The Funeral of Joey Dunlop
Created | Updated Jun 21, 2003
Joey Dunlop whose tragic death was reported in last weeks post was buried on Friday in the tiny village of Ballyduff just outside Ballymoney, Co. Antrim. All week Joey's Bar, the bar Joey owned and in which he celebrated so many triumphs by buying everyone a drink, had become a shrine to the greatest ambassador Northern Ireland has ever had. Books of Condolence were set up around the province and many people from around the world inquired about the arrangements for the funeral.
Joey's body arrived home on Tuesday night but, sadly, the civil unrest caused as a result of the Drumcree Orange Men not being able to walk down the Garvaghy Road meant that it had to be diverted twice from it's most direct route. The following morning Robert, Joey's brother, appealed for calm on the day of the funeral. In the words of one man:
'Only Joey Dunlop could stop the rioting about Drumcree'.
Joey's widow, Linda, decided to allow it to be an open funeral and Irish and British Sports Ministers, Seamus Mallon, Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland and Eddie Irvine, joined at least 50,000 mourners to bid farewell to Joey on his last journeySeveral hundred bikers from all over Ireland meet up in Belfast to travel up in convoy to Ballymoney. Others arrived in camper vans, and at Belfast International Airport. Farmers gave up fields for car parking and the sports field behind the leisure centre became a temporary camp site.
Joey's death and funeral has united all sides of the Northern Irish community. As a mark of how highly he was respected, his brother's plea for peace on the day of his funeral was adhered to by the majority of people and for the first night in 6 days there was an abatement in the rioting on the streets.
