The Little Book of Irish Football E-Book

Barry Flynn

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 274

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Did You Know? - On 6 February 1961, Danny Blanchflower became the first, and only, person to refuse to appear as the subject of This is Your Life when he turned down Eamonn Andrews live on BBC TV. - From 1882 until 1931, international teams representing the Irish Football Association wore sky blue jerseys rather than green ones. - In February 1963, when football grounds in England were unplayable due to the 'big freeze', Manchester United played three of their games in Ireland. The Little Book of Irish Football is a compendium of fascinating, obscure and entertaining stories about the Beautiful Game on the Emerald Isle. It brings to life some of the long-lost tales about how the game grew and thrived across the island. It also explores the division of football in Ireland and the famous players and teams that have stolen the headlines over the decades. The various chapters bring to life the highs and lows of Irish football, telling tales of glory and strife amid adversity. A reliable and quirky guide, this little reference book can be dipped into time and again to reveal something new about the fascinating history of association football in Ireland, as well as the many characters and fans who have brought the game the life over the decades.

Leseprobe

To Katrina,Méabh and Deirbhile

Illustrations by Conor McClure.

First published 2025

The History Press

97 St George’s Place, Cheltenham,

Gloucestershire, GL50 3QB

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

© Barry Flynn, 2025

Illustrations © Conor McClure

The right of Barry Flynn to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 80399 854 1

Typesetting and origination by The History Press.

Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ Books Limited, Padstow, Cornwall.

eBook converted by Geethik Technologies

CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

1   The Chaotic Early Years of ‘Foot-Ball’ on the Emerald Isle

2   The Irish Embrace the Association Game

3   The Competition Gets Tough as the Game Thrives

4   Trouble and Strife as the Association Splits

5   Divided Loyalties in Football and Politics

6   Legendary Grounds, Tragic Tales and Shrewd Signings

7   Belfast Celtic, Tricolours and International Ambiguity

8   Progress, Clerical Interference and World Cup Glory

9   Characters, Big Names and Epic Performances

10   A Footballing Fiesta and Epic Games From the 1960s

11   Old Rules and the Troubles Impact the Beautiful Game

12   1980s: Farce, Bad Luck and International Brilliance

13   A Golden Era for the Republic Under Jackie

14   Miscellaneous Tales, Trivia and Legends

FOREWORD

On Saturday 28 April 1979, Cliftonville won the Irish Cup. I know. I was there, commentating on the game for BBC Northern Ireland. This was obviously of huge significance to Cliftonville Football Club, not least because seventy years had passed since they last won the trophy.

But it was also of huge significance to me. My dad, Jim Hamilton, played at centre forward for the club in the 1930s, scoring a hat-trick against Queen’s Island on his first team debut. And when I was a very small boy, he introduced me to what would become my greatest sporting love by taking me to their home ground, Solitude, every other Saturday to watch his team in action.

Cliftonville – the Reds – just had to become my team too. What greater thrill, then, to follow them to the Cup Final against Portadown and, what’s more, to take my seat in the commentary box.

They went behind to an early goal, equalised, then took the lead just after half-time. It was all square again in the seventy-seventh minute and as the clock ticked down, a draw seemed inevitable.

‘Inside the final minute of normal time. It’s four years since the Irish Cup Final had to go to a replay,’ I said as Cliftonville mounted one last attack. ‘Will Tony Bell fix it? Yes!’

Cliftonville, as we learn from The Little Book of Irish Football, is the oldest club in Ireland, founded, as happenstance would have it, exactly a century before that historic afternoon in 1979. For all but seven of those years, they had been an amateur club, the Irish League’s regular whipping boys. Anything other than a defeat on one of those boyhood visits to Solitude would have been a rarity. This truly was a cup for the ages.

Barry Flynn has filled these pages with the stories like mine that have woven the fabric of Irish football, our shared and glorious obsession. This is the book I’ve been waiting for.

George Hamilton

2024

INTRODUCTION

This labour of love is my contribution to the quest to place within context the rich and remarkable story of association football in Ireland. It would be impossible to write a definitive history of the sport in Ireland, but I have tried to recount some tales from yesteryear that may have been lost in the mists of time. In choosing the stories within the book, I hope that each tale will entertain, amuse and provide an insight into the game, its characters and great exponents of the ‘round ball game’, both north and south of the border.

The history of football in Ireland, just like the island politically, is a divided one. Yet, for the first forty-one years, it was a shared history. The sport was governed by the Irish Football Association (IFA), which had been formed in Belfast in 1880. The fact that football was administered from Belfast led to disagreement within the wider IFA, with southern clubs feeling that there was an inherent bias in favour of the north. There is no doubt that there was an element of truth in such concerns. However, association football established itself in the north-east of Ireland at a faster rate than it did in the rest of the country. The fact remained that administrative power lay in Belfast, and it was a case of catch-up for the rest of the island.

The tensions between north and south festered for many years. In 1901, the IFA agreed finally to play an international in Dublin after almost twenty unbroken years of Belfast hosting Ireland’s games. In 1906, Shelbourne won the Irish Cup, and it seemed that southern sides were becoming a match for the northern hegemony.

Impinging on the growth of football at that time were the political upheavals associated with the prospect of Home Rule and the eventual partition of Ireland, and such upheavals added to the divide between north and south. Belfast had its own sectarian tensions that were played out periodically at local grounds. To say that there were stresses associated with football in Ireland would be an understatement.

In 1914, Ireland won its first-ever British Championship, but that team’s potential was to be curtailed by the onset of the First World War. On the resumption of football after a four-year hiatus, a new political reality impacted on the game. Football continued and so did the tensions.

By 1920, the sport was in trouble, both on and off the pitch. Belfast Celtic withdrew from football as Belfast stood on the cusp of civil war. But it took a disagreement on the venue for an Irish Cup semi-final replay between Shelbourne and Glenavon to split the IFA in two. The IFA ruled that Belfast should host the game, since a military curfew was in place in Dublin, while the Leinster FA insisted on Dalymount Park. There was to be no resolution, and the Leinster FA withdrew from the IFA, and the game, just like the island, was partitioned.

In writing this book on a thirty-two-county basis, I hope to celebrate a shared legacy before and after the split – the good times and the bad times, as well as the characters and players who have provided millions with moments of joy and despair. One thing that is apparent throughout the book is that both international sides have been punching above their weight on the world stage. Such struggles make their success even sweeter.

The exploits of Northern Ireland in 1958, 1982 and 1986, or the fantastic era that the Republic of Ireland enjoyed under Jack Charlton will never be forgotten by those who lived through those days. Nor, indeed, will the glory nights for local clubs, such as the famous evening when Glentoran held Benfica at the Oval in 1967, or the day Athlone Town were a missed penalty away from beating AC Milan in 1975.

In these chapters, I try and capture the glory days and, sadly, the many occasions when Irish clubs have suffered results that have proved to be a reality check at both international and European level. There is a theory that to follow Irish football you need to be an eternal optimist – that is true. We are an island that is well versed in watching a side snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Managers, players and fans from this part of the world fully understand the term ‘morale-boosting defeat’ – it is in our nature.

However, football in Ireland today remains vibrant and defiant. To understand how the sport has survived and thrived, it is important to appreciate football’s resilience. That resilience has been built over generations by fans, administrators and players across the island. It is a legacy built also on grit and determination, wit and characters. When it comes to football, Irish people have acquired a highly developed sense of the ridiculous. I hope that the following chapters will illustrate, with gusto, the aforementioned qualities.

Barry Flynn

2024

1

THE CHAOTIC EARLY YEARS OF ‘FOOT-BALL’ ON THE EMERALD ISLE

A KICKABOUT AND A FACTION FIGHT

The history of football in Ireland, like most things on this island, is somewhat prolonged and complicated. Prior to the introduction of formalised rules during the Victorian era, semi-regulated versions of the game were played across the country. Such games, while a simple form of community recreation, were frequently reported in the pages of the contemporary newspapers – but not for sporting reasons. The occasions were frequently marred by faction fights, usually exacerbated by alcohol.

One of the earliest reports of trouble associated with a ‘foot-ball’ game, took place on the northside of Dublin at Mount Eccles, which was reported quite vividly in the Saunders’s News-Letter in April 1780:

There is a field near Mount Eccles, where a number of disorderly fellows assemble on Sundays to play football and to prevent which practice the proprietor of the field employed Egan, a constable, and some others to watch them yesterday. The fellows came there in the evening as usual but were prevented by the above watchmen which they resented by language and throwing of stones on which Egan fired a blunderbuss among the crowd which unfortunately lodged part its contents the body of baker’s apprentice, who was carried to the Inns Quay infirmary with little hopes of recovery. Egan was committed by justice Graham to Newgate.

In Dublin, in particular, games were played on open greens, such as Merrion Square and St Stephen’s Green, but there were certain issues that caused difficulties for the authorities. Since many games were held on a Sunday, the crime of ‘Sabbath breaking’ was deemed unacceptable, while the prospect of gatherings becoming an occasion for fomenting political dissent caused concern to the authorities.

In March 1785, the behaviour of crowds observing football at an open space close to the Grand Canal in Dublin prompted John Sankey of the Royal Dublin Militia to visit the scene and warn the crowds that he would not be tolerating such behaviour ‘on his watch’. The Saunders’s News-Letter of 10 June 1785 reported that Sankey witnessed a ‘scandalous meeting of vagabonds indulging in football, wrestling, gambling quarrelling and fighting’. An order by Sankey for the crowd to disperse was ignored by the multitudes present, but order was soon restored when an additional platoon was summoned and ‘sufficient force’ was used to disperse the crowd.

‘THE DEMON OF DISCORD’ – WHISKEY BLAMED AS FOOTBALL GAME FOLLOWED BY VIOLENCE

Further to the shenanigans in Dublin, the tranquillity of the quiet Quaker village of Ballitore, County Kildare, was broken quite abruptly in February 1792 when a bout of post-match whiskey drinking ended in uproar. While the game had finished ‘in perfect harmony’, the occasion soon descended into a free for all in a hostelry outside the village, with many ‘broken heads’ resulting from the actions of those of the ‘lower orders’, who had been ‘stimulated by liquor’. The ructions at the game were, indeed, newsworthy, as a report in the Sheffield Public Advertiser of 2 March 1792 recorded:

A match at football between two teams in the neighbourhood of Timolin, County Kildare, in Ireland, has been attended with excess particularly distressing. The lads met on the green at Ballitore from whence, when the sport was over, they, with many of the spectators adjourned to this place, in perfect humour; but the demon of discord, whiskey, soon introduced a battle, in which all were engaged and almost all suffered.

A man who had for some time made a desperate fight was at length brought to the ground by the stroke of a bottle from the wife of a person whom he had just knocked down; and the woman’s feelings for her husband, being stimulated by liquor, cut the head of his opponent to pieces and immediately received from one of the combatants a casual blow that fractured her own; there is little prospect of their recovery.

Two men in prison in Athy are likewise despaired of and a multitude of others are dangerously wounded. Ill fares the land where the industry, morals, health, and even lives of the lower orders of its inhabitants, are to sacrifice; and ill must it ever fare while the vitals of the country are sacrificed to support it.

While the peace of Timolin was disturbed by an alcoholic post-match fracas, in Ulster, there is evidence from 1860 of millworkers from the Quaker town of Bessbrook, County Armagh, enjoying a sober day out in Castleblaney, in which ‘foot-ball’ was the chief amusement. The Belfast News Letter reported that after the amusements, the excursionists were given a lecture on temperance by Mr J. Whitfield of Newry and with alcohol very much absent from proceedings, the day passed off ‘delightfully’.

DUBLIN’S HOSPITAL FIELDS – FOOTBALL, FOUL PLAY AND DEATH

Throughout the 1790s, the practice of crowds gathering to play football on the Sabbath day caused endless headaches for the magistrates and the military. With rebellion and sedition prevalent at the time, the authorities were proactive in keeping the peace and crowds meeting to play football were not welcomed nor tolerated. One area of Dublin that was noted for its acrimonious footballing occasions were the Hospital Fields, which ran from the River Liffey to the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham.

In June 1792, Dublin Town Major (Chief of Police) Henry Charles Sirr, who famously arrested the rebel patriot Robert Emmet during the 1803 Irish uprising, was summoned to the Hospital Fields one Sunday to break up a mob who were amusing themselves at football and fighting. The game had descended into a faction fight, but as Sirr and the military arrived, the crowd took flight with the sound of muskets being fired over their heads.

In the confusion, one man was stabbed as he tried to negotiate a ditch and was found dead that evening. At the coroner’s inquest, the jury found a verdict of wilful murder against James O’Brien. The deceased was a publican from Dublin’s Essex Street named James Hoey, who left behind a ‘large and helpless family’.

THE YOUNG HOOLIGAN OF NENAGH, CO. TIPPERARY

The game of football is well known for arousing passions, both on and off the field. Such passions, particularly when family pride is at stake, can become violent, as the following example illustrates. In this case, the reaction of the ‘little fellow’ in defence of his family’s honour most definitely fell into the straight red card category, as the Nenagh Guardian of 18 January 1843 reported:

On Wednesday afternoon, an affray took place in a field behind that fashionable and salubrious locality, Falvey’s Lane, Summerhill, Nenagh, where some boys had been playing football and a quarrel ensued, with the Clarke’s, being worsted by the Flannery’s, a little fellow, about twelve-years-old, ran home and returned to the field armed with a noggin maker’s whittle,1 with which he came behind John Flannery, an elder brother of one of the original parties, and stabbed him in the right side, passing between the ribs upwards through the diaphragm, and penetrating the lungs.

He lost an immensity of blood, and now lies in a most precarious state, the outer wound being upwards of two inches long. The same young ruffian then struck another brother, named Martin Flannery, in the left forearm with the same whittle, it passed between the bones through the arm, and cut him very severely. This Flannery was also much injured on the head by another of the Clarkes, with a fire-shovel, having laid the skull bare in several places. Some hope is entertained of John Flannery this morning by his medical attendants.

1    A noggin-maker’s whittle is a small chisel used to etch designs on whiskey containers.

2

THE IRISH EMBRACE THE ASSOCIATION GAME

IRISH FOOTBALLING DIASPORA IN ‘EDINA – SCOTIA’S DARLING SEAT’

In 1875, thirteen years before Glasgow Celtic were formed, Hibernian of Edinburgh were established in the Cowgate area by Irishmen Canon Joseph Hanon and Michael Whelehan. With the history of Irish emigration in the 1800s, the Cowgate area had become known as ‘Little Ireland’, and the club was administered by the Catholic Young Men’s Association as a means of generating money for the Irish in Edinburgh as a form of ‘poor relief’.

The name Hibernian comes from Hibernia, the classical Roman name for Ireland, loosely translated as the ‘Land of Winter’. The club promoted its Irish roots with gusto, playing originally in green and white hoops which were adorned with a badge sporting the Irish harp. Add to that the fact that the club’s motto was ‘Erin Go Bragh’ (‘Ireland forever’) and the Irish credentials of Hibernian were impeccable.

Given a perceived anti-Irish bias across Scotland, together with Hibernian’s support for Irish Home Rule, the club found it difficult to gain recognition from the Scottish Football Association. Ironically, on Christmas Day 1875, local rivals Heart of Midlothian agreed to play the ‘Hibs’ in a challenge game, which afforded the club a degree of formal recognition.

In the 1930s, the appointment of Harry Swan as the club’s chairman saw him oversee several changes that led to claims that he was trying to dilute the ‘Irishness’ of the club. One of Swan’s first acts was to end the custom that Catholic priests would be admitted to Hibernian home games free of charge. His image was not helped when it then came to light that he had voted in favour of Celtic removing the Irish tricolour in the 1952 flag controversy (see page 70), which alienated him further from fans.

In 1956, during the refurbishment of Easter Road, the Irish Harp that was located at the south entrance to the terraces was removed. Swan did commission an ornate Irish harp for display in the club’s boardroom, but the removal of the original harp gave birth to the classic ‘Gypsy’s Curse’ tale, which foretold that Hibernian would not win the Scottish Cup until the harp was re-erected. Far-fetched as it may seem, the club lost six Scottish Cup finals during the time that the supposed curse was in place. The psychological baggage of the curse was finally broken with a win over Rangers in the 2016 decider.

ULSTER CRICKET CLUB TRIAL A WINTER SPORT

While England and Scotland led the way in the association game, Ireland was slow to catch up. In late 1875, the first clues became evident that ‘soccer’ was beginning to make a mark. Specifically, for cricket clubs, the attraction of football as a winter pastime and an alternative to rugby was considered by many clubs. In December 1875, the Ulster Cricket Club, based on Belfast’s Ormeau Road, were trailblazers for the ‘round ball’ game, when it organised a soccer game between its players. The Northern Whig carried a short passage on the novel venture by the club:

Ulster Cricket Club – This club played its first game on Saturday when there was a good turnout of players. The game was played according to association rules and was apparently enjoyed by spectators and players. This club intends to play both rules (Rugby and Association) this season, when they will determine which sport they shall take up. The Association game is entirely new here and is evidently well worthy of a general trial.

‘BUTTING LIKE A PACK OF YOUNG GOATS’ – BELFAST 1878

John McAlery, who owned the Irish Tweed House on Belfast’s Royal Avenue, apparently witnessed the ‘association game’ while on honeymoon in Glasgow. He was most impressed and became determined to see football established in Ireland. In October 1878, he persuaded both Queen’s Park and Corinthians of Glasgow to travel to Belfast and play an exhibition game. The grounds of the Ulster Cricket Club (now known as Ulidia Playing Fields) hosted the game on 24 October 1878. The match was sponsored by the Windsor and Ulster rugby clubs and gentlemen were admitted for sixpence, while ladies were admitted free of charge.

As it was, a ‘healthy’ and ‘curious’ crowd of almost 1,000 turned up for the contest, which Queen’s Park won 3–1. Eight Scottish internationals appeared in the line-ups and the Belfast News Letter noted that the spectators had been ‘entertained’ and ‘anything resembling a scrummage, which is so common under the rugby rules, was not seen; and the match altogether passed off most pleasantly and successfully’. However, there was a scepticism expressed about the merits of the association game, with the Irish Sportsman and Farmer suggesting that the players heading the ball ‘were butting like a pack of young goats’. The correspondent, who was obviously a rugby diehard, described the forwards as having all the composure of ‘ballet-dancers’.

CLIFTONVILLE AND THE IRISH FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION

On 20 September 1879, a small advertisement appeared in the Belfast News Letter on behalf of the aforementioned John McAlery, inviting people to join him in a venture to be known as the Cliftonville Association Football Club. Accordingly, Cliftonville FC, Ireland’s oldest club, was established in the prosperous north Belfast suburb from which it took its name.

In 1890, the club formally opened its present ground, known as Solitude, where they had played since 1888 and that was named after a stately home which once stood nearby. In keeping with the Corinthian spirit of the age, Cliftonville were established as an amateur club under the Scottish Football Association Rules and retained that status until 1972.

On 18 November 1880, at a meeting at the Queen’s Hotel in Belfast, the Irish Football Association (IFA) was formed. The draft constitution of the organisation was adopted, with Major Spencer Chichester elected president and McAlery as secretary. The Scottish FA’s playing rules were adopted by the association and seven clubs became founder members. The clubs were Avoniel, Distillery, Cliftonville, Knock and Oldpark, together with County Derry representatives Alexander and Moyola Park.

In Dublin, the game was growing at a more leisurely pace than in the north. In 1883, the Dublin Association Football Club was established. Nine years later, the Leinster Football Association was formed, with five founding members admitted, namely Bohemians, Montpelier, St Helen’s School, Dublin University and the Leinster Nomads.

REDS GROW IN STATURE VIA THE ‘FRIENDLY’ ROUTE

Exactly one week after John McAlery’s advertisement appeared in the Belfast News Letter, Cliftonville played its first practise game against Quidnuncs, who were a local cricket side complemented by several rugby players. The match, played at the Cliftonville Cricket Ground, was won by the Quidnuncs, who were described as a ‘far superior and fitter outfit’, by two goals to one. The conditions were described as ‘atrocious’, with a constant downpour impacting on play. The Northern Whig commented, ‘The game was new to most of the players and the match could not be considered a good exhibition of the association code, with “handball” occurring all too frequently.’ The report continued that the association game was ‘at present, our principal winter game, and as there are very many young men who dislike the roughness attending the rugby code, they will doubtless hail with delight the establishment of the association code in our midst’.

Three weeks’ later, on 18 October 1879, Glasgow’s Caledonian travelled to Belfast to face a Cliftonville team, led by McAlery. The Belfast News Letter noted, ‘While it is not to be expected that the visitors will be defeated, there is every prospect of their having to play for their victory.’

As for the game itself, the poor weather dominated news reports with ‘superabundant moisture above and below the pitch’ limiting the attendance to a few hundred. What the spectators witnessed was a footballing lesson by the Glaswegians, who came away with a 9–1 win. The visitors, whom it was noted, ‘showed innovation, which was so widely demonstrated, coupled with a desire to affect manliness by ignoring danger’, easily disposed of an inferior Cliftonville side, which ‘exhibited a spirit of pluck and enterprise which is sure to be appreciated’.

Undeterred by the heavy loss, the following Saturday, Cliftonville played a further practise game with the club’s Treasurer’s XI facing the Secretary’s XI. That game was in preparation for the home meeting with Knock on 1 November.

On a fine autumn day, Cliftonville beat their rivals Knock from east Belfast 2–0 in front of a ‘good attendance of spectators, including a large number of ladies’. The star of the game was McAlery, who played in ‘his usual brilliant style’ in defence for Cliftonville.

Practise games continued over November and December for a game on 3 January against Portland FC of Kilmarnock, who had been runners-up in the 1878/79 Ayrshire Cup. The Scots arrived in Belfast on the day of the game after what had been described as a ‘stormy passage’ and were ‘in anything but in good form’. Again, the Belfast side suffered a 9–1 mauling, but both sides got on ‘famously’ at a banquet in Belfast’s Queen’s Hotel later that evening to mark the occasion.

At the end of January, Cliftonville travelled to Glasgow to face Caledonians in a return fixture. The game at the Burnbank Grounds of their opponents resulted in a slightly better result, with Cliftonville losing merely 6–1 as opposed to 9–1. However, in the period of six months, it was evident that determined progress in the association game was gaining momentum, with John McAlery leading the way.

WILLIAM MORROW – THE PRIDE OF MOYOLA PARK

The seven founding clubs of the IFA entered the inaugural Irish Cup competition in the season 1880/81. In the opening round, Knock beat Distillery; Moyola Park, from Castledawson, defeated Avoniel; while Oldpark lost to favourites Cliftonville. In the semi-finals, Limavady-based Alexander, who had received a bye in the opening round, were defeated by Moyola Park, with Cliftonville beating Knock.

The final, which was attended by 1,500 spectators, was played on Saturday, 9 April at the Cliftonville Cricket Ground. The County Derry side won the trophy on a 1–0 scoreline, thanks to a 75th-minute effort by William Morrow. It was to be the highlight of the Castledawson side’s long existence.

Formed in 1879/80, Moyola Park came under the patronage of Lord Adolphus John Spencer Churchill Chichester, the owner of the extensive Moyola Park estate and the first president of the Irish Football Association. In 1890, the club chose not to enter the Irish League competition and have continued to compete in the lower leagues since then.

WILLIAM GIBSON – SILVERSMITH WITH A FOOTBALLING LEGACY

Born in Dromore, County Down, in 1840, William Gibson was one of the foremost jewellers and silversmiths in Ireland and Britain during the late-Victorian period. Gibson opened his first business in Belfast’s North Street, but the premises were destroyed in the Belfast Riots of 1864. The following year, he acquired a shop on the corner of Donegall Place and Castle Place, which became familiarly known as ‘Gibson’s corner’.

His legacy in Irish football is preserved eponymously in the Gibson Cup, which has been presented to the winners of the Irish League since 1894. The Ulster Football and Cycling News said of the trophy, ‘Its design of beauty, will not be equalled in the kingdom, and considering the position of the firm in question, we can quite estimate what this means.’ Linfield were the first winners of the cup in the 1894/95 season, a competition that was entered by four teams: Linfield, Glentoran, Cliftonville and Distillery.

Previously, in 1880, Gibson was commissioned to create the original Irish Cup, which was displayed prominently in the front window of his shop for the duration of the first competition during February and March 1881. The trophy was vase-shaped and made of solid silver. It was adorned with a shield and shamrocks and surmounted with a finely modelled athlete holding a football. It was presented from 1881 until 1993, when a new Irish Cup was commissioned by Linfield Vice Chairman Peter Lunn in memory of his father, John, a former member of the Irish FA International Committee. Bangor, in 1993, became the last club to be presented with the original Irish Cup, their only success in the competition.

THE COUNTY ANTRIM SHIELD

Another masterful piece of silverware created by William Gibson is perhaps one of the heaviest trophies in world football. The County Antrim Shield has been awarded to the winners of the competition since 1889. The circular shield, which is mounted on a wooden frame, takes quite an effort to hoist on being presented. The ornate trophy has at its centre a medallion engraved with figures playing football. The medallion is surrounded by wreaths of oak and ivy leaves, together with twelve gold medals, displaying harps, shamrocks, the monogram of the County Antrim & District Football Association and the arms of the Earl of Antrim. It is considered to have been one of the greatest works ever produced by Gibson and is still played for in north-east Ulster.

The first final took place at the Ulster Ground in Belfast on 30 March 1889. Distillery were victorious as they put eight goals past YMCA, who replied with four. Distillery’s captain, Billy Crone, was presented with the shield by the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Mr Charles C. Connor, in front of a crowd estimated at 8,000. Interestingly, Billy Crone was considered to have been the first-ever international manager when he took charge of Ireland in their 6–0 defeat to England at the Trent Bridge Cricket Ground on 20 February 1897.

3

THE COMPETITION GETS TOUGH AS THE GAME THRIVES

AN INAUSPICIOUS BEGINNING: IRELAND 0, ENGLAND 13 – BELFAST, 18 FEBRUARY 1882

The modest surroundings of Knock FC’s grounds at Bloomfield in east Belfast were chosen as the venue for Ireland’s first international when England visited on Saturday, 18 February 1882. Originally a lacrosse club, Knock became the second football club to be established in Ireland and they made their debut in a friendly against Cliftonville in November 1879.

However, the choice of the Bloomfield venue for the game instead of the Cliftonville Cricket Ground did not meet with universal acclaim. The ground was described in a letter in the Belfast News Letter as ‘destitute of stands, embankments and turnstiles and the finest “grandstand” was the railway embankment, or the roadway separated from the playing field by a small hedge’ – in short, as a setting for an international fixture, the Bloomfield ground left a lot to be desired.

Despite being played in almost hurricane conditions, England handed out a harsh lesson to the fledgling Irish side, coming away with a 13–0 victory. The Sporting Gazette described the result as ‘a disastrous defeat for the Irishmen’, a side, the newspaper noted, which was ‘inferior to the Anglo-Saxons at all points of the game’.

Aston Villa’s Howard Vaughton, who ended up with five goals, made history when he scored England’s first international goal in Ireland in the third minute. By the quarter-hour, England were three goals up and went in at the break with a 5–0 lead. With the wind in their favour in the second half, it was thought that Ireland might make a better show of things, but it went from bad to worse and a further eight goals were added by the visitors prior to the final whistle.

Notwithstanding the drubbing, the local papers were upbeat on Ireland’s progress in the association game, but for 23-year-old goalkeeper James Hamilton, it had been a mortifying experience. The Belfast News Letter noted, ‘The goalkeeping must be considerably improved before Ireland can have a satisfactory international match.’ Hamilton, who was the secretary of the Knock club, appeared in his second and final international game a week later, when Ireland’s performance did improve slightly, despite a 7–1 defeat to Wales in Wrexham.

LINFIELD AND THE FA CUP – THE ‘GHOST GAME’ AND SHADY SECRETS

In the history of the English FA Cup, only one tie has ever taken place on Christmas Day. Strange as it may seem, that game took place in Belfast when Linfield (then known as Linfield Athletic) beat Cliftonville on a freezing festive morning at their Solitude ground on 25 December 1888. Almost 3,000 spectators turned out in terrible conditions to see Linfield, a side who had by then mastered the newfangled passing game, win 7–0 over a tactically naïve ‘kick and rush’ side.