On the last Sunday in July, Darren Graham took off his shirt and walked across the pitch to the dressing-room. He had been playing Gaelic football for Lisnaskea Emmets, his local team in County Fermanagh, against a team from nearby Brookeborough, when someone from the opposing team called him a 'black cunt'. 'Black', in this case, was a reference not to the colour of his skin but to his religion. It is short for 'Black Protestant', a long-standing term of sectarian abuse. 'It just came to a head,' he told the Belfast Telegraph. 'Something bad [was said] on the field: "You're a black cunt." Then another ran by and said: "It's the truth, you're nothing but that."' He said that he would not play again unless he received an apology and was convinced that the Gaelic Athletic Association was serious about stamping out sectarianism.

LRB 6 September 2007 | PDF Download