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.

Alexander McDonnell Chess champion and slavery apologist

Posted on November 10, 2015 by gerrytastic

A recent article on sports website balls.ie highlighted the claims by Michael Cusack, one of the founding members of the GAA, that Chess was in fact a game that was Irish in origin. Cusack claimed chess should be “played because it was Irish and National, and especially because it was the principal instrument of culture among the most glorious people that ever lived in Ireland – the Fenians of ancient Erin.” The article focuses on some fascinating research carried out by UCD’s Paul Rouse in his latest book ‘Sport and Ireland: A History’ and the article further mentions that to date our only Grandmaster is the Russian born, Irish resident Alexander Baburin.

Despite this lack of high level achievement there is a long history of chess in Ireland, though perhaps quite different from the one suggested by Michael Cusack. Chess, or the game from which it originated, has variously been traced to China, Persia or most commonly India, with the game we know today moving westward into Europe and then northward through Italy and Spain. The Prague-born Wilhelm Steinitz has been recognised as the first official Chess “World Champion” in 1886, while the international governing body for chess, FIDE was founded in France in 1924. However in the years before Steinitz’s triumph there were a number of unofficial world champions, and one of the first, and most brief of these champions was an Irishman, the Belfast-born Alexander McDonnell.

McDonnell was born in Belfast in 1798, his father, also named Alexander was a noted surgeon in Belfast. It was said that he attended the the execution of Henry Joy McCracken, one of the leaders of the 1798 rebellion. While his uncle Dr. James McDonnell was the founder of the Belfast Fever Hospital, which exists today as the Royal Victoria Hospital. James was also father to a son named Alexander, but we will return to him in another post.

Alexander, the future chess star, trained and worked as a merchant in the West Indies in the early part of the 19th Century, and this is where the story takes a decidedly dark turn. Reports suggest that Alexander went out to the West Indies at the age of 17 and ended up in the colony of Demerara-Essequibo, now part of modern day Guyana, and worked as a merchant dealing mainly with the export crops of the area, sugar and coffee. McDonnell was obviously well thought of by the merchants and plantation owners of the area because in 1820 he returned to London to act on their behalf as secretary of the Committee of West Indian Merchants. This role was to primarily represent the interests of the British colonists in the West Indies and to liaise with persons of importance and members of Parliament, what we might recognise today as a PR and lobbying role. This was a crucial time for those with financial interests in the West Indies, as there was a growing abolitionist movement in Britain, and the plantations of the West Indies were almost totally operated by slave labour. By 1807 the British Empire had outlawed Slave trading, which ceased the long established practice of the Atlantic slave trade, the forcible capture and relocation of people from west Africa to the Americas for work in the hugely profitable plantations. Slavery itself though remained legal. Those enslaved people already in the possession of plantation owners remained their chattels, as did any children born into slavery.

McDonnell’s cruel attempt to justify the conditions of slavery in Demerara.

In 1823 the Anti-slavery society, which sought to abolish slavery completely and which lobbied extensively for this cause, was founded in Britain. 1823 was also the year that Demerara became the focus of international attention, after a slave revolt was ruthlessly put down by the local colonists and their armed forces. While initial public sentiment in Britain was with the plantation owners, this soon changed when details of the conditions for the enslaved people emerged. Central to the revolt seems to have been the actions of an abolitionist preacher named John Smith who wished to provide religious instruction to the enslaved people and who also told them of the abolitionist movement. Smith was arrested and charged with promoting discontent and dissatisfaction among the enslaved people of the plantations. He was duly convicted and sentenced to death but died of “consumption” before the sentence could be carried out. The death of the white Parson Smith caused uproar in Britain, far more than the death of over 200 black people during and after the revolt, and let to over 200 petitions being delivered to Parliament. Over 20 of the enslaved people who had been part of the largely peaceful uprising were executed and their bodies strung up on gibbets as a ghastly warning to any other slave who would dare to seek their freedom.

It was against this background of huge negative publicity, the creation of Parson John Smith as the so-called “Demerara Martyr” and the rise in prominence of abolitionists like William Wilberforce, that Alexander McDonnell wrote a book entitled “Considerations on Negro Slavery with authentic reports illustrative of the actual conditions of the Negroes in Demerara” . The book reads as a condescending apologia for the Demerara plantocracy. McDonnell seeks to the defend the indefensible conditions and practices of the planters, mainly by referring to replies he received from plantation managers to a series of letters he had sent. While he criticises the slave trade and the cruelty of kidnapping people from their native lands, he defends the present “patriarchal” conditions of slavery that existed in Demerara. His arguments against immediate abolition were threefold, though predominatly focused on the financial impact of such a decision. Firstly, he argued that the West Indian colonies were worth a great deal financially to the British Empire, but that this was predicated on the production of items like sugar through slave labour, and abolishing slave labour would make the colonies a drain on the Empire. Secondly, that plantation owners had a right to their property and should not be denied a living. He stated that even the most vociferous abolitionists would have a different view of slavery if its banning should lead to their own loss of income. And thirdly, that the slaves of Demerara could not be freed as they were not yet civilised enough to avoid slipping into complete idleness. To support this hypothesis he drew comparisons with the “keeping up with the Joneses” type of motivations that encouraged the English to strive towards greater security and wealth, comparing the dilligent and hard-working farmers and merchants of England with the feckless and idle farmers from the West of Ireland.

Monument to the 1823 Demerara rebellion in modern day Guyana.

Ironically given his preoccupation with idleness, McDonnell’s job representing the interests of West Indies merchants supplied him with a good income and quite an amount of downtime in which he spent honing his skills at the game of chess. McDonnell was only in his early 20s when he was sent back to London in 1820, and by 1825 he was a chess pupil of William Lewis, the first man to ever have the term “Grandmaster” used about him. By 1832 (according to no less an authority than Charles Dickens), McDonnell and several others had joined the Westminster Chess Club, situated on the first floor of a coffee house at Covent Garden. One of the founders of the club was chess player and author George Walker. It was Walker, more than anyone, who helped to popularise chess in Britain at the time. Although not as great a player as the likes of William Lewis, his regular and readable articles on the game, and importantly cheap and accessible books on chess, help drum up interest in the pastime. His Westminster Club would be so successful that it would soon have over 200 members paying two guineas each in membership fees.

Chess clubs such as the Westminster gave McDonnell the opportunity to cement his reputation as the foremost player in Britain, replacing the man who taught him, William Lewis as the top British player of his day. And so, to the chess games that could briefly allow McDonnell a claim to being world chess champion. In 1834, the ever enterprising George Walker sought to arrange a series of games between McDonnell (judged the best player in Britain) and Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais, the strongest player in France.

La Bourdonnais was an interesting character. Born on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion, part of the French empire just off the east coast of Africa, he squandered his fortune in a series of bad investments and turned to chess to provide him with a living. In the early 1820’s he had travelled to London and had defeated the foremost players that Britain had to offer, including William Lewis and John Cochrane. In 1834, some nine years after his last visit to England, La Bourdonnais returned at the invitation of George Walker to play Alexander McDonnell, now recognised as Britain’s finest chess player in the Westminster Chess club.

La Bourdonnais as he appeared on a Cambodian stamp celebrating great chess champions.

Between June and October 1834 the pair would play a series of 6 matches, which eventually totalled 85 games for what was effectively the World Championship of Chess. The two men’s personal styles differed greatly; McDonnell was a quiet, taciturn individual who would spend hours over a single move, but despite this could be highly reckless in his play. He rarely spoke during play and would often be found afterwards in his rooms, pacing up and down furiously as he mentally replayed that day’s games. The fact that McDonnell was by this stage already suffering from Bright’s disease, a kidney ailment similar to nephritis which can also be accompanied by hypertension, probably didn’t assist his mood, and would eventually lead to his death aged just 37.

La Bourdonnais, on the other hand, was a far more garrulous and animated individual, swearing loudly when he lost and chatting affably and drinking when he was winning. It was said that McDonnell’s somewhat inscrutable demeanour during play, whether winning or losing, was quite off-putting for the Frenchman.

Off-putting as McDonnell’s personality may have been, it didn’t stop La Bourdonnais triumphing easily in the opening match, winning 16 games to McDonnell’s 5 with only 4 draws, which demonstrates the wild difference between theses early 19th Century games and modern competitive chess, where draws are far more common. In the second series of matches, there were to be no draws at all, with McDonnell winning 5 games to 4.

The final positions of a game from match 4. McDonnell (white) and La Bourdonnais (Black).

As mentioned above, there would not be an officially recognised World Chess Champion for another 52 years after the McDonnell- La Bourdonnais games. It is at this short juncture, after victory in the second series of games, that McDonnell could claim to being the Chess World Champion, and therefore the only Irishman in history who could hope to lay claim to that title.

La Bourdonnais would win the next three series of games, but it was during the sixth set of matches, with McDonnell in the lead 5 games to 4, that the Frenchman left abruptly to return home. It seemed that La Bourdonnais’ poor financial choices were catching up with him again, and he had to leave urgently to deal with his various creditors. Overall, 85 games were played over the six matches, with the final standing at 45 games to La Bourdonnaise, 13 draws and 27 wins for McDonnell. It was the stated intention to reconvene the sixth match of the series, but within a year McDonnell would be dead. Five years later in 1840, La Bourdonnais would die in poverty having been forced to sell even his clothes to try and pay off his debts. George Walker, the man who had organised the 1834 matches undertook the cost of La Bourdonnais’ burial and arranged for him to be buried in Kensal Green cemetery in London, only a few metres from the grave of his old adversary McDonnell. Both graves have been lost now, but their headstones are recorded to have said simply:

Sacred to the Memory of
Alexander McDonnell
(Formerly of Belfast,)
Who died 14th September, 1835,
Aged 37 years.”

Louis Charles de la Bouronnais,
The celebrated Chess Player,
Died 13th December, 1840,
Aged 43 years.”

To an extent, both men’s fame outlived their short life span. For this they have William Greenwood Walker to thank. A Secretary of the Westminster Chess Club, Greenwood Walker had diligently recorded almost all of the 85 games played by McDonnell and La Bourdonnais. Accounts of these games were quickly published and were studied eagerly by chess players the world over. Cary Utterburg, who has written extensively on the matches, has said this on the massive impact Greenwood Walker’s records and publications had on the world of chess:

“The recording and publication of game scores from a series of matches between masters was a first in chess history. The event irrevocably altered the game, giving birth to modern chess theory. Once based upon composed, abstract exercises, studied in isolation, theory now became concrete and measurable. Practice replaced contrivance, and tactics could be studied and honed in light of the avalanche of match records that followed.”

These games changed the history of the game and founded a new specified genre of writing focused on chess theory and tactics. In this sense, an Irish man was central to the notion that there should be such a thing as an international chess competition, that there could be a world chess champion, and that chess games could be recorded, published and studied by future generations of players. McDonnell’s role in all this was revolutionary, and this is to say nothing of the specific stylistic influence that his play had on generations of chess players to come.

However, it is also impossible to ignore McDonnell’s ignoble role in the far more momentous political movements around the abolition of the slavery. McDonnell had become wealthy off the back of the sugar and coffee trade of the Caribbean, and had returned to London to advocate and lobby on the behalf of plantation owners, men like Sir John Gladstone (father of the future Prime Minister William Gladstone) who had never set foot on their massive plantations, but who extracted great wealth from them. The pathetic arguments put forward by McDonnell in his book of 1825 defending the use of slave labour in the Caribbean were used again when he addressed both houses of Parliament on the issue of the “West India question” in 1830.

McDonnell’s wealth and comfortable job, built on the back of slave labour, allowed him to indulge his talent for chess and may have helped him make history in the game, but his efforts on behalf of the plantation owners could not stem the tides of history. The 1823 slave uprising in Demerara that McDonnell wrote about was followed by a number of other rebellions, most notably the Jamaican Slave revolt of Christmas 1831 in which as many as 60,000 people enslaved in Jamaica rebelled against the planter class. As in Demerara, the reprisals by the plantation owners were brutal and as many as 500 enslaved people were killed, and over 300 further were executed after the end of the uprising.

While McDonnell was playing La Bourdonnais in 1834, the Slavery Abolition Act was being passed in Parliament. As for men like Sir John Gladstone, they could see the writing on the wall but made sure to use people like McDonnell to lobby intensively for massive compensation due to the loss of their “property”. In this McDonnell was successful, as an example Gladstone alone received almost £107,000 for the loss of slaves through the abolition bill. In modern day sums this equates to approximately £83 million. He would later re-staff his plantations with indentured servants from India who continued to endure terrible conditions.

Alexander McDonnell, a fine chess player, with a fair claim to being a World Champion, but someone who did his utmost on behalf of wealthy and unscrupulous plantation owners to impede the abolition of slavery within the British Empire.

You can read McDonnell’s address to Parliament here and a copy of his “Considerations of Negro slavery” here .

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

Ghosts Stories of Dublin

Posted on October 23, 2015 by gerrytastic

Ahead of this year’s Bram Stoker festival we thought we’d look at the darker side of our fair city and dig into the most famous ghosts stories of Dublin. Any city that’s been around over a thousand years is going to have its fair share of ghost stories and Dublin is no different. In fact considering Dublin has ample cause to claim to be one of the great centres of Gothic literature, having been home to writers like Charles Maturin, Lafcadio Hearn, Sheridan Le Fanu and of course the daddy of Dracula himself, Bram Stoker it’s no surprise we like stories of the ghouslish, strange or macabre. Below we’ve listed some of our dark and scary favourites, stories of ghosts, murders most foul and even Satanic worship.

The Black Church

These days the the imposing, dark limestone building in Broadstone houses offices but up until 1962 St. Mary’s was a Chapel of ease for the local north Dublin protestant community. Due to the darkness of the stone the building became better known as the “Black Church” and various myths arose about the building. The most common one being that if you ran around the building three times and then entered the Church and went to the altar you would see the Devil. Although in true Dublin tradition different variations of the required actions emerged including walking around the Church in reverse 13 times or having to recite the “Our Father” backwards!

Darkey Kelly

For years the legend of Darkey Kelly was that she was burnt at the stake in 1746 for the crime of witchcraft, her only real crime was falling foul of the Sheriff of Dublin Simon Luttrell, known by his title Earl of Carhampton, who had fathered her child. It was alleged that Kelly had threatened to out the Earl as a member of the infamous “Hellfire Club” (more of which later) and that it was this threat that lead to her execution. However later research has shown that it was not dabbling in black magic that did for Dorcas “Darkey” Kelly but the fact that she appears to have been a serial killer.

Dorcas Kelly was a brothel keeper in the area close to Christchurch Cathedral, indeed a pub on Fishamble Street still bears her name to this day. She was being investigated in relation to the death of a local shoemaker named John Dowling and the during the course of searching her brothel the remains of five other murdered men were discovered. Kelly was tried and convicted of murder and she was executed in a brutal fashion (part hanged and then burnt alive) on Baggot Street in the year 1761.

Futher to the ghoulish story of Darkey Kelly’s death stories have often been told of the appearance of her ghost in the grounds of the nearby St. Audeon’s Church off High Street. She is said to be dressed all in green, a colour often associated with death in Irish myth.

The murder of Edward Ford and the dark side of Trinity College

Trinity College has its share of ghoulish connections, many of the august University’s students would go on to write their own tales of dark and unexpected, Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost and of course Bram Stoker’s Dracula spring to mind but there was plenty of real-life gore and ghoulishness to contend with.

As a centre for medical study Trinity’s medical school still sees its fair share of dead bodies but while the cadavers donated to medical science today are treated with courtesy and respect the bodies used by medical students in the 19th Century suffered a less dignified fate. Upon construction of the Berkeley Library in the late 1990’s the remains of dozens of bodies were discovered. It was theorised that these were bodies, sourced ilicitly through grave robbers and body-snatchers by medical students as part of their medical training, quickly dissected and buried under the cloak of darkness.

It is not known if any of these individuals haunt the College but one man who reportedly does is former lecturer Edward Ford. In 1734 the somewhat ill-tempered academic was sparked to anger by a group of rowdy Trinity Students throwing stones at his windows in the Rubrics building of the campus (the fine red brick buildings at east end of the main square). Mr. Ford did not take this sort of hijink well and decide to disperse the rambunctious students by firing a pistol at them. The drunken group quickly scattered but sought revenge for being shot at, they returned to their rooms, grabbed their own firearms and returned to the Rubrics building to teach Edward Ford, Fellow of Trinity College a lesson and fired a shot through his window.

Although the intention was not to kill that was the effect, Ford had been shot although he could not name his assailant, his last words were said to have been a reply regarding the identity of the shooter with Ford saying magnanimously “I do not know, but God forgive them, I do.”

No successful charges were ever brought against any student for the shooting of Ford but it is said that a forlorn individual in powdered wig and Georgian attire can be seen wandering the Rubrics building at night and that it is none other than Ford’s ghost that wanders the halls.

The Ghost of the Poet Mangan

The Lord Edward pub and restaurant sit close to Christchurch Cathedral and are named after the famous Lord Edward Fitzgerald the Duke of Leinster who built Leinster House. It was in this building that the poet and scholar James Clarence Mangan was born. Mangan was fluent in a number of languages and became noted for his translations of European and Middles Eastern works to English and also for the quality of his own original poetry. Years later Mangan would admired by the likes of James Joyce and W.B. Yeats and was a friend and comtempory of Thomas Davis whose statue stands on College Green today.

Mangan himself is commemorated with a statue bust in St. Stephen’s Green but his emphemeral, ghostly presence is said to favour returning to the site of his birth and appear in the Lord Edward Tavern.

The Hellfire Club

The original Hellfire club had been formed in London in 1719 but was banned within two years by the King of England, George I. The edicts of the King did not however prevent a Hellfire club emerging for the wealthy young gentlemen of Dublin as a place where they could, drink, gamble, hire prostitutes, torture animals and even do a bit of Satan worshipping. One of the founders of the club was Richard Parsons, 1st Earl of Rosse who was also the first Grandmaster of the Freemasons in Dublin. In fact Parsons’ home was on Molesworth Street where the main Dublin Masonic Lodge has operated since 1869.

Parsons and many of the wealthy young gents or “Bucks” as they called themselves would meet in taverns and Inns around the city to enjoy their debauches and among their number was the Sheriff of Dublin Simon Luttrell who we met earlier in relation to the execution of Darkey Kelly. Luttrell was known by various nicknames and titles including “the King of Hell” and was said to have sold his soul to the Devil in order to escape crippling debts.

The club members moved their many of their meetings into the foothills of the Dublin mountains, specifically the former hunting lodge of William Conolly, (Speaker of the Irish House of Commons and one of Ireland’s richest men) , on Montpelier Hill which took on the name of the Hellfire Club. It was reported that on building the hunting lodge Conolly had used the stones of a former ancient cairn and passage grave which further added to the ghoulish attraction for the club members.

Originally posted on Dublintown.ie in October 2015.

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.

The FAI’s Selection of “Granny Rulers” and Northerners: A Response to Eamonn Sweeney

Posted on October 8, 2015 by gerrytastic

A good reply to Eamonn Sweeney’s recent Independent article about the pursuit of granny-rule players.

Daniel Collins

According to Eamonn Sweeney, writing for the Irish Independent on the 4th of October, “the way [Ireland have] used the granny rule is a prime example of sleeveenism, sharp practice and the search for a short-term advantage”. Sweeney makes a number of negative points, with which I take issue, both in relation to the FAI’s utilisation of the rule and in relation to specific, once-potential or assumed “granny rulers”. He begins:

There’s been something utterly demeaning about the way Martin O’Neill and the FAI have traipsed after [Jack] Grealish, trying to hurry him into accepting the green jersey like it was some piece of dodgy merchandise which might not pass muster on closer inspection.
In the end Grealish didn’t buy it and his refusal brought home just what a squalid mess our Find Another Irishman policy has become. Like many other tenuously qualified players we seek, Grealish would…

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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.

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