"It brings home the togetherness of the experience in what where pretty horrendous times in Northern Ireland" - Evan Marshall, Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive.
Sport has always had that ability to help lift the spirits of a nation even at the most challenging of times.
In 1982, at the height of the Troubles, some key sporting achievements helped in some way to offer the people of Northern Ireland some respite from what was going on around them.
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During the year Alex Higgins won the World Snooker Championship for the second time, Joey Dunlop won his first Formula One motorcycle world championship, and Ireland secured their first Triple Crown since 1949.
But the most memorable moment was to happen in the summer as 'Our Wee Country' rubbed shoulder with the great and the good in world football at España 82.
It was only the second time Northern Ireland had qualified for the World Cup, the first was in Sweden in 1958 and they were determined to make the most of it.
After draw with Yugoslavia and Honduras in their opening group stage games Northern Ireland did the unthinkable and defeated the hosts Spain thanks to a now iconic strike from Gerry Armstrong.
They progressed to the quarter-finals but a draw with Austria and a 4-1 defeat to France saw them head for home.
But legends were made.
Forty years on from that momentous summer a documentary lifts the lid on Northern Ireland’s 1982 World Cup experience.
Yer Men in Spain, which screens on Sunday night, December 11, in the Odeon, Belfast, has been created by Northern Ireland Screen ’ s Digital Film Archive.
The film is edited from over eight hours of footage of the late Billy Bingham’s squad featuring Gerry Armstrong, Pat Jennings, Martin O’Neill, Billy Hamilton and Norman Whiteside on and off the pitch. It features interviews and vox pops from fans in Spain and in pubs and venues across Northern Ireland captured by UTV. This includes footage never seen before.
The team at Northern Ireland Screen ’ s Digital Film Archive reviewed 21 cans of footage before assembling this fly-on-the-wall style feature-length documentary.
Evan Marshall, the NI Screen Digital Archive Team member who pieced the documentary together, said it is "a wonderful snapshot of the time" of Northern Ireland.
"It's like a time capsule," he said.
"You see some of the footage from around Belfast and it just takes you back.
"The interior of some of the pubs is like stepping into another world.
"Then there's the personal aspect of it going into the Armstrong home which is really touching footage.
"It also brings home the togetherness of the experience in what were pretty horrendous times in Northern Ireland.
"This was a good news story!
"We have footage from the first Rangers Supporters' Club on the Donegall Road with everyone cheering all the goals.
"And then you have the Armstrong family on the Falls Road singing and cheering on Northern Ireland.
"It was just a wonderful snapshot of the time, which probably only lasted a few weeks.
"It was a step outside the normality of awfulness in Northern Ireland, it was just a pity it couldn't have been like that all the time."
As Eamon Holmes gauged the reaction to the team's exploits in Belfast, Jackie Fullerton was in Spain and given access all areas to Bingham's squad.
"I don't think this level of access was even the norm back in 1982," said Evan.
"I would imagine the England and Scotland camps were more tightly controlled.
"This was a big adventure for everyone in Northern Ireland.
"They famously opened up the gates and invited the fans into the hotel after they beat Spain.
"But even in the days leading up to that game the fans were there in their hundreds mingling with the players.
"You couldn't do that sort of thing now with social media and everything, but at that World Cup, with that team and that set of fans it was the right thing to do.
"There was a real bond and the camera crew were a real part of tht filming behind the scenes.
'They did keep Norman Whiteside wrapped in cotton wool a bit as he had only just turned 17.
"But once they qualified for the knockout stages Billy Bingham did allow them to interview Whiteside.
"So it was unprecedented the level of access UTV was granted."
This has been a real labour of love for Evan, who has a real love for the Northern Ireland team and their successes in 1958 and '82 having written books and directed documentaries on the subject in the past.
So he was only too happy to be able to bring this "treasure trove of material" to life.
"The 1982 World Cup is a real interest of mine and my boss made me aware that this footage was there.
"So we investigated and discovered there were 21 cans of film, most of it had never been digitized," he said.
"So then it was the question of what do we do with it as it seemed such important material.
"It costs a lot of money to digitize footage so we were wondering if we laid out the money what would we do with this?
"We've cut sports documentaries before so we decided to do that.
"We wanted to share it with the fans and the public because it had been sitting there for 40 years unloved and neglected.
"What a treasure trove of material it was.
"We wanted to share it in a way that we get to digitize it and preserve it, and also that we could present it so we can engage with people and make the archive come alive.
"That's why NI Screen got involved, and eventually this will go on to live in the digital film archive and people will be able to just go and look at it any time they like."
"This has all been made possible by the UTV Archive Partnership and the special relationship between NI Screen, UTV and PRONI.
"At the Digital Film Archive we make the material available for people and we also have an outreach team so that we can take the archive to groups of people.
"One of the key points for us for Yer Men In Spain is how it will live on after this event.
"We will gladly take it out to interested groups and screen it."
Screened in partnership with Belfast Film Festival, the screening will be followed by a Q&A with footballers Gerry Armstrong and Billy Hamilton.
Tickets available to purchase for Sunday night's screening here
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