Hello, and welcome to the Happy Days fanzine website. As you are reading this now you’re either one of the Green & White Army faithful with nothing better to do or you’re the curious type and are thinking about becoming one of the GAWA faithful. If you’re the latter then read on. If you’re GAWA then you know the craic.

Football has only one guarantee – disappointment. Watching Norn Iron has given us all a fair dose of that in the past so we need no introduction. It seems that we’re the consummate underachievers who can overachieve when you least expect it. Spain 82 will live in our hearts and minds forever. The World Cup finals in 86 and reaching the quarter finals in 58 were an immense achievement for a country so small. Worthy of the current and continuing British Home Champions.

Then there’s the crap times. The 1,242 minutes without so much as a single goal in our favour sticks in the mind most. Despite the hope, the faith, the belief, we still couldn’t score. All the while though, we couldn’t help but see the bright side. It couldn’t get any worse and we’d nothing to lose by going out, having a laugh and getting behind the team.

It’s paying dividends. Performances at last have started to produce decent results and create players who have even become household names. More importantly though, is the recognition we, the supporters, deserve for the way in which we have rigorously campaigned to change public perceptions created by a gloomy past. The atmosphere at any NI game now, home or away, sends shivers down the spines of even the most seasoned supporters of our game. Our conduct is a credit to the greatest supporters the game has ever seen.

There’s something about international competition that makes football extra special. Getting the chance 6 or 7 times a year to cheer on your country creates a truly unique feeling. Supporting Norn Iron is better than that. For a small country of 1.7 million we know how to get seen and be heard. Our support is second to none and has been symbolised by confident performances by the players representing us.

Happy Days is a fanzine that was an idea brought to fruition because we were fed-up with the same week-in, week-out frustration of following our club teams. Our main objective is to help augment the fantastic efforts by the IFA and supporters to generate as much cross-community interest in our international team as possible. We live in a mixed society and so need to reflect that in our support. We want as many of our fellow countrymen to feel the same pride as we do.

Anyway, get surfing. Cheers to you all for you’re continuing support and we hope this website reflects the efforts we are making in bringing you a worthwhile, value-for-money publication. This is your site so please utilise what it has to offer and contact us with comments and contributions. Special thanks must go to the North of England NISC, all at the IFA, all our contributors and most of all you, the supporters of our wee country. We’re not Brazil, we’re Northern Ireland.