The papers have been full of "friendship" soccer matches between Christians and Muslims recently. One in Germany was decisively won by the Christians. One in Norway was suspended in a row over women players.
Next month sees an encounter of a different kind with a Stormont Assembly team setting off to London to take on the might of Westminster, Holyrood and Cardiff. The fixture kept going throughout the period of suspension.
Last year Scotland beat Northern Ireland in the final amidst accusations of "ringers" taking to the pitch.
Scotland's manager is Kenny Dalglish. Northern Ireland's is Pat Jennings. The provisional line up is David McClarty, Danny Kennedy, John McCallister, David Hilditch, Peter Weir, Alex Easton, Roy Beggs Jr., Tommy Burns and Tommy Gallagher, plus a couple of Stormont officials. Sinn Fein appear conspicuous by their absence - maybe they have another fixture on in Dublin.
An SDLP press release has just landed in my e-mail in-box expressing fears about the potential dangers of a bonfire at the Ballycraigy estate in Antrim. I'd be worried about spontaneous combustion too if my name was Thomas Burns.
So the first British Irish Council meeting is to take place at Stormont next week. The attendant hacks can expect Gordon Brown and a fair bit of red tape. The Assembly Commission has agreed that "security arrangements similar to 8 May's events would apply". I am intending to be off on leave next Monday, but if all goes according to plan Martina Purdy should be blogging away here in my absence.
So I shall let her tackle the linguistic minefield posed by BIC meetings. Ian Paisley has just said that the "East/West summit will involve all the administrations within the United Kingdom, including Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey". However the last three on that list will swiftly point out that they are not part of the UK, but federated dependencies.
I have just talked on Radio Ulster's Talkback about the summit bringing together all parts of the "British Isles". But I have since been reminded that the Irish government doesn't like this term. So is it the "Council of the Isles"? This gets around nationalist sensibilities, but doesn't help much if you are trying top explain things to someone who lives in the Canaries or another archipelago.
Which brings me to "the Atlantic Archipelago" - a term coined by some geographers. It avoids all political controversy, but would provoke blank looks so far as most people are concerned.
Perhaps the only answer is to repeat the words "British Irish Council" without seeking to explain it any further. Unless, of course, any of archipelago dwellers can come up with useful alternative suggestions?
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