A city news website has apologised after publishing a column which accused football fans of continuing to sing a sectarian song at matches.

Belfast Live said sorry over a piece by columnist Joe Lindsay, in which he claimed loyalist anthem ‘The Billy Boys’ was still being sung at Northern Ireland national team games.

While stating that “positive steps to eradicate any kind of sectarian behaviour have been successful” in the Irish League, Joe added the Northern Ireland team is “deemed a more Protestant team” and “many nationalists feel unrepresented because of God Save The Queen being played”.

However, the column prompted a complaint to the Independent Press Standards Organisation from reader Ian McKinney, who claimed ‘The Billy Boys’ had not been sung at a Northern Ireland football match for more than 20 years.

Northern Ireland football fans

Complaining under Clause 1 (Accuracy) and Clause 12 (Discrimination) of the Editors’ Code of Practice, Mr McKinney expressed concern that the alleged inaccuracies would undermine efforts made to remove sectarianism from Northern Ireland’s international football matches.

In response, Belfast Live aid that it was not possible to determine whether or not ‘The Billy Boys’ had been sung by anyone at Northern Ireland football matches within the last few years, and provided evidence to IPSO which it said demonstrated its position that this was in dispute.

Nevertheless, the Trinity Mirror-owned site accepted that it was inaccurate to report as fact that ‘The Billy Boys’ was still being sung and had removed this reference from the article.

The publication also published a follow-up article which it said outlined an alternative opinion to the original article, while editor Chris Sherrard published an apology on Twitter.

He posted: “The original column was the writer in question’s opinion and didn’t necessarily reflect those of Belfast Live.

“I applaud the fantastic work which has been done by the Irish Football Association to eradicate sectarianism and apologise for any offence that was caused.”

The original column was the writer in question's opinion and didn't necessarily reflect those of @BelfastLive. I applaud the fantastic work which has been done by the @OfficialIrishFA to eradicate sectarianism and apologise for any offence that was caused https://t.co/Vw3PBIroMD

— Chris Sherrard (@cdsherrard) November 14, 2017

After IPSO launched an investigation, Belfast Live also offered to publish a clarification on the home page of its website for 24 hours, which Mr McKinney said would resolve the matter to his satisfaction.

No determination was made on breach of Code, and the full resolution statement can be read here.