[caption id="attachment_71847" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="The scene of the 1994 shootings."]
The families of six men who were murdered as they watched the Republic of Ireland play a World Cup match on television have welcomed the news
that the Irish football team will wear black armbands on the anniversary of their killing.
The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has confirmed that Irish players will remember the men who were shot dead by loyalists in the Heights Bar Loughinisland in June, 1994.
UVF gunmen stormed into the County Down pub as patrons were watching the Republic of Ireland play Italy in the Giant's Stadium in New York. The black armbands will be worn by the players on June 18, exactly 18 years to the day of the massacre.
Again on this day, Ireland will be playing Italy in the Euro 2012 finals in Poland.
Niall Murphy, the families' lawyer, said: "The families are touched that this tragic event can be commemorated on such a poignant day, the eighteenth anniversary of the atrocity.
"We would like to thank the FAI and UEFA for their assistance in providing a forum to recall the awful events that took place on that fateful day when Ireland played Italy in 1994."
FAI chief executive, John Delaney, was in the U.S. in 1994 supporting the Irish team when he heard about the killings.
"What happened in Loughinisland in 1994 was an awful tragedy and deeply moving for all football fans," he said.
"I would like to thank UEFA for assisting us in commemorating this atrocity and take the opportunity to remember all those who lost their lives in the Troubles.
"It's a poignant remembrance of what was a horrific tragedy as were many, many other tragedies in Northern Ireland on both sides of the community. It was more that the Irish team recognized this particular one as important given the significance of the date, and the team that we're playing.
"Our players have a great understanding of history and tradition and they've always been very respectful of tradition," he said.
"They'll be very understanding of the difficult occasion and the difficult memories for people, the families, of what happened 18 years ago."
The six men who died were Adrian Rogan 34, Malcolm Jenkinson, 53, Barney Greene, 87, Daniel McCreanor 59, Patrick O'Hare, 35, and Eamon Byrne, 39. All were Catholic.
Mr. Greene was one of the oldest people to be killed in the Troubles. The families of those who were murdered believe there was collusion between the gunmen and the security forces which enabled evidence to be destroyed.
Relatives visited the U.S. earlier this year to impart
this believe to members of Congress in Washington.
