take in a Burnley game this season, and with two internationals (Maik Taylor and Damien Johnson) also regulars for Birmingham City, the game between the two was chosen.  Unfortunately for them, Johnson serves a suspension tomorrow, but they will be hoping to see the remaining four players shine in the top-of-the-table clash.

“With Duff, Jonah and Laffers playing here, Burnley is tailor-made for a club visit, not to mention the history of Northern Ireland legends who have played here such as Jimmy McIlroy, Willie Irvine and Billy Hamilton”, says Club Treasurer Nial Coulter.  “Many Northern Ireland fans now look for Burnley’s results every week to see if any of our lads scored.  It’s also great to see them doing so well in the Championship.”

Steve Jones might be excused for being sick of them, as they made regular trips to Gresty Road over the last two or three years, and managed to see Kyle Lafferty make his senior debut there last season as he came on as a late substitute.  Although several members have been to Turf Moor before, for one fan I spoke to last night this will be his fourth Burnley game of the season, this will be their first visit as a club, and they have managed to secure a tour of the ground directed by Willie Irvine pre-match and follow that with a few drinks in the Talbot.  They will be sitting in the lower tier of the Longside.

kevrobinson