They call it Solitude, and it is a crumbling old ground in north Belfast. But to fans of Cliftonville, the Irish League champions, there is no finer place. And today it is host to a turning point in the long history of The Troubles.
The Reds' Belfast derby is coming home. Just before 11am Linfield, Northern Ireland's biggest club, will run out at Solitude for the first time since 1970.
The Royal Ulster Constabulary has imposed an early kick-off, limited the crowd to 1,500 and will mount a massive security operation. But the game is on, and Belfast is in raptures.
There is added spice. Cliftonville, with its strong Catholic roots, edged out Linfield, traditionally staunchly Protestant, in the race for the title last year. It was the first time the title had gone to Ireland's oldest club in 88 years. Now David Jeffrey's side is looking for revenge. If Linfield win they will go top, if only until this afternoon.
It was Grand National Day in 1970 when Linfield were last at Solitude. The Irish Cup final was delayed until 4pm to allow the 12,000 crowd to enjoy Pat Taaffe's victory on Gay Trip. Michael Fenton, a 45-year-old Cliftonville die-hard, puts it all in context when he says: "The Troubles were less than a year old. Put it another way. It was so long ago England were still world champions."
The irony is that Cliftonville were not even playing. The final now is always played at Windsor Park, but back then Linfield's involvement meant a neutral venue. Linfield, inspired by a young Bryan Hamilton, beat Ballymena 2-1.
But there were vicious skirmishes outside the ground afterwards involving Linfield fans and Catholic locals. It was a time of changing demographics in north Belfast, with many Protestants quitting the area, and the security forces had long feared a match would be the excuse for sectarian score-settling.
As the Troubles worsened the RUC decided it was too much of a risk to allow Linfield supporters back into north Belfast. Ever since, Cliftonville have had to play all their league matches against Linfield, home and away, at Windsor Park.
Fenton, standing in the barn-like social club with his #6 stand ticket in one hand and a pint of Guinness in the other, explains: "It has been like Celtic having to play Rangers at Ibrox every year since the Beatles were together. Or Everton never being allowed to play Liverpool at Goodison."
Jim Glendenning, 58-year-old secretary of the Association of Linfield Supporters' Clubs, says: "I am fed up with every other football fan in Northern Ireland saying how unfair it is that we have an extra two home matches every season. We have long supported a return to Solitude."
The sectarian divide is slowly breaking down. Cliftonville have an increasingly mixed following to go with the team and Linfield signed their first Catholic six years ago. There are now several on the club's books.
Linfield played host to Derry City, a predominantly Catholic club, for the first time in 25 years a couple of months back in a testimonial match. There was the odd sectarian chant but Jeffrey soon got them stopped.
Jeffrey, a social worker, says: "We are proud of our traditions but they have to be appropriate for the Nineties. Respect is the key. We are throwing off the shackles of the past and the return to Solitude is another step in the normalisation of our society."
But Jim Boyce, a Cliftonville director and president of the Irish Football Association, says it would be wrong to suggest the old days are gone forever. Today's excitement is in marked contrast to last Saturday when Donegal Celtic, the west Belfast junior club, were forced to pull out of a semi-final match against the RUC.
Donegal cited "unfair and unreasonable" Sinn Fein pressure. Several of the team were threatened, among them a player whose father was one of three shot dead by an RUC man in a Sinn Fein office in 1992; he had wanted to play.
There is another twist. The RUC is refusing to allow Cliftonville to play at Portadown, staunchly Protestant, after threats against the Belfast side because of the continuing stand-off at Drumcree. Portadown are to play their home matches against Cliftonville at Solitude.
Today, though, 1,000 Cliftonville fans and 500 Linfield supporters, segregated in the Bowling Green End, will gather again at Solitude and John Duffy, Cliftonville's secretary, says they "could have sold twice as many tickets".
The return of the fixture is not without its cost to Cliftonville, who will lose #7,000 because the game is not at Windsor Park. They hope that when the teams meet again at Solitude in January the RUC will allow a bigger crowd.
And then there is Cliftonville's home record in the league this season. They have won just one out of seven.
Marty Quinn, Cliftonville's manager and a plumber by trade, says: "We beat Linfield three times out of four at Windsor Park last season, and that was what won us the league. But there are some things in football more important than results."