James McClean has said he supports the IRA’s “original end goal”, while insisting he does not justify the killing of innocent people.
The 37-year-old former Republic of Ireland winger has also explained why he continues to refuse to wear a poppy during Remembrance weekend, saying his views were shaped by growing up in a “staunch Republican community” in Northern Ireland.
McClean won 103 caps for Republic of Ireland between 2012 and 2023 and played for Sunderland, West Brom, Stoke and Wigan. His refusal to wear the poppy, and his decision to stand apart from team-mates during pre-match commemorations, has repeatedly drawn attention.
He has said the poppy honours all British military personnel, including soldiers involved in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. McClean has argued that he would have no objection to wearing it if it commemorated only those who died in World War One and Two.
Born in 1989, McClean grew up on the Creggan estate in Londonderry, an area closely associated with the Bloody Sunday massacre in 1972. British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians during a protest march, killing 14.
In an interview with the Irish Independent, McClean said: “Walk around and you’ll see it on every second wall: ‘Join the IRA… Free Prisoners of War… RUC fing 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. McClean also revealed that he grew up in the house where 15-year-old Daniel Hegarty lived before he was killed during a British army operation in 1972.
His forthcoming biography, The Walls, includes the following passage: “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.”
Asked about the statement, McClean said: “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.”
Pressed on the IRA’s abduction and murder of Jean McConville, a 38-year-old widowed mother of ten who was wrongly suspected of informing for the British army, McClean replied: “Do I agree with that? Absolutely not. 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.”
McClean also recalled the backlash after he refused to face the flag during God Save the Queen at a pre-season friendly in the US while playing for West Brom.
“When I’m watching England matches, or the FA Cup final, I’ll mute the TV when the national anthem comes on,” he said. “And I’m not the only one – you can ask anyone in Derry and they’ll say the same.”
