OBITUARY The late Alex Ludzic
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Former Cork City goalkeeper Alex Ludzic has died at the age of 52. Ludzic, an Englishman with Polish roots, carved himself a legend’s niche in the story of Cork football, playing national league soccer in four different decades.
Ludzic joined Cork Celtic from Brian Clough’s Derby County in 1969, went on to play and manage Cobh Ramblers before eventually returning to the southern capital to play for Cork City, where he played until the mid-Nineties. He finally hung up the gloves at the end of a long and illustrious career at the age of 46.
In a remarkable playing career, Alex played over 600 games in Irish football, but, like so many greats over the years, success failed to follow where talent ruled. He won just one league title in his career, when helping Cork Celtic to their sole championship in 1974.
He became the hero of the Celtic fans by virtue of some “thou-shalt-not-pass” performances against great city rivals Hibernians, who finished in joint second with Bohemians, just four points behind Cork.
Hibernians were the dominant force in Irish soccer, having won the league title in 1971 and the cup the following two years, but Celtic were about to put a dent in their rivals’ pre-eminence.
After a series of lowly league placings – Celtic finished in ninth place, eighth and twelfth place in the 14-team league between 1970 and 1973 – the club reached the summit in 1974, with Ludzic a key component in the success.
Subsequent to that triumph, Ludzic spent several seasons on a whistle-stop tour of Munster clubs, turning out at various stages for Cork’s Albert Rovers, Cork United, Limerick and Cobh Ramblers, where he also managed for a brief spell, before settling down at Cork City.
Alex became assistant manager of Cork under the tutelage of his fellow Englishman, the late Rob Hindmarch, but off-field strife upset the balance of the club and the Hindmarch/Ludzic axis was replaced by a local managerial team of Dave Barry and Liam Murphy in 1996.
The sad passing of Ludzic comes just a month after the death of his former managerial colleague Hindmarch, who died in America at the age of 41, just months after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease.
Alex, adopted by sports-lovers in Cork for the service he gave during almost three decades on the playing fields, made a home in Grange, where he died last week.
He is survived by wife Anne and three sons, David, Philip and Gary.
May he rest in peace.
