MAKING A PIGaS EAR OF THE LAW.

(From Sunday Life)

Byline: JIM GRACEY SPORTS EDITOR

THE old stadium was packed to the flaming rafters. Quite literally.

A perfect May day for football had begun as a sponsor's dream.

Sun shining and the two biggest teams in the country lining out in the showpiece match of the season, the 1985 Bass Irish Cup Final. Glentoran v Linfield.

As was his Cup Final day ritual, my late, great and sorely missed mate Brian Houston, PR man extraordinaire for Bass Ireland and cheer leader for football in darker days than these, was up at The Oval early.

Checking his advertising hoardings were strategically placed in line with the camera positions and making sure the hospitality was just right for the first visit to his pride and joy of his big bosses, and bankrollers, from Tennents in Glagsow.

And it all went exceedingly well... til the copiously wined and dined Scottish dignitaries took their seats in the Glentoran directors' box.

The BBC cameras weren't trained on the Tennents branding, as they'd hoped, but on the most bizarre sight I've seen on a …