Ulster Clubs
The Ulster Clubs was the name given to a network of Unionist organisations founded in Northern Ireland in November 1985. Emerging from an earlier group based in Portadown, the Ulster Clubs briefly mobilised wide support across Northern Ireland and sought to coordinate opposition to the development of closer relations between the governments of the United Kingdom and Ireland. The group's motto was "hope for the best and prepare for the worst".[1]
Origins
The movement had its origins in the Portadown Action Committee, a group established in the
The UULF was given the support of the paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA) with South Belfast Brigade chief and UDA deputy leader John McMichael being appointed to the group's coordinating committee.[2] Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in November 1985 by Margaret Thatcher and Garret FitzGerald, the UULF organised a rally in Belfast in opposition to the agreement. Those in attendance dressed in combat clothes with dark glasses and slouch hats, indicating the support the group had secured from the UDA as well as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).[2]
Development
After an initial flurry of activity, the UULF, which was a loose alliance at best, ground to a halt. However, the movement was given a new lease of life when a meeting was held at the Ulster Hall on 1 November at which the formation of a more formalised arrangement, the Ulster Clubs, was announced. A network of clubs was to be established across Northern Ireland with the aim, according to Ian S. Wood, of working to uphold "equal citizenship" and "fight the erosion of their Protestant heritage".[2] Before long 88 clubs had been established, with around 20,000 members listed as having joined.[4] The new name was chosen in homage to a similarly titled network established by Edward Carson during the crisis surrounding the Government of Ireland Act 1914.[5]
Wright hoped that the Ulster Clubs could organise a widespread campaign of civil disobedience that would make Northern Ireland ungovernable and endorsed such initiatives as the
Relationship to paramilitarism
John McMichael was enthusiastic about this development and urged support for the new movement, reasoning that if, as many loyalists suspected, a widespread confrontation was going to follow the agreement, then people who would not normally have joined paramilitary groups could be mobilised through the Ulster Clubs.
The clubs also played a role in the formation of Ulster Resistance in late 1986, fusing with elements of the "Third Force" grouping promoted by Ian Paisley.[10] In November 1986, Alan Wright spoke at the Ulster Hall rally that launched Ulster Resistance, although there were many within the Ulster Clubs who advised him against closely allying himself with Paisley, given that in the past the Democratic Unionist Party leader had worked with loyalist paramilitaries only to distance himself from them when it became politically expedient.[11] Under Andrew Park's leadership this relationship radically changed with the forming of the ULMC (Ulster Loyalist Military Command) in which the Ulster Clubs played an integral part.
Ulster nationalism
The Ulster Clubs also became influenced by the ideas of
Decline
In 1988 the British government began to move against the Ulster Clubs, punishing a number of members for various offences under the
Wright resigned from the leadership in 1989, claiming that he hoped to undertake study at Bible College and, under new leadership of Andrew Park their policy changed radically to one advocating complete integration with the rest of the United Kingdom and a commitment to
The group no longer exists.Bibliography
- Ed Moloney, Paisley: From Demagogue to Democrat?, Poolbeg, 2008
- Peter Taylor, Loyalists, Bloomsbury, 2000
- Ian S. Wood, Crimes of Loyalty: A History of the UDA, Edinburgh University Press, 2006
References
- ^ Arthur Aughey, Under Siege: Ulster Unionism and the Anglo-Irish Agreement, Blackstaff Press, 1989, p. 74
- ^ a b c d e f Wood, p. 84
- ^ a b c d e W.D. Flackes & Sydney Elliott, Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1003, Blackstaff Press, 1994, p. 326
- ^ a b c Taylor, p. 180
- ^ Taylor, p. 179
- ^ Wood, p. 87
- ^ Moloney, p. 307
- ^ Steve Bruce, Paisley: Religion and Politics in Northern Ireland, Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 240
- ^ Moloney, p. 312
- ^ Wood, p. 133
- ^ Taylor, p. 185
- ^ Ulster Nation FAQs
- ^ Colin Abernethy obituary
- ^ Abstracts on Organisations – 'U'