I don’t know where this perception came from, but growing up as a Presbyterian minister’s son in the heart of the north east Ulster Bible Belt certainly had it challenges.
While some of those bad experiences were simply because some ‘buck eejit’ wanted to show off by picking on the minister’s son, others were self-inflicted. And one of those challenges was surviving the annual Boys’ Brigade summer camp.
It was the summer of 1975 and BB camp that year was in the sunny English seaside town of Southport, now unfortunately best known for the race riots.
For many of the lads from the north Antrim hills, the ’75 camp was their first time away from home, but it provided ample opportunities to gain the required evidence for our Stage One BB badge in camping.
In the mid-Seventies, Southport to us resembled Portrush’s famous Barry’s Amusements times ten! That provided us with endless hours of fun and certainly drained our pocket money!
Until we saw a poster highlighting a wrestling event at Southport’s Floral Hall. Top of the bill for Wednesday 23rd July was none other than Giant Haystacks, the 31-stone Mountain Man who was nearly seven foot tall.
Giant Haystacks was someone we had only seen on television on Saturday afternoons before the football results came on. Here was a chance to see the man himself in action, so we persuaded our BB officers to get us tickets - in the front row.
Giant Haystacks’ real name was Martin Austin Ruane, and his father came from Co Mayo. The popular wrestler was to sadly die in November 1998 aged only 52. He was also best known for tag team wrestling with his equally large partner Big Daddy.
For those not of my generation, Giant Haystacks dressed as if he was auditioning for a part in the horror movie series The Hills Have Eyes, or Wrong Turn. While we were there that night to see Giant Haystacks in action, it was naturally his opponent we were cheering on - the Canadian wrestler Johnny War Eagle.
So picture the scene. A front row full of north Antrim BB lads yelling abuse (obviously with the officers present we had to watch our language!) at Giant Haystacks as he waddled his massive body around the wrestling ring throwing Johnny War Eagle around the place.
Every time Giant Haystacks reached our corner of the ring, the abuse would increase - and all conveniently ignored by the Mountain Man. Indeed, our initial perception was that Giant Haystacks was actually lapping up and even enjoying the abusive attention from our BB contingent.
That was until one of our lads - egged on by me as the minister’s son to go closer to the ring - stood up from his seat, went within a few feet of the ring and yelled these immortal words in a broad north Antrim accent at Giant Haystacks - “Haystacks, you’re nothing but a big poof!”
By 2026 standards, such abuse would be clearly considered as a homophobic hate crime carrying a hefty fine and even a jail term, but in 1975 such abuse would not warrant arrest or a conviction. However, the damage was done.
Clearly, even in the mid Seventies, calling Giant Haystacks’ sexual orientation into question was not a remark to make. Whether it was the remark itself, or because of Giant Haystacks’ Irish background and he recognised a north Antrim accent, the big man did not like what was said.
His reaction was instantaneous. He stepped out of the wrestling ring and made towards us leaving an obviously bemused Johnny War Eagle wondering what was happening.
We wee teenage BB boys suddenly realised the ‘big poof’ slur had been one piece of abuse too far. We started to clamber over the chairs to get away from Giant Haystacks as he waded through the rows to get his hands on these cheeky north Antrim brats.
We were in full retreat! It didn’t matter who was in the rows behind us, we needed to get away - and fast. After we all jumped over several rows of chairs and spectators, Giant Haystacks felt he had made his point, and he turned and headed back to the wrestling ring.
We watched the rest of his bout from the back of the hall. None of us had the courage to resume our front row seats given the reaction from Giant Haystacks, much to the amusement of our accompanying officers.
After the evening’s event, we went autograph hunting, but diplomatically avoided Giant Haystacks, who thankfully was nowhere to be seen. Johnny War Eagle insisted on signing our event programmes, giving us a ‘thumbs up’ as we left the Floral Hall.
Back home in the north Antrim hills, the incident was ‘spun’ about the evening we confronted Giant Haystacks head on during his wrestling bout. For some reason, the abuse comment and the hasty retreat were diplomatically omitted from our ‘take’ on the events of that late July 1975 Wednesday evening in sunny Southport.
One lesson was learned when we got home - the slur ‘big poof’ was never to be uttered at anyone again.
While some of those bad experiences were simply because some ‘buck eejit’ wanted to show off by picking on the minister’s son, others were self-inflicted. And one of those challenges was surviving the annual Boys’ Brigade summer camp.
It was the summer of 1975 and BB camp that year was in the sunny English seaside town of Southport, now unfortunately best known for the race riots.
For many of the lads from the north Antrim hills, the ’75 camp was their first time away from home, but it provided ample opportunities to gain the required evidence for our Stage One BB badge in camping.
In the mid-Seventies, Southport to us resembled Portrush’s famous Barry’s Amusements times ten! That provided us with endless hours of fun and certainly drained our pocket money!
Until we saw a poster highlighting a wrestling event at Southport’s Floral Hall. Top of the bill for Wednesday 23rd July was none other than Giant Haystacks, the 31-stone Mountain Man who was nearly seven foot tall.
Giant Haystacks was someone we had only seen on television on Saturday afternoons before the football results came on. Here was a chance to see the man himself in action, so we persuaded our BB officers to get us tickets - in the front row.
Giant Haystacks’ real name was Martin Austin Ruane, and his father came from Co Mayo. The popular wrestler was to sadly die in November 1998 aged only 52. He was also best known for tag team wrestling with his equally large partner Big Daddy.
For those not of my generation, Giant Haystacks dressed as if he was auditioning for a part in the horror movie series The Hills Have Eyes, or Wrong Turn. While we were there that night to see Giant Haystacks in action, it was naturally his opponent we were cheering on - the Canadian wrestler Johnny War Eagle.
So picture the scene. A front row full of north Antrim BB lads yelling abuse (obviously with the officers present we had to watch our language!) at Giant Haystacks as he waddled his massive body around the wrestling ring throwing Johnny War Eagle around the place.
Every time Giant Haystacks reached our corner of the ring, the abuse would increase - and all conveniently ignored by the Mountain Man. Indeed, our initial perception was that Giant Haystacks was actually lapping up and even enjoying the abusive attention from our BB contingent.
That was until one of our lads - egged on by me as the minister’s son to go closer to the ring - stood up from his seat, went within a few feet of the ring and yelled these immortal words in a broad north Antrim accent at Giant Haystacks - “Haystacks, you’re nothing but a big poof!”
By 2026 standards, such abuse would be clearly considered as a homophobic hate crime carrying a hefty fine and even a jail term, but in 1975 such abuse would not warrant arrest or a conviction. However, the damage was done.
Clearly, even in the mid Seventies, calling Giant Haystacks’ sexual orientation into question was not a remark to make. Whether it was the remark itself, or because of Giant Haystacks’ Irish background and he recognised a north Antrim accent, the big man did not like what was said.
His reaction was instantaneous. He stepped out of the wrestling ring and made towards us leaving an obviously bemused Johnny War Eagle wondering what was happening.
We wee teenage BB boys suddenly realised the ‘big poof’ slur had been one piece of abuse too far. We started to clamber over the chairs to get away from Giant Haystacks as he waded through the rows to get his hands on these cheeky north Antrim brats.
We were in full retreat! It didn’t matter who was in the rows behind us, we needed to get away - and fast. After we all jumped over several rows of chairs and spectators, Giant Haystacks felt he had made his point, and he turned and headed back to the wrestling ring.
We watched the rest of his bout from the back of the hall. None of us had the courage to resume our front row seats given the reaction from Giant Haystacks, much to the amusement of our accompanying officers.
After the evening’s event, we went autograph hunting, but diplomatically avoided Giant Haystacks, who thankfully was nowhere to be seen. Johnny War Eagle insisted on signing our event programmes, giving us a ‘thumbs up’ as we left the Floral Hall.
Back home in the north Antrim hills, the incident was ‘spun’ about the evening we confronted Giant Haystacks head on during his wrestling bout. For some reason, the abuse comment and the hasty retreat were diplomatically omitted from our ‘take’ on the events of that late July 1975 Wednesday evening in sunny Southport.
One lesson was learned when we got home - the slur ‘big poof’ was never to be uttered at anyone again.
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| Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter Dr Coulter has been a journalist since 1978 and is currently a political commentator with GB News. |
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