One of the most common misconceptions about Northern Ireland is that all Catholics are nationalists and vice versa.
t makes the complexities of this place more comprehensible to outsiders but it's simply not true, as I'm sure the latest census results will show.
I know many Catholics who would rail against Irish reunification - and if you think MP Ian Paisley's huge majority in North Antrim is based solely on Protestant votes, think again.
It's a similar story with the Northern Ireland team, whose cross-community support is growing all the time.
But I've yet to meet a Catholic fan of Linfield Football Club.
That's perhaps not surprising when you consider their true-blue history but, if chairman Roy McGivern's recent comments are anything to go by, there's a wind of change blowing down Donegall Avenue.
"It's always a challenge to change people's perceptions, it's the way things are here," he said at last week's launch of Linfield's Strategic Plan for 2021-2025.
"But if you look at this club at all levels in the boys academy, girls academy, the ladies team and the first team, it's a very inclusive club so there is no reason why we shouldn't be attracting people from other backgrounds to Windsor Park."
McGivern accepted that it could be "a big challenge" but the feeling is that that particular supertanker is already turning around.
It actually began nearly 30 years ago - not long after the Blues celebrated their centenary.
On the pitch, the club was treading water following the departure of their most successful manager, Roy Coyle, who used to point to his initials and joke that he was the only 'RC' allowed into Windsor.
It was no laughing matter, however, when our sister paper Sunday Life published the eyebrow-raising, page one headline in January 1992: "No-go for Catholics... Linfield boss spells out why he won't be signing RCs".
That was the upshot of an interview with Coyle's successor Eric Bowyer, who wasn't saying the club hadn't attempted to sign Catholics per se - because they had, on several occasions - merely that none of the ones they'd contacted were particularly keen to emulate Waterford-born Davy Walsh, a popular Blues player from the 1960s.
That interview, however, led to the US-based Irish National Caucus lobby group reiterating their call for the Irish FA to sever its "cosy links" with Linfield, and for Coca-Cola to withdraw their advertising billboards from the stadium.
The club responded by recruiting a little-known Catholic utility player from Cliftonville, Chris Cullen, who wasn't good enough to play regularly in the first team and was widely regarded as a cynical, 'token' signing to get the Caucus's outspoken, Fermanagh-born leader Fr Sean McManus off their back.
Later that year, however, they silenced even McManus by bringing in the 'Dundalk Hawk' Dessie Gorman - a quality player who could make the difference between Linfield being also-rans and regaining the Irish League title - which they did, under Bowyer's immaculately-dressed successor Trevor Anderson, a few months later.
The second Catholic to join the 'revolution back then', Pat 'Billy' Fenlon, is now general manager of Linfield.
It has been a long time since 'The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park' has been a no-go area for Catholic players - and the club has now made it clear that its welcome mat extends to would-be supporters.
All the components are in place for a journey into uncharted territory - a phrase which, in this supposedly cosmopolitian, all-inclusive day and age, sounds decidedly anachronistic.
But if the Blues are seeking a precedent, they should look no further than Old Trafford.
For many decades Manchester United were regarded, especially on these shores, as English football's main 'Catholic club'.
Funnily enough, we're approaching the 40th anniversary of the Red Devils finally getting round to employing their first non-Catholic manager, 'Big Ron' Atkinson, in June 1981.
When United changed their name from Newton Heath in 1902, 'Manchester Celtic' - aimed at reflecting the city's large Irish immigrant population - was one of the alternative considerations but was eventually rejected by the club's new owner, John Henry Davies, for "sounding too Scottish".
United's use of a posse of priests as club scouts - brainchild of Louis Rocca, the influential son of Italian immigrants - did little to dispel the perceived Catholic ethos of the club in the first half of the 20th century.
That all began to change, however, in the 1950s when Jackie Blanchflower and Harry Gregg arrived, followed by Bestie in 1963.
Prior to that illustrious trio - and although United never operated a closed-doors policy to quality from any background - no Northern Ireland-born player from the Protestant tradition had managed 100 appearances (while legendary Dubliner Johnny Carey spent 16 years at OT, becoming the first non-Englishman to captain both a title and an FA Cup winning side).
Then came the likes of Sammy McIlroy, Trevor Anderson (yes, him again, although he didn't stay very long), David McCreery and Jimmy Nicholl in the 1970s, and of course Big Norm in the Atkinson era.
In the Troubles-torn Northern Ireland of that time, when so many things - even pop groups - were feverishly adopted by "one side or the other", it clearly didn't matter what foot you kicked with when it came to following United.
A club is invariably judged by the actions of its supporters, however, and there was one notable blip - at Old Trafford in March 1974, and the infamous riot during a so-called 'friendly' between United and Rangers.
The enmity between rival supporters on that 'free Saturday' (because both clubs had been knocked out of their respective FA Cup competitions) began in Manchester city centre, continued on the terraces and ultimately spilled onto the pitch.
I have only anecdotal evidence as to what caused the shocking violence that afternoon but heavy drinking and the cordial relationship between United and Rangers' Old Firm rivals - many home fans wore Celtic tops and flew tricolours - may have added to the volatility.
On the other side of the coin, there were reports of some United fans singing anti-Catholic sectarian songs at Celtic Park during a Champions League match in 2008... there's perverse diversity for you!
The thing is, clubs like United and Liverpool - once perceived as that city's 'Protestant' club (there were 'Ulster Says No' banners on display in the Kop during the 1986 Merseyside derby; see what I mean about the image supporters project?) - have irrefutable cosmopolitan fan bases now.
And they've done it without the need for any denudation of the traditional tribalism which their clubs' diehards relish.
Linfield can therefore press ahead with laudable aspirations of broadening their fan base, in the surefire knowledge that the people who hate them now will still hate them afterwards.
And vice versa...
