A Bohemian Sporting Life

Ireland v Germany and the gathering storm of World War II

Posted on August 10, 2015 by gerrytastic

Jimmy Dunne stood on the pitch at the Weser Stadium, Bremen, May 1939, as the German anthem, complete with Deutschland über alles verses, echoed around the arena. The Swastika fluttered next to the Irish tricolour. Dunne was captaining Ireland that day and as a committed socialist, as a Republican who had been interned as a teenager, the fact that he has been told by his Association to give the Nazi salute grated deeply.

His teammate Joe O’Reilly recalled Dunne shouting to the rest of the side “Remember Aughrim, Remember 1916!” as they raised their arm. The packed stadium had heard a full two hour programme of stirring music and political speeches and were whipped into the appropriate delirious ferment. Further along the Irish team line, giving an awkward salute stood 20-year-old Dubliner, Johnny Carey of Manchester United.

Within months Carey had joined the British army and would be at combat against the Axis powers. As part of the Queen’s Royal Hussars he would see active duty in the Middle East and Italy. On his decision to enlist he stated that “a country that gives me my living is worth fighting for”. The match against Ireland was to be the last match that Germany would play before the outbreak of World War II less than four months later.

The Ireland team give an awkward fascist salute in Bremen.

So as Ireland prepare for their daunting challenge against the reigning World Champions in Gelsenkirchen let us remember this game that brought Ireland both praise and shame.

First it is important to note that the side that took on Ireland was not just a German team in the modern sense, as since the Anschluss of Austria the previous year that nations’ players were also called on to represent ” Greater Germany”. Among those in the German side that day was Wilhelm Hahnemann, born in Vienna he represented SK Admira a popular club in that city.

The FAI at the time were still in dispute with the IFA over the selection of players with both Associations selecting players from the whole island which in this case included Northerners like Sheffield Wednesday’s Willie Fallon born in Larne and Dundalk’s Mick Hoy from Tandragee lining out for the Free State.

The match in Bremen was to be the fourth that Ireland would play against German opposition in just four years. The Free State Association, still effectively ostracised by the Football Associations of the United Kingdom had to look to further shores in search of quality opposition, and this was regularly provided by the Germans.

In fact, given the massive political upheaval that took place throughout Europe during the 20s and 30s, it was not surprising that Ireland would find themselves competing against nations with far right and fascist governments. The Free State’s earliest games took place against Italy when they were under the rule of Mussolini, while the two games that preceded the game in Bremen were home and away fixtures against a talented Hungarian side; Hungary at the time was ruled by Miklós Horthy and his right-wing parliament which increasingly featured prominent anti-Semites.

When the Germans had last played against Ireland, in 1936 in Dalymount Park they had been well beaten. The Free State select running out comfortable 5-2 winners, with Oldham’s Tom Davis scoring a brace on his debut and Paddy Moore playing a starring role. On that occasion the Germany side had made the fascist salute and were joined by what can best be described as misguided members of the Irish sporting public (and perhaps some ex-patriot Germans?) who appear to have made the same gesture as a confused mark of respect to the visiting side.

By that stage there were already reports of the persecution taking place in Hitler’s regime but some felt that such reports were of dubious origin. Many Irish people remembered the fictional atrocities hyped by the British press that were attributed to German soldiers during the First World War and used as a recruiting tool in Ireland to get men to enlist, or indeed invented triumphs by Crown Forces during the Irish War of Independence. This was also the year of that grand Nazi propaganda exercise the Berlin Olympic Games; the view of the majority of the world seemed to be that sport should be wholly separate from politics. All the while Hitler wielded the global profile of the Games as a colossal example of Nazi soft power.

Theodor Lewald, a German protestant but one with well-known Jewish ancestry had been a key man in preparing Berlin for the Olympic Games. He had been head of the organising committee well before the Nazis cottoned on to the idea that the Games could be a great propaganda coup. When they decided to support the games with massive financial backing, Lewald’s Jewish ancestry became a useful defence to calls for boycotts of the games on the grounds of Germany’s discriminatory practices, even so he was eventually forced to step down from his role.

Avery Brundage, the head of the American delegation and later President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), had strongly objected to any boycott stating that he had been “given positive assurance in writing … that there will be no discrimination against Jews. You can’t ask more than that and I think the guarantee will be fulfilled”.

Only Spain (then on the brink of Civil War) and the Soviet Union (who had never participated up to that point anyway) would boycott the Games. Ireland, due to complex wrangling over the border issue could not field a team at the 1936 games. In this context it is perhaps somewhat understandable that Ireland would be so happy to play Germany in 1936.

However, by 1939, with Europe on the brink of war, and Germany being slowly ostracised after its 1938 conquest of Austria and the Sudetenland it is more difficult to ignore the political dimensions of the decision to play Germany and offer the Nazi salute.

Commemorating victors at the 1936 Olympics. Theodor Lewald's name is shown on the central panel.

Plaque commemorating the 1936 Olympic games featuring the name of Dr. Theodor Lewald

In his official report to the FAI Council the General Secretary Joe Wickham noted:

In Bremen our flags were flown though, of course, well outnumbered by the Swastika. We also, as a compliment, gave the German salute to their Anthem, standing to attention for our own. We were informed this would be much appreciated by their public which it undoubtedly was.

The German Sports Minister [Reichssportführer Hans von Tschammer und Osten] at the Banquet paid special tribute to our playing the match as arranged despite what he described as untrue press reports regarding the position in Germany and their intentions.

The Football Association were not the only ones to view the stories of German abuses with a certain measure of scepticism. The Irish Government held certain doubts as well, inherently distrustful as they were of British media reports, they were also being fed misinformation and racially motivated lies by their man in Germany, Charles Bewley.

Born into the famous Bewley coffee family whose iconic Grafton Street café still trades today, Charles was raised as a Quaker. However as a young man he went against his illustrious family and converted to Catholicism and became involved in politics, standing unsuccessfully for Sinn Féin in 1918.

By 1933 he had been appointed as Irish envoy to Berlin where he became an outspoken admirer of National Socialism and Adolf Hitler. He regularly reported back to Taoiseach Éamon de Valera that Jews in Berlin were not under threat but instead libelled the Berlin Jewish community, accusing them of all manner of vices.

Bewley’s actions also meant that those German Jews seeking a visa to come to the Irish Free State in order to escape the Nazi regime were generally refused, with fewer than one hundred Jews being granted visas during his time in Germany. De Valera finally dismissed Bewley in August 1939 but by then it was too late for many to escape.

The actions of men like Bewley can go some way to explain the certain level of scepticism which some in Ireland viewed reports of Nazi outrages. Joe Wickham as noted above seemed more concerned with showing due courtesy to their German hosts and was happy to repeat the line about the “untrue press reports” at the following Council meeting.

There is perhaps a certain obsequious Irishness evident here. With few international games available for the Free State association, who were effectively boycotted in senior internationals by the “Home Nations”, matches against a significant team like German were important for the Irish side and also for the association’s finances. A small, still fledgling association like Wickham’s was too beholden to the German.

It is also worth remembering that England playing in Berlin only a year earlier had given a Nazi salute before the game, although this was apparently done under protest from the players, especially from Eddie Hapgood of Arsenal who was England captain at the time. The English players only agreed when the British Ambassador to Germany Sir Neville Henderson informed them that a refusal to perform the salute could be the “spark to set Europe alight”. Interestingly Aston Villa, touring in Germany at the same time, refused to give the salute after their game against a German XI. The English side had also given a fascist salute again just days prior to Ireland’s match in Bremen ahead of their own game in Milan against Mussolini’s Italy.

While England would go on to win their game 6-3 the game against Ireland would end as a one all draw. The Irish lined out with Southend’s George McKenzie in goal and a standard WM formation with a back line featuring William O’Neill, Mick Hoy (both Dundalk), Joe O’Reilly (St. James’s Gate), Matt O’Mahoney (Bristol Rovers), Ned Weir (Clyde) and a front five of Kevin O’Flanagan (Bohemians), Willie Fallon (Sheffield Wednesday), Jimmy Dunne (Shamrock Rovers), Johnny Carey (Manchester United) and Paddy Bradshaw of St. James’s Gate at centre forward.

The Germans apart from having the Austrian, Hahnemann in their ranks also featured world class players like their captain Paul Janes, rated as one of the world’s finest defenders, prolific goal-scorer Ernst Lehner was part of the forward line along with the man who would coach Germany to the 1974 World Cup, Helmut Schön. Organising things from the touchline was that legendary manager and creator of bon mots Sepp Herberger, who would eventually lead Germany to World Cup victory in 1954.

As described above over 35,000 people had crammed into the Weser Stadium from early on for the pre-match “entertainment” and had been suitably roused for the forthcoming match. While the German anthem and various martial airs had been blared out, the band present on the day had no sheet music for the Irish Anthem, according to journalist Peter Byrne, it was Joe O’Reilly who had once been a member of the Irish Army Band who stepped into the breach and sketched down the music for Amhrán na bhFiann from memory. The crowd was a then record attendance for the stadium and their enthusiasm seemed to have had the desired impact with Germany hitting the post through Hahnemann early on.

Ireland responded with some good play of their own as their “accurate passes and their head-work aroused the admiration of the crowd”, Dunne and Bradshaw were combining well and both forced good saves from keeper Hans Jakob. Disaster would strike though in the 34^th minute, Jimmy Dunne, Irish captain and record goalscorer, was injured in a collision with defender Hans Rohde and had to be carried from the pitch. This misfortune was compounded only four minutes later when Helmut Schön scored the opening goal.

Ireland trailed one nil at the break and were forced to begin the second half with only ten men (still no substitutes in those days) and the Germans nearly grabbed a second goal through TuS Neuendorf forward Josef Gauchel. On the 55^th minute Jimmy Dunne returned to the fray, going in at outside right meaning a move to centre forward for Kevin O’Flanagan, the 19-year-old was studying medicine in UCD and playing as an amateur for Bohemians, and was remembered as possessing one of the hardest shots in football , this move also allowed Paddy Bradshaw to withdraw to inside right.

The return of Dunne and the reshuffle in the forward line seemed to throw the Germans and the Irish improved in the volume and quality of their attacks, Carey came close to scoring before Bradshaw restored parity in the 60^th minute with a powerful header from a Fallon cross. For the remaining half hour it was Jakob in the German goal who was the busier of the two keepers as the Irish pressed for the winner. The influential Kicker magazine stated “from a competitive point of view, there was no weak point in the Irish team, their only deficiency being a lack of precision in passing”.

A more than credible draw for the Irish in ominous circumstances, they were feted after their game by the German public, obviously impressed by the Irish play, and they were received by Nazi top brass at a banquet that night. The result would mark the best ever season of results in the short history of the Free State side and strange as it may seem they would probably have been looking forward to the following year’s fixtures.

Joe Wickham, flushed with the success of the Irish tour to Hungary and Germany was keen to organise fixtures for the coming seasons including matches against Spain, Italy and Romania. Of course war was to intervene and while the League of Ireland would continue the Free State would not play another international for seven years.

Young men like Carey and O’Flanagan would return for Ireland in the 1940s but the other nine men who took the field would never wear the green again. The greatest of these was Dunne, captain on the day and he had defied injury to finish the German game, his goalscoring record of 13 would stand for nearly 30 years. On the return journey to Ireland he was greeted in the port of Southampton and given a rousing salute from that city’s dockworkers, Dunne had played for Southampton for a year and his goals had saved them from relegation. Not something quickly forgotten by the working men of that town.

Because of those careers cut short, the ignominy of being required to make the salute, Johnny Carey’s desire to fight and the intermittently dangerous power of sport as propaganda do spare a thought for those men in Bremen when Martin O’Neill’s side line out in Gelsenkirchen.

Originally posted on backpagefootball.com in 2014

Ray Keogh – A forgotten pioneer in Irish football

Posted on August 9, 2015 by gerrytastic

It was on a still, sunny November afternoon last year on the approach to the Aviva Stadium (Lansdowne Road as was) that I spotted Paul McGrath. Paul was, like the rest of the crowd, on his way to the FAI Cup final between Derry City and his former club, St. Patrick’s Athletic. He is of course no stranger to the old ground; he strode its turf with gazelle-like grace over the course of his 12 year international career, and it was his performances in a green shirt that have ensured his status as a sporting legend in Ireland. Despite his much publicised personal problems, or perhaps because of them, Paul is not only respected by the Irish public, but genuinely loved. It is that hint of vulnerability that was so at odds with his commanding, assured performances, that has struck such a chord with football fans.

He was my footballing hero growing up, my early childhood helpfully coinciding with an unprecedented level of success for the Irish national team. Paul was of course a key part of that success, a national talisman, and a rock during the nations’ first tournament involvement; Euro 88, Italia 90, where the team reached the quarter-finals, and USA 94. For many, the opening game in World Cup 94 was Paul’s defining moment in a green shirt, when an ageing McGrath, dodgy knees, painkilling injection in his shoulder, dominated an Italian attack featuring Giuseppe Signori and Roberto Baggio. If the World Cups were the peak of his career, then his presence at Lansdowne Road last November was a reminder of his more humble beginnings as a professional footballer.

Despite playing only a single season for St. Pat’s (1981-82), Paul remains a legend at the club based in the South Dublin suburb of Inchicore. It was pleasing to see by his attendance at the final that Paul hadn’t forgotten his roots. Such was his popularity with the Pat’s faithful that Paul became known as “The Black Pearl of Inchicore”, a reference to Benfica legend Eusebio. Paul was the first player to be given that moniker by the Pat’s fans, but not the last, as both Curtis Fleming (later of Middlesboro and Crystal Palace) and Paul Osam were sometimes given the “Black Pearl” sobriquet.

Though perhaps the most prominent person of colour to play for the national team, Paul was not the first. The first mixed race player to don the green jersey in a senior international was Spurs’ Chris Hughton back in 1979, six years before Paul’s debut. Like Paul he would also feature in Euro 88 and World Cup 90. As for the first player of colour in the League of Ireland? Well we have to go back a little further…

In fact we’ll have to go back to May 1961, back to the FAI Cup final, this time held in Dalymount Park, and as in 2014 St. Patrick’s Athletic are one of the teams in action. Pat’s would win the final in 2014, as they would also triumph in 1961 though in the intervening 53 years, the Saints would contest seven cup finals and lose them all. One other thing that the finals of 2014 and 1961 had in common was that my father was in attendance at both. We sat together in the south stand in 2014, but back in 1961 he was in Dalymount Park as a member of Drumcondra F.C.’s under-18 team watching their senior counterparts lose 2-1 to St. Pats. As an outside-right he would have been paying special attention to the senior player in his position, a 21 year old full of skill and trickery named Ray Keogh.

Ray, as far as any League of Ireland historian or statistician can confirm was the first black player in the League of Ireland. British football has, in recent years started to pay attention to the contribution made by players of colour in the early years of football’s development. Men like Andrew Watson, Walter Tull and Arthur Wharton have begun to have their input to the game recognised, and there is a growing understanding that the early decades of British football were not as white and homogenous as once portrayed. However in Ireland there has been little discussion on similar subjects. In the absence of any earlier players being mentioned I’d like to talk a little about Ray’s career in the League of Ireland.

Ray was raised in a white family in the Dublin suburb of Milltown in the 1940s. The area was in close proximity to Glenmalure Park, the then home of Shamrock Rovers, one of the country’s biggest clubs. Ray joined them as a teenager after playing schoolboy football with Castleville and the famous Home Farm club, and made appearances for the Rovers’ reserve side in 1958 before making his first team debut a year later. Some reports incorrectly stated that Ray was part of the Rovers team in 1957 that took on Busby Babes era Manchester United early in their tragic European Cup campaign, mistaking a 17 year old Ray for the similarly named Shay Keogh. Despite his talent and versatility, primarily as an outside right (though he played in a variety of positions), first team opportunities at Rovers were limited for Ray. They had been League Champions in the 56-57 and 58-59 seasons, and their forward line was full of Irish internationals such as Paddy Ambrose, Liam Tuohy, Tommy Hamilton, “Maxie” McCann and experienced player-manager Paddy Coad.

A move was needed and initially it was a trip north-west to Longford Town in the 59-60 season. Longford were a “B” division side at the time playing against reserve sides of the likes of Shamrock Rovers and other smaller and regional sides. His stay with Longford was brief, however, as he moved back to the top-flight of Irish football and to Drumcondra F.C. Based in the north Dublin suburb of the same name, “Drums” had been Shamrock Rovers’ great rivals throughout the 50’s. The club had been home to players of the highest quality such as Alan Kelly Sr. (a Preston North End legend with a stand named after him at Deepdale) as well as League of Ireland stars like Jimmy Morrissey and Christy “Bunny” Fullam.

Drumcondra FC before the 1961 FAI Cup final. Ray Keogh is bottom left. (source http://drumcondrafc.com/)

While Drums lost out in that 1961 final, they qualified for the European Cup as League Champions for 1960-61, which was Ray’s first full season with the side. Ray would feature in the European Cup defeat at the hands of German champions FC Nurnberg in the first round, but would fare better the following year in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, when Drumcondra made football history by becoming the first Irish side to win a European game on aggregate, defeating Danish side Odense 6-5 over two legs, with Ray playing both games. They were drawn against Bayern Munich in the following round. Ray didn’t feature in the heavy 6-0 defeat in Munich, however he did return to the starting line-up for the home leg and helped restore some pride as Drums beat Bayern 1-0.

He would also win representative honours representing the League of Ireland selection on a number of occasions. Inter-league games were usually against British and occasionally mainland European league sides, and were considered to be highly prestigious at the time. The fact that Ray, on several occasions, was judged to be among the best players in the league and worthy of selection is testament to his ability. He made his debut in 1961 against a Scottish XI in a 1-1 draw and would make several appearances for the league before a move to his next club, Ards based in the County Down town of Newtownards in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Irish league was traditionally dominated by the bigger Belfast sides like Linfield and Glentoran, though Ards had enjoyed a league title success in the 1957-58 season. Though signed by Johnny Neilson the manager for the majority of Ray’s stay north of the border was George Eastham Sr., a former Bolton Wanderers player and father to Arsenal and Newcastle star George Eastham Jr. The town of Newtownards was overwhelmingly Protestant and it must have been somewhat daunting for a black, Catholic Dubliner venturing over the border in 1964. Although the horrific violence of “the Troubles” was still a few years off it was still a time of tension in Northern Ireland. The IRA’s ill-fated border campaign, which led to the use of internment on both sides of the border had only ended two years previously, while the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement would soon be heard in the city of Derry. Ray would spend two seasons with Ards with the team itself struggling at the lower end of the Irish League table as well as brief unhappy spell with Portadown.

His next move would take him to the other end of the island, moving almost 700km south to Cork, where he would spend a season lining out for Cork Hibernians before moving again after the arrival of former Irish international Amby Fogarty as player-manager. This move was to Drogheda F.C. During his time with Drogheda, Ray worked with some notable managers, first former Middlesboro player Arthur Fitzsimons who had previously coached the Libyan national team, and later, player-manager Mick Meagan; the tireless former Everton defender who combined these roles with his position as manager of Republic of Ireland national team. Meagan would bring in other experienced players such as Ronnie Whelan Sr. to add to the emerging young stars at the club such as Mick Fairclough. Despite the talent at the Lourdes Stadium, the best that Drogheda would achieve during Ray’s stay would be a 5^th place league finish in 1967-68. They would make it to the Cup final of 1970-71, but by that stage Ray had moved on to pastures new.

By then on the wrong side of 30, Ray would drop out of senior football and move into coaching, first with Tullamore Town where as player-manager he would win the Intermediate Cup and the League of Ireland “B” division, and then on to Parkvilla F.C. based in Navan. Despite the drop down from senior football ranks, Ray, as both player and manager would still encounter players of real quality. In the FAI Cup they would come close to a giant-killing, forcing a replay against Shamrock Rovers. While Parkvilla’s title rivals Pegasus featured a young defender, one Kevin Moran, who would go on to make his name at Manchester United. Another rival side were Dalkey United who featured a young full back by the name of Paul McGrath. Dalkey is a well-healed south-Dublin coastal town that also happened to be home to one of the orphanages where Paul grew up. It is tempting to see Parkvilla versus Dalkey United, an unglamorous amateur tie probably watched by a couple of dozen spectators, as somehow significant: Ray, a trailblazer in his own way but now in his late 30s, encountering an 18 year Paul McGrath at a point before his career took off. Two black Dubliners who would help to change the perception of what the traditional, homogenous view of what it means to be Irish at a time when to be Irish seemed to be synonymous with words like white and Catholic, denying the pluralism (albeit stifled and hidden) that has always existed in Irish society.

So what sort of player was Ray and how was he treated by spectators of the day? From talking to those who watched him and who played alongside him, his main attributes were his passing ability and dribbling, fast without being lightning quick he was also excellent on set-pieces. Newspaper reports are full of descriptions of him humiliating fullbacks, constantly beating his man and delivering excellent crosses. While usually employed as an old-fashioned, chalk-on-your-boots right winger, Ray was versatile playing across all of the old front five positions, his awareness and passing ability assisting his role as an inside forward, reports referring to him as a “delightful ball player”. He also played centre forward with some success, no small feat for a man described as “diminutive” even by the standards of the day and he also played as a sweeper during his later years as a player-manager. The fact that he was black didn’t seem to cause much comment either, a few early reports noted the talents of the young “coloured” player and while at Longford he was referred to as “Nigerian forward Ray Keogh”. He did attract some bizarre and offensive nicknames such as “Darky” Keogh and the more esoteric “Blessed Martin” after Saint Martin de Porres, the 16^th Century Peruvian monk who was the mixed-race son of a Spanish nobleman and a freed Panamanian slave.

Ray’s senior playing career coincided with the golden age of the League of Ireland, the 50’s and 60’s were an era of big crowds, bigger clubs often having gates of over 20,000 while cup finals could see over 40,000 in attendance. The League was also able to keep more of the better quality Irish players in the country. The maximum wage remained in place in England until 1961, and even after the limit was lifted it was still often more financially beneficial for a player to stay in Ireland than to go to England. Domestic players were truly local heroes, especially at clubs like Shamrock Rovers and Drumcondra, who enjoyed a great popular sporting rivalry through the 50s and 60s. Ray got to play in front of big crowds, win league titles, compete in cup finals, play in Europe against the likes of Bayern Munich, and represent his league in prestigious games. He was a local icon but because of the era he played in, the strange role that domestic football played in Irish society at the time, and the lack of surviving TV footage, Ray is mainly remembered these days by groups of ageing Drumcondra fans who hold on to memories of a club that disappeared from senior league football back in 1972.

When the Irish national team enjoyed its own golden age, reaching its peak at Italia 90, players like Chris Hughton and Paul McGrath were household names. The constant replaying of the penalty shoot-out against Romania, Kevin Sheedy’s equaliser against England and the pain of Bonner’s parry and Schillaci’s finish means that the players of that era are never likely to be forgotten. Nor will the way that Jack Charlton’s side helped that process of redefining Irishness. That men from Dublin, Cork and Donegal could line up alongside men from Glasgow, London and Manchester, be they black or white, Catholic or Protestant and still represent Ireland and the green jersey with pride had a profound effect on how we viewed our nation and diaspora. And in a small way we should remember the contribution of a man named Ray Keogh to that process.

Tullamore FC in 1971 – the author’s father Leo Farrell (ball at his feet) is pictured to the right of Ray Keogh

This article was first published in edition 8 of The Football Pink magazine. They do good work so do check them out. If any readers out there have more information on Ray or his career please get in touch.

Jack Grealish and knowing your true self

Posted on August 8, 2015 by gerrytastic

Jack Reynolds’ second cap as an Irish International came in the spring of 1890 against England. It was the occasion of Reynolds only goal in the “St. Patrick’s blue” of Ireland, the Distillery winger grabbing what couldn’t even be called a consolation in a 9-1 drubbing at the Ulster Cricket Ground where the diminutive Everton striker Fred Geary grabbed a hat-trick for the three lions.

So far nothing too unusual, Ireland were the whipping boys of the early Home Nations Championship finishing bottom in six of the first seven competitions. What is unusual about Reynolds is that he would end up winning three Home Nation Championships. For England.

Jack Reynolds circa 1890

Reynolds had been born in Blackburn in 1869 but moved to Ireland at a young age and grew up in Country Antrim. He signed for Blackburn Rovers at the age of 15 before a spell in the Army saw him return on duty to Ireland where he ended up playing for both Distillery and Ulster F.C. during which time he won five caps for the Irish National team.

It was only upon his return to England with West Brom that Reynolds discovered he had actually been born in England. It was during his time in the midlands with West Brom and Aston Villa that he would win his eight caps for the England national team.

It is tempting to draw parallels between Reynolds and another Jack, young Jack Grealish. Both talented wingers, both Aston Villa players, in fact there may even have been a bit of overlap between Reynolds, whose Villa career ended in 1897 and Grealish’s great grandfather Billy Garraty who joined Villa that same year. But one thing that they won’t have in common it seems is lining out for both Ireland and England.

Grealish has stuck to his guns on his international future, stating earlier this year that he would make a decision come September, Martin O’Neill tried to force the issue by calling him into the squad for the upcoming friendly against England and qualifier against Scotland.

In theory Grealish could have played against England in the friendly and still switched his allegiance to them thereafter, but as things stand it appears that young Jack won’t reveal his hand until September at the earliest.

Much comment has been passed about the apparent rebuttal to O’Neill by Grealish. It prompted former football and rugby captains Kenny Cunningham and Brian O’Driscoll spoke on air about the issue, which was neatly summarised by Dan McDonnell in a recent Irish Independent article.

Rather than debate the pros and cons of a 19 year olds decision (there is plenty already written on the subject) what would perhaps be better to examine is why there is so much fuss about a player who a year ago was lining out on loan at Notts County in League One. A clue to all this hubbub can perhaps be seen in a closer examination of O’Neill’s current squad.

O’Neill has been criticised for not trying out enough new players and sticking with the same ageing group that he inherited from Giovanni Trapattoni. Some new players such as Cyrus Christie and David McGoldrick were blooded in the friendly against the USA, and the uncapped in the current squad include Harry Arter of Bournemouth, Alan Judge of Brentford and Adam Rooney of Aberdeen.

Arter, Judge and Rooney all have certain similarities, they are all in around the same age, 26, 25 and 27 respectively. All have represented Ireland at under age level at some stage. And all three have won their first call-up on the back of impressive seasons, not in the Premier League but in the Championship and in Rooney’s case the SPL.

All three have taken a circuitous route to the Irish International squad, loan moves, dropping down divisions, (including in Arter’s case a spell at non-league Woking) before settling into regular football at their current clubs.

They have all been selected on form rather than reputation; Judge’s trickery helping Brentford to the play-offs, Rooney has scored 27 goals in all competitions this season propelling Aberdeen to second in the SPL, while Arter has been one of the best midfielders in the Championship this year and will join the ranks of Irish internationals in the Premier League next season. This perhaps hints at a career trajectory not dissimilar to an established current international like Jonathan Walters.

William Garraty & great-great grandson Jack Grealish, both of Aston Villa

It is players like this who are more emblematic of Ireland’s footballing future than Premier League starlet than Grealish.

It’s hard to think of the last time in recent years that an Irish teenager has broken through at Premier League level, the last time that a number of such players came through was the emergence of the likes of Damien Duff, Shay Given, John O’Shea, Richard Dunne and Robbie Keane at the turn of the millennium, most of whom had come through the successful Irish youth sides of Brian Kerr.

I’ve banged on about this before but we are not producing elite level players in any consistent manner.

This paucity of top level talent means that we have a tendency to latch onto talents like Grealish and heap the future of Irish football onto his narrow shoulders rather than looking at our technical deficiencies and the reasons that many of our more technically gifted players are being produced through the coaching and youth development systems of other national associations.

If Grealish makes his decision in September and indicates that he’ll line out for Ireland then our national team will be the stronger for it and any prevarication or seeming reluctance will surely be forgotten, much as it was with former internationals like Clinton Morrison or Jason McAteer.

If he chooses to represent England then rather than letting their ire pour out against a 19-year-old footballer on Twitter, Irish fans might look closer to home at our own coaching structures and player development paths rather than the decision of a young man to represent the nation of his birth.

At a recent Italia 90 nostalgia evening arranged as part of the One City One Book event to celebrate Roddy Doyle’s Barrytown trilogy in Lansdowne Road, the RTE panel of Dunphy, Giles and the late Bill O’Herlihy was reconvened with Paul McGrath and Charlie O’Leary also in attendance. Giles and Dunphy were still trenchant in their criticism of Jack Charlton, his style of football, his lack of professionalism and so on.

And despite the general light-hearted air of the event Dunphy pursued a darker thread of discussion, veering off on a tangent where he discussed the current state of the game.

He decried the death of the street footballer, what an Argentine fan might call a pibe, and stated that football was “dead in Ireland”, Scotland, England and so on, that the quality of player was not being produced by these nations anymore. He referenced the abundance of quality in the squads of the Charlton and Hand eras, how many of these players were regulars at top English clubs.

Dunphy only sees decline but seems to fail to appreciate that the English Premier League is now truly global, it is global in its reach, fans, media influence and the manner in which it sources its players in a way it never did in the past even when Britain was a centre of global empire. The favoured role of the Irish footballer in Britain with our shared language, cultural similarities, intertwined history and geographical proximity count for far less now.

The Premier League is a brutal, unforgiving meritocracy, it doesn’t care where you’re from (even though racism and xenophobia certainly still exist) it cares that you win. As the Premier League has casted its net wider in search of playing talent this has led to young Irish players facing far greater competition.

While we may not be producing Duffs and Keanes in abundance today maybe we haven’t gotten thatmuch worse? Certainly not to the point that football is “dying” as Dunphy maintains, perhaps it’s just that a league that many in Ireland view as our own has gotten more competitive and other nations, once viewed as minnows during Dunphy’s playing career have improved immeasurably. As others have caught up so our access to the elite levels has diminished.

In the past a successful or at least improving Irish side was able to secure the services from top flight clubs of “granny rule” players like John Aldridge, Ray Houghton and Andy Townsend, or though astute scouting recruit players like Mark Lawrenson long before he was a star for Liverpool.

Many of these players were recruited through personal connections, Aldridge and Houghton being recommended by Dave Langan while Preston North End legend Alan Kelly Sr. spotted a teenage Lawrenson and alerted the Irish manager at the time John Giles long before he would have come to the notice of an England manager.

While these recruitment methods still work today the football landscape of the 70s and 80s was not one where agents are as ubiquitous as now, where salaries weren’t as inflated or where people used social media to lambast players for every decision. Modern external pressures and opinions, as well as player empowerment and FIFA eligibility changes mean that things are less straightforward today.

The ancient Greeks had a saying, often quoted by Socrates, which simply said “know thyself”. One interpretation being that before seeking to gain greater knowledge or expertise or before commenting on the actions of others one should first know your own being and nature.

Before we lambast Jack Grealish for not rushing into a decision perhaps Irish fans should consider the Football Association, structure, facilities and challenges that influence the development of football in Ireland and look to why we have not produced another three or four players of Grealish’s profile to replenish our ageing squad.

Jack Grealish’s predecessor Jack Reynolds thought he knew himself, raised and educated in County Antrim where he also played his football, he lined out for Ireland and like a character from Greek tragedy did not realise his error until it was too late.

Let’s allow Jack Grealish the time to get to “know himself”, trying to define who and what you are and what you will represent indelibly is hard enough for any of us, never mind a 19-year-old caught in the public gaze.

First published in May 2015 for backpagefootball.com

The story of Bruxelles- from star signs to rock stars

Posted on August 7, 2015 by gerrytastic

In the late 19th Century there was a revival of interest in those matters spiritual and supernatural. People of the 1880’s and 90’s rediscovered an interest in the forgotten pastime of astrology and this re-emergence of a fascination with astrology and horoscopes might explain the reason that the pub we know today as Bruxelles (more on that name shortly) was originally known as the Zodiac Lounge when it opened its doors for business way back in 1886.

The Zodiac Lounge was part of the famous Mooney’s pub group and was also known as the Grafton Mooney, much as the Parnell Heritage Pub on Parnell Street was known as the Parnell Mooney. The signs of the Zodiac that influenced the pub’s name are still clearly visible in Bruxelles to this day. Just look behind the main bar and you can still see the beautiful tiled mosaics of figures representing each of the star signs, these tiles are almost 130 years old and offer a connection back to the Victorian world of the Zodiac lounge.

But why is it called Bruxelles and why are all those flags hanging from the ceiling? And speaking of that, why are there no stars and stripes hanging there an American friend asks? Well, give me a minute and I’ll tell you. In the early 1970’s the bar came into the ownership of the Egan family who continue to run the pub to this day. The purchase of the pub happened to coincide with Ireland’s entry into the EU (or the EEC as it was then) and in the spirit of European harmony the pub was renamed Bruxelles after the Belgian capital. The flags that hang from the ceiling represent all the member nations of the EU so sorry to any visitors from across the Atlantic but that’s why you don’t see an American, or Canadian or Australian flag there.

While the 70’s brought big changes Bruxelles certainly hasn’t stood still in the intervening decades. The pub, and its famous basement bars became the hangout in Dublin for the emerging Rock scene and was famously frequented by Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy fame. It’s for this reason that when a statue was erected to Philo, that Harry Street, right next to the pub he knew so well seemed the natural location for its location. The connection with the Lynott clan continues to this day. Philomena, Phil’s Ma in case you didn’t already know, continues to drop by the pub from time to time and has played a big part in its latest development.

The basement bars, so long beloved of rockers, metallers and indie kids have been completely refurbished and extended. The Zodiac Lounge and the Flanders Lounge as they’re dubbed in acknowledgment to the venue’s history look fantastic and the Flanders Lounge has been decked out with a huge amount of Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy memorabilia kindly donated by Philomena. Phil has his own eponymous snug down the back of the bar and there is a new beer cellar that stretches right out under the flagstones of Grafton Street. It’s the perfect spot to try a pint of Bruxelles own bespoke lager!

The new basement bars are available for private hire and for live music and DJ nights. They’re also a treasure trove for any connoisseur of good beer or good rock music.

Originally poster to Dublintown.ie July 2015

Ireland versus England – The quest for footballing approval

Posted on August 7, 2015 by gerrytastic

Relationships can be tricky at the best of times. Even when they’re over feelings can remain, passions linger, doubts about whether breaking up was the right decision can cloud one’s judgement.

The unhealthiest of relationships can provoke these reactions and much as we like to think we’ve moved on and we’re being the bigger person we still crave attention; a reaction from our former partner.

Much of recent Irish history, and almost all of our football history has lived out this type of conflict with our spurned partners England. Identifying ourselves as our own strong, confident, distinct individual nation while also being constantly obsessed with either getting one over on the English (Euro 88!) or craving their attention and approval to give validation to our actions.

The footballing split between North and South, between IFA and FAI, was in many ways related back to our messy divorce with the English. Tensions between the footballing centres of Belfast and Dublin had been running high for some time but it was the refusal of a Glenavon side to travel to Dublin for an Irish Cup match against Shelbourne in 1921 due to the civil unrest in the city caused by the War of Independence that proved to be the final straw that triggered the schism.

The split in the associations meant that the FAI were out in the footballing cold as the other UK based associations continued to recognise the IFA as the only legitimate association for the island and refused to play matches involving FAI teams or to release British based players for international matches.

The FAI also lost out on participation in the prestigious home nation championship and a crucial source of revenue. Despite competing the 1924 Olympics it would be 1927 before the FAI would manage to arrange an international match when they lined out against Italy.

While the FAI were understandably put out by these developments and felt that the British associations were acting unfairly they still desperately craved their attention and approval. Britain was after all the home of football and was viewed as the pre-eminent soccer power at the time.

When a South American touring side visited Dublin in 1933 there was much excitement among the Irish media, Uruguay had won gold at the 1928 Olympics as well as the inaugural World Cup but journalists wondered whether South Americans were “capable of challenging English and Scottish supremacy at the game”.

For the Irish football public at the time the British associations were the be all and end all, although they were loath to admit it. Two games highlight this preoccupation more than most, if we look at the two home internationals that bookended World War II, the game against Hungary in March 1939 and the first ever international match against England in September 1946.

The Hungarians had been runners up to Italy in the 1938 World Cup and had played against Ireland twice before in recent years, on both occasions the matches took place in Dalymount Park. However on this occasion the match took place in the Mardyke, the grounds of University College Cork and home to League of Ireland side Cork F.C.

This was the first FAI organised international since the split that had been held outside of Dublin. So why were the World Cup runners up being asked to play in a University sports ground rather than at the larger capacity Dalymount? Well because there was a bigger game taking place in Dalymount just two days earlier on St. Patrick’s Day 1939, when the League of Ireland representative side were taking on their Scottish counterparts.

Even a game against a Scottish League XI was viewed as a huge mark of acceptance for a football association that was yet to reach its 20^th birthday. While the game in the Mardyke would attract 18,000 spectators, a respectable return, over 35,000 would pack into Dalymount Park to see the stars of the Scottish League.

Newspaper advertisement for the match against the Scottish League

Sean Ryan, writing in his history of the FAI, noted that as the match against the Scottish League was played at the larger venue and achieved double the attendance to be further evidence of the “massive inferiority complex which Irish soccer had towards Britain”.

He also remarked that commentators at the time were moved to describe the match against the Scottish League as “the most attractive and far reaching fixture that had been secured and staged by the South since they set out to fend for themselves” before adding “for 20 years various and futile efforts have been made to gain recognition and equal status with the big countries at home. Equality is admitted by the visit of the Scottish League.”

This notion of the “big countries” is crucial, by 1939 Ireland had already played against the likes of Italy (world cup winners in 1934 and 1938), Hungary, Germany, Poland and France but it was the visit of the Scottish League that was viewed as delivering some notion of football “equality”.

The Scottish FA wouldn’t accept the offer of a match against the Republic of Ireland until they were drawn together in a qualifying group for the 1962 World Cup so whether this game was actually a sign of acceptance by the Scots, or “equal status” is far from proven.

For the record a competitive Scottish League (valued at staggering £60,000 at the time) side lost 2-1 to their League of Ireland opposition, Johnstone of Sligo Rovers and Paddy Bradshaw of St. James Gate getting the goals. Five of those who played against the Scots on St. Patricks Day; Mick Hoy (Dundalk), Kevin O’Flanagan (Bohemians), Jimmy Dunne (Shamrock Rovers), Joe O’Reilly and goalscorer Bradshaw (both St. James Gate) left Dalymount and headed straight to Cork for the game against Hungary two days later.

Perhaps not the best preparation but slightly better organisation than that arranged for Raith Rovers Tim O’Keefe who missed the match as the ferry to Larne was delayed by two hours.

O’Keefe’s absence meant that there were no Cork men in the XI for the Hungary match which may go some way to explaining the less than electric atmosphere in the ground in what WP Murphy of the Irish Independent described as “one of the most apathetic crowds I have ever seen at an International”. Bradshaw was on the score sheet again along with Manchester United’s Johnny Carey as the Irish gained a 2-2 draw against the Hungarians.

The Scottish League visit and the unexpected victory provided a fillip for Ireland and perhaps suggested some level of acceptance from the home nations, however a full international match had yet to take place. World War II would disrupt football fixtures for the next six years and it was 1946 before an Irish national team took to the field again in a pair of away games, against Portugal (a 3-1 defeat) and Spain (a surprise 1-0 win).

The first home game would be in September against England, the English FA sending a letter a month earlier saying that they would play a game in Dublin two days after their fixture against Northern Ireland in Belfast. It was not an occasion that Official Ireland could pass up.

At an earlier international game against Poland in 1938 Irish President Douglas Hyde had been expelled by the GAA because of his presence at an Association Football match, in contravention of the infamous rule 27. This had provoked significant criticism of the GAA at the time in both the press and from government benches.

However, the arrival of England was too big a deal for the political elite of Ireland to miss out on. The game was seen as a sort of fence mending exercise with the English after the “Economic war” of the 1930’s and the verbal sparring of De Valera and Churchill during the war years.

De Valera hosted a pre-match reception for the teams and officials, President Sean T. O’Kelly was there for the pre-match introductions and Tánaiste Sean Lemass (alleged to have been a member of Michael Collins’ infamous Squad) was present in the stands for the match.

The English officials were even presented with a replica of the Ardagh Chalice as a memento of their visit. Clearly the Irish wanted to make a big impression on their illustrious visitors and had put a great deal of thought and effort into the reception and hospitality for their guests.

This did not however extend to the team selection, Shamrock Rovers’ Paddy Coad had to cancel his honeymoon to play against England while West Brom centre-forward Davy Walsh pulled out late with injury meaning a late call-up for Mick O’Flanagan of Bohemians as his replacement.

O’Flanagan ran a pub in Marlborough Street in Dublin City Centre and received a phone call there on the morning of the game from Tommy Hutchinson the Bohemian rep on the Irish team selection committee. He was told to get his boots and get to Dalymount Park for the game that evening.

As O’Flanagan recalled:

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

It was only when his brother Kevin, then of Arsenal arrived to the stadium straight from the boat that he realised that he would be playing alongside his younger brother against England.

Despite this usual shambolic preparation the Irish team more than put it up to their English opponents. The English had easily defeated Northern Ireland by seven goals to two only two days earlier but were up against more formidable opposition in Dublin.

With eight minutes to go it was still nil all but a young Tom Finney, making only his second appearance for England managed to beat Tommy Breen in the Irish goal. Ireland had pushed their illustrious guests all the way, Everton’s Alex Stephenson had rattled the English crossbar while Kevin O’Flanagan had been agonisingly close with a header.

The Irish had also had to play much of the game with effectively ten men after Huddersfield Town’s Bill Hayes was injured early on and, in the days before substitutions was shunted out to the wing, forcing Johnny Carey into the centre half position.

The Irish Times’ PD MacWeeney was moved to describe the match as “the most exciting International football match ever played at Dalymount Park” while his English equivalents were no less effusive in their descriptions, Henry Rose in the Daily Express was moved to write “If ever a team deserved to win Eire did. They out-played, out-fought, out-tackled, out-starred generally the cream of English talent, reduced the brilliant English team of Saturday to an ordinary looking side that never got on top of the job”.

Though the game could be seen as another in a long line of famous Irish “moral victories” or “glorious failures”, it certainly had the desired effect for the FAI as the game was both a huge commercial success and also gained the craved for recognition from the English.

While Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would avoid matches against the Irish further games against the English were more forthcoming. Within three years the Irish had even beaten the English on home soil when they emerged as 2-0 winners in Goodison Park.

And next week we get to live it all over again. While we’d like to think that we are not as needy and requiring of validation from England as we were in 1946 the game on Sunday has still captured the public imagination more than any other friendly.

Some commentators, like The Guardian’s Barney Ronay have gone so far as to call the game “pointless and a mistake” , and there are concerns about a recurrence of the ever-popular “Fuck the IRA” chants from sections of the English travelling support while almost 2000 “supporters” will be barred from travelling to Dublin for the game for fear of a repeat of the violent scenes of 1995.

English hooligans in the Lansdowne Road riot of 1995

Aside from that there is also the slightly thorny issue of Jack Grealish’s international allegiances as a sidebar to the game. But still we look to this game against the English and see a guaranteed full house for an international friendly, not something that can always be counted on.

The English FA for their part, perhaps cognisant of the events of ’95 made sure to include a friendly against Ireland in Wembley as part of their 150^th anniversary celebrations, along with friendlies against original international opponents Scotland and prestige matches against the likes of Germany and Brazil. Were we secretly pleased that they invited us to the party and have chosen to return the favour by coming to Dublin?

It’s 20 years since the debacle in Lansdowne Road and 30 years since Ireland have lost to England, whether that has lessened any Irish inferiority complex will be seen on Sunday.

Originally posted on backpagefootball.com June 2015

Ireland, Aimar and the promise of the 1997 World youth championship

Posted on August 7, 2015 by gerrytastic

A little over two weeks ago Pablo Aimar retired, a decision that attracted little comment in this part of the world. The former Valencia, Benfica and Argentina star had been trying to regain fitness at Buenos Aires giants River Plate, the club where he first made his name, but had been hampered by ongoing injury problems and had only made a single substitute appearance for Los Millonarios.

In his first spell there Diego Maradona was moved to declare that “Pablo is the only current footballer I’d pay to watch” and described Aimar as the “best player in Argentina over the last couple of years and is even more talented than Riquelme or Saviola”.

Only slightly taller than El Diego and blessed with a similar array of skills, it wasn’t long before Aimar was given the dreaded “next Maradona” tag ahead of his move to Spain with Valencia. With his slight frame, graceful balletic touch and outrageous trickery, it’s easy to see why a current Argentine star like Lionel Messi had idolised Aimar as a youngster, and claimed that he was one of the players he looked up to.

Aimar falls into the category of great Argentine players who have come to retirement having never won a senior international trophy, a gifted generation that saw the overlapping talents of Juan Sebastian Veron, Hernan Crespo, Juan Roman Riquelme, and many others who have left the game without a World Cup or Copa America to their names.

But 18 years ago it looked like things would be much different, because in Malaysia in the summer of 1997, Argentina had just won the FIFA World Youth Championships, a tournament I had watched with rapt attention, not just because of the talents of Pablo Aimar, but because the team they beat in the semi-finals, en route to ultimate victory, was Ireland.

1997 was a strange time to be an Irish football fan. As a teenage supporter I had grown up in an era of success and expectation based on the successful qualifying campaigns for Euro ’88 and the World Cups of 1990 and ’94. However the qualifiers for Euro 1996 had changed a great deal of that expectation into a climate of trepidation, and although results had been initially encouraging, things quickly went downhill with Ireland managing only a 0-0 draw away to Liechtenstein and then losing 3-1 to Austria in Dublin.

This meant that Ireland needed a playoff victory against a youthful Dutch side, full of Ajax players who had just won the Champions League, to progress to England. A two-nil defeat courtesy of a pair of Patrick Kluivert goals ensured the end of the Jack Charlton era, and for the first time in a decade, the Irish national team had to face into a period of uncertainty with their talismanic manager gone and a core group of players edging towards retirement.

But fast forward a year later and what appeared upon the horizon only Brian Kerr and Noel O’Reilly leading their bunch of impressive young players to Malaysia and the FIFA World Youth Championships. There was at least a hint of promise that the generation of McGrath, Moran, Houghton and Aldridge could and would be replaced by young players of quality.

The team that went to Malaysia could have been even stronger but for the fact that the new senior team manager Mick McCarthy chose to stop Ian Harte and David Connolly from travelling. Both players had made their senior debuts the year before and McCarthy wanted them to rest and focus on establishing themselves at their clubs ahead of the new season.

Similarly Everton’s young defender Richard Dunne was unavailable due to injury. The difference between 1997 and the footballing landscape today is noticeable; Connolly was about to move to Dutch giants Feyenoord, while Dunne and Harte were establishing themselves as teenagers in Premier League sides.

The Irish were in a tough group with Ghana, China and the USA with no match being decided by more than a single goal. Things didn’t get off to a great start with Ireland going down 2-1 to Ghana in the opening game although Trevor Molloy, then of Athlone Town got his first goal of the tournament. A 2-1 over the United States and a 1-1 draw with China followed, with Micky Cummins then of Middlesboro getting on the scoresheet in both games, enough to secure the second qualifying spot in the group.

Next up was the round of 16 match against Morocco who had also finished second in their group behind eventual finalists Uruguay. Ireland opened the scoring with a goal from Neale Fenn before Morocco equalised through a Niall Inman own goal. The game went to extra time before being eventually decided by a 97^th minute Damien Duff strike to set up a quarter final meeting with Spain.

The Spanish have tended to be the European masters at the various underage level and their under 20 side contained the likes of David Albelda and Gerard Lopez, and while the Irish rode their luck in the game, they ultimately emerged victorious, that man Molloy on the scoresheet again scoring with a second half penalty, his third goal of the tournament.

This side had now progressed further than any other Irish side ever had in a tournament, to the semi-finals against Argentina. Prior to the Spanish game Kerr had rallied his young charges with that very thought:

Just think, you guys may never again get the chance to play against Argentina, even if you all go on to become senior internationals. The senior World Cup comes around only every four years so think of how many opportunities you will have to meet Argentina during your career.

Kerr’s rousing words had the desired effect against Spain and Ireland would now face a side containing the likes of Walter Samuel, Juan Roman Riquelme, Esteban Cambiasso, Diego Plancente and Pablo Aimar. The Argentines had already dispatched an English side containing the likes of Danny Murphy, Michael Owen, Jamie Carragher and Kieron Dyer, with goals from Riquelme and Aimar sending Ted Powell’s side home and next knocked out the free-scoring Brazilians who themselves had smashed ten past a hapless Belgian side in the round of 16.

In what was a tight game, a somewhat nervous and fatigued Irish side succumbed to a Bernardo Romeo strike early in the second half. Six games in 15 days in the heat and humidity of Malaysia had taken its toll, and while there was a late Irish rally and a missed chance by Glen Crowe in the closing minutes the Argentines were the deserved winners.

They would defeat Uruguay 2-1 in the final three days later, while Ireland, the last European side left in the tournament, would take the bronze medal, with goals from Dessie Baker and Damien Duff securing a 2-1 win over Ghana and revenge for their opening day defeat.

Watching this all unfold in an apartment in Gran Canaria I was convinced I was watching the future of Irish football in action, I indulged in those misguided games of what-iffery that occasionally fill newspaper column inches, trying to picture an Irish Senior XI in 5 years’ time. This is the type of thing that comes back to haunt you when you predict that Neil Mellor will help England’s win Euro 2008. But it seemed inconceivable at the time that players from that squad wouldn’t make the next step.

Damien Duff, the youngest player in the squad was a bona fide star and already looked the finished article, he even drew favourable comparisons from various media outlets with a certain Liam Brady. I was convinced that Derek O’Connor would provide competition for the No. 1 jersey with a youthful Shay Given, that Robbie Ryan could surely be the next Denis Irwin, Colin Hawkins would provide competition and physicality at centre half while the composed captain; Thomas Morgan would help protect the back four alongside Roy Keane in the senior team. And surely the top scorer, Trevor Molloy, released by Shamrock Rovers only six months earlier, was only weeks away from a move cross channel?

Of course things don’t work like that. Liam Tuohy’s side that got to the 1985 Youth Championships didn’t contain a single player who would win a senior cap and Kerr’s squad didn’t fare much better. Although Duff would win a century of caps for Ireland, the only other team member who would be capped at senior level was Glen Crowe, winning two caps during his first spell with Bohemians. The one other player to win a senior cap for Ireland from that tournament was Jon Macken, then part of the England squad, who would switch his allegiance to Ireland and won a single cap in 2004.

Perhaps these under-age tournaments are always disappointments when viewed retrospectively. Pablo Aimar, voted as one of the players of the tournament and dubbed as one of many new Maradona’s, has been viewed, for all his skill, flair and finesse as an example of unfulfilled potential. Despite two La Liga titles, a Portuguese League title and a UEFA Cup win, there is a sense that he could have achieved more.

While Duff won a hundred caps for Ireland, played at a World Cup and a European Championship and won two Premier League titles with Chelsea, could or should some of his team mates achieved similar success? Players like Fenn, Crowe, Morgan, Hawkins, Dessie Baker and Trevor Molloy had successful careers in the League of Ireland, Robbie Ryan and David Worrell had solid careers in England, but others, such as goalkeeper Derek O’Connor had drifted out of league football within a year.

Part of the joy of such tournaments is the glimpse they give of a potential that has yet to be fulfilled, the glimpse of infinite footballing possibilities, the moment watching the emergence of a small, slightly-built Argentine playmaker and knowing he may never be Maradona but suspecting that maybe, just maybe, he could be. It’s the joy of seeing an 18-year-old Damien Duff playing uninhibited street football and skinning full backs with chalk on his boots.

Just think of Burt Lancaster’s Moonlight Graham or Kevin Costner as Crash Davis in Bull Durham, minor league players who fleetingly tasted ‘success’ even if that success lasted just a single inning in the Majors. For all my naivety as a 15-year-old watching a group of young men, three and four years my senior, there was that hope that they could populate our next great international side.

To finish on another film reference, I’m brought to mind of what Joey ‘the Lips’ Fagan says at the end of The Commitments when imagining a different future for the band, one of success and record contracts – “Where’s the romance in that?”.

Originally posted on backpagefooball.com in July 2015

The story behind a pub called the Confession Box

Posted on August 7, 2015 by gerrytastic

The Confession Box pub resides snuggly at 88 Marlborough Street on the ground floor of a fine old Georgian building at the side of Boyers Department Store. At Confession Box you are guaranteed a good pint & no penance.

The name might seem curious at first but when you consider the size of the cosy confines of the pub and the close proximity to the neoclassical grandeur of St. Mary’s Pro- Cathedral, “the Pro” as it is still known by many Dubs, the pubs’ title begins to make a bit more sense.

There is another reported reason for the name of the pub that dates back all the way to the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921). During that conflict the last know excommunications from the Catholic Church in Ireland took place and were directed against the men involved in the ongoing rebellion. At the forefront of issuing these excommunications was Bishop Daniel Cohalan of Cork and it was rumoured that many of those who were excommunicated, including that famous Corkonian Michael Collins, would drop into what was then the “Maid of Erin” pub and would receive Communion and Confession from sympathetic priests from the nearby Pro-Cathedral. Thus the pub earned the nickname of “The Confession Box”.

There is still a great deal of memorabilia adorning the walls of the pub today from that time period with “the Big Fella” featuring prominently.

These were not the Confession Box’s only claims to fame however. In 1793 the building was the birthplace of Dionysius Lardner the noted scientist and economist who became infamous for his rivalry with the most famous engineer in the Industrial revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He was also reportedly the father of the famous playwright Dion Boucicault, who features elsewhere on DublinTown.

Many years later the pub came into the ownership of the noted sportsman Michael O’Flanagan and was renamed “O’Flanagan’s” until 1965. Michael was a great all-round athlete and was the younger brother of the famous Dr. Kevin O’Flanagan. Michael and Kevin are unique in the world of sport, both committed amateurs, they are the only brothers who have represented their country at senior level in both soccer and rugby. Michael who was playing for Dublin club Bohemians when he won his only cap for the Irish football team in 1946, a late call up to replace injured striker Davy Walsh in a game against England at Dalymount Park. His brother Kevin, then playing for Arsenal only realised he would be lining out alongside his brother when he turned up in the dressing room an hour before kick-off! Mick was also a member of the Irish Grand Slam winning rugby team of 1948, winning his only cap in the 6-0 win over Scotland. Such was the connections with the pub that years after Mick’s sporting retirement a group of sports journalists who were in for a pint decided to found the Soccer Writers Association of Ireland (SWAI) there and then. An association that exists to this day.

Today the pub is probably best known for its pints of Guinness, it has been voted the best pint in Dublin by 98FM listeners for the last two years in their Best of Dublin awards. And for their popular live trad music evenings. The pub has recently been refurbished although the changes have been subtle and have preserved the intimated, old world atmosphere so beloved of locals and tourists alike. So next time you’re on Marlborough Street drop in for a pint. We don’t think they do communion wafers anymore.

Originally posted on Dublintown.ie in July 2015

A Springbok ran in Solitude – South Africa’s international debut

Posted on August 6, 2015 by gerrytastic

South Africa were there from the beginning of organised football in Africa, the game arrived from Britain in the late 19^th Century and the national association first affiliated to FIFA in 1910.

As an early African member of FIFA in the 1950’s they agitated for greater representation for African football and in 1957, along with Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan they were founders of CAF (Confederation of African Football) and were almost among the original participants in the African Cup of Nations, however it was at this point that the thorny issue of Apartheid intruded on proceedings.

As the Sudanese delegate Abdim Halim Mohammed recalled at the time, the South African delegate was:

A chap called Fred Fell, not an Afrikaner but British. We accepted him and accepted South Africa. He accepted we would host the first African Cup of Nations in Khartoum…Then we came to that “area”. He said the government had told him it is either a pure white team or a black team. We said we don’t accept that. We want black and white.

South Africa were understandably disqualified as a result of their intransigence on the issue of a mixed national team and it would be almost forty years before a South African side would compete in the Cup of Nations.

When they did enter the competitions it was as hosts in 1996, Nelson Mandela was President, and a multicultural South African team would emerge as Champions with Mark Williams grabbing both goals in the final against Tunisia.

Since the 90s post-apartheid South Africa has competed in, and hosted a further Cup of Nations as well as the 2010 World Cup. However their long, controversial and turbulent international history began not in Cape Town or Johannesburg, or even on the continent of Africa, but on a trip to Ireland and in the cities of Dublin and Belfast.

Back in 1899 a football team from the Orange Free State had toured England, notable for the fact that it was an all-black team, while in 1906 a white side had toured South America and played in both Brazil and Argentina, however the Union of South Africa was only formally established in 1910 bringing together four previously separate British colonies.

The new football team of this new nation would join FIFA but wouldn’t play a formal international until September 1924 when “The Springboks” came to Europe. Their first port of call for the all-white touring side was Dublin, and their first opponents Bohemian F.C.

By that stage the South African government had already brought in one of first pieces of Apartheid legislation, the 1913 Natives Land Act which limited the ownership of land in South Africa by the majority black population to just 8% of the total area of the country.

While the majority of apartheid legislation was introduced in the late 40s be Prime-minister DF Malan the preceding decades had seen the steady erosion of the rights of the black South African population. Despite these rulings the sporting relations between Britain (and Ireland) with South Africa were flourishing in 1924.

Not only was the football team visiting but in rugby, the British and Irish Lions were on tour in South Africa, while the South African Cricket team was just completing a summer tour of England.

The visiting football team would play three games in Ireland, the first on 30^th August versus Bohemians before travelling north of the recently created border to take on the Irish National Team (the IFA selection which from this point on will be referred to as Northern Ireland) in Belfast and a North-West XI playing in Derry in September.

The split between the Belfast based IFA and the recently formed FAI of the Free State was still a sensitive issue, with both associations claiming exclusive use of the name “Ireland” while each association continued to select players from the whole of the island. As just one example of the complexity of this cross-border situation the Free State FAI Cup holders at the time of South Africa’s arrival were the Belfast based Alton United.

There were now two leagues and two national teams on the island of Ireland and although the FAI had sent a side to compete in the 1924 Olympics that summer the fledgling association had yet to play a FIFA recognised match. It was under these circumstances that South Africa; an amateur side at the time would take on not the Free State XI but the reigning League of Ireland champions (and fellow amateurs) Bohemians.

They would meet in Dalymount Park and the touring side would get off to a great start in front of a large Dublin crowd with the South Africans eventually running out 4-2 winners. Bohs were without the influential Bertie Kerr who was injured but did have players of quality such as Paddy O’Kane, Dave Roberts and Jack McCarthy in their side who would all go on to win full caps for Ireland. Incidentally Bohemians were captained by Billy Otto, who had been born in South Africa.

The South African goals would come from Eric Stuart of Western Province, Jim Green of Transvaal and a brace from a 20-year old-striker named Gordon Hodgson.

Hodgson, the son of English emigrants, had worked as a boiler maker in his native South Africa while also lining out for the Transvaal side. Like many of the touring South African side he was physically imposing, standing at six foot one and weighing over 13 stone.

Early reports of the South African tour suggest that their forwards were somewhat rough diamonds in terms of finishing, their good attacking play being undone by some poor marksmanship, Hodgson, however, would certainly prove to be a formidable goal-scorer.

The South African side would spend three months touring Ireland, England and the Netherlands and their teams’ performances, including wins over Chelsea, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Everton would generate significant interest in a number of the Springbok players and several would pursue professional careers in England.

Gordon Hodgson would join Liverpool and make the biggest impression, along with him goalkeeper Arthur Riley and Glasgow-born fullback Jimmy Gray would all join the Reds in 1925. Gray would make a single appearance before joining Exeter City where he played until 1936, while Riley would have to bide his time at Anfield as he would have to replace the legendary Elisha Scott in goal.

Scott was (and remains) Liverpool’s longest serving player and an Anfield hero and was also first choice keeper for Northern Ireland. It would be the 1928-29 season before Riley got any sort of extended run in the Liverpool team though he would eventually amass over 300 appearances for the club.

Hodgson would become a record breaker on the red half of Merseyside, becoming Liverpool’s record goal scorer, a title he would hold for three decades before the arrival of Roger Hunt in the 1960s. Initial interest in Hodgson was piqued when he scored a hat-trick in front of the Kop for South Africa against Liverpool during their tour, something guaranteed to catch the club’s attention.

He would score 233 league goals for Liverpool (including a still standing club record 17 hat-tricks) during his 11 years at Anfield, before, at the age of 32 he was signed by Aston Villa for £3,000. His spell at Villa would be short and he would move to Leeds United for £1,500 in 1937, eventually scoring an impressive 53 goals in 85 appearances for the Yorkshire club.

Gordon Hodgson of Liverpool, South Africa and later England

Hodgson still sits fourth on the all-time top flight scoring chart in English football, by his retirement he had 288 league goals, five above Alan Shearer, and only behind Jimmy Greaves, Steve Bloomer and his contemporary, and city rival Dixie Dean.

It is perhaps because of Dean that Hodgson is not more well know. Liverpool have had their fair share of prolific forwards but what separates Hodgson from the likes of Hunt, Keegan, Dalglish and Rush is that those later era strikers were all trophy winners.

Hodgson played for Liverpool during a trophy-less period, made all the worse by the fact that Everton would win two league titles and an FA Cup during Hodgson’s time there, with Dean being recognised as the greatest centre forward in the world and one of sports’ biggest names.

Despite the obvious scoring prowess of Hodgson he failed to find the net in his next game in Ireland after his brace against Bohemians. In fact contemporary reports mentioned his poor finishing in the game against Northern Ireland; the game that would go down in South African football history as their first international.

The match would take place in Solitude, the home ground of Belfast club Cliftonville in front of a crowd of 6,000, generating the princely sum of £254 in gate receipts on the 24^th of September 1924. The South Africans had made some changes to their starting line-up since the match at Dalymount, in came Williams, Touhy, Jacobi and Murray. Out went Howell, Hicking, West and Walker. They had played four games in the London area in the intervening three weeks, their most recent match a 4-2 win over Second Division Chelsea with Hodgson grabbing two.

The Northern Irish didn’t field their strongest side for the game. There was no Elisha Scott to face his Liverpool successor, nor was their star forward, Sheffield United’s Billy Gillespie in their line-up. In fact as a cost saving measure the IFA chose to select only players from the Irish League to save on travelling costs.

This all-domestic XI did cause some confusion as to the status of the game both at the time and subsequently. Some reports, including the Irish Times, referred to the Irish side as an Irish League XI rather than a full national team and for many years the IFA did not list the match as a full international, recognising it only as an amateur match.

The South Africans would also play both the English and Welsh amateur sides on their trip but these would not count as full internationals.

However the game against Northern Ireland has been recognised as a full international since 2001. While the Irish side were all home based there were paid professionals among their ranks including Thomas “Tucker” Croft who had scored the winner against England only a year earlier.

They wore the St. Patrick’s blue jersey of the full International side rather than the green jerseys associated with the Irish amateur side and the match was advertised at the time as a full international by the IFA.

The Irish side took the lead early through Frank Rushe who got on the end of a free kick after ten minutes. Rushe was born in Bessbrook in County Armagh. At the time of the South Africa match, his only senior cap, he was playing for Distillery in the Irish League but had spent the previous season with Dublin side Shelbourne who had finished runners-up to Bohemians in the Free State league.

The South Africans would strike back though, just before half time David James Murray getting them back on level terms before Jim Green, who had also scored in Dalymount, grabbed the winner 15 minutes from time.

Irish football correspondents noted the improvement in play from the South Africans since the match in Dublin and the physical disparity between the well-built Springboks and the less robust Irishmen was commented upon by a number of columnists.

It was also noted that the margin of victory could have been greater for the South Africans if it had not been for their wasteful finishing, with particular mention for young Hodgson who seemed to be having a rare off day.

The South Africans would spend the next three months touring Britain and the Netherlands, including another full international, a 2-1 defeat to the Dutch national team in Amsterdam, though these would be the last games played for the national team by men like Hodgson and Riley.

As mentioned, Hodgson would even line-out three times for his new homeland, England. While he and Riley would have successful careers in England, making almost 800 league appearances between them.

It would be almost thirty years before a black South African would play professionally in Europe when Steve Mokone signed for Coventry in 1955 before playing in Holland, Italy and Spain. Two years after Mokone’s move to Coventry his fellow countryman David Julius would sign for Sporting Lisbon.

Due to the racist policies of apartheid South Africa and the various bans, suspensions and boycotts that resulted, neither man would ever play for the land of their birth, Julius would end up donning the red of Portugal rather than the green and gold of South Africa.

While Hodgson scored for England against Wales during the second of his three caps he at least had the opportunity to play for South Africa against Northern Ireland and the Netherlands. In many ways the tour of 1924 was a false dawn in international footballing terms for South Africa.

The ruling government’s refusal to allow mixed teams meant their expulsion from CAF, FIFA, the Cup of Nations and the World Cup. It was only in the mid-90s that the football isolation of the nation would properly end.

While the record books show that South Africa made its international debut in Belfast in 1924 perhaps that game should have an asterisk against it, and not because the IFA selection they faced included only domestic based players.

Despite the quality of players like Gordon Hodgson and Arthur Riley a truly representative South African XI wouldn’t make its international bow until the Bafana Bafana defeated Cameroon in Durban 68 years later.

Originally posted on backpagefootball.com

Blogging beginnings

Posted on August 6, 2015 by gerrytastic

I’ve been writing bits and pieces about football in general and Bohemian F.C. in particular for a number of years now. I always avoided trying to start my own blog preferring to write pieces for other websites who were either in the process of establishing themselves or were already well established. They already had readers and an audience and I’ve never felt comfortable chasing that and, well it seemed like a much easier way to get stuff read.

The reason I’ve started this blog now is that I wanted to have all the various articles I’ve written in the one place and maybe have a space to put up bits and pieces that are of even more of a minority interest than usual.

What you’ll find is a good bit of Bohs stuff, some general football musings and even a few other bits I’ve done on Dublin history. So please feel free to share, comment or complain.

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The Confession Box pub resides snuggly at 88 Marlborough Street on the ground floor of a fine old Georgian building at the side of Boyers Department Store. At Confession Box you are guaranteed a good pint & no penance.

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