Bobby Sands’ forgotten football past and the team that united Catholic and Protestant boys before ‘cancerous’ Troubles erupted

A documentary chronicles the history of Star of the Sea, a Belfast football club where Republican icon Bobby Sands played as a left-back. Based in the Rathcoole estate, the team brought Catholic and Protestant youths together, remaining undefeated for two years and lifting the Junior Cup before the Troubles erupted.

Escalating sectarian violence eventually tore the team apart, forcing Catholic families to flee their homes and driving former teammates onto opposing sides of the conflict. While Sands and Tommy O'Neill died young, teammates Michael Acheson and Terry Nicholl joined the Ulster Volunteer Force, and gifted former player Raymond McCord later became a victims' rights campaigner after his son was murdered by loyalists.