Fields of Wonder

Aspects is delighted to welcome author Evan Marshall back to the festival. This new book follows Northern Ireland’s incredible World Cup journey, from the appointment of Billy Bingham as manager and the winning of the British Home Championship in 1980, through the trial and tribulations of the qualifying stages, to the pulsating drama of the match against Spain in Valentia.

Against the background of a turbulent time in Northern Ireland’s own history, this event will bring you back to the struggles, spirit and magic of Northern Ireland’s 1982 World Cup campaign.

Evan Marshall has worked in local television for the past 15 years, much of that time with Doubleband Films in Belfast where he worked on Super 8 Stories and Those Were the Days. He worked extensively on Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive and it was here that he first saw a Pathé news report on the 1958 NI team that led him to tell the players’ remarkable story in Spirit of '58 (2016) with the passion that he now brings to the team of 1980–86.

This event will include a screening of rare TV football footage from the 1980’s.