Documentary shares hidden footage forty years on from Northern Ireland's 1982 World Cup adventure

The World Cup in Qatar may not have much local interest but forty years ago Northern Ireland were footballing giant killers as they celebrated beating hosts Spain as Billy Bingham's team lit up the 1982 tournament.  

UTV cameras were there to cover it all but for years unseen footage of that memorable cup run lay forgotten in UTVs library and more recently at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

But not any more because the recordings have been brought back to life and turned into a film by Northern Ireland Screen.

"When we heard about this, it was just heaven," said Evan Marshall, an archivist with NI Screen.

"We knew we could turn this around and make something available to the fans and the public who can actually utilise this material.

"It is incredible that this survived over the years because it wasn't just the nightly news inserts that survived but all the rushes of everything that they shot.

"What we found was behind the scenes of a team at the World Cup, the type of thing you would just never imagine existed so you have full access to the players at work, training at rest, interview with the team but also with the fans and its just access all areas."

Over 8 hours of UTV footage from home and abroad was remastered by specialists in London before the film was produced by Northern Ireland Screen.

"They were fantastic memories, we lifted the spirits of the country and the people," said former Northern Ireland international Gerry Armstrong.

"I think the players, we didn't know it at the time but when we saw the response we had afterwards we are very proud of what we achieved.

"It's fly on the wall stuff isn't it. I can't wait to see what is in the reels because a lot of it was done forty years ago and we have forgotten that we actually did the interviews or the camera was filming you when you were training.

"I'm looking forward to seeing it because the bond that we had was special and that is why we were so successful."

- 'Yer Men in Spain' will screen on Sunday December 11 at 7.30pm in the Odeon, Belfast.

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