Football | A Bohemian Sporting Life

On being the Best

Posted on December 4, 2015 by gerrytastic

In a recent interview with journalist Andy Mitten the great Xavi Hernandez was asked if Lionel Messi was the “best ever”. Xavi is a true football anorak, he tends not to give glib answers, he’s been one of the greatest midfielders in arguably the greatest club and international sides ever, so his responses should be given a certain gravitas. He replied to Mitten that:

Yes [Messi is the best ever]. Pele and [Diego] Maradona both made a huge difference, but football has evolved. The players are better than they were, the game is better. Physically, tactically, technically and psychologically, football is better than ever. And Messi stands out as the best at the best time in the history of football.

Succinctly put. It’s easy to see the logic of Xavi’s arguement, he even name-checks Pele and Maradona, those players who would traditionally vie for the title of the “best ever”. Messi does indeed play at a level, a pace and at a tactical evolve that would be alien to Pelé or even Maradona. If we had access to a time machine and dropped either of these two historical greats into the current Barcelona side then it is likely that we would see what Xavi is talking about. The frenetic pace of elite level football, the amount of ground that would have to be covered, the tactics and shape, the diet and conditioning, even the very rules of the game would be unfamiliar to the Pelé of 1970 or the Maradona of 1986, so of course the 2015 Messi would appear the better player.

To be clear there is a very strong argument that Lionel Messi is indeed the best player in the history of the game. His attacking versatility, his scarcely believable goal scoring rate, the collection of winners medals that he has accumulated through a glittering club career are all testament to this. The one mark in the debit column against Messi that is usually stated is that despite his amazing achievements with Barcelona he has yet to win a senior international tournament with Argentina while both Pele and Maradona were instrumental in winning the World Cup for Brazil and Argentina respectively.

For much of the global history of football the international game was considered the very highest standard of excellence and Pele and Maradona are rightly recognised for their success at this level. However in recent years with the growing dominance of elite European leagues, and an upper echelon of super-wealthy elite clubs within these leagues this has begun to change. It is now arguable that even the best sides at a World Cup would be overall inferior to the matchday squad of better Champions League sides. The expansion in player scouting to truly global proportions, as well as football’s growth in popularity and professionalism (there are now estimated to be more than 265 million active players worldwide according to FIFA) has meant that competitiveness for places and the breath of playing talent available to elite clubs is far beyond anything in the earlier history of the sport.

The hot-housing and accumulation of talent within clubs like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, means that the elite levels of European club football are the ultimate proving grounds for individual footballing excellence. So surely Messi, having now won four Champions League titles, has achieved as much at such a high standard as any other player who could lay a claim to being the Best?

This would all point to fact that Xavi is right in his choice of Messi as the greatest ever player, that the pace of the modern game and its tactical advancement would mean that players of earlier generations would look like something from that Harry Enfield sketch of black and white era football buffoons. But I feel that this is somewhat unfair, the modern game has become obsessed with the 24 hour football news cycle and a couple of events have suggested that we find it difficult as modern football fans to appreciate footballing achievement if its historical context pre-dates the 1990’s.

Two recent events apart from the Xavi’s quote above have brought this into focus for me. Jamie Vardy’s consecutive goalscoring record and the tenth anniversary of George’s Best’s death. In Vardy’s case he has claimed a very significant landmark, he now has the record for most consecutive goals in the history of the Premier League with goals in 11 consecutive games. That is to say a record since the rebrand of top flight English football in 1992. This is still a significant achievement, he’s done something that Ruud van Nistelrooy, Alan Shearer or Theirry Henry never managed, and of course we like to view history in bite size chunks, there is no harm in that. Prior to the Premier League there was often mention as I recall of “post-war” records because that’s just how we like to process the passing of time. Credit should be reserved for the likes of Sky Sports who have consistently highlighted that the overall record still belongs to Jimmy Dunne who scored 18 goals over 12 consecutive games in the 1931-32 season.

Little footage remains of Dunne and it’s only Vardy’s recent record breaking feats that have brought him back into the footballing consciousness. Even in Ireland where Dunne was our record goalscorer for 27 years (until this was broken by Noel Cantwell) few are really aware of his feats on a football pitch and Dunne is seldom ever mentioned in greatest Irish XI’s or such like.

Such polls are always fickle, in fact a recent poll by the FAI to select the greatest Irish team in the last 50 years didn’t even include Johnny Giles! And it can’t be said that John lacks any media profile.

The best Irish team of the last 50 years as chosen by Irish football fans. No room for John Giles.

The other landmark in recent days was the tenth anniversary of the death of George Best. Manchester United fans were commemorated Best with banners and chants at Old Trafford and there were many comparisons drawn between the swashbuckling playing style of Best, Law and Charlton with the more prosaic football on offer from Louis van Gaal’s charges.

Best is often cited as the first of a new generation of footballers, one of the first “modern” players. Best made his first team debut in 1963, the year the first Beatles album came out, and the year that poet Philip Larkin claimed “Sexual intercourse began”. That’s the problem with the past, we can only view it in retrospect so of course it appears that Best’s life and career were always on a pre-destined course. So it seems to us he was always the handsome Belfast-boy who was destined to become the “fifth Beatle” , the supremely talented player who was doomed to live fast and burn out young.

But did it have to be that way? Returning to Xavi’s point about Lionel Messi being the best ever, does the comparison with Pelé and Maradona work the other way. Yes they might appear off the pace if they were magically transported into the modern game but then that could be said of any discipline; Jessie Owens would lose to Usain Bolt in a sprint, in the arts the master practitioners of past would be out of their depth if thrown into a modern milieu, imagine asking Alfred Hitchcock or Cecil B. DeMille to direct a modern Hollywood blockbuster, on digital, with the current demands of a global film industry, they’d be overwhelmed but it doesn’t mean they are not great directors.

What if Best and Pelé were born later? What if Maradona had been born in 1990 not 1960? Players with their control, technique and vision would always thrive, they’d be better protected now from the darker arts of opposing defenders, and they could avail of the most modern training techniques, tactical instruction, diets and so on. Best was at the forefront of the tortuous birth of the modern celebrity sportsman, today Best would have been better understood, the level of public scrutiny to which he was suggested would now be commonplace and both player and his club better able to deal with these extremes. Similarly the excesses of his personal life are better understood, today there would be a far better chance of Best firstly being better protected from the rigours of celebrity and secondly to have better supports available if he did begin to develop a dependency on alcohol. While it might be cynical it is in the best interests of hyper-wealthy football clubs to protect their stars as best they can.

Similarly with Maradona or Pelé, the modern club structures would have meant that Maradona would have been unlikely to move from Barcelona to Napoli (while Napoli are top of Serie A at the time of writing they were struggling when Diego arrived in 1984) due to the wealth gap between even the top clubs in Serie A and the small elite band of hyper-wealthy sides. Perhaps he would never have fallen in with the Camorra, perhaps his drug habit, which had begun towards the end of his time at Barcelona would never have developed as it did. Pelé might likely have followed a similar route to current Brazilian international and fellow Santos alumni Neymar Jr. staying only in Brazil to his early 20s before a lucrative move to Europe.

The greatest players probably should only be judged on their individual eras as one of the greatest facets of football is that while it remains quite close to the original rules of the 1860’s that made it “the simplest game” it is also constantly changing, progressing and reacting. Football would be both instantly recognisable to a time traveller from the past and bewilderingly different.

Messi is unique in world football at present and has a strong claim to being one of the greatest players of all time but our standards for greatness change as time progresses. Just as it would be folly for a football fan in 30 years time to write off Messi’s achievements because of the victories of some as yet unborn player, so to is it our folly to underestimate the accomplishments of those who have gone before.

Euro 88 Scotland v Ireland & how Lawro got the bandwagon rolling

Posted on November 9, 2015 by gerrytastic

We’re only a playoff away from our third ever European Championships so here’s a bit of nostalgia ahead of the Bosnia game going all they way back to another qualifying group with Scotland.

When thinking of the Scottish national team and its relationship to that of the Republic of Ireland the match that jumps out most is not our most recent encounter, a narrow victory in the little loved Nations Cup.

Some may be old enough to remember the famous 1-0 in Dalymount Park way back in 1963, but the Scottish match that most Irish fans think of probably didn’t even feature Ireland. It was that win in Sofia when Gary Mackay scored the only goal of his short international career, a goal which meant that the Bulgarians, who had needed only a draw and were favourites to qualify stayed at home in the glorious summer of 1988.

Instead it was Ireland, in their maiden campaign under Jack Charlton who were off to West Germany for their first major international tournament.

That tournament, arguably featured the strongest even Irish squad and would go a long way in broadening the appeal of soccer in Ireland, it would help to galvanise the travelling support that would make Irish fans famous throughout the world and it gave us moments of joy (Houghton putting the ball in the English net, Ronnie Whelan’s amazing shinned volley) and despair (Wim Kieft’s looping header off a Ronald Koeman shot to send Ireland home). It would give us Joxer goes to Stuttgart, and raise our national sporting expectations.

According to some it would even help to kick start the nation’s economy?

And yet the qualifying campaign was more than just Mackay’s unexpected winner, Ireland had topped a tough group having only lost once during qualifying. After draws in their opening two games, away to Belgium and home to Scotland the Irish needed a win to properly kick start their drive for the Euros.

They got that win in the intimidating atmosphere of Hampden Park and the goal would be scored by a man who little realised that his career at the highest level would be over within a year. It would also mark the first occasion that a Republic of Ireland team would defeat a Scottish side on their home turf and can perhaps be seen as a changing of the guard in terms of the hierarchies of the two Celtic nations?

As mentioned Euro 88 qualifying was Jack Charlton’s first major outing as Ireland manager. Eoin Hand had departed early in 1986 after a disappointing World Cup campaign which saw Ireland finish fourth in a five team group behind Denmark, USSR and Switzerland.

The exciting talents of the Danish Dynamite side that would light up the World Cup in Mexico were especially evident against Ireland as they recorded a 3-0 win in Copenhagen before winning 4-1 in the last qualifying game in Lansdowne Road. Preben Elkjær, then starring for Verona in Serie A proving particularly lethal against Hand’s side.

While Charlton managed to restore some faith in Irish camp early on by gaining victories over Iceland and Czechoslovakia in Reykjavik, in the process winning Ireland’s first piece of silverware he had also managed to alienate Arsenal’s classy centre half Dave O’Leary.

He did, however, give a first cap to O’Leary’s young teammate Niall Quinn, as well as unearthing two “granny –rule” players of considerable quality after Oxford United defender Dave Langan put Charlton on to the Irish connections of his teammates John Aldridge and Ray Houghton. This would become a player acquisition route much favoured by Charlton.

While the squad may have gained some confidence from their friendly tournament win in Iceland they still faced a daunting qualifying group which included Belgium (semi-finalists in Mexico 86) an emerging Bulgaria side featuring the talents of a young Hristo Stoichkov, Scotland and Luxembourg.

Ireland’s opening home draws with Belgium (2-2) and Scotland (0-0) meant that the significant task of defeating the Scots in Hampden grew in importance. Playing away from home suited Charlton’s teams to a certain extent, set up as they were for high-pressure, counter attacking football.

It could sometimes be less effective when playing at home when there was a greater onus to take the game to the opponent but it worked in crucial away fixtures like those in Glasgow.

Ireland took on Scotland in Hampden on the 18^th February 1987 and would line-up in a standard 4-4-2 formation. A huge Irish contingent travelled to Glasgow for the game (topical) and this became a sign of things to come for the Irish team in terms of vociferous travelling support. In goal was Packie Bonner who was establishing himself as Charlton’s No. 1 having previously played second fiddle to Seamus McDonagh and on occasion Gerry Peyton.

Sport, Football, European Championship Qualifier, Dublin, 15th October 1986, Republic of Ireland 0 v Scotland 0, Republic of Ireland’s Liam Brady moves away from Scotland’s Roy Aitken (Photo by Bob Thomas/Getty Images)

The back four consisted of Mick McCarthy, Kevin Moran, Ronnie Whelan and Paul McGrath, with Whelan and McGrath unusually operating in the full back positions after both Dave Langan and Jim Beglin had suffered serious injuries. Midfield saw Liam Brady (then coming to the end of his Italian sojourn with Ascoli) partner Mark Lawrenson who was positioned in front of the back four allowing Brady space to roam forward.

The pair were flanked by Ray Houghton and Spurs’ Tony Galvin. Up front Frank Stapleton was partnered by John Aldridge who enjoyed a fairly thankless task in Charlton’s system as the prime exponent of his pressing game, harassing the opposing defence high up the pitch the force errors in their build-up play.

The strength of the Scottish XI is evidenced by the fact that the trailing Scots were able to introduce Celtic legends Paul McStay and Roy Aitken as substitutes to compliment the talents of Hansen, Strachan, McClair and McCoist.

The role of Lawrenson in the team was key. He was starting in a defensive midfield role partially because of the competition in defence but mainly due to the gap left in the Irish team by the ultimately career ending injury to his Liverpool teammate Jim Beglin forcing Whelan into the left back slot.

Ever versatile Lawrenson had played in central defence alongside Hansen for much of his time at Liverpool but had also featured in midfield and at full back, especially from the 1986 onward as Gary Gillespie began to establish himself alongside Hansen in the heart of the Red’s defence.

Lawrenson had had injury problems of his own over the last year after damaging his Achilles in a game against Wimbledon meaning he would only feature in three of the Euro 88 qualifiers. However it is worth noting that Lawrenson started in the crucial victories against Scotland and Bulgaria as well as the 2-2 draw with Belgium.

The Bulgaria game would be his last competitive match for Ireland. Having never properly recovered from that earlier Achilles injury he did further damage during a Liverpool game versus Arsenal in early 1988 and by the age of 30 his top level playing career was effectively over.

As was the chance of being part of the Irish squad for the Euros. A combination of injury and suspension would also rob Ireland of the services of the veteran Brady, an ever-present throughout qualifying. He was another who had played at the very highest level who would never get the opportunity to compete at an international tournament.

Lawrenson’s winner against Scotland also showed how the Irish had changed under Charlton. The Irish had usually been cast as the victims, the injured parties in international games as more savvy nations took advantage, or at least that was the comforting narrative.

In the opening game against Belgium Frank Stapleton’s cuteness had won Ireland a late penalty that Brady converted. Early on against Scotland it was Stapleton again who won Ireland a crucial set piece, towering above two Scottish defenders in a challenge for a high ball he won a free while managing to leave Dundee United’s Maurice Malpas sprawled on the deck.

The keen-witted Lawrenson called to John Aldridge to take the free quickly as he rushed past Richard Gough to fire the ball into Jim Leighton’s net before the Scottish defence had time to regroup and with Malpas still lying prone on the field. Lawrenson had struck early, with only seven minutes on the clock but Big Jack’s “Put em under pressure” approach was paying off, the Scots were stifled by the constant pressing and tight marking of the Irish.

It was a famous victory that helped kick-start the Irish qualifying campaign and gathered momentum behind Charlton.

Ireland entered their final group game eight months later at home to Bulgaria and the same eleven that had taken on Scotland did not disappoint, securing a fine 2-0 victory thanks to goal-scoring defenders Moran and McGrath and leaving the Boys in Green with a slim but mathematical chance of qualification.

And so it was that with qualifying over for the Irish that RTE screened the game between Scotland and Bulgaria, in Sofia a city that had brought so much disappointed and controversy to the Irish national team in the past. It was in Sofia that Jimmy Holmes had his leg broken in a vicious tackle, it was in Sofia that questionable hometown decisions were given and where Liam Brady had been given his marching orders only the month before.

Few expected a Scottish victory, least of all Jack Charlton who recorded the game and went out fishing instead. It was only later when watching the game on tape and he started to get phone calls of congratulations that he realised that Ireland had qualified.

The Green Bandwagon had begun to roll and Joxer was off to Stuttgart.

Originally published in 2014 for backpagefootball.com

UCD – teaching a football lesson?

Posted on October 18, 2015 by gerrytastic

Something I did up for The Football Pink on the unique place occupied by UCD in Irish football.

It’s a strange situation when the most famous player ever to play for your club didn’t actually do so; but then that’s the League of Ireland for you. The player in question was the louche, chain-smoking, erudite Brazilian genius Sócrates and the story went that while studying medicine at UCD (University College Dublin) he joined the College football team (UCD AFC) and played in the unremarkable surroundings of the League of Ireland B division. It’s a lovely image, a young Sócrates, maybe 20 years old playing against the reserve sides of League of Ireland teams in front of a couple of hundred spectators on a muddy pitch in Belfield, the University’s sports grounds. The only problem is it never happened. Sócrates did indeed study medicine and was a qualified Doctor but he studied in the state of Sao Paulo and not in the leafy suburbs of south Dublin.

While the concept of a University team playing league football is not unique, UCD are a bit of a quirk in Irish football. A rock of stability in the financially turbulent League of Ireland, UCD – because of their connection with Ireland’s largest university and their focus on providing sports scholarships to aspiring students – have a “business model” that has always been different from some of the more established League of Ireland clubs.

While no Brazilian philosopher-footballers have turned out for the Students there have been some well-known players who’ve donned the blue and navy of UCD. Peter Lorimer played a handful of games for them before his second spell with Leeds United while Irish international Kevin Moran also played while studying for his degree. There are other points of interest with the club; their Executive Vice President is the remarkable Josef Veselsky; a formidable table tennis player in his youth in his home city of Bratislava, he joined the Czech resistance when the Nazis invaded before relocating to Ireland in the 1940s. Even UCD’s rare forays into Europe have been of note; back in the 1984-85 Cup Winners Cup, the Students were the width of a crossbar away from knocking Everton out of a competition they would eventually win.

Then, of course, there is the “fan culture” of the club. One of the team’s most famous fans was University alumnus Dermot Morgan, better known to international audiences as Fr. Ted Crilly from Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted. In typical Morgan style, when asked why he supported UCD he is reported to have replied “because I don’t like crowds” – an apt response. UCD’s ground; the Belfield Bowl has a seated area of 1,500 and can accommodate more standing but the ground stewards are rarely troubled with capacity crowds. A couple of hundred students and alumni attending games is par for the course for UCD which is low even for the First Division where they currently reside; indeed it is not unusual for opposition supporters to outnumber home fans.

This has raised the question as to what UCD bring to the league. In terms of boisterous travelling support and match day atmosphere not a great deal, but in other areas they offer a lot. The scholarship system has offered talented young footballers the chance to play league football while pursuing further education. Though not a scholarship student, UCD’s most famous ex-player – the former Manchester United and Ireland defender Kevin Moran – has often said that delaying his move to England until after he completed his Commerce degree meant both that he was more mature when heading over and also less worried about his future, as he had his degree to fall back on. The most recent Ireland international to come through the UCD scholarship system has been Conor Sammon, (dubbed the “Sammon of College” during his stay there) who’s currently on-loan at Sheffield United from Derby County while many other League of Ireland of clubs have benefitted from UCD’s approach.

Dundalk, for example, have just won their second league title in a row and central to this latest triumph has been midfielder Ronan Finn, who won a football scholarship to UCD while one of the star performers who helped St. Patrick’s Athletic win last year’s FAI Cup was Conan Byrne, another UCD past man. UCD aren’t expected to challenge for trophies and are not reliant on generating big gates or chasing prize money, they expect their best performers like Finn and Byrne to get poached by other clubs offering decent wages which means they have always been the club to give youth a chance and to develop quality young players.

At the time of writing, UCD occupy a play-off spot in the First Division having been relegated from the Premier Division last year, yet despite this state of affairs 2015 has seen UCD secure one of the greatest financial windfalls of any League of Ireland club. The University side qualified for the Europa League this year by the Fair Play award route. UCD have always focussed on trying to play expansive, passing football – perhaps best exemplified by previous coach Martin Russell – and eschewing the more physical side of the game which has ultimately benefitted them. While many in Irish football expected UCD to be humiliated in Europe, they surprised many commentators when their young side defeated F91 Dudelange of Luxembourg 2-1 over two legs. Star of the tie was 19-year-old striker Ryan Swan, the third generation of the Swan family to play in the League of Ireland; his father Derek had finished his career at UCD and his cousin Tony McDonnell was the clubs’ erstwhile captain. Progress through the first qualifying round meant the Students met Slovan Bratislava in the next phase, but a heavy home defeat meant that UCD would progress no further. The blow was softened as the club banked over €400,000 in UEFA prize money during their European adventure. To put this into context Dundalk won just €100,000 in prize money for winning the league title. A club that was relegated and only got to play in Europe due to the Fair Play league got several multiples of that amount, and this sums up the dilemma in the League of Ireland.

Dundalk, so impressive over the last two years, were on the brink of going bust only a year earlier and the club is still in dispute with their former owner over lease arrangements of their ground, Oriel Park, and their youth development facilities. UCD and other clubs such as Cabinteely F.C. and especially Wexford Youths present an alternative model to the more established sides in the league. While Wexford, Cabinteely and UCD might lack the trophies and support levels of other clubs, their focus on the youth development of mostly amateur players raises a dilemma for the league.

Dundalk, Bohemians, Shelbourne, Shamrock Rovers, Cork City, Drogheda United, Derry City and others have all chased, and in some cases achieved, on field success but have very nearly gone out of business in the process due to overspending, mostly in terms of player wages. A discussion is now whether the aim for clubs should be one of full professionalism of players and coaching staff with a focus on European progress and using such successes to grow existing fan bases, or a return to a mostly amateur player set up with resources focused more on local area player development.

Wexford Youths are newly crowned First Division champions and UCD may yet join them in the Premier Division next year via the play-offs. Some League of Ireland fans are asking themselves if these clubs are good for the nation’s top flight; they are not going to bring legions of travelling fans nor are they likely to entice the sceptical armchair football fans of Ireland through the turnstiles of Irish clubs in the way that the stylish football of Richie Towell, Daryl Horgan and co. have brought crowds back to Dundalk games.

That is unlikely to be of concern to UCD, their European windfall has helped to secure the future of the club even further and they are likely to continue offering young men the chance to play league football while pursuing further education. Those same players are likely to be hoovered up by League of Ireland sides with bigger wage budgets and UCD will begin again, as they always do – with a minimum of fuss.

Bohemians and world beaters: Ireland’s international triumph

Posted on October 7, 2015 by gerrytastic

The split between the footballing associations of the FAI and the IFA has had many consequences for football on our island, many hours have been whiled away with “what if” scenarios with barflies imagining an Irish side of the 60’s featuring the likes of John Giles and George Best. Another less discussed consequence of the split between the two associations was for many the loss of any sense of identity with the all Ireland side that had competed from the 1880’s through to 1921. Any connection with the history of this 32 county team has for most football fans in the Republic, (and indeed some in the North) been severed and there is little sense of identification with the players and their achievements pre -1921.

I for one think that this is a great pity, it ignores the history of the sport and the rich and interesting personal stories of those involved. It also means modern fans in the Republic often feel little pride or connection to the victory by a truly representative Irish team in the Home Nations Championship of 1914. At the time the Home Nations Championship was viewed, in the British Isles at least, as the foremost International football competition in the world with the winners rating themselves as the best international side in the world. While this is obviously an isolated and arrogant viewpoint it is reasonable to say that the winners could legitimately claim to be among the very best international sides in the world.

The side that triumphed in 1914 was a young, impressive and truly representative team. While in previous years there had been a great deal of tension and legitimate criticism about Belfast based players being favoured ahead of Leinster based players, the squad for the 1914 Championship was a truly all island affair. It featured players from the footballing hotbeds of Dublin and Belfast but also players born in the likes of Wexford (Billy Lacey), Galway (Alex Craig) and even Lithuania in the case of Louis Bookman who was born in what was then part of the Russian Empire. Bookman’s family fled to Dublin when he was a boy to escape the persution of Jews then taking place, he began his footballing career for Belfast Celtic before moving to England with Bradford City, in course becoming the first Jewish professional footballer in Britain. Bookman was playing for Bradford when he was called up in 1914 but the squad was a mix of players who were plying their trade in both Ireland and Britain, it also included two players from Bohemians, William McConnell and Ted Seymour.

1914 Home Nations Champions

Both players were of course amateurs in keeping with the traditions in place at Bohs which meant that they were in a minority even by 1914 as most of the major teams in Ireland had already embraced professionalism by that time. The two main exceptions being Bohemians and Cliftonville. Seymour was an outside-right for Bohemians and one of the stand-out forwards for the Gypsies at the time, the son of an RIC officer who lived in the nearby Phoenix Park he won his first amateur cap for Ireland by 1912 scoring in a 3-2 victory against England, the same year he would win the Leinster Senior Cup with Bohemians. His lone senior cap would come in Ireland’s opening match of the Home Nations Championship, an away fixture against Wales which Ireland won 2-1 when he was called up as a replacement for Everton’s injured winger John Houston. Sheffield United forward Billy Gillespie got both goals in that game but Seymour obviously impressed over the course of the match as he was quickly signed up by Cardiff City on the strength of his performance.

The Irish amateur team which defeated England 3-2 in 1912. The side featured three Bohemian F.C. players; William McConnell, Ted Seymour and Dinny Hannon.

William McConnell had a somewhat more extensive career at International level. Regarded as one of the best full backs in Ireland McConnell was a strong and physically dominant defender for Bohemians and Ireland. A member of the Bohemians team that lost out in the 1911 Cup Final to Shelbourne he also won a pair of Leinster Senior Cups with Bohemians and represented the Irish League on three occasions. At International level McConnell won six senior caps and was only on the losing side once, in a 2-1 defeat to Scotland in 1913. McConnell made his debut in 1912 in a 3-2 win over Wales and was part of an historic victory in only his second cap as Ireland beat England for the first time ever. Billy Gillespie grabbed both goals in a 2-1 victory in Windsor Park as McConnell lined out alongside his Bohs team-mate Dinny Hannon. Despite that landmark victory the Irish side still finished bottom of the Home Nations Championship but things were to be much different the following year. McDonnell was an ever present in the successful Home Nations campaign starting every game at full back.

The Ireland side before the opening game against Wales

The campaign opened with the aforementioned 2-1 win away to Wales and was followed by another away fixture, this time against England in Middlesboro’s Ayresome Park. Proving that the previous victory against England was no flash in the pan the Irish trounced the English on home soil, two goals from the ever versatile Billy Lacey, then of Liverpool and a third from Billy Gillespie eased Ireland to victory over a stunned England. The Donegal born Gillespie would end the tournament as its top scorer with three goals and was arguably one of the greatest players in the world at this time. He would captain Sheffield United to victory in the 1925 FA Cup final and play on for them until he was more than 40, towards the end of his career his role at the heart of the Blades attack would be taken over by another Irishman, Jimmy Dunne who would later coach Bohemians in the 1940’s. At international level his 13 goals for Ireland/Northern Ireland would remain a record until it was eclipsed by David Healy in 2004.

However Gillespie would miss the final match that could guarantee Ireland the 1914 Championship, as Sheffield United had to replay an FA cup tie they refused to release Gillespie for the game against Scotland in Belfast’s Windsor Park. This would require a significant reshuffle on behalf of the Irish with Samuel Young of Linfield coming into the forward line and Billy Lacey taking over Gillespie’s role in the attack. McConnell continued as usual alongside Alex Craig (Greenock Morton) in a defence that had proven solid over the previous two games.

William “Bill” McConnell

The match would be the only home game for Ireland that year taking place in Windsor Park, but under far from ideal conditions. Not only was Gillespie unavailable but there was a downpour the day before the game which continued through to the game meaning that both sets of players were ankle deep in mud. The view of the press at the time was that this would suit a more physically imposing Scottish side. Worse was to come for the Irish as the conditions and the hard-fought nature of the game began to take their toll and injuries on the Irish side began to mount. Paddy O’Connell, then of Manchester United and later manager of Barcelona picked up a knock as did McConnell who had to leave the field of play. However the Bohs man wasn’t out of the action long as the Irish keeper Fred McKee of Cliftonville suffered a broken collar bone during the first half. McKee managed to struggle on until half time but once the second half commenced McConnell took to the field in his place in a sodden goalkeeper jersey that was supposedly “two sizes too small” . As substitutions were not in use at the time Ireland were down to ten men with Lacey dropping back from the forwards to take McConnell’s place at full back.

This was not the first time Ireland had found themselves in this situation, Lacey had been forced off in the Welsh game yet Ireland had triumphed and now he was in defence helping protect McConnell in goal. Forced into making a couple of saves early on McConnell seemed to be doing alright in his unfamiliar position but a mis-timed run forward meant he gave possession to the onrushing Scottish forward Joe Donnachie who had a simple finish to give Scotland the lead. It seemed like all could be lost in the cruellest fashion. The team without its main goalscoring threat in Gillespie and down to ten men looked doomed but with just eight minutes remaining a fine pass from Patrick O’Connell sent Sam Young free and he blasted the ball home to send the crowd wild. Despite the terrible weather the huge crowd had been in full voice behind the Irish team and Windsor Park saw record gate receipts of £1,600 on the day. The supporters had gotten their moneys worth, the underdog team, shorn of their best player, having finished two of their three matches with only ten men were now outright Champions for the first time.

This victory was met with great joy and optimism on behalf of the footballing community throughout Ireland. Having defeated England in their last two outings and having won the Home Nations Championship outright there were high hopes that the team could push on from this achievement and defend their title the following year. Other matters were to intercede however.

While the outbreak of War did not bring about a halt to all football it did end international matches. Players were encouraged to set a good example to other young men and enlist. Football clubs in all parts of the country faced tough times losing both players and fans to the trenches of France and Belgium while the league would split for the course of the war creating regional leagues focusing on Dublin and Belfast.

By the time peace was restored to Europe several of the squad had passed their prime and although players like Lacey and Gillespie were still top performers for their clubs in England the split between the Irish football associations which led to the formation of what we know today as the FAI meant that the potential of a united Irish XI would never be realised.

For those players with a Bohemians connection their careers were varied. Ted Seymour’s stay in the Welsh capital was brief and included works in a Welsh munitions factory to support the War effort, he left Cardiff City in 1915 and returned to Ireland with Glentoran for whom he lined out for much of the War years. Despite twice winning the Irish Cup (once with Glentoran and later with Linfield) Seymour was never again selected to represent Ireland.

McConnell also transferred to Britain, signing for Bradford Park Avenue who were then in enjoying their best ever league season, finishing 9th in the Football League in 1914/15, McConnell would have a limited role however, making only 4 league appearances. He would spend a brief sojourn in Belfast with Linfield before returning to Bohemians in 1916 where he played a handful of games. This was not to be the end of his sporting career however, he found significant success as an amateur golfer being successful enough to triumph in the 1925 and 1929 West of Ireland Amateur Championships. Some Pathé newsreel footage even survives of McConnell playing a round at a new golf course in Dun Laoghaire.

Though the war would disrupt the career of Billy Lacey he would still go on to have considerable success in the 1920s as a player for Liverpool, winning back to back titles. Lacey would return to Ireland to finish his playing career at Shelbourne and then as player-coach of Cork Bohemians. It was in 1930 during this spell in Cork that he would win his final cap for Ireland at the age of 41, he remains to this date the oldest player ever capped by the FAI. With his playing career finally over Lacey brought his considerable experience to the Bohemians of the Dublin variety. During his five years at Dalymount Park (between 1933 and 1938) Lacey would lead Bohs to two league titles and an FAI Cup as well as a host of other minor honours. During this stint Lacey would also provide his coaching talents to the Irish national side.

While the split remains as wide as ever between the FAI and the IFA and relations between the associations have been strained over players like James McClean and Darron Gibson electing to play for the Republic, it is worth remembering a time when a truly all-Ireland team triumphed against the odds and the role that key figures in the history of Bohemians would play in that victory.

If you are interested in further reading on the subject I’d suggest David Owen’s article in The Blizzard Issue 8. Neil Garnham’s “Association Football and Society in pre-partition Ireland” and also Cormac Moore’s “The Irish Soccer Split”. Finally a special thanks to Stephen Burke of Bohemian F.C. for providing additional information on the career of Bill McConnell. For more on Louis Bookman and his fascinating life try “Does your Rabbi know you’re here?” by Anthony Clavane.

Catalonia: Mixing football and politics

Posted on September 27, 2015 by gerrytastic

I wrote this on Catalan independence back in 2012 but in light of recent elections in Catalonia with claims that Catalonia could be declared independent in 18 months I thought this might still be relevant.

Few places on the planet meld the worlds or football and politics together as much as Catalonia and its biggest city Barcelona. As Catalonia goes to the polls in less than two weeks’ time; at stake will not just be the parliamentary seats of the regional government from one of Spain’s 17 provinces but possibly the future of Catalonia and Spain itself.

Catalonia is in a contradictory fashion both one of Spain’s most indebted regions while also being the region that pays the highest amount of taxes to Central government. Disagreements between regional premiere Artur Mas and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy over the ability of Catalonia to have more direct control over spending and taxation have led to the hot topic of the regional elections due to take place on November 25^th being that of Catalan independence.

This has been demonstrated by large scale pro-independence street marches on the streets of Catalan towns and cities and in the great cathedral of Catalan nationalism the Camp Nou. During last month’s Clasico match with Real Madrid the whole stadium was turned into a giant Catalan flag while the crowd chanted “Independence, Independence”. During their recent visit to Parkhead the Celtic staff greeted their visitors not with the Spanish flag but the Catalan one flying from the stadium flagpoles, a nod and a wink from the Scots who are due to have their own referendum in 2014. Despite the international nature of FC Barcelona’s founding fathers the club has become a focal point for Catalan nationalism, Camp Nou being described as the one place in Catalonia where the Catalan language and political dissent could be vocalised during the Franco regime Its club presidents view the leadership position at the club and on-field success as important political tools and are often aligned with the Catalan nationalist movement, former President Joan Laporta was an MP with Democricia Catalana for example. The current president Sandro Rosell is the son of former Chief Executive Jaume Rosell who was involved with the club in the final years of the Franco regime in the 1970’s. As the story goes upon hearing of the death of the dictator Rosell and a colleague began tossing a plaster bust of the Generalissimo back and forth to each other before Rosell fumbled and dropped the bust to the floor where it smashed to pieces. It’s a very Barca story.

However it’s worth thinking about where a successful independence movement would leave not only Barcelona but all of Catalan and Spanish football. Projections are suggesting that Catalan Independence parties could gain a majority in the regional parliament this month and would be in position to push for a referendum on Catalan independence. Rajoy and the rest of the Spanish National Government won’t countenance this action, declaring it illegal and beyond the powers of the regional parliament, they have also stated that any new Catalan republic would be barred from entry to the EU, something that Artur Mas has strongly contested in Brussels.

A situation could arise whereby Catalonia would almost be a rogue state within Western Europe, recognised by some but not by others, perhaps in the same way that nations like Kosovo or South Ossetia are treated depending on the political outlook of the nation in question. Even if Catalonia were to universally recognised there would be a situation where in footballing terms the new nation would have to seek membership of UEFA and FIFA as well as set up a separate league system as happened in countries like Croatia after the breakup of Yugoslavia. Although there is a separate Catalonian football association, (they have played over 200 international matches) this body is not affiliated with FIFA and the games that they have played are basically challenge matches against guest teams organised during the Christmas break in the Spanish Football calendar.

It would mean that the appeal of Barca could be greatly diminished, they would the major player in a rump league that would feature some teams of prestige, such as Espanyol but the overall quality would drop significantly. Barcelona would be the big fish in a much smaller pond, their titanic clashes with Real Madrid a thing of the past as far as league and cup games are concerned, and without their rivals, without the great competitive edge fuelled by that desire to get one up on the all-white grandees from central Spain would they be the same team? A rump Catalan league would surely hit Barcelona (and it must be said Real Madrid) in the pocket too; Girona FC are not as appealing an opponent as Real Madrid, Athetic Bilbao or Sevilla for either the stadium spectator or the TV marketing executive. A reduction in league competition could mean that Barcelona’s own exacting standards are lowered and that players, whether cantera products or foreign signings could look to other “bigger” leagues as their desired end destination. Could Barca go from from epochal super-team to stepping stone in a matter of years? The other option would be for Barcelona (and others) to seek to remain in the Spanish league. There is some precedent with this in that teams from the neighbouring principality of Andorra already compete in the lower leagues in Spain. The question then becomes whether the financial and competitive advantages of being part of Le Liga triumph over the traditional Catalan nationalist leanings associated with the club. And let us not forget that it was Jaume Rosell that said “Barça is more than a club, but above all it’s a club for all social classes. Barça includes all ideologies because it represents the whole Catalan people”, the questions of who they represent, and where do they represent them would have to be answered by the Barca board, and it is likely their response would not be greeted with universal approval by the supporters.

And what of the national teams of Spain and Catalonia? As mentioned previously there are annual Catalan international challenge matches played each year in December. Last years’ squad featured the likes of Victor Valdes, Carlos Puyol, Gerard Pique, Xavi, Sergio Busquets, and Cesc Fabregas, all World and European Champions with Spain. A formidable core to have in any international team, but how many of them would be likely to declare for the new Catalan national side, it’s one thing to play a challenge match in the knowledge that you can go back and join your World Champion team-mates during the next international break, it’s quite another to walk away from the most successful international side in the modern era. Despite the rivalry and occasional aggression between Real Madrid and Barcelona, the national team replete with Catalans, Castillians and Basques has been harmonious, the players have stressed that regional divides and identities mean little and this attitude has brought them unprecedented success. Players face similar choices in Ireland with players born in Northern Ireland presented with the option of playing for the North or the Republic. Patriotism, a sense of community, identity and belonging, career advancement all play a part in a players’ decision to declare for either team. The same complex choices could face the footballers of Catalonia and Spain.

The international dilemma brings us back to Catalan nationalism, despite over 1.5 million people taking to the streets in Catalonia calling for independence, many from the region are migrants, or children of migrants from other parts Spain especially the south, or indeed a more recent influx of migrants from areas like North Africa who moved to the larger, wealthier cities of Catalonia to earn a living. For them is Catalan nationalism as much of a priority? They were the outsiders coming into an area that spoke a different language, Catalan and they had to adapt to their surroundings.

One of those ways was through football; Barcelona as well as being a symbol or perhaps even a vehicle for Catalan nationalism are also the club of the foreigner, their founders included Swiss and Englishmen, their heroes have had names like Kubala, Cruyff and Stoichkov, they celebrated an openness internationalism at the height of Spain’s post war isolation and are the global dream team for millions. Barcelona is rightly lauded for focus on home-grown talent but it is also a bit about Argentinian, Brazillian and Dutch brilliance. The immigrants and their children are as much a Barcelona cule as the died- in-the-wool Catalan nationalist, will they appreciate a marginalising of their club or the potential weakening of their all-conquering national team?

Spain has been down paths like these in the past. In the early 80s the country was still in the nascent phases of democracy after the death of General Franco, they were also preparing to host their first World Cup in 1982. Although awarded to Spain as part of a voting pact back in 1966 (some things never change) it became a chance for Spain to continue its reintegration into the Western world after the years of dictatorship with membership of the EEC also on the horizon. However, in other matters there were similarities with modern day Spain as it was also a time of huge economic stagnation, massive unemployment, regional tensions over the devolving of powers; including an active terrorist campaign from Basque separatist group ETA.

Against this background an attempted coup was launched by right wing and military forces in Spain and on 23^rd February 1981, 200 armed guards entered the Spanish parliament led by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Tejero. The swift and determined intervention of King Juan Carlos I who made a televised address denouncing the coup and calling for a return to the proper running of the democratic government saw the coup collapse by the early hours of February 24^th. Only a week later Barcelona striker Enrique Castro Gonzalez, better known as Quini was kidnapped at gunpoint shortly after he had helped Barcelona to a 6-0 victory over Hercules. Although the kidnapping turned out to be the work of common criminals and economically motivated (Quini was eventually released unharmed after 25 days in captivity), early reports suggested that Quini was kidnapped by a Spanish nationalist group who did not want a “separatist” team like Barcelona winning the title.

As ever football and politics seem to be uneasy yet constant bedfellows in Spain, whether the current talks or referenda on Catalan independence is a political ploy, a bargaining chip to gain greater authority over finance, or a political pledge soon to be realised remains to be seen, the fate of a nation and the greatest club and national teams in a generation hangs in the balance.

Originally posted on backpagefootball.com in November 2012

A cup to call our own – a new European trophy for smaller nations?

Posted on September 27, 2015 by gerrytastic

Remember when Magdeburg, Mechelen, Aberdeen and Dinamo Tbilisi were European champions? Those clubs from East Germany, Belgium, Scotland and Georgia respectively were all winners of the lamentably departed Cup Winners Cup, the UEFA competition that did what it said on the tin and provided a competition for well… Cup Winners.

The Cup Winners Cup, a straight knock out tournament for the victors of domestic knock out tournaments tended to throw up more unexpected champions than in other tournaments and had a greater representation from a broader geographical area. Before the greater consolidation of power and wealth into the hands of a group of superclubs in a handful of leagues the Cup Winners Cup was a chance to see teams from corners of Europe that one was not necessarily exposed to on a regular basis.

Match programme from the 1981 Cup Winner Cup Final

Since that 1998-99 season UEFA has ran the two main European club competitions of the Champions League and Europa League but as of 2018 that could change. In 2018 the television rights for the two main competitions comes to an end and there area early discussion about returning a 3rd European club competition but one focused mainly on smaller clubs who exit other European competitions early. This could provide a potential windfall for Irish clubs who miss out on the lucrative group stages of either competition and present a tantalising array of possible outcomes. European football beyond September could finally be a realistic expectation for Irish clubs.

Such move would be in keeping with the ethos of UEFA president Michel Platini who has extended the European Championships to 24 sides and made changes to qualifying for club tournaments to give greater representation to smaller nations. Quite what format the tournament would take should UEFA decide to proceed with its creation is still up in the air. As reported in the Guardian the Scottish FA’s Stewart Regan said that

“It’s a discussion around whether it’s a separate third competition exclusively for smaller countries who then relinquish their place in the Europa League and/or Champions League or whether it’s a competition that basically acts as a further safety net for those clubs that enter the Champions League or Europa League but are typically out by August and then [instead] they fall down into a third competition,”

Whether smaller nations would choose to give up on the possibility, albeit a slim one, of qualifying for the Champions League in order to compete in a lower tier competition is dubious but the option for a follow up competition for club sides from smaller nations to compete in beyond August and September could prove to be a welcome boost. Such a competition could generate revenue and interest for clubs and also give club sides from smaller nations the opportunity to test themselves in a competitive environment against sides from other jurisdictions.

Manuel Veth, writing on the subject for the Futbolgrad.com website highlighted the example of the Baltic League competition held between the major teams from the Baltic States or the Royal League held between sides from Denmark, Sweden and Norway as regionalised multi-league tournaments that have already been tried.

A regionalised competition based on a straight knock-out format could prove popular, especially if victory could guarantee something like automatic group phase qualification for either the Champions League or Europa League the following season.

However, significant potential drawbacks from such a hypothetical competition exist. In a regionalised format would their be sufficient interest in a competition between top sides in say the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales? Especially if a larger team like Celtic secured qualification through to the Champions League and were not involved? Much would depend on the prize money available and the draw of other sides in the competition. Irish football fans on both sides of the border would have seen interest in Setanta Cup wane once there was significant reductions in the prize money. Such prize money would most likely have to come from TV rights deals and sponsorship and it remains to be seen whether there would be an appetite on behalf of broadcasters to covers games in what would effectively be a third tier competition.

Even moderate TV income would benefit smaller clubs in smaller nations. Perhaps it could be considered in the negotiations of TV rights deals in 2018 with preferred bidders for the Champions League being required to purchase a certain number of games from this new tournament? Similarly UEFA could create a solidarity fund from the massive TV and sponsorship revenues that the Champions League and Europa League enjoy and use such a fund to provide incentives and prize money for clubs from smaller nations competing?

UEFA headquarters, Nyon

Despite the reforms brought in by Michel Platini and his administration to facilitate greater participation of small nations and their clubs there seems to be a growing gap between the hyper-wealth elite like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and so on, the historic clubs from smaller and middling sized nations and clubs from more peripheral nations. Whether we like it or not, Ireland in this context is a peripheral nation. There has long been a hope among League of Ireland fans that an Irish side could “do a Rosenburg” and secure regular qualification for the group phases of major competitions but despite Shamrock Rovers making the Europa League group stages those days don’t appear to be on the immediate horizon.

In the absence of regular group stage qualification could a third tournament give us our European fix?

Originally posted on backpagefootball.com

The 1945 Inter-City Cup: War, Goals, Controversy and death by corner kicks

Posted on September 14, 2015 by gerrytastic

As you go for a pint in the members bar you may on occasion glance upward and notice the Bohemian F.C. honours list spelt out handsomely in gilt on a dark red background. It makes for impressive reading and is testament to the proud history of our club. Right in the middle of the bar, between the list of League Titles and FAI Cups is a sign that reads “Setanta Cup Champions 2010”. The Setanta Cup is, at the time of writing, our most recent honour. Few of us will forget Anto Murphy’s goal versus Pats in Tallaght Stadium, and it added a little extra relish that Bohs had managed to win a trophy in the enemy’s back- yard so to speak. It is worth noting, however, that though the Setanta Cup is the latest All Ireland soccer competition, it was by no means the first, nor was it the first such competition where Bohemians emerged victorious. To learn about this other, much earlier victory we must go back 70 years, to a time when the most violent conflict in human history still raged, to the first cross border competition since partition; the Inter-City Cup.

The Inter-City Cup, or to give it its full title, the Dublin and Belfast Inter-City Cup was conceived as a way to provide much needed income during the turbulent years of the Second World War. When the First World War had broken out in 1914, the general and oft-repeated assumption was that the war would be over by Christmas, so the sporting calendar continued on much as it had done in peace time. Bohemians and Shelbourne, the only two clubs from outside the six counties, continued to play in an pre-partition league season into 1914-15, but the growing realisation that the war was going to drag out meant that the Football League in Britain was suspended, while the Irish League was reduced to a “Belfast and District League” of only six teams with no room for Bohs and Shels. Many players, especially in Britain came in for heavy criticism for playing on into 1915. Some viewed it as a dereliction of patriotic duty that fit and healthy young men should stay at home and be paid to play football rather than volunteer to fight at the front. This led to the formations of “Football battalions” where prominent footballers were used as promotional tools for enlistment. Some football fans joining up were encouraged by the fact that they would have the chance of serving with their sporting idols.

When the Second World War broke out, the mistakes of the past were avoided. The league season was suspended immediately in Britain while Northern Ireland completed the 1939-40 season (Belfast Celtic won their 13^th title) before suspending the Irish League and playing on with a diminished Northern District League. The League of Ireland, being in a neutral country, continued on as usual during the War years. It would prove to be a particularly successful era for Cork United, who would win five titles between 1939 and 1946.

However, gone from the fixture calendar were lucrative games against touring British sides. The lack of income was obviously a significant concern for the clubs north of the border, robbed as they were of regular gates and a full league programme which ultimately led to the creation of the Inter-City Cup. The tournament would run for eight seasons between 1941-42 and 1948-49, and despite the name, did include clubs from outside of Dublin such as Limerick, Cork United, Dundalk and Derry City. While matches were spread around various grounds in Belfast, all games south of the border were to take place in Dalymount. Another interesting feature of the tournament was the significance of corners. If two sides were tied on aggregate in the final, the side who had won the most corners were deemed to be the winner. Bohs learned this to their cost during the 1942-43 competition when they lost the final on corners to Shamrock Rovers having drawn 2-2!

Despite that setback Bohs, would eventually triumph in the competition. The 1944-45 season would be one of highs and lows for Bohemians, but it did at least end in some silverware. Bohs’ league form during the War years was poor; a third place finish in 1940-41 being the sides’ best placing and the 44-45 season would see Bohs finish bottom of the eight team league but would also see them reach two cup finals. An epic, three game semi-final win over Team of the decade, Cork United, would get Bohs into an FAI Cup final against Shamrock Rovers, where in front of the biggest ever Cup Final crowd of almost 45,000 they would lose out to a Podge Gregg winner. Gregg, a native of Ringsend had just returned to Dublin after a spell with Glentoran where he had won the Inter-City cup the previous year.

Bottom of the league, having lost a final to Shamrock Rovers, its fairly obvious that Bohs’ season needed a pick-me-up, and the Inter-City Cup could provide it. So as not to clash too much with regular games, the Inter-City competition was held around April and May each season when most games were coming to an end. In that particular year, Bohs lost the FAI Cup final to Rovers on the 22^nd of April, but less than a week later were in action in round one of the Inter-City.

The first round game saw them drawn against fellow amateurs Cliftonville in Solitude on the 28^th of April, with a return leg in Dalymount a week later. A 3-2 victory in Belfast with two penalties from full-back Frank Glennon and a Pat Waters goal gave Bohs too commanding a lead for the return leg, which ended as a 1-1 draw. The following round would see them matched with Glentoran; competition winners the previous year, Glentoran had been beaten on corners in the previous round by Limerick and only qualified as the best loser, their luck was out again as the tie finished 3-3 on aggregate so Bohs advanced as winners on corners 10-9 and thanks to an excellent performance by Collins in goal. Victory over Glentoran meant a meeting with Distillery, now based in Lisburn but then firmly ensconced in Grosvenor Park, West Belfast. Bohs would comfortably beat Distillery 8-3 on aggregate, a dynamic 5-1 victory in Dalymount was capped by a stunning strike from Kevin O’Flanagan, who beat the opposing keeper with a shot from out on his own touchline. The Irish Independent correspondent was moved to describe it as “the greatest goal seen in Dublin for years” and very topically likened the speed of the shot to that “of a V2 rocket”. O’Flanagan had the Distillery defence bewildered, and Bohs could have won by an even greater margin, as he finished with two goals. His brother Mick at centre-forward got one, while Noel Kelly and Waters got the other two. Despite going 2-0 down early on in the second leg in Belfast, the Gypsies rallied, and goals from Mattie Burns, Kevin O’Flanagan and Noel Kelly ensured there was no chance of an unlikely comeback.

The other semi-final between Belfast Celtic and Linfield was also a high scoring affair, finishing 7-5 on aggregate to Celtic. As a two legged semi-final the first leg was held in Belfast before both sides travelled to Dalymount Park for the second game. With the tie balanced at 2-2 from the first leg, the Linfield goalkeeper and captain Tommy Breen (once of Manchester United and a seasoned international) elected to kick off defending the tramway end of the famous old ground. Due to heavy rain, Breen and his defence were ankle deep in water at that end of the ground which had cut up much worse than the opposite school end. 7 of the 8 goals scored on the day went into the tramway goal and Linfield were out. Breen’s former team, Belfast Celtic, were through to the final and were eager to make up for their defeat to Glentoran the previous year. Celtic had beaten not only Linfield, but Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne en route to the final. The first leg was to be played in Belfast on May 30^th with the return leg in Dalymount on June 2^nd. VE day had taken place on May 8^th and the laws and censorship brought in during the “Emergency” were lifted shortly afterwards. For the first time in six long years, football fans both North and South could genuinely look forward to the first real cup final in “peacetime”.

It is worth a brief diversion from our narrative to outline the merits of the Belfast Celtic side. Although the club has not existed in any real sense since the end of the 1940’s, they were at the time unquestionably one of the biggest sides on the island of Ireland. By the time the club was dissolved in 1949 they had won 14 league titles, second only to Linfield who by that stage had 19 to their credit. Former players included Mickey Hamill later of Manchester United and Manchester City, former President of the FAI and Government minister Oscar Traynor, Paddy O’Connell who would also play for Man Utd and later managed Real Betis and FC Barcelona, and Louis Bookman, the Lithuanian-born Irish international who became the first Jewish player to play professionally in Britain. Their coach at the time was Elisha Scott, a former player with Belfast Celtic and also Liverpool’s longest serving player ever. Scott was considered with some justification to have been one of the greatest keepers Ireland has ever produced and won ten league titles and six Irish Cups as Belfast Celtic manager. Their starting XI at the time of the Inter-City cup final was also on par with any of their previous sides. They would win the first official Irish League title after the war in 1947-48, and the team that Bohs faced included the likes of midfielder Charlie Tully, who would later join Glasgow Celtic and once famously scored against England direct from a corner in an international, attacker Jimmy McAlinden (an FAI and IFA international) an FA Cup winner with Portsmouth, and fellow international centre half Jackie Vernon who spent much of his career at West Brom.

In the case of Bohs, it would be a last hurrah of sorts. After the end of the Inter-City final, several of the winning side left for pastures new, including young goalkeeper Jimmy Collins, Frank Glennon and Noel Kelly, who would all switch to Shamrock Rovers. They would be joined a year later by their coach Jimmy Dunne, the former record breaking striker and soft-spoken coach, returning to Rovers after patching up his differences with the Cunninghams. Kevin O’Flanagan, a medical doctor was offered a job as a GP in Ruislip, London where he would spend his free time playing for Arsenal at football and London Irish in Rugby. While Bohs would make another FAI Cup final in 1947 (which they would lose after a replay to Cork United) the Inter-City cup would be the last trophy that Bohs would win apart from a pair of Leinster Senior Cups until the Cup final victory over Sligo Rovers in 1970. Bohemians’ insistence on remaining strictly amateur had served them well, as they won Leagues and Cups in the 1920s and 30s, but by the 40s, key players were being picked off by other clubs offering a few pound a week. While Bohemians continued to find and recruit excellent young players, they struggled to keep them for any length of time, the few exceptions being those whose day jobs allowed them the freedom to play without care for additional wages.

The two-legged final would be a close and often controversial affair. In the first leg there was nothing to separate the teams, not even corners as the sides finished level with two goals apiece, six corners each and both sides down to ten men. Kevin O’Flanagan for Bohs and Douglas for Celtic were the men sent off after coming to blows after Douglas kicked the ball out to touch when O’Flanagan was about to take a free. Bohs had taken a two goal lead thanks to an own goal and a finish by Smith, but the free scoring Bohs full-back Glennon ended up getting a roasting from Celtic outside left Paddy Bonnar, who grabbed two second half goals to tie the game. The return leg was no less controversial. Bohs named an unchanged side for the second leg (almost identical to the one which had lost to Shamrock Rovers just over a month before apart from Smith coming in for Frank Morris).

Bohemian FC Inter City Cup winning side

The Bohs side read: Standing – Ossie Nash, Paddy Waters, Billy Richardson, Jimmy Collins, Frank Glennon, Peter Molloy, Charlie Harris (Trainer). Front – Mick O’Flanagan, Noel Kelly, Kevin O’Flanagan (Captain), Matty Burns, Bobby Smith.

Belfast Celtic had suffered some injuries in the first leg with Peter O’Connor and Charlie Currie coming into attack for Johnny Campbell and Tommy Byrne. The second leg remained tight with few opportunities, Jimmy Collins in the Bohs goal being called into action in the first half to deal with chances from both Tully and Bonnar, but it was in the 67^th minute that things became more heated when a cross came in from Smith which was trapped by Kevin O’Flanagan and passed into his younger brother Mick who when controlling the ball had a “Thierry Henry moment” and appeared to handle it before firing past Celtic keeper Hughie Kelly. This started furious protests from the Celtic players and led to an altercation between Captains Kevin O’Flanagan and Jimmy McAlinden who both had their names taken by the referee. Despite the Celtic players’ protests, the goal stood. Celtic’s disjointed attack, with the enforced changes since the first leg, had struggled to get past the Bohs defence, with Richardson and Glennon coming in for particular praise. Bohs successfully defended their lead, and after a season of disappointment, were All Ireland champions. It was particularly sweet for the star player Kevin O’Flanagan, who despite his sending off in the first leg, had been key in Bohs’ advancement to the final in much the same way that he had been key during the FAI Cup run scoring three goals by the time they reached that final. By setting up the goal for his brother Mick he had managed to make amends for his below par display in the earlier final versus Shamrock Rovers. Despite being a qualified GP the “Flying Doctor” had failed to diagnose himself with a bout of flu and upon returning home after the defeat to Rovers took his temperature and found that he had played a cup final with a 103 degree temperature!

It would be the last major trophy that Bohs would win for some time and the Inter-City cup was in some ways was the farewell of the Corinthian era of Bohemians and of Irish football as they signed off as Champions of North and South. Belfast Celtic, meanwhile, would remove themselves from League football only four years later, a mixture of sectarian violence, financial troubles and mismanagement forcing them out of senior football. While the Celtic board believed the withdrawal would only be a temporary measure it would transpire that their successful tour of North America, where they played to packed stadiums and famously defeated the Scottish national team, would in fact be their good-bye to the world of football. Guesting at centre forward for that touring side was none other than Bohs’ Mick O’Flanagan, his “hand of Mick” moment forgotten as he starred for Belfast Celtic as they slipped into history.

*special thanks to Martin Flynn and the Belfast Celtic Society for their assistance with some research for this article.

International football and fluid identity

Posted on September 10, 2015 by gerrytastic

I wrote the below piece for backpagefootball back in October 2013 after Jack Wilshere posted some comments on twitter about who should and should not play for England. Although some of the examples are a couple of years old now in light of the Jack Grealish saga and numerous other similar situations I hope it still reads as relevant.

Twitter is a tricky beast to master even for the most verbally concise of individuals, while brevity may be the soul of wit the failures of public figures to get their message across in 140 characters or under, in this most brief of mediums has caused much hilarity, irritation and opprobrium in the seven years since the micro-blogging site first appeared. This is not necessarily to say that a failure to master Twitter is a failure in all cases. Not all subjects of discussion can, or should be reduced to bite-size chunks for public consumption. In the age out of the soundbite it is often refreshing to read a piece of well researched long-form journalism on subjects of importance. This is as true of sport as it is of any other topic.

Diego-Costa-Atletico-Madrid-2013_2902425

Diego Costa- born in Brazil but a Spanish International

With this in mind perhaps Jack Wilshere should have paused for a moment to consider his declaration that “the only people who should play for England are English people” before hitting send, this is not exactly what one might call a nuanced statement. What followed, a row with South African born, England international Cricketer Kevin Pietersen, the name checking of Olympic hero Mo Farah and Manchester United’s Adnan Januzaj, scorn from Frankie Boyle, opinions on the matter from Roy Hodgson and FA Chairman Greg Dyke was probably all a bit more than Jack expected when he composed his tweet. It does however touch on a topic that is very much in vogue at present, especially so after the decision recently taken by Diego Costa of Atletico Madrid to declare for Spain rather than Brazil, the land of his birth. In reality though it is never a topic far from the agenda in International football, Wilshere’s comments, Costa’s decision and next year’s World Cup only serve in bringing it further to the fore.

What it boils down to is the inherent conflict between the International game, as created in the late 19^th Century, forged in, and centred on, the idea of the nation state and the 21^st Century globalised world with its fluid sense of identity. Also at play is the tension between the modern post-Bosman era, hyper-capitalist club game with players moving for vast sums of money, the supposed loss of the one-club man and institutional loyalty. And the International arena where, theoretically at least some vestige of the Corinthian spirit lives on, a game where athletes play for the pride in their nation and the jersey they wear.

The problem is international football was never really like this. Tensions around identity, nationalism and financial reward have existed as long as there has been football played. There are plenty of examples to contradict this idealised image but it still persists to a large extent. We can go back as far as 1890 for one of the first disputes about nationality; with the case of John “Jack” Reynolds born in Blackburn in 1869 he spent much of his youth in Co. Antrim. While playing for the Belfast club Distillery he made his debut for Ireland and went on to win a further four caps, he scored Ireland’s single goal in their 9-1 defeat to England. However while playing for West Brom and Aston Villa he lined out for the English national team winning eight caps and gaining the dubious honour of being the only man in International football history to have scored both for and against England.

The early decades of football were littered with incidents like this, Italy famously had their Oriundi of the 1930’s that helped them to victory in the 1934 World Cup when the Italian team featured men born in Argentina like Luis Monti and Raimundo Orsi who became naturalised Italians. It is a trend that continues in Italy today with players like Thiago Motta (who like Diego Costa had won caps in friendlies for Brazil) and Southampton’s Dani Osvaldo who has six Italian caps to his name despite his familial connection to Italy being an Italian great-grandfather who emigrated to Argentina in the 19^thCentury. Spain’s naturalisation of players isn’t restricted to just the likes of Costa or Marcus Senna but stretches back to the 50’s and 60’s and featured the likes Hungary’s record goalscorer Ferenc Puskás as well as players like Alfredo di Stefano and László Kubala who had both played for three international teams.

Incidents like this led to a tightening of laws which meant that any player who had played a competitive game for a nation had to remain committed to that nation regardless, however as mentioned this does not apply if a player has only appeared in a friendly which has seen players like Motta, Jermaine Jones and Alex Bruce switch national allegiances in recent years.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - MAY 27: Jermaine Jones #13 of the United States in action against Azerbaijan...

Jermaine Jones the German born United States international

What is at the core of the strong reaction to Wilshere’s comments or Costa’s decision is open for debate. For some it is a further example of the footballer as mercenary, willing to play under whatever flag is convenient for the furtherance of their club career and their personal enrichment. For some it is nostalgia for strong identifiable national styles of play associated with some notion of national values. For some it is simply old-school racism, fear of the Other and the outsider. What matters though are the rules. Generally if you are entitled to a passport for a country (and have not played competitively for someone else) you can play for that nation. There are usually some caveats with this such as a familial connection through a parent or grandparent or a defined period of residence within that country. In some cases FIFA has had to intervene such as attempts by Qatar to naturalise a number of Brazilian footballers, (the Brazilian Ailton was offered $1 million to take Qatari citizenship) but generally this is respected. For example the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) upheld the right reaffirmed in the Good Friday agreement of 1998 for people born in Northern Ireland to hold a Republic of Ireland passport, this held for footballers too and although born and raised in Northern Ireland a number of players have opted to play for the Republic. If someone can travel under the passport of a nation, can live there, own property there, and partake in the democratic life of a nation who is to say that that person, if talented enough cannot play football for that nation?

To ignore that question is to ignore the mobility and fluidity of identity that exists in the modern world. When Jack Wilshere says that “the only people who should play for England are English people” what idea of Englishness does he have? Bulldogs, bangers and mash, cups o’ tea and Carry On movies? What about the third of Londoners who were born outside of Britain? What about people like Fabrice Muamba, born in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo but who arrived in Britain aged 11 without a word of English but turned down the chance to play with the Democratic Republic of Congo because he dreamed of playing for his home country, England (which he did at all levels up to under- 21).

Rather than seeing this as a threat perhaps we should look at what having a broader, more inclusive, less fixed approached to nationality has to offer. First of all it offers a more level playing field. Most international nations use naturalised players whether they are Italy, Germany or the Cape Verde Islands. To choose not to select all the potential players available to a national team is to put that team at a disadvantage. Secondly and somewhat personally I look at the role that non-Irish born players have played for the Republic of Ireland and my own ideas of what it means to be Irish. Growing up in Dublin in the 80’s was to part of heterogeneous monoculture, practically every person I knew was white and the vast majority were at least titular Catholics. Although this vista changed rapidly as I entered my teens it was the Irish national team that showed me what diversity could mean. Paul McGrath and Chris Hughton were English born, mixed-race Irishmen, heroes to the youths who grew up watching Euro 88 and Italia 90. The cockney, scouse or Scottish accents of Townsend, Aldridge or Houghton made us remember and appreciate our diaspora, while we hailed as “Captain Fantastic” Mick McCarthy with his Barnsley burr. Never as a child did I question this, or view them as less Irish than Packie Bonner or Niall Quinn. Those men changed how we viewed Ireland and Irishness, a change I would opine for the better. At a time of vicious sectarian strife and hatred in the country did any football fan care that Alan Kernaghan was an Ulster Protestant? As we become more global, as nation states lose power and perhaps relevance and borders begin to blur there is no true Englishman, or Irishman or German or Spaniard if ever there was such a thing. All that we can ask is that on the pitch at least we play by the rules and expect that those individuals who wear our country colours represent us to the best of their abilities wherever their city of birth might be. It’s a sentiment I hope I’ve communicated well , that I’ve explored the nuances of history and identity and it’s probably a little too broad a topic for 140 characters, eh Jack?

League of Ireland international XI

Posted on September 9, 2015 by gerrytastic

Sander Puri the Estonian international and Sligo Rovers player was called up a couple of weeks ago for the European Championship qualifiers against Lithuania and Slovenia. Manager Micky Adams would have been more used to international call-ups from his previous stints as manager of clubs like Leicester City but admitted it wasn’t something he was expecting upon relocation to the north-west of Ireland.

While not all that common foreign internationals who have played in our very own League or Ireland do have a long and storied history, so I set about creating a match day squad and first XI of players who had been capped by their countries who had also played League or Ireland. The only criteria were that they had been capped at some stage, whether before, during or after their Irish adventure and that they were capped by a nation that was not the Republic of Ireland.

The resulting squad is not exhaustive, it is certainly subjective and probably biased but I hope it makes for interesting reading. It contains three World Cup winners, one beaten world cup finalist, a European player of the year, an international World cup captain and a former team-mate of Pelé.

The first XI features players from seven different nations across Europe, Africa, North and Central America in a slightly unorthodox 3-4-3 formation. I’m sure I’ve made glaring omissions so feel free to make your suggestions below.

Goalkeeper

Gordon Banks

World Cup winner with England in 1966, Banks is often credited with making one of the greatest saves in history during the 1970 World Cup when he acrobatically changed direction to deny Pelé a headed goal when holders England met eventual winners Brazil.
Best remembered at club level for his service to Leicester and Stoke City (he won League Cups with both), he tragically lost the vision in one eye after a car accident in 1972. This led to an enforced retirement, which he broke to line out for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in the NASL in 1977-78. It was around this time that he made his one appearance in the League of Ireland, guarding the net for St. Patrick’s Athletic in the 1-0 win over Shamrock Rovers in Richmond Park in 1977.

Defence

Avery John

Avery John was a high-profile part of a group of Caribbean players that graced the League of Ireland during the 90’s and early 2000’s. He just about edges out ex Galway United and Bray Wanderers man Wesley Charles (100 caps for St. Vincent & the Grenadines) for spot in defence due to the fact that he played in a World Cup.

Avery John not only featured in the 2006 World Cup for tournament debutants Trinidad & Tobago, he had the dubious distinction of being the first player in the tournament to be sent off, receiving two yellows in the opening game against Sweden. Trinidad survived, gaining a credible 0-0 draw, thanks in no small part to the expertise of their coach Leo Beenhakker who threw on another attacker shortly after John’s dismissal to keep the Swedes pegged back.

During his club career John played with merit for Bohemians (twice), Shelbourne and Longford Town in the League of Ireland. He spawned his own chant while at Bohs, the highly original “Avery, John, John, John” sung to the tune of “Feeling Hot Hot Hot” before moving to the MLS in 2004, first lining out for New England Revolution and later Miami FC and DC United where he retired in 2010.

Alvaro Ros Rodriguez (Alvarito)

One of more unusual members of the team; a two-time Spanish international who featured in away matches against Chile (win) and Argentina (loss), Alvarito spent the bulk of his career at Atletico Madrid winning two Spanish Cups (Copa del Generalisimo as it was during the Franco dictatorship) as well as the 1961-62 Cup Winners Cup against the competitions’ inaugural Champions Fiorentina.

Despite this success Alvarito was never a regular with Atletico, he suffered injuries including a severe leg-break and was mainly understudy to Spanish international Isacio Calleja. However he did start in the final of the 1959-60 Copa del Generalisimo, a famous 3-1 win over city rivals Real Madrid in a packed Santiago Bernabéu.

His experience of the League of Ireland, like many in our team, was short-lived. Upon leaving Atletico Madrid he spent a single season with Real Murcia before joining Shelbourne as a player-coach in 1965, making his debut in a 2-1 win for Shels over Dublin rivals Drumcondra. Some impressive performances followed but a combination of injury and difficulties with the language meant that his stay was brief. What followed after leaving Shels was over 20 years of coaching in the Spanish lower leagues, something that Shels can look on with a little bit of pride as they gave him his first coaching role in the game.

Bobby Smith

Bobby Smith won 18 caps for the United States national team over a seven-year international career and was an NASL All-Star. Born and raised in the town of Trenton, New Jersey, which would later give us NBA All-Star and global diplomat Denis Rodman, Smith began his career at the Philadelphia Atoms in the NASL, winning the Championship in his debut season of 1973.

As was often the case in the 70s players from both sides of the Atlantic would take advantage of the differing season schedules with European players going on loan to North American teams during the summer off-season, and in the case of Smith some American based players going in the opposite direction during the NASL off-season. Smith’s port of call was Dundalk where he was signed up on loan by the legendary Jim McLaughlin who was player-manager at the time. Also signed up was fellow American Dave D’Errico.

Smith would later join the star-studded New York Cosmos where his team-mates would include Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Chinaglia and Playgirl centrefold Shep Messing. Further NASL Championships would follow before he was transferred to Seattle, followed by a return to Philadelphia (this time to Philadelphia Fury) where he played alongside Irish international John Dempsey. He continued with Philadelphia Fury when the team was sold, renamed and moved to Montreal finishing his career at Montreal Manic in 1981.

Midfield

George Best

In quite an attacking line-up the European Player of the Year for 1968 is included as an attacking right-winger in our League XI. The great George Best, capped 37 times by Northern Ireland, lined out for Cork Celtic in the 1975-76 season. This was only seven years after winning the European Cup and the previously mentioned player of the year award. Though not quite 30 he was already well on the downward spiral of his peripatetic footballing career.

Spells with the LA Aztecs amongst others in the NASL and two seasons with Fulham would follow, as would occasional reminders of his utter beguiling brilliance . League of Ireland fans only witnessed Best live on three occasions in matches against Drogheda United, Bohemians and Shelbourne, although he attracted sizeable crowds Best failed to score in any of his games and left spectators unimpressed.

Ed McIlvenney

When asked to name the moment in football history when England first realised that they were not the world’s greatest team, when they perhaps got their first inkling that those damn foreigners might know something about football after all, many will point to the 1953 destruction of the English national team by Hungary’s Magic Magyars in Wembley. Certainly the 6-3 humiliation had a seismic impact on English theories of footballing superiority.

Some Irish observers may suggest the 2-0 win by an Irish team over the English in Goodison Park, 1949 as another such a moment. A third such game was in England’s second match of the 1950 World Cup (the first time they had deigned to enter, having tended to ignore the pre-war tournaments) when the United States defeated England 1-0 thanks to a goal from Haitian student Joe Gaetjens.

What is often forgotten is that the captain of the American team that day was a Scotsman named Ed McIlvenney. McIlvenney was born in Greenock in Scotland in 1924 and in the late 1940s went to live with his sister in the States, having by that stage played some football for Wrexham, then in the Third Division North. After excelling for the Philadelphia Nationals he was called up to the United States national team for the World Cup.

His Philadelphia team-mate Walter Bahr was usually the captain of the USA national team, however as a Scotsman, McIlvenney was given the honour of captaining the side against the old enemy for what would become a famous upset. Impressed by his performances Matt Busby gave him a chance at Manchester United where he only made a couple of appearances before moving across the Irish sea to sign for Waterford in 1953.

He even had the privilege of being immortalised in a feature film by none other than Sheffield Wednesday icon John Harkes in 2005’s The Game of their Lives which also bizarrely features Bush lead signer Gavin Rossdale as Blackpool legend Stan Mortensen.

Bobby Charlton

Bobby Charlton, much like Ed McIlvenney was signed for Manchester United by Matt Busby, however their similarities in the red shirt of United end there. The second of our World Cup winners, Charlton remains United’s record goal scorer and certainly adds a goal threat to our midfield.

Also like McIlvenney , Charlton signed for Waterford, in this case in 1976 after his spell as Preston North End player-manager had ended in disaster, with the club being relegated in his first season. His number two at Preston was his old team-mate Nobby Stiles, who was married to Johnny Giles’ sister Kay so perhaps it was Nobby’s idea for Bobby to go to Waterford? More likely it was the diplomacy of Joe Delaney (John’s Da) who correctly saw the potential for Charlton to boost Waterford’s crowds.

Charlton’s career in Ireland was, like Best’s brief, but it was slightly more successful, 6,000 souls braved the snow to see him score against Finn Harps in his second game for the club, after impressing everyone during his debut, a 3-2 win over St. Patrick’s Athletic, in which Charlton won the penalty that opened the scoring. Charlton would play twice more but both games ended in defeat with Waterford going down 2-0 to Bohemians and losing 3-0 as Finn Harps gained their revenge in the Cup.

Joseph N’Do

Many of the players discussed in this article were veteran pros who, in the days before hyper-inflated salaries saw the League of Ireland as somewhere they could earn a few quid by playing a handful of games in the twilight of their careers. Then there are those who were international players from smaller nations for whom the League of Ireland offered professional football and even the potential for a mini-run in European competition. Then there’s Joey N’Do.

An African Cup of Nations winner with Cameroon in 2002 (the year before he signed for Pat’s) and a Coupe de France winner with Strasbourg of Ligue 1, N’Do’s presence seems gloriously incongruous, as though he had just stumbled upon the League of Ireland while looking for somewhere else, liked it and decided to stick around.

N’Do’s career has seen him win every honour in the Irish game as well as being voted player of the year in 2006. He has also managed to play for the four main Dublin clubs; St. Pat’s, Shelbourne, Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers (on loan) without incurring the bile and invective of supporters usually associated with moves to local rivals. During his more than ten years in the League he has played a multitude of roles from tricky, skilful winger to deep-lying forward, and in recent years with Sligo Rovers that of deep- lying play maker, his intelligence and reading of the game making up for any loss of pace. His talent is as self-evident as the warmth and joie de vivre which accompanies his game. The images of Joey dancing pitch-side with a trophy after another victory are ones that many of his fans will fondly remember.

Recently he auctioned off his African Cup of Nations medal, his most recent FAI Cup winner’s medal and his World Cup participation medal to raise money for his former team-mate Gary O’Neil who had just been diagnosed with cancer. Joey N’Do, one of the good guys of Irish football.

Forwards

William Ralph ‘Dixie’ Dean

He didn’t like being called Dixie, he much preferred Bill as a moniker. And for a time in the 20’s and 30’s he was the greatest centre forward in the world. Beginning his career at Tranmere, he was snapped up by Everton, the team he supported as a boy, at the age of 18. He would set a scoring record for the Toffees that stands to this day, along with a record for most goals in a season (60) which also remains intact. His international record reads 18 goals in 16 games for England.

To fully understand his celebrity in a pre-television age consider that Dean was an Evertonian beloved of Bill Shankly, that Babe Ruth asked to meet him after an Everton game and bemoaned how little English football players were paid for their talents. In one possibly apocryphal story a captured Italian soldier during World War 2 was said to have shouted at his English captors “Fuck your Winston Churchill, and fuck your Dixie Dean!”.

This is the same Bill ‘Dixie’ Dean who pitched up at Sligo Rovers in 1939 aged 32. Dean scored 10 goals in his seven-league games for Sligo starting with a goal on his debut against Shelbourne. He would score another against Shelbourne in that years Cup Final, however the game finished 1-1 and Dean was unable to repeat this feat in the replay, Sligo going down 1-0 to a William ‘Sacky’ Glen goal in front of almost 29,000 in Dalymount.

Infamously his runner-up medal went missing after the game only for it to reappear in a package sent from Ireland seven years later to Dean who, by then, was then running the Dublin Packet pub in Chester.

Uwe Seeler

Apart from Pele only two other men has played and scored in four World Cups, both are German, one is current Lazio striker Miroslav Klose the other is Uwe Seeler. The runner-up medal Seeler recieved in 1966 when he was 30 years of age was to be his best placed finish. He retired from international football in 1968 but was coaxed back into the national team by coach Helmut Schoen for the Mexico World Cup of 1970. It proved to be schrewd move as the veteran striker scored three goals, including a header against England in the quarter finals to bring the game to extra time. Inevitably Germany prevailed 3-2 with Seeler’s successor Gerd Muller grabbing the crucial winner.

During his career Seeler remained a one club man almost to the end, spending nearly 20 years as a first team player with his local side Hamburg, where both his father Erwin and brother Dieter also played. He remains their record goalscorer to this day with an astonishing 404 goals in 476 games.

What endeared Seeler to the German public even more than his goals was his humble and friendly attitude, gaining the nickname ‘Uns Uwe’ or ‘Our Uwe’. He turned down Inter Milan coach Helenio Herrera when he came calling, offering a huge transfer fee and salary. For much of his career Seeler played in a regionalised, ‘amateur’ league system in Germany, whatever he earned from football in Germany would have been a paltry amount compared to the riches available in Italy. However he turned down Herrera and remained in Hamburg. In response the club looked after him with a relatively well-paid role as a regional sales rep for Adidas as some sort of compensation.

However, six years after retirement he, along with his former Hamburg teammate Franz Josef Konig lined out for a club other than Hamburg. That club was Cork Celtic. Seeler thought this game was a sponsored event for Adidas but would find out later that it was an actual league match against Dundalk in 1978. Needless to say Seeler scored both goals as part of Cork Celtic’s 2-1 victory.

Geoff Hurst

Aparently Geoff Hurst scored a hat-trick in a World Cup final, but we don’t really hear too much about that. Hurst is the final World Cup winner in our team but was considered a little bit of a wild card in 1966. Originally a defensive midfielder he benifitted from a move up front early in his West Ham career and then the goals began to flow.

He caught the eye of Alf Ramsey and was given a chance for England in a friendly against Germany in February of 1966, impressing in his role up front with Liverpool’s Roger Hunt as England won 1-0 thanks to a Nobby Stiles goal. Hurst got his chance in the World Cup proper due to an injury to Jimmy Greaves in the final group game against France. Hurst seized his opportunity, scoring against Argentina and impressing against Eusebio’s Portugal in the semi-final. He didn’t disappoint in the final either, even if one of his goals didn’t cross the line.

Hurst finished as the second highest scorer in West Ham’s history before moving on to Stoke and then West Brom. After his contract finished there a 34-year-old Hurst signed a one month deal with (once again) Cork Celtic in 1976. He managed three goals in three league games as well as featuring in cup games against Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk.

Team

Gordon Banks

Alvaro ‘Alvarito’ Ros Rodriguez, Avery John, Bobby Smith

George Best, Ed McIlvenney, Bobby Charlton, Joey Ndo

Dixie Dean, Uwe Seeler, Geoff Hurst

Subs: Ryan Thompson (gk), Bobby Tambling, Wesley Charles, Terry McDermott , Peter Lorimer, Mindaugas Kalonas, Jimmy Johnstone, Piotr Suski, Charles Livingstone Mbabazi

Manager: Raich Carter

Original article published on backpagefootball.com in January 2014

The Flying Doctor & the free-scoring Publican – the famous O’Flanagan brothers

Posted on August 30, 2015 by gerrytastic

Along Marlborough Street, opposite the Department of Education and a 100 yards or so from the Pro-Cathedral, stands the aptly-named Confession Box pub, a small intimate venue where one could air your concerns over a pint that once belonged to former Bohemians and Ireland centre-forward Mick O’Flanagan.

The pub has its own sporting legacy quite apart from its former proprietor, it was there in 1960 that the Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland was formed, and it was there that Mick O’Flanagan received the phone call that would make him an Irish International.

It was, as O’Flanagan recalled, around two o’clock in the afternoon of 30th September 1946 when a call came to the pub from Tommy Hutchinson, the Bohemians member of the FAI selection committee which chose the Irish International team.

Ireland were due to play England at 5:30 that afternoon, a historic meeting between the two nations as this was a first time the English national side had agreed to play an FAI selected team since the split with the IFA in 1921.

After decades of being ignored and ostracised by the English FA the FAI had finally secured a fixture against a formidable English side in Dalymount Park. In the minds of the FAI committee of 1946 this was the biggest game in its relatively short history. There was only one problem, their centre-forward, West Brom’s Davy Walsh had pulled out through injury.

This was the purpose of Hutchinson’s call to Mick O’Flanagan, the 24 year old Bohemian striker was being asked to line out against the inventors of the beautiful game at the last minute.

As O’Flanagan remembered:

“I went home to Terenure for a bite to eat, had a short rest and then headed off to Dalymount. It was not really sufficient notice as only the previous evening I had brought a party of English journalists to Templeogue tennis club and I hadn’t got home until nearly two in the morning.”

Despite a laughable lack of preparation, the Irish side put it up to their illustrious opponents who had hammered an IFA selection 7-2 just days earlier. It was only a Tom Finney winner eight minutes from time that sealed victory for the English.

Henry Rose in the Daily Express was moved to write:

“If ever a team deserved to win Eire did. They out-played, out-fought, out-tackled, out-starred generally the cream of English talent, reduced the brilliant English team of Saturday to an ordinary looking side that never got on top of the job.”

Not only did Mick O’Flanagan line out against the likes of Finney, Billy Wright, Tommy Lawton and Raich Carter, he did so alongside his older brother, and fellow Bohemian, Kevin (pictured).

Brothers Kevin and Mick O’Flanagan are unique in world sport as not only did they play international football for their country, they both were capped by Ireland at Rugby, making them the only pair of brothers in the world to play for their nation in both codes.

Mick was capped against Scotland in 1948 as part of the last Irish Grand Slam winning side until 2009, while Kevin had been capped a year previous to that against Australia. This unique achievement is one that isn’t likely to be repeated anytime soon.

Despite this singular accomplishment the sporting careers of the brothers could have been even more illustrious had it not been for the outbreak of World War 2. Both were lining out for Bohemians when hostilities commenced in 1939, Mick a 17-year-old just beginning his career, his older brother Kevin at 20 had been a first-teamer for four years, had already captained Bohemians and had seven Irish caps and three goals to his name as well as being selected to play for Northern Ireland.

While the League of Ireland would continue during the war years, international football would cease for Ireland until 1946. Similarly, Olympic competition would cease which would rob Kevin the chance of competing in the Olympiads of 1940 and 1944. Kevin, at the time was a medical student in UCD, was Irish sprint champion at 60 and 100 yards as well as being national long jump champion.

He had even been a promising GAA footballer, lining out for the Dublin minor panel alongside Johnny Carey (Carey and O’Flanagan would both make their international debuts as teenagers against Norway in 1937) before being dropped because of his involvement with the “Garrison game”.

Young Michael would also miss out, his best goal scoring season would be 1940-41 where he finished as the League’s top scorer with 19 goals for Bohs. Had war not been raging across Europe he might rightly have expected to have more than his solitary international cap.

The brothers remained committed to the amateur ethos of the club which explains the duration of their stays at Bohemians. Mick as a publican in the city centre and Kevin as a medical student and later a Doctor weren’t likely to be swayed by the offer of a couple of extra quid a week from a rival club.

Indeed Kevin took his commitment to the Corinthian ideal to the extreme. Upon qualifying as a doctor in 1945 he had been offered a position as a GP in Ruislip, London. Despite this move he kept up and even increased his sporting activities, he signed on with Arsenal as an amateur while also lining out as a Rugby player for London Irish, when Arsenal invited him to submit his expense claims, they were shocked that he asked for just 4p, the cost of his tube journey from Ruislip to Arsenal.

Bernard Joy, a team-mate of Kevin’s at Arsenal, and a fellow amateur, noted in his history of the club that the then secretary Bob Wall quipped that Kevin “did not want to know anything about tactics. I play football the way I feel it should be played’, he would say.”

Arsenal coach Tom Whittaker said that O’Flanagan could have been “one of the greatest players in football history” if only he could have gotten him to train properly. Despite only spending one full season with the Arsenal first team (for whom he scored three times) Kevin would make a big impression.

No lesser an authority than Brian Glanville described him thus:

“A fascinating, amateur, figure in those Arsenal teams between 1945 and 1947 was the powerfully athletic Irish outside right, the hugely popular Dr. Kevin O’Flanagan. Coming from Dublin to London to take up a general medical practice, he demonstrated pace, strength and a fearsome right foot. He attained the distinction of playing soccer for Ireland on a Saturday, rugby for them the following Sunday.”

Between them, the O’Flanagan brothers would spend almost 20 years as players for Bohemians, while their younger brother Charlie O’Flanagan, a winger, would also line out for the club in the 1946-47 season.

Kevin would return to the Dalymount in another role, that of the club’s Chief Medical Officer and despite his retirement as a player he would remain hugely busy as a sporting physician and sports administrator. He was a member of the International Olympic Committee for almost 20 years before being made an Honorary Lifetime member upon his retirement and was the Chief Medical Officer of numerous Irish Olympic teams throughout the 1960’s and 70’s.

Despite missing out as a competitor, “The Flying Doctor” would manage to make a huge contribution to the Olympics and to Irish Sport in general.

Although they spent almost twenty years service in the red and black of Bohs and scored almost two hundred goals between them the honours list for the two brothers was relatively short. Both brothers combined to help Bohs win the Inter-City Cup in 1945 in somewhat controversial circumstances.

A year later after Kevin left for London, Mick scored an astonishing six goals in Bohs 11-0 victory over local rivals Grangegorman in the Leinster Senior Cup final, a record not likely to be broken any time soon by a Bohemian player in a cup final.

So much about the brothers’ careers is unique or exceptional, so in this our 125th year it’s worth remembering two of the greatest all-round sportsmen that Ireland has ever produced.

Originally posted on the official Bohemian FC website in August 2015

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Goalkeeper

Defence

Midfield

Forwards

Team

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