Thoughts & Best Wishes To The Baird Family

[White Noise]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11368409


Home of Chris Baird's mum is attacked in Rasharkin

The home of the mother of Northern Ireland and Fulham footballer Chris Baird has been attacked in Rasharkin, County Antrim.

A petrol bomb was thrown at the front window of the house in Wallace Park at 0345 BST on Sunday. The flames were extinguished by a passer-by.

A number of people inside escaped injury. Police said a sectarian motive was one line of enquiry.

It is understood to be the second attack on the house in three weeks.

Daithi McKay of Sinn Fein described the incident as a case of "attempted murder".

"It is quite clear they are being targeted because they are a Catholic family," he said.

Continue reading the main story
Related stories
Baird signs new Fulham contract
Orange hall damaged in Rasharkin
"The family are not involved in anything political.

"People are shocked and very angry that they have been singled out."

Rasharkin is a religiously mixed village, however there have been ongoing sectarian tensions with tit-for-tat attacks on homes and other properties in recent months.

Mervyn Storey of the Democratic Unionist Party condemned the attack on the Baird family home as "despicable".

"Yet again we have another family subjected to sectarian hatred and unfortunately the reality is that since April of this year we have had something like 16 sectarian attacks in Rasharkin and 25 since the beginning of the year," he added.

"It is a hate crime.

"It is someone venting their hatred and their anger for whatever reason on someone who should not be attacked in this way."

Mr Storey said he would be meeting with the Police Service of Northern Ireland chief constable Matt Baggott to ensure there were "adequate resources" to deal with such incidents.

Captain

Baird has captained Northern Ireland in the past, and was first given the role against Liechtenstein in August 2007.

He plays for Fulham in the English Premiership, and signed a new three year contract with the London club last week.

The 28-year-old arrived from Southampton in July 2007 and was a key part of the Fulham team that reached the Europa League final in May.

Baird started his career at Ballymena United before joining Southampton's youth academy in 1998 and made his first team debut in March 2003.

He joined Fulham for £3m and was signed by then manager, the former Northern Ireland boss Lawrie Sanchez.

He has won more than 40 international caps and played in the Northern Ireland team which secured a 1-0 win in Slovenia in their Euro 2012 qualifier on 3 September.

[Lighthouse]

Oh how I would love to be political and make the point of Blair and letting out all the killers fom both sides for the so called peace process. But I wont. I do hope his family are able and fine in body and spirit and can feel safe.

Good luck to everybody feeling scared today.

[LBNo11]

...very sad, and sadder still it is inevitable that things like this flare up sporadically.

Happily though, the vast majority of the Northern Irish people prefer the recent outbreak of peace, security and prosperity - and hopefully their influence will endure...

[finnster01]

That is messed up in a big way. I thought those days were mainly behind us by now.

Best wishes to the Bairds and hope that shite like this will eventually stop.

[WHITEwitch]

This is sad and I send my sympathy to the family.

I hope they aren't being used as an example because of their celebrity connection.

Goodness knows we could use a little more tolerance and kindness in the world, and having got that out of the way, these bar stewards should be strung up from the nearest tree.

[NorthernWhite]

Best wishes to his family and I hoped/thought it had moved on in NI from this.

Unfortunately, they've been warning that there have been a large increase in the number incidents of late and trouble is increasing with threats being made against mainland Britain again. I hope this can be nipped in the bud and the small number of idiots who are involved in this, bought to task.

[TonyGilroy]

...very sad, and sadder still it is inevitable that things like this flare up sporadically.

Happily though, the vast majority of the Northern Irish people prefer the recent outbreak of peace, security and prosperity - and hopefully their influence will endure...

Simon Hoggart put it very well.

"The Irish will do anything for peace except vote for it"

When the electorate splits between Sinn Fein and the DUP what hope is there.

[RidgeRider]

Let's hope that the Baird family is safe from harm now and that they can get back to living without fear soon.