Colonel Gaddafi, revolutionary, dictator, paramilitary funder, and football fan
Labelled the ‘mad dog of the Middle East’ by the geographically astute Ronald Raegan
Gaddafi was an international pariah during the 1980s
"Well we know that this mad dog of the Middle East has a goal of a world revolution
a Muslim fundamentalist revolution"
As trade restrictions were placed on the country by the US and UK
the revolutionary leader increased his anti-imperialist and anti-western stance
A stance which saw him support paramilitary groups such as Hamas and the Provisional Irish Republican Army
Which made it all the more controversial when a delegation of Irish footballers made the trip to Benghazi for a friendly against Libya’s Al-Ahly in 1989
Much to the confusion of the Libyans in attendance, it was not the Irish team of the 1988 Euros that arrived in their second city
but rather a mix of League of Ireland players made up from Bohemians and St. Patrick’s Athletic
So how was it that a rag-tag team of League of Ireland players made the trip to Colonel Gadaffi’s Libya?
The 1980s saw both Ireland and Libya go through extreme hardship
Ireland had been hit hard by the Thatcher recession, seeing a fall in living standards, a dramatic rise in unemployment
and an increase in emigration for the young workforce
All the while the Troubles raged on in the north, as republican and loyalist paramilitary groups clashed over a three-decade conflict
and things in Libya weren't any better
Just over a decade into his reign as leader, Gaddafi began the 1980s by entering into a conflict with Ronald Reagan’s USA.
By the mid-1980s all US companies in Libya were ordered to cease operations by Raegan
and in 1986, following the 1986 Berlin discotheque bombings in which two US soldiers died, they began to escalate militarily
The US were aided in this by the United Kingdom who blamed Gaddafi for the death of Yvonne Fletcher
the British policewoman shot and killed outside the Libyan embassy in London
Soon US airstrikes were hitting Libya, and Gaddafi’s anti-imperialist and anti-western stances were solidified
As odd as it may seem, Gaddafi wasn’t exactly a stranger to Ireland and the Irish government at the time
When he first seized power in his 1969 coup, Gaddafi identified the Provisional IRA as an ally in the fight against British imperialism
And in 1973 the first proven connection between the two was found
as the Irish Navy boarded a ship loaded with 5-tonnes of Libyan weaponry off the Irish coast
Following the US airstrikes launched from UK military bases in 1986, Gaddafi said he resumed contact with the Provisional IRA
In 1987, French authorities stopped a merchant vessel on the way to Ireland, loaded with 150-tons of Libyan arms, destined for the IRA
Further ships were intercepted by the Irish Naval Service carrying arms, and it’s estimated that Gaddafi sent around 1000 AK47s
and 6 tonnes of semtex explosives alongside other arms, in just a couple of years
While this support of the Provisional IRA strained relations with the Irish government initially
when Charlie Haughey was elected Taoiseach he wasted no time in developing relations with Gadaffi
ensuring that the lucrative beef trade between the two countries would remain open in the face of western sanctions
This export of 100,000 cattle drew the countries closer together while creating much needed jobs in Ireland and boosting the economy
While Ireland’s economic fortunes began to improve, so too did the football
Well... on the international stage at least
The Irish national team qualified for their first European Championships in 1988 and their first World Cup in 1990 to cap off the decade
But despite the great success of the international team, and the booming popularity of the sport at home, football on the domestic level still suffered
As a semi-professional league, the majority of players were forced to work alongside playing for their club
But things were so poor economically that some of the league’s best players had to leave the country in search of better paying work
including the 1988 Player of the Year, Paddy Dillon, who left for Australia
Clubs were hugely reliant on gate receipts, which they only received from home fixtures every second week
leaving the survival of these clubs touch-and-go week-on-week
This meant that clubs had to be inventive to raise funds that they desperately needed for survival
So in 1989, when representatives of the Libyan Football Association approached the League of Ireland about playing a match in Benghazi there were plenty of interested parties
This turned out to be a lifesaver for St. Patrick’s Athletic and Bohemians, who had both been eliminated from the first round of the FAI cup, leaving them three weekends with no fixtures
And before they knew it, the Irish lads had set off for Gaddafi's Libya
He made sure to treat his guests well, the players were taken to his favourite restaurants and put up in a fancy hotel
But however nice the hotel was, it was situated outside of Benghazi, leaving the players isolated from the Libyan public
Despite this, they were also accompanied at all times by armed bodyguards
hardly the most familiar of situations for a League of Ireland footballer
Yet it didn’t take long for them to cause trouble
With Libyan life dictated by the Quran, the familiar sites of pubs and betting shops were nowhere to be found for the players
So when the players were invited by expats to what they considered a bar, within their living quarters, they jumped at the opportunity and out into the Libyan desert they headed
When they got to this expat compound they found an empty apartment which the expats had been renting and repurposed as an Irish bar
Amongst the medical gear they had brought over the Irish players had managed to bring spirits, which they enjoyed alongside the bar’s homebrew
But then as the Irish players were heading back to their hotel, they were pulled over by the Libyan police
Needless to say, they were far from happy when they smelled the alcohol in the vehicle
The eventful night was capped off by a short stint in a Libyan holding cell, before Brian Kerr was able to negotiate the players’ release
With trouble behind them, and the Irish players set straight, all eyes were now on the game ahead of them
The match, as you’d expect, was quite the spectacle
The reported attendance figures are conflicting, but in the ground there were anywhere between 50 to 80 thousand spectators
All hoping to catch a glimpse of what they thought was the Irish national team
Yet before the match could start, there was a sort of political rally
with a procession of people holding photos of Gaddafi and various forms of propaganda
acknowledging the people who had fought and been injured in Libya’s name
This procession went on for hours as the Irish players waited in the changing rooms at first, and then ventured onto the pitch for the warm up
which lasted at least an hour as they waited for Gaddafi himself to arrive
When Gaddafi did arrive it was on a white horse and he was met with a standing ovation by the tens of thousands of onlookers
With Gaddafi seated, the match could finally go ahead
The pitch was half-grass and half-green carpet, held together by sticky tape, rough even by League of Ireland standards
But the match was an entertaining one by all accounts
Al-Ahly’s frontmen gave the Irish backline plenty of work to do and early in the second half they took the lead with a great header to the obvious delight of those in attendance
When the Irish team replied a few minutes later, it’s safe to say that the atmosphere was less joyous
Even for the Irish team celebrations were subdued, not wanting to over celebrate in front of a dictator
Much to the relief of the Irish side the match ended 1-1
And with the match over, the Irish lads were keen to head home, yet there would be one more problem before they could depart
While the players were in a rush to get to the airport, they were still yet to receive payment for the match
Then at the hotel a Libyan official arrived with the payment… in Libyan Dinar, a useless currency to the Irish
This caused a scene as the Irish officials rushed alongside the Libyans to the bank and insisted on payment in either pounds or dollars
Ultimately they managed to sort it, and the players were able to return home, bringing an end to the Libyan adventure
Just like that, over the course of a few days, a group of League of Ireland players took part in one of the strangest events in league history
The controversial trip, borne out of a lucrative beef trade and one revolutionary dictator’s love of football
although much criticised at the time, would go relatively unknown until the 2019 documentary on RTE
Some have claimed that this relationship with Gaddafi and the trip that came with it prolonged the violence in the north
others have said that it legitimised the Gaddafi regime
but for the players involved it simply put food on the table at a time when the league could not
And of course, it gave them one hell of a story
Needless to say, for both Pats and Bohs players, the cup was taken a lot more seriously after that