February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Paisley joined parishioners on Sunday from the Mount Merrion Free Presbyterian Church close to the Ravenhill ground in South Belfast.
The Free Presbyterians are implacably opposed to sports being played on Sunday.
Paisley and around 40 people sang hymns and handed out leaflets opposing the game, Ulster’s first ever on a Sunday, as 12,000 fans arrived – drawn by the prospect of watching England captain Martin Johnston and team mates Austin Healey and Neil Back take to the pitch.
Fans entering the ground said the Free Presbyterians had a right to protest but that they thought it should be a matter of personal choice whether to go to a match on a Sunday.
The efforts of the rugby authorities to minimize disruption to the Mount Merrion Church, though, cut little ice with parishioners, who oppose Sunday sport on theological grounds.