Reclusive poppy protest footballer James McClean says he ‘supports the IRA’ – and their ‘bloodshed’ – as he reveals he mutes the TV whenever ‘God Save The King’ is played

Controversial footballer James McClean has opened up on his refusal to wear the poppy and revealed what it was like growing up in a ‘staunch Republican community’ in Northern Ireland. 

McClean, 37, won 103 caps for Republic of Ireland between 2012 and 2023 and represented the likes of Stoke, Sunderland, West Brom and Wigan in England, yet he has rarely been far from the news.

That stems from his refusal to wear the poppy on his shirt on Remembrance weekend, while he often stands away from team-mates during pre-match commemorations. 

McClean has regularly defended his stance, saying it is because the poppy symbol honours all British military personnel, including soldiers who operated in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, insisting he would have no problem if it just represented those who died in World War One and Two. 

The winger grew up on the Creggan estate in Londonderry, an area that was directly affected by the Bloody Sunday massacre in 1972 when British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians during a protest march, with 14 killed.

McClean was born in 1989, but in an interview with the Irish Independent, he reflected on his childhood and ‘growing up listening to all the old war stories from men who had been there and done it’.

He said: ‘Walk around and you’ll see it on every second wall: “Join the IRA… Free Prisoners of War… RUC f***ing out”. So you’re surrounded by it.  

‘And people say, “he won’t wear the poppy because of Bloody Sunday, but he didn’t have Bloody Sunday”. No, I didn’t. And I didn’t have the Troubles either, but I grew up in the aftermath and the pain was still there.’

Creggan was a Republican stronghold with strong support for the IRA, and McClean revealed he actually grew up in the house where 15-year-old Daniel Hegarty, who was killed during a British army operation in 1972, used to live. 

Meanwhile, a quote in the 37-year-old’s upcoming biography The Walls also talked about the IRA.

It reads: ‘I’m not claiming that every action was justified. Obviously, I don’t support anyone innocent being killed. But I am saying that I supported the original end goal, even if that involved bloodshed ‘

After being asked about those comments in this interview, McClean added: ‘When you grow up listening to the stories there’s a part of you thinking: “These are heroes. I wish I was part of that or born a decade earlier”. I’d be a hypocrite if I sat here and said I didn’t support their cause. 

‘Don’t get me wrong; I don’t believe that anybody innocent deserved to be killed, right? Unfortunately, it was a dirty war, and there were a lot of casualties on both sides.’

McClean was then pressed on the particular example of Jean McConville, a 38-year-old widowed mother of ten who was horrifically abducted, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA after they wrongly believed her to be an informant for the British army.

‘Do I agree with that? Absolutely not,’ he replied. ‘I support the IRA’s cause. Do I support what happened to people like Jean McConville? No, because not everything the IRA did was justifiable, even in terms of… like, I had a very strong relationship with Martin McGuinness. Do I believe that him meeting the Queen was right? Absolutely not.’

On his opposition to the British army and government’s historical actions, McClean spoke about the ‘backlash’ when he refused to look at the flag when God Save the Queen was played during a pre-season friendly in the US while he played for West Brom. 

He added: ‘When I’m watching England matches, or the FA Cup final, I’ll mute the TV when the national anthem comes on. And I’m not the only one – you can ask anyone in Derry and they’ll say the same.’