Latest news with #Ballymena
Extra.ie
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Liam Neeson says he's 'madly in love' with Pamela Anderson
Speculation is rife that Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson could be more than just co-stars after the Ballymena man admitted he was 'madly in love with her.' The couple star in the up and coming The Naked Fun reboot, which is set for release in August. Liam plays Frank Drebin Jr, the son of the oblivious Detective Frank Drebin, who starred in the original movies (played by Leslie Nielsen). Speculation is rife that Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson could be more than just co-stars after the Ballymena man admitted he was 'madly in love with her.' Pic: Paramout Pictures Pamela Anderson stars in the movie as Frank Drebin's love interest, with the actors chemistry igniting speculation that they are more than friends. Speaking to PEOPLE, Liam was full of praise for his co-star, saying: 'I'm madly in love with her. She's just terrific to work with. 'I can't compliment her enough, I'll be honest with you.' Pamela Anderson stars in the movie as Frank Drebin's love interest, with the actors chemistry igniting speculation that they are more than friends. Pic: Mike Marsland/WireImage He added that the Baywatch star didn't have a 'huge ego' and would be 'terrific in the film.' The feelings are certainly mutual, with Pamela describing the 73-year-old as the 'perfect gentleman.' She said: 'He brings out the best in you… with respect, kindness and depth of experience. It was an absolute honour to work with him. 'I think I have a friend for ever in Liam and we definitely have a connection that is very sincere, very loving, and he's a good guy. Elsewhere, Pamela told Entertainment Weekly that the chemistry between herself and Liam was 'clear from the start.' Pamela plays the role of a nightclub singer who enlists the help of Drebin and the Police Squad following the murder of her brother. The pair wed in 1994 with Natasha dying following a head injury during a beginner's skiing lesson in March 2009. Pic:The 58-year-old actress is single following the end of her fifth marriage to bodyguard Dan Hayhurst which came to a conclusion in 2022. Meanwhile, Liam hasn't had any known relationships since the death of his wife, British actress Natasha Richardson. The pair wed in 1994 with Natasha dying following a head injury during a beginner's skiing lesson in March 2009. The couple shared two sons — Micheál and Daniel.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
‘The Lions built this club': watching the first Test at Ballymena RFC, home of Lions legends
An hour before kick-off, and I'm beginning to wonder if watching the first Test at Ballymena RFC was such a bright idea. It's only me and the girl working the bar, and she doesn't have a strong opinion on whether or not Tom Curry should be playing No 7. 'Which paper did you say you were with, the Ballymena Guardian?' No, it's the other Guardian, I say. 'Oh, the Antrim one.' Just about the time I was beginning to think that all of Ballymena's thousand-or-so members must have been among the tens of thousands going the other way into Portrush for the Open, they began to trickle in, one, two, three, four dozen, and more. Soon enough everyone's comparing the vintages of their Lions jerseys. There's one from '01, another from '05, a few from 2013, and a couple of little kids, more interested in playing their own game than following the one on the TV, have the 2025 edition. They're too young to understand anything much about the match except that it matters to the adults. The Lions is an idea that gets passed on from one generation to the next, follow it back long enough and you'll end up at to two men who were born and bred in this very club, Willie John McBride and Syd Millar, who did as much as anyone to make the team into what they are today. Millar, the son of a butcher, and McBride, the son of a farmer, were both Ballymena men. There's a wood-panelled room upstairs in the clubhouse which is named after them. It's filled with their memorabilia. They played, coached, managed, and chaired nine Lions tours between them, and led the legendary 1974 tour, when Millar was coach and McBride captain of the team that went unbeaten in South Africa. There's a huge picture of McBride in the moment after the third Test all along one wall, signed by every one of his squad. When Scott Quinnell visited here four years ago, he broke down in tears standing in front of it. 'Attitude is the first thing a Lions team needs to have,' Millar said. 'If the attitude is right, the other things fall into place.' Downstairs, the Lions' attitude seems to be shaping up just fine. They are 10-0 up already, and the sting has already gone from the game. Truth is, it doesn't feel like there's a lot of jeopardy on this tour. Most people in the bar seem worried for Australia, who are in the unfamiliar position of being seen as easy-beats. 'I'd hoped the Wallabies would give them more of a game than this,' says the man on the next barstool along. Turns out he has a Lions jersey of his own at home, 1989 vintage, although he's not wearing it. 'But then,' he says, 'I was only a midweek player.' Stevie, as they all call Steve Smith, was the reserve hooker for Finlay Calder's Lions team, who came back from 1-0 down to beat Australia. 'I played against his da',' he says, watching the young Tom Lynagh on TV. Smith has the look of a man who's done some hard living. Maybe his busted knuckles are still recovering from the time he knocked out four of Sean Fitzpatrick's teeth. He still seems a little in awe of McBride. 'They were big shoes to fill.' But he loves Millar, who gave him a break by picking him for the Barbarians when he had been banned from playing for Ulster because of his misadventures on tour. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion But then everyone here owes a lot to Millar. He even came back to serve as the club rep after he finished his four-year stint as the chair of the International Rugby Board (now World Rugby). They say he used to give the union hell in the provincial committee meetings. When the French decided to award him the Legion d'honneur, they asked if he would fly out to Paris for the ceremony. No, Millar, told them, but you're welcome to come here, and we can do it upstairs in the Ballymena clubhouse. In Millar's day Ballymena were the best club in Ulster, and Ulster were the best team in Ireland. Smith was part of the Ulster team that beat the Wallabies during their famous grand slam tour in 1984, 15-12 at Ravenhill, 'a better Australian side than this one', I say, and he doesn't disagree. When Ulster won the Heineken Cup in 1998-99 they had 15 Ballymena players in the squad. No wonder the club won the all-Ireland title a few years later. It's different now. This is the first time in 20 years there's not an Ulsterman on tour with the Lions, but no one's complaining, Ulster are on their uppers, three million in debt and third-bottom in the URC. At Ballymena, too, there are members who ask why the club aren't winning like they used to. But back then McBride, Millar, Smith, Trevor Ringland and all the rest of the international players used to turn out for the club at every opportunity. These days their best young players get funnelled into the professional system, and they don't see them again till they're spat out the other end. They even took down a photograph of one of their more recent international players because he had never actually turned out for them, only been registered to the club by the governing body. So Ballymena's changing. They've become a community hub, and a participation club, with five adult sides, and a full slate in age groups, and a side for players with learning disabilities. 'The Lions built this club,' Smith tells me. 'It put us on the map.' But it's true, I say back to him, that once upon a time a couple of men from this club built the Lions, too.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘The place is empty, a lot have left': Ballymena weighs up impact of anti-migrant riots
Since Ballymena erupted in three nights of anti-migrant riots last month, tranquility has returned to the County Antrim town. The rioters, after all, got what they wanted. They won. Dozens of Romanian and Bulgarian Roma families that fled have not returned and those that remain keep a low profile – they do not linger on the streets and are scarcely visible. The mobs who smashed windows, burned houses and battled police in order to expel Roma – and some other foreigners – from this corner of Northern Ireland see it as a victory. 'That's them away back home. Everybody is relieved,' said Leanne Williamson, 42, who witnessed, and endorsed, the unrest. 'It was madness but it was long overdue. The Romanians were ignorant and cheeky. Everyone now is at peace.' In the main flashpoint – Clonavon Terrace and adjoining streets – houses that were torched remain gutted and boarded up. Of the Roma families who inhabited them there is no sign. There are no official figures but one informed source with ties to the community estimated that of the approximate pre-riot population of 1,200, two-thirds are gone – or, to use a loaded term, ethnically cleansed. 'The place is empty, a lot have left,' said Kirsty, 35, a Clonavon Road resident who withheld her surname. She did not miss her former neighbours, or what she said had been a transient flux. 'You didn't know who was coming and going. Now it's a lot calmer. You can let your weans [children] out on the street a bit further.' Did the riots achieve their goal? 'Yes.' Another local person, who did not want his name published and did not endorse the riots, said the aftermath was striking. 'Ballymena was like a whole new town, there was an amazing atmosphere. It was like something out of a movie where the bad gang has been kicked out and people come out to celebrate.' The sentiment this week felt closer to quiet satisfaction, not jubilation, but it was still a counterpoint to the condemnation last month – from Keir Starmer and politicians across Northern Ireland – of mayhem that left dozens of police officers injured. The Police Federation likened the outbreak to an attempted pogrom. Violence abated as quickly as it started and apart from reports of prosecutions the story disappeared from headlines. Plenty in Ballymena, a largely working-class Protestant town 25 miles north of Belfast, feel shame at what happened. 'They were wrecking places and causing harm to people,' said Padraig, a teenager. 'It was racist,' said his friend Robert. 'I don't think it was the right thing to do.' Their reluctance to be fully identified reflected the fact that for others in Ballymena, it was mission accomplished. Filipinos and people from central and eastern Europe, drawn by factory work, have increased in number in the past decade, mostly without incident, but the Roma people were singled out for allegations of antisocial behaviour and criminality. An alleged sexual assault on a teenage girl by two 14-year-old boys, who appeared in court with a Romanian interpreter, triggered the riots. A third suspect fled to Romania. 'Where are the foreigners?' the mob shouted during a free-for-all against anyone deemed non-local – a scene that echoed anti-immigrant riots in Belfast and England last summer, and fuelled warnings that the UK is a 'powder keg' of social tension. However, rioters and sympathisers later apologised to non-Roma families who were 'accidentally' targeted. Posters that declared 'Filipino lives here', and loyalist bunting, sprouted on doors and windows to deflect attack. In a sign of reduced tension the stickers have gone and Filipinos said they felt safe. 'We are staying, we are OK. Our dreams will not stop with the trauma,' said Karen Estrella, 35, a care home worker. Posters that declare 'Locals live here' have also dwindled. Fero, a 45-year-old from Slovakia, said he liked Ballymena and blamed the riots on misbehaviour by Roma and Bulgarians. 'I'm happy with what happened. Now they're gone.' Authorities are unable to say how many people fled or have since returned, and appear reluctant to comment on the riots' aftermath. Ballymena's mayor, deputy mayor, constituency MP and several other public representatives declined or did not respond to interview requests. The Department for Communities referred questions about the vanished Roma to the Housing Executive, which said it did not hold such information but that 74 households – not necessarily Roma – sought assistance during the disorder. Of these households, 21 were placed in temporary accommodation and others made their own arrangements, said a spokesperson. Critics have accused unionist parties of turning a blind eye to racism – such as a loyalist bonfire in County Tyrone that burned an effigy of migrants – to avoid losing votes. In Ballymena reticence extends to some civic society organisations that declined to be interviewed or quoted. A paradox underpins the vigilantism. Some local people accuse the Roma of peddling cannabis and vapes, and credit paramilitaries with leading the expulsions, yet they acknowledge that paramilitaries sell drugs. 'Aye,' said one, with a shrug. 'That's it.' During the Guardian's visit this week, the only visible Roma presence was a family at a fast-food restaurant. It was raining yet they sat at an outside bench, getting wet, rather than inside.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
‘The Lions built this club': watching the first Test at Ballymena RFC, home of Lions legends
An hour before kick-off, and I'm beginning to wonder if watching the first Test at Ballymena RFC was such a bright idea. It's only me and the girl working the bar, and she doesn't have a strong opinion on whether or not Tom Curry should be playing No 7. 'Which paper did you say you were with, the Ballymena Guardian?' No, it's the other Guardian, I say. 'Oh, the Antrim one.' Just about the time I was beginning to think that all of Ballymena's thousand-or-so members must have been among the tens of thousands going the other way into Portrush for the Open, they began to trickle in, one, two, three, four dozen, and more. Soon enough everyone's comparing the vintages of their Lions jerseys. There's one from '01, another from '05, a few from 2013, and a couple of little kids, more interested in playing their own game than following the one on the TV, have the 2025 edition. They're too young to understand anything much about the match except that it matters to the adults. The Lions is an idea that gets passed on from one generation to the next, follow it back long enough and you'll end up at to two men who were born and bred in this very club, Willie John McBride and Syd Millar, who did as much as anyone to make the team into what they are today. Millar, the son of a butcher, and McBride, the son of a farmer, were both Ballymena men. There's a wood-panelled room upstairs in the clubhouse which is named after them. It's filled with their memorabilia. They played, coached, managed, and chaired nine Lions tours between them, and led the legendary 1974 tour, when Millar was coach and McBride captain of the team that went unbeaten in South Africa. There's a huge picture of McBride in the moment after the third Test all along one wall, signed by every one of his squad. When Scott Quinnell visited here four years ago, he broke down in tears standing in front of it. 'Attitude is the first thing a Lions team needs to have,' Millar said. 'If the attitude is right, the other things fall into place.' Downstairs, the Lions' attitude seems to be shaping up just fine. They are 10-0 up already, and the sting has already gone from the game. Truth is, it doesn't feel like there's a lot of jeopardy on this tour. Most people in the bar seem worried for Australia, who are in the unfamiliar position of being seen as easy-beats. 'I'd hoped the Wallabies would give them more of a game than this,' says the man on the next barstool along. Turns out he has a Lions jersey of his own at home, 1989 vintage, although he's not wearing it. 'But then,' he says, 'I was only a midweek player.' Stevie, as they all call Steve Smith, was the reserve hooker for Finlay Calder's Lions team, who came back from 1-0 down to beat Australia. 'I played against his da',' he says, watching the young Tom Lynagh on TV. Smith has the look of a man who's done some hard living. Maybe his busted knuckles are still recovering from the time he knocked out four of Sean Fitzpatrick's teeth. He still seems a little in awe of McBride. 'They were big shoes to fill.' But he loves Millar, who gave him a break by picking him for the Barbarians when he had been banned from playing for Ulster because of his misadventures on tour. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion But then everyone here owes a lot to Millar. He even came back to serve as the club rep after he finished his four-year stint as the chair of the International Rugby Board (now World Rugby). They say he used to give the union hell in the provincial committee meetings. When the French decided to award him the Legion d'honneur, they asked if he would fly out to Paris for the ceremony. No, Millar, told them, but you're welcome to come here, and we can do it upstairs in the Ballymena clubhouse. In Millar's day Ballymena were the best club in Ulster, and Ulster were the best team in Ireland. Smith was part of the Ulster team that beat the Wallabies during their famous grand slam tour in 1984, 15-12 at Ravenhill, 'a better Australian side than this one', I say, and he doesn't disagree. When Ulster won the Heineken Cup in 1998-99 they had 15 Ballymena players in the squad. No wonder the club won the all-Ireland title a few years later. It's different now. This is the first time in 20 years there's not an Ulsterman on tour with the Lions, but no one's complaining, Ulster are on their uppers, three million in debt and third-bottom in the URC. At Ballymena, too, there are members who ask why the club aren't winning like they used to. But back then McBride, Millar, Smith, Trevor Ringland and all the rest of the international players used to turn out for the club at every opportunity. These days their best young players get funnelled into the professional system, and they don't see them again till they're spat out the other end. They even took down a photograph of one of their more recent international players because he had never actually turned out for them, only been registered to the club by the governing body. So Ballymena's changing. They've become a community hub, and a participation club, with five adult sides, and a full slate in age groups, and a side for players with learning disabilities. 'The Lions built this club,' Smith tells me. 'It put us on the map.' But it's true, I say back to him, that once upon a time a couple of men from this club built the Lions, too.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Daily Mail
Schoolgirl was 'dragged into garage and raped by Romanian teen as two others tried to make her perform sex acts' before Ballymena riots, court hears
A schoolgirl in Ballymena was walking along a street in the town when she was dragged into a garage and allegedly raped and sexually assaulted by three males, a court heard today. It is the latest development in the case which precipitated three days of street violence and in the County Antrim town in Northern Ireland last month. Ballymena Youth Court also heard that while two of her alleged assailants were arrested within hours of the incident on June 7, a third suspect has fled back to Romania. Details emerged in court for the first time as a 14-year-old Romanian boy, who cannot be identified because of his age, applied for bail. Both that defendant, and another 14-year-old, are on remand in custody charged with attempted rape. It was hours after the pair first appeared in court on June 9 that serious rioting and public disorder erupted in Ballymena and Romanian families fled their homes on Clonavon Terrace. Three nights of serious trouble saw houses attacked and cars burned with Police Service of Northern Ireland riot squads facing an angry mob hurling missiles, including petrol bombs, fireworks, masonry and bottles. Giving evidence in the contested application today, Detective Constable Sinclair told the court the girl's grandmother contacted police that evening, to report that her granddaughter 'had been raped by three males in a garage in Harryville', an area close to the town centre. When police attended and spoke to the schoolgirl, she told them she was walking along the street when 'three males grabbed her and took her to a garage down an alleyway'. The police officer told the court that inside the garage, the girl saw two mattresses 'and she was put on one'. He added that while two of the men tried to force the girl to perform sex acts on them, the third male who has since absconded 'raped her'. DC Sinclair continued: 'She said that this went on for about 10 minutes but when they heard a male voice outside, the three ran off.' At that stage, the complainant 'was able to leave the garage and get help' and based on the information provided by the teenager, police attended an address on Clonavon Terrace where the two 14-year-olds were arrested. The court heard they 'matched the description' given by the alleged victim. DC Sinclair said the bail applicant 'denied any criminal activity' and then refused to answer police questions during his interviews. Turning to bail objections, the investigator told District Judge Trevor Browne 'police have strong concerns that there's a risk he may leave the jurisdiction'. She said: 'Within hours of the defendant being arrested, a co-accused who had been identified, left the country and we believe he is residing in Romania. 'We believe that, given the significant public disorder that descended after the incident, there's a risk that if released, this defendant will leave the jurisdiction and we are not content that any conditions can be put in place to prevent that.' She added that while a proposed bail address outside of Ballymena had been put forward by the defence, there were also concerns about that as well. DC Sinclair explained that while the occupant had been put forward as a relative, she told officers who spoke to her that 'she was a friend of the family' rather than a relative. The officer added that police had also ascertained there were three children living in the property, including a 14-year-old girl. It was also a concern, said DC Sinclair, that another family with a young child appeared to be living in the house, a property she described as being 'in a poor state of repair'. The officer concluded: 'Police do not believe that any conditions will satisfy [their concerns] and we are aware that there's an opportunity to surrender passports and ID cards, however, we believe there are other ways of leaving the country.' Defence counsel Conn O'Neill lamented that none of those concerns had been raised with the defence before the hearing, adding that had they been 'we could have dealt with them'. Highlighting that the defendant had voluntarily undergone DNA testing and an identity parade, he suggested that given the multitude of objections from the police, that the court adjourn the bail application. Judge Browne told the barrister: 'I completely agree, with the best will in the world, the application just disintegrated before our very eyes. 'We are all mindful that he is a 14-year-old boy with no previous convictions and there is a working presumption in favour of bail... but it would not be fair to force you on without giving you the opportunity to address this important obstacle.' In adjourning the bail application, the judge adjourned both cases to August 6. By way of an update, the prosecutor told the judge the case had been expedited, that the complainant has completed her Achieving Best Evidence video interview with the police and that the 'target date for completion of the full file is the end of September'.
