Norman Whiteside: This Sporting Life

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BBC Northern Ireland region started on 19th April 1955 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One Northern Ireland.

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This Sporting Life

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Sport: Football

Documentaries about the lives of sports personalities.

Simulcast of BBC One Northern Ireland in high definition. From 24/10/2012

BBC One Northern Ireland HD

Stephen Watson

Norman Whiteside

Simon Miller

Mary McKeagney

This Sporting Life: Series 1: Norman Whiteside

Episode 1

Series 1

BBC Radio Scotland - This Sporting Life, Series 1, Norman Whiteside

Stephen Watson hears how a young boy from Belfast became a footballing legend.

In the 1980s, Belfast boy Norman Whiteside broke footballing records but a decade later, his career would be over. Norman tells Stephen Watson his story and what happened next.

It all began on the Shankill for Belfast boy Norman Whiteside. After being spotted by a legendary local scout, Norman would go on to smash footballing records in the early 1980s. In just over 12 months, he became the youngest player to score for Manchester United’s first team, the youngest FA Cup scorer in history and the youngest ever footballer to play in World Cup finals. 

But within a decade, the boy that once had the footballing world at his feet would be forced out of the beautiful game, his career cut cruelly short. 

Speaking to Stephen Watson, and with long unseen archive material, Norman reveals the true story behind his sporting life - what it was like to have and then lose it all - and how he managed to rebuild his life.

This Sporting Life: Series 1

BBC Radio Scotland

Documentaries looking at the lives of sports personalities.

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