A clash of two age-old adversaries, God and mammon, took place at Ravenhill Park in Belfast yesterday. Outside were the Democratic Unionist Party leader Rev Ian Paisley and a gathering of about two dozen supporters, most of them from his Free Presbyterian church.
Inside was the Ulster rugby team, being cheered on to one of their greatest victories by over 12,000 supporters.
For the first time in Ulster rugby history, the province played at Ravenhill Road on the Sabbath. It wasn't what the Ulster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union had wanted, but mammon won out when broadcaster Sky scheduled the match against English side Leicester for yesterday. To rub salt in the protesters' wounds, the tournament is sponsored by the brewery Heineken.
Dr Paisley and the protesters stood quietly and watched as fans streamed past to the sold-out south Belfast ground to support the team. To any one who wanted, leaflets were available. "Life is short; Death is sure. Sin the cause; Christ the cure," said one of them. Another declared: "Life is temporary: Eternity is permanent - haven't you got your priorities wrong?"
"I don't despair," said a colleague of Dr Paisley's, the Rev Harden.
"It is the spirit of the age. But we take our direction from God. This is a God-less society. That does not stop us from making a protest."
The organisers tried to diminish the disruption to people going to the nearby Mount Merrion church by closing one of the gates on the church side of the ground and providing a park-and ride service from nominated points a couple of miles away.
Dr Paisley was not discouraged by the poor turnout for the protest.
"After all God was alone upon the cross. No one supported him. This is a special day. We are down where we stand. People do not accept the scriptures. If you present people with opportunities, people will take opportunities."
The Ulster team beat Leicester 33-0 in arguably the best performance from the team since they won the European trophy in 1999. Ulster captain Andy Ward scored two tries to defeat a squad that included England internationals Martin Johnson, Ben Kay, Austin Healy and Neil Back. The win brought Ulster from the bottom to the top of their group.
