Adventures in Soccer
There have been five FA CUP trophies made since the FA Cup tournament began in 1872. The first one was made for £20, and was nicknamed The Little Tin Cup. Notts County won it in 1894. When Aston Villa won the Cup in 1895, it was stolen from a shop […]
I thought a mini series on football’s great trophies would interest all those who love “the beautiful game”. What better way to begin than at the very top, so here we go with THE JULES RIMET TROPHY. When I was Director of the proposed International Soccer Museum for Galway, I […]
Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst — known to one and all as Geoff Hurst — is still the only man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup Final. He did it at Wembley Stadium in 1966 when England beat West Germany 4 – 2. The 6-foot West Ham striker was […]
Glaswegian who played for Ireland Raymond James Houghton, born in Glasgow in 1962, was capped for the Republic of Ireland 73 times between 1986 and 1997, and scored six goals. The two most memorable of those goals, and the ones most often remembered by the fans and historians, were those […]
I find it somewhat extraordinary to think that former swimmer Michelle Smith is going on 53 now. It seems such a short time since, at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, she became Ireland’s most successful-ever Olympian, and the first Irish woman to capture a gold medal. The events she […]
Niall Quinn and Tony Cascarino were the two tallest footballers I ever met — and I met them both on the same day. Quinn, a Dubliner, stood 6 ft. 4 in his stockings, and Cascarino was two inches over six feet. I met them at Mick McCarthy’s first-ever training session. […]
While our manager Joey Malone was in Dublin doing radio and tv interviews. As assistant manager and coach I spent a full fortnight repeating this move over and over. You may have to zoom in to see clearly. As the diagram shows I placed 2 flag poles just inside the […]
ROBBIE KEANE IRELAND’S RECORD GOAL SCORER Football in California is, in some ways, football in another world — very different from, say, football on cold and wet wintry days in the Northeast of England, or football in Brentford or Brighton, or Dublin or Dagenham. I got a real feel for the […]
Exhibitions Exhibitions (Samples world wide ) Yankee Stadium New York Cosmos. Dallas Texas Stadium Dallas Tornado Candlestick Stadium Sanfrancisco.International Match. Liverpool University England. Eureka California U S A. Special Olympics Croke Park Dublin Ireland. Scottish Cup Final Hamden Park Scotland Rangers v Aberdeen. Sligo Town Ireland St Patricks day Parade. […]
Coaching Profile COACH to the Galway United team that beat Shamrock Rovers 1. O. in the 1991 FAI Cup Final. Coached the goal that won the match. COACH to the Saudi National Defence Forces, based in Jeddah. COACH to Balinasloe Town A F C. COACHING in Tokyo Japan. COACHING in […]
He foiled Eusebio When Spanish goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga joined Chelsea from Athletic Bilbao in 2018, he became the most expensive goalkeeper of all time. The money Chelsea paid for him was a world record fee for a goalkeeper — £71 million. Yes, that’s million! Compare that with the fee Chelsea […]
Legendary footballer that came back from the dead French superstar footballer David Ginola, who played 58 times for the Magpies while he was with Newcastle United, was at St James’s Park earlier this year when a match was suspended for 20 minutes when a spectator collapsed and had to have […]
German icon of shining individual brilliance Whatever anyone says, the fact remains that Uwe Seeler of Germany ticks all the boxes when it comes to the word “phenomenon”. Outside various football stadiums around the world there are statues of some of the great footballers that played there. Outside the Volksparkstadion […]
The baker’s son from Botnang Unless you are German, or very familiar with Germany, it’s highly unlikely you ever heard of Botnang. Well, it’s a district in Stuttgart, and it’s where Jurgen Klinsmann, one of Germany’s foremost strikers during the 1990s, is associated with, though he was born in Goppingen. […]
MANCHESTER CITY’S LEGENDARY GOALKEEPER For most people interested in soccer and its history, the name Bert Trautmann suggests words like “German”, “broken neck”, “bravery”, and “phenomenal ability”. Let’s take the broken neck bit first. Event: 1956 FA Cup Final. Place: Wembley Stadium Teams: Manchester City and Birmingham City After a […]
Two-footedness, physical strength and leadership Six feet tall, fast, and as strong as an ox, the German footballer Rummenige was classed as one of the most talented attacking players of his generation. He could play as a winger, as a second striker, or a flat-out centre forward. To all of […]
Jack Charlton got his first job at the age of 15 — as a coalminer, deep underground in Ashington’s colliery in Northumberland. He didn’t stick it for long, particularly when Leeds came calling with the offer of a contract to play football. He went on to spend the whole of […]
Argentinian football genius they nicknamed Pitón (The Python) Why would anyone get a nickname like “The Python”? In Ardiles’s case he was given the nickname in his native Cordoba because of his snake-like dribbling skills when learning to play football in the city streets. He learned it so successfully that […]
As a man and as a footballer Bobby had everything. Nothing that I could say in attempting to describe him would add one whit to human knowledge about this very great human being. Therefore I’m going to leave it to the views and opinions of other legendary figures of the […]