A thought crossed my mind during the long, boring second half of the Euro 2016 final: the tournament was going to end without an act of terrorism. After all the fear and panic ahead of the tournament, nothing. Maybe all of this fear over terrorism was overplayed, overhyped.
And then a thought crossed my mind watching snippets of that white truck veer up Promenade de Anglais last night. It could so easily have been Boulevard de Clichy in Montmarte or Cours Albert in Bordeaux or any other large public space where Irish fans gathered outdoors in large numbers to revel and sing last month. We have seen terror attacks before in France, we have the avatars saved to our desktop. We live these attacks in real time through social media. But Nice feels different for Irish people because so many of us have been to France and back in the last month. The French have become our brothers and sisters.
Ireland prides itself on its commitment to hospitality, but in France last month, a country under serious threat opened its arms to a continent of football fans.
An act of kindness I received seemed insignificant at the time but I've come to reconsider it. I traveled to Bordeaux from Dublin via Tours. Our Ryanair flight was an hour late leaving and my train to Bordeaux was long gone by the time I reached the train station. I speak no French and walked into Tours train station expecting a tense and pointless argument about getting a new ticket. Instead, the SNCF staff promptly put myself and the seven Irish people I'd met at the airport in the same situation on the next train to Bordeaux for free and gave us an upgrade to first class. We wouldn't have been so lucky in other countries, including, I suspect, this one. It was one small gesture but it set the tone for three relaxed and blissful days.
Everywhere I went that long weekend I heard other stories of small generosities given to Irish fans. I stayed in an Air BnB in Montmatre and my host, a Nigerian immigrant, spoke glowingly about the Irish takeover of his neighbourhood for the Sweden game. But in order to appreciate the Irish approach to football tournaments, you need to cherish those same values: freedom, humour, joy. The France I and so many Irish people experienced was a country aware it was under threat but one committed to remaining vigilant towards openness and liberty.
They gave us a medal, but it's incredible that France persisted with hosting the Euros at all given what happened at the Charlie Hebdo offices and the Bataclan and outside the Stade de France. The French were so tolerant as we disrupted their traffic, partied in their streets, kicked footballs through their open windows and slept in their city squares. Security forces were prominent - rightly so - but it was never an imposition to the eejitry was all enjoyed. French security sources must have been under incredible strain that month but to see them, as I did, calmly pull Irish fans down from lamp posts, was to see them almost as peacekeepers. In hindsight, it must have been a blessed relief from the doomed Sisyphean war against terrorism.
And now, again, this horror, this time in Nice. There is a political conversation about why these things happen and how they can be stopped. But for those of us lucky enough to experience the beautiful, giving, free heart of the French nation last month, we are heartbroken for France and mourn today with added grief for all they have lost.
— Anthony Martial (@AnthonyMartial) July 15, 2016
