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The Northern Irish football club Glentoran are investigating footage that is said to show one of their players attending a dissident republic rally in Derry.
The images allegedly show their defender Patrick McClean among a crowd at an Easter Monday parade which has been linked to the New IRA.
Glentoran said in a brief statement they were aware that footage of one of their players was circulating online: “The club is fully committed to maintaining a respectful, inclusive and welcoming environment for all players, staff, supporters and the wider community. The matter is being reviewed internally in line with club policies and no further comment will be made at this time.”
There was no immediate response from McClean, 28, who is a brother of the Wrexham winger and Ireland international James McClean.
A colour party in paramilitary-style attire and with faces covered joined dozens of people who marched from the Creggan area to Free Derry corner in the Bogside. Afterwards a group of youths attacked police with petrol bombs and fireworks. Police arrested two men, aged 30 and 55.
Ch Supt Gillian Kearney of the Police Service of Northern Ireland said the disorder was orchestrated. “Young people were shamelessly and deliberately used in an attempt to distract from and shield the masked individuals as they took cover,” she said. “This is child criminal exploitation. It is utterly shameful.”
There is no suggestion McClean was involved in disorder or engaged by police.
The annual parade, which commemorates the 1916 Easter rising, has erupted in clashes in previous years. It was organised by the National Republican Commemoration Committee, which is said to arrange events on behalf of a fringe republican party called Saoradh that has been linked to the New IRA, although it denies this.
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McClean, who is from Derry and played for the city’s club as well as Waterford and Sligo Rovers, joined Glentoran in 2019. He quit football early in 2023 and reportedly worked at building sites before rejoining the east Belfast club later that year.
His brother James was fined two weeks’ wages in 2020 by his then club, Stoke City, for a social media post that showed him wearing a balaclava while teaching his children what he termed a “history lesson”.
