EFFORTS to build bridges between youngsters in the divided city of Londonderry suffered a serious setback this week after nine Protestant youths and their teacher were beaten up during a football match against a Catholic team on a nationalist estate.
Pupils aged 12 to 17 from a youth club attached to Faughan
Valley high school were playing against a team from the Catholic St Mary’s yout club when violence flared, apparently after St Mary’s players mistakenly believed a spectator had been attacked by a member of the visiting group.
The nine pupils and their teacher were taken to hospital but all were released after treatment. One of the visiting pupils was so terrified he took off into the night, running three miles home in his sports kit through the city centre.
