Tony Grealish RIP

**paul_oshea** · 02/05/2013, 4:19 PM

Good old Ambrose.

**gastric** · 03/05/2013, 12:00 AM

Originally Posted by BonnieShels

I completely agree Junior.

It's at times like this where I regret that I was born 10 years too late to see that team in action. I love reading anything about the Hand and Giles eras because they happened just as I was born.

I have bare rememberance of Euro 88 and that's because my dad had the Dutch game on VHS and my first real memory was Italia 90 I would say.

Tony RIP

Bonnie, I think you might be romanticising this period prior to Euro 88 a bit as the continuous failure to qualify for major tournaments, despite gallant performances, was incredibly frustrating.
I remember when MacKay scored for Scotland being at work in Dublin and no one was interested in that game as we all thought we were out.
Our qualification was met intially with complete disbelief and no celebrations as we really did not know how to react to such success. I think it was just prior to the Euro Finals that excitement grew and it was only after the famous win over England that the country got behind the team. The days of packed pubs watching the boys arrived and jeez it was great!

**SkStu** · 03/05/2013, 2:21 AM

Originally Posted by gastric

Bonnie, I think you might be romanticising this period prior to Euro 88 a bit as the continuous failure to qualify for major tournaments, despite gallant performances, was incredibly frustrating.
I remember when MacKay scored for Scotland being at work in Dublin and no one was interested in that game as we all thought we were out.
Our qualification was met intially with complete disbelief and no celebrations as we really did not know how to react to such success. I think it was just prior to the Euro Finals that excitement grew and it was only after the famous win over England that the country got behind the team. The days of packed pubs watching the boys arrived and jeez it was great!

Wow. I remember it so differently. For me, it felt like the country stood still...

**BonnieShels** · 03/05/2013, 9:18 AM

Originally Posted by gastric

Bonnie, I think you might be romanticising this period prior to Euro 88 a bit as the continuous failure to qualify for major tournaments, despite gallant performances, was incredibly frustrating.
I remember when MacKay scored for Scotland being at work in Dublin and no one was interested in that game as we all thought we were out.
Our qualification was met intially with complete disbelief and no celebrations as we really did not know how to react to such success. I think it was just prior to the Euro Finals that excitement grew and it was only after the famous win over England that the country got behind the team. The days of packed pubs watching the boys arrived and jeez it was great!

I know it was a period of gutwrenching what-iffery but I still would have loved to remember the Mackay goal and to see the likes of Brady and Stapleton before they finished up.

**geysir** · 03/05/2013, 12:46 PM

Originally Posted by gastric

Bonnie, I think you might be romanticising this period prior to Euro 88 a bit as the continuous failure to qualify for major tournaments, despite gallant performances, was incredibly frustrating.
I remember when MacKay scored for Scotland being at work in Dublin and no one was interested in that game as we all thought we were out.
Our qualification was met intially with complete disbelief and no celebrations as we really did not know how to react to such success. I think it was just prior to the Euro Finals that excitement grew and it was only after the famous win over England that the country got behind the team. The days of packed pubs watching the boys arrived and jeez it was great!

For football fans, Mackay's goal and the significance was tectonic, maybe for another sector in Irish society they didn't wake up to the reality of that, until Ireland beat England at the Euros.
Any fan knew this game was on, what might be and at least would have had half an ear on the proceedings, wasn't it televised on rte?
But it was also a case of deja vu, in with a slim chance of qualifying, depending on an unlikely result happening on a foreign field.
And with that game being played in Bulgaria, unlikely meant GUBU fantasy. I have only watched the last 8 minutes of that game and in those 8 minutes, Bulgarians with their sneaky elbows in the back of the head, bizarre offside decision, 2 red card scything tackles with no action taken by the ref and a blatant dive for Bulgaria's last free kick. The Scots were hard f�ckers, that Gordon Drury was brutally hacked down twice, just got up and limped back into position.

**paul_oshea** · 03/05/2013, 3:43 PM

Its a funny old world. I was just going to get a Tea with a colleague, I've sat across from the same guy for about 2 years. He asked me on the way down where I was at lunch. I said I was at a funeral and told him Liam Brady was at it(we had a little argument about his and Bradys height

). So then he asked me whose Funeral, I said Tony Grealish he used to play football for Ireland. He then told me that his uncle was married to Tonys Aunt. Small world( I work in an industry where you don't meet too many Irish or those with Irish connections) and he obviously didn't know he had died.

There was a big presence from London GAA and in particular from St Gabriels GAA club which was great to see. So much you hear about foreign games etc yet they turned out for one of their own here.
Anyway, it was a lovely mass and a great eulogy from Ambrose. Even in the 70s the women weren't allowed on the trips

**Stuttgart88** · 03/05/2013, 5:12 PM

i was away on work this week but thanks to a text from Paul saying that TG's funeral was in my local church in Kilburn we both went to the funeral today and a very moving occasion it was.

The Order of Service brochure had pictures from his playing days and the coffin was adorned with one of his Irish jerseys and a FAI Youth cap. His family had made a wreath in the shape of a green shirt with no 8 and Eire written on the back. There was also a framed photo of him, one of those inconic images of him with his hirsute face and O'Neill's track suit lining up for the anthem at Lansdowne.

I was seated behind Liam Brady and Michael Robinson, his Ireland teammates, and in front of them was quite a collection of old pros who all knew each other, though I only recognised Danny Wilson.

The London Irish supporters club was well represented and a few old codgers - 60 if they were a day - wore green jerseys. One Leyton Orient fan was there and he was in tears. Irish football journalists Paul Rowan and Dion Fanning were also there. St Gabriel's GAA was very well represented.

The eulogy told how he was brought up and schooled less than a mile from where I live and how his father Packie was a legendary figure in local GAA, at St Gabriels in Cricklewood. TG was a keen GAA player and represented London against New York at Wembley. Even when as a soccer pro at Orient he'd still play GAA on Sundays and have pints after. He became the only player to play both soccer and GAA at Wembley. His parents Packie and Nora went to all his Irish games, home and away, Nora being the only woman allowed. Many of Packie's mates were publicans who insisted on traveling without wives!

The ceremony finished with the Fields of Athenry, his father being from Athenry.

It all brought back a very special sense of time and place for me, my pre-teen and teenage years watching Giles and Hand's Ireland at Lansdowne and Dalymount, some of my favourite childhood moments. It also provided a very moving description of that era of Irish immigrants in the NW London area, something Paul is acutely aware of with his work his the Aisling Return to Ireland charity where he volunteers to provide company on Friday evenings to the old Irish from that era, still living here but maybe lonely and without family. Fair play to ya Paul.

**OwlsFan** · 03/05/2013, 9:18 PM

Originally Posted by geysir

For football fans, Mackay's goal and the significance was tectonic, maybe for another sector in Irish society they didn't wake up to the reality of that, until Ireland beat England at the Euros.
Any fan knew this game was on, what might be and at least would have had half an ear on the proceedings, wasn't it televised on rte?
But it was also a case of deja vu, in with a slim chance of qualifying, depending on an unlikely result happening on a foreign field.
And with that game being played in Bulgaria, unlikely meant GUBU fantasy. I have only watched the last 8 minutes of that game and in those 8 minutes, Bulgarians with their sneaky elbows in the back of the head, bizarre offside decision, 2 red card scything tackles with no action taken by the ref and a blatant dive for Bulgaria's last free kick. The Scots were hard f�ckers, that Gordon Drury was brutally hacked down twice, just got up and limped back into position.

I must have been one of the few people who took the afternoon off to watch the game. Anyone who hasn't seen those last few minutes after Mackay scored (I send him Christmas cards for a few years afterwards

) does not know the meaning of the word tension. Picture the scene: The Bulgarians have chance after chance to equalise as George Hamilton is talking about opening champagne bottles and getting German reisebucher (travel books). I screamed at the inanimate object known as the television asking him to please shut the f*** up but on he went tempting fate: "Open the champagne bottle - ohhhh, it's off the post". I don't exaggerate. He, the match, the Scots, the Bulgarians took years off my life that day which I have gladly surrendered. I have the game on tape someplace but it is well worn as I replayed it about 50+ times like you would a great porno scene (I believe). The greatest sporting moment of my years supporting Ireland and strangely they weren't playing. Qualified at last - we had arrived on the world stage.

**EastTerracer** · 03/05/2013, 9:39 PM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

It also provided a very moving description of that era of Irish immigrants in the NW London area, something Paul is acutely aware of with his work his the Aisling Return to Ireland charity where he volunteers to provide company on Friday evenings to the old Irish from that era, still living here but maybe lonely and without family. Fair play to ya Paul.

Glad to hear foot.ie was so well represented at the funeral today. Well done lads!

It is a small world though. A cousin of mine (a Geordie Kerryman) is one of the main organisers behind the Aisling Project and he has worked in Arlington House for many years. No doubt Paul knows who I am talking about.

**EastTerracer** · 03/05/2013, 9:44 PM

Originally Posted by OwlsFan

I must have been one of the few people who took the afternoon off to watch the game. Anyone who hasn't seen those last few minutes after Mackay scored (I send him Christmas cards for a few years afterwards

) does not know the meaning of the word tension. Picture the scene: The Bulgarians have chance after chance to equalise as George Hamilton is talking about opening champagne bottles and getting German reisebucher (travel books). I screamed at the inanimate object known as the television asking him to please shut the f*** up but on he went tempting fate: "Open the champagne bottle - ohhhh, it's off the post". I don't exaggerate. He, the match, the Scots, the Bulgarians took years off my life that day which I have gladly surrendered. I have the game on tape someplace but it is well worn as I replayed it about 50+ times like you would a great porno scene (I believe). The greatest sporting moment of my years supporting Ireland and strangely they weren't playing. Qualified at last - we had arrived on the world stage.

I remember it well. Jack was off fishing but RTE had a weird panel of (I think) Maurice Setters, Don Givens and Chris Morris (who had only made his debut against Israel the night before in Dalymount in front of a tiny crowd). They were sitting in the middle of a load of pot-plants so looked like they couldn't even get a proper studio that day.

Michael Lyster presented the programme and they were jumping around the place at the final whistle. The absence of Giles, Billo etc. shows how little expectation there was of that game. Geysir and Owlsfan have similar memories of my own.

**Grafter** · 03/05/2013, 9:52 PM

Originally Posted by EastTerracer

I remember it well. Jack was off fishing but RTE had a weird panel of (I think) Maurice Setters, Don Givens and Chris Morris (who had only made his debut against Israel the night before in Dalymount in front of a tiny crowd). They were sitting in the middle of a load of pot-plants so looked like they couldn't even get a proper studio that day.

Michael Lyster presented the programme and they were jumping around the place at the final whistle. The absence of Giles, Billo etc. shows how little expectation there was of that game. Geysir and Owlsfan have similar memories of my own.

God sounds like the Twilight Zone... Michael Lyster, Chris Morris and Pot Plants.... this would be diamond footage if anyone taped it on betamax back then? They did explain to Lyster what the offside rule was beforehand I assume?

**CraftyToePoke** · 04/05/2013, 2:58 AM

Originally Posted by geysir

Any fan knew this game was on, what might be and at least would have had half an ear on the proceedings, wasn't it televised on rte?

Yeah, fairly sure it was carried live by RTE.

**Stuttgart88** · 04/05/2013, 12:53 PM

I've posted my memory of the Mackay moment here before, but here goes again. I was watching in UCD bar but halfway through the second half I felt it was going to be same-old, same-old so I left. Bear in mind that Irish footy fans at that stage were used to waiting on / watching / listening to the last game of the group and the required result never came.

I was supposed to be meeting a girl I was keen on, along with some friends, in Trinity's Buttery Bar that night so to save money I walked the 4 miles home to Rathfarnham. I got home and asked dad was it 0-0, Dad was very clever and said yes, but turned on the VHS and told me to look out for the goal Scotloand had disallowed near the end. I saw the goal and only after ten seconds or so did I realise dad was having me on. I still nearly crapped myself thopugh when Bulgaria very nearly scored afterwards. Lyster then tore up his script and opened the champagne. Great stuff.

I went into the Buttery as planned, met an old pal also interested in footy and the girl I was supposed to be seeing never got a look in. nI didf buy her a drink - a half rather than a pint - so on top of the incessant footy talk that put paid to that relationship and she started dating a pal shortly after, even uglier than me. She was quote cute actually but some things are more important.

Bonnie is right though: in a way the older guys here had an apprenticeship supporting Ireland that the post-Charlton generation would never have had. I feel lucky in that regard.

**Drumcondra 69er** · 04/05/2013, 2:46 PM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

I've posted my memory of the Mackay moment here before, but here goes again. I was watching in UCD bar but halfway through the second half I felt it was going to be same-old, same-old so I left. Bear in mind that Irish footy fans at that stage were used to waiting on / watching / listening to the last game of the group and the required result never came.

I was supposed to be meeting a girl I was keen on, along with some friends, in Trinity's Buttery Bar that night so to save money I walked the 4 miles home to Rathfarnham. I got home and asked dad was it 0-0, Dad was very clever and said yes, but turned on the VHS and told me to look out for the goal Scotloand had disallowed near the end. I saw the goal and only after ten seconds or so did I realise dad was having me on. I still nearly crapped myself thopugh when Bulgaria very nearly scored afterwards. Lyster then tore up his script and opened the champagne. Great stuff.

I went into the Buttery as planned, met an old pal also interested in footy and the girl I was supposed to be seeing never got a look in. nI didf buy her a drink - a half rather than a pint - so on top of the incessant footy talk that put paid to that relationship and she started dating a pal shortly after, even uglier than me. She was quote cute actually but some things are more important.

Bonnie is right though: in a way the older guys here had an apprenticeship supporting Ireland that the post-Charlton generation would never have had. I feel lucky in that regard.

Funny reading that Lyster presented the show, I only saw the last 10 minutes of the game and my memories were of Bill presenting it. Funny how your memory can get muddled. Remember the champagne and Morris being there alright and looking a bit bemused by it all, he said he wasn't sure if he'd make the squad when asked how it felt to be going to Germany.

I'd been at the Israel game with my Da the previous night in Dalyer, I was in first year of college at the time but had a free day Wednesdays so was working in an office on Leeson St one day a week for some extra pocket money. Couldn't get out of the job to watch the match but was allowed leave at half 4 so ran down to the 51 on Haddington Road where my Da was watching it, it was still nil all when I got in with about 10 minutes left. Had just got a pint and found a spot beside the old fella when Mackay let his strike go, pub errupted! Very nervy after that and just a sense of disbelief when the whistle went, things like that didn't happen us. Remember the Da and his workmates all being delighted that it was Bulgaria who missed out after the WC campaign 10 years before under Giles.

Agree about the apprenticeship, it's why those of us if a certain vintage are nowhere near as hysterical about Trap as some of our younger brethren.....

**BonnieShels** · 05/05/2013, 4:40 AM

When you say hysterical?

**geysir** · 05/05/2013, 8:27 AM

Hard times when Stutts walked all the way from Belfield to Rathfarnham (via Windy Arbour,Dundrum, Churchtown?) to save on the price of a nr 17 bus ticket.

**tetsujin1979** · 05/05/2013, 6:09 PM

Fanning's report on Grealish's funeral is in today's Independent: http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-29243173.html

**Stuttgart88** · 05/05/2013, 6:18 PM

Originally Posted by geysir

Hard times when Stutts walked all the way from Belfield to Rathfarnham (via Windy Arbour,Dundrum, Churchtown?) to save on the price of a nr 17 bus ticket.

The price of ten John Player Blue too.