The Road Leagues

The concept was simple, get a few lads from the road and ‘encourage’ them to get a few friends and form a team.

By Brendan Bermingham

The Parish Road Leagues

As the name suggests this was a simple concept, get a few lads together, let them represent their area and hey presto you have a competition. I’m sure that when the organizers started the leagues they couldn’t have envisaged the enthusiasm and ferocity that these leagues would be played with.

The leagues had started in the late fifties and were taken over by the club in 1960. They were designed to keep the ‘fledgling’ players of the then newly formed St Kevin’s Boys Club occupied during the summer months. Perhaps Fr Williams was a disciple of the Eamonn Dunphy School of football that romanticises the era of  street football where jumpers were goals and all sorts of objects used as balls. Sadly with the passing of Bishop Williams in 2006we will never know. What is certain is that the leagues have stood the test of time and after nearly 50years are still going strong, a lasting tribute to his foresight and adventure. Indeed I would go as far as to confidently state, that no matter where you go in the world you will meet somebody that has played in the Parish Road Leagues and has a story to tell, such is the legendary status that the leagues have achieved.

In 1960 there was only one age group and that was the under 16 age group. As previously stated the concept was simple, get a few football lads from a road and‘encourage’ them to get a few friends and form a team. Teams were formed from these groupings and the leagues commenced. However what the good Father hadn’t anticipated was that healthy competition breeds healthy rivalry and games between Larkhill and Thatch, in those days, were not for the faint hearted. Indeed as Eamonn Hughes, one of the original member’s of the first St Kevin’s team,so aptly put it ‘in those days the Road Leagues were our world cup and if you were fortunate to win you had bragging rights over your mates for a whole year’.

Still the seed had been sown and the fledgling leagues continued to expand over the following years. Under 12’s were introduced in 1962, under13’s in 1964,under 14’s in 1965 and finally in 1968
under 18’s. With the ongoing success of St Kevin’s Boy’s Football Club numbers were ever increasing for the leagues and accordingly under 11’s were introduced in 1971 with the under 15’sand under 10’s starting in 1972.

By the mid 70’s the leagues were thriving and no matter what was on the TV, be it European Road League Championships, World Cups or bad weather,Ellenfield Park was always filled with enthusiasticFinals July 1964 players and parents, during the summer months, competing to the best of their ability. As withPicture left any organisation the driver of success was normally the person in charge and in St Kevin’s case it was the ‘Road Leagues Director’. Over the years there have been many who carried the mantle and ensured the ethos of the leagues was maintained.

Photos: (1) Neil Fox & Paul Smith (2) The Road league Crew Sharon Mitchell, Pat Daly, Ken Donohoe, Alan Doody, Paul Doody, Neil Fox  (3) An early Road league team (4) Shanowen Under 16 Road league Runners up 1961 (5) Road league finals July 1964

While Fr Williams set the ball rolling he had the foresight to ‘entice’ Maurice Coffey into his team and in the early stages it was Maurice who drove the leagues on. Indeed Maurice’s role was twofold, one was naturally to ensure that the leagues were well run; the second was to approach lads who showed an aptitude for management and invite them into the St Kevin’s fold. The natural progression was to manage a road league team, then up to the mini­ leagues in Collinstown and then into the realms of organised football. After many years Maurice stepped down and to date the following have had the onerous role as‘Road League Director’ and strived to emulate the tremendous work associated with running the leagues: Lar Madden,Liam Bedford, Brendan Bermingham, Pat Daly and Ken Donohoe.

Unfortunately space doesn’t allow for the thousands of people who, over the near fifty years,have assisted in some way, be it playing, managing or who will ever forget the dreaded tap on the shoulder and a simple request “would you mind refereeing this game”. Thankfully the majority said yes and tales of ‘so and so’ having robbed us, still abound to this day. While it’s not possible to reminisce on all the many Road League tales, some of the snippets surrounding the leagues should be put to print.

Gear

If ever something left a lasting impression on the participants of the road Leagues it was the gear. Unlike the players of today who wouldn’t dream of taking to the pitch without their aero-dynamic boots, sheen lined jerseys, matching knicks and socks, the lads of yesteryear were a hardier bunch. The participants of the 60’s and 70 had to make-do with a plethora of styles. Starting from the bottom up these included the following.

Footwear

At a time when Blackthorn were market leaders for footwear, the lads who were associated with organised teams had some form of football boot and stood out, due to the fact that they had actual football boots. The rest of the lads had to make do with runners or shoes, indeed in some cases even school shoes. It didn’t really matter once you had something on your feet to start with.

Socks

Ankle socks, no socks, school socks and if you had official football socks you were a star.

Knicks

Again a myriad of styles, suffice to say the majority didn’t have football knicks and therefore there was a lot of leeway given to this footballing item.

Jerseys

As stated previously no matter where you go in the world you will find somebody that has played at some stage in the leagues. There are normally two topics raised. One would be about the playing side and every body has a tale of when they got the… kicked out of them (metaphorically speaking) and the other would be about the swinging 60’s fashion item… the Road League jersey.

The evolution of the Road League jersey is a story in itself. When the leagues started it was a simple case of wearing something that matched, be it jumpers, shirts, tee-shirts or in some rare cases football jerseys. Then fate took a hand. During Maurice’s Coffey’s reign he became friendly with the late Shay Dalton. When Maurice discovered that Shay worked for the O’ Neill’s Sportswear company he managed to cajole Shay into giving the leagues end of line series of jerseys. Now the leagues were progressing with each player on a team having a jersey.

What Shay failed to tell Maurice was that the jerseys were in fact, in the main, rugby school’s jerseys and were very, very heavy. Indeed if it rained it was like carrying somebody on your back. Back in those days the leagues lasted about 6 weeks. When you got your jersey at the start it was in pristine condition and when you got it at the latter stages, well… Let’s just say it was fortunate that no health and safety experts were around. Still nobody suffered and the jerseys like most things connected with the Road Leagues became part of the folklore. Equally over the years the leagues have embraced modernisation and the kids of today have state of the art aerodynamic jerseys.

Collections

In the early years it was always traditional for the winners to have a collection around the park and in the local hostelries, with the money going for minerals and sweets. Indeed there was always great banter in the ‘locals’ when say a Beaumont winning team visited the Comet or vice a versa a Larkhill team collecting in the Rendezvous. We were all feted like champions for a few hours.

Rightly or wrongly the club decided to ban collections and in turn all finalists were supplied with minerals and crisps. However as the collection was part and parcel of finals day, two entrepreneurial gentlemen decided to take up a collection to help with the ever rising costs of running the leagues, the late great Tom Byrne and his ever present and great friend Mick Davenport. I’m reasonably sure that nobody who was approached by the two gentlemen for ‘a few bob for the kids’ ever refused. Over the years these two gentlemen raised vast sums for the leagues and were greatly appreciated.

Cups and Medals

The cups presented on finals day have their own individual history. Some came from aspiring politicians, some from the business community and some sadly to remember deceased members. Some deserve a little further explanation.

I never had the privilege of meeting the late Tom Byrne junior, but I tried my hardest to win this particular cup. This cup is nearly always, by tradition, awarded to the oldest age group and in a way it was a status symbol for an area to win this particular cup. Others like the Paul Mellon, Mick Nangle, Gerry Maher and Jimmy Cullen Cups are also a fitting reminder of St Kevin’s lads Neil Fox and who passed away at such a young age. Yet in a strange way some people’s sadness brings Paul Smith happiness to others through the cups and the lasting memory.

I have to admit to being a bit of a traditionalist and have fond memories of the small gold and silver medals that were awarded in the early years. While not winning too many they have stood the test of time and who knows in the years to come may in fact be worth something. I always found the rather large trophies that flourished in the 80’s and 90’s were a bit gaudy. Indeed some were nearly as big as the recipient. It is nice to see that the club has reverted to presenting medals to finalists in latter years.

The Granny Rule

In the eighties the granny rule came to the fore with a large percentage of the then senior international players availing of this rule. A lot of the credit for this went at the time, rightly so, to Jack Charlton. But was it really his idea in the first place? The archives of the Road Leagues show some interesting information.

In the 60’s and 70’s the more prominent teams were Ellenfield, Larkhill and Beaumont. Then there emerged a new potent force from Santry. Under the stewardship of the Madden brothers (Lar and the late ‘Gigga’) Santry began winning and showing a form that hitherto had been non existent. Excellent players abounded and a new force had arrived.

Not to miss an opportunity the St Kevin’s managers started to inquire and check for the address’s of these new arrivals. Suffice to say when the St Kevin’s managers arrived at the door of their ‘hopefuls’ they were met with a soon to be familiar line “Ah no he doesn’t live here that’s me brothers son who lives in Swords” or “that’s a relation who lives in Skerries” and questions were soon being asked.

Controversy and protests followed but the clever loophole had arrived and to date is still a ploy used by some unscrupulous managers. Had Jack hit upon the idea or was it something one of his many lieutenants picked up on travelling through Whitehall, a nice yarn and at the end of the day who really cares that Santry had their success and the others had to follow suit and in time even the Irish international team?

Hopefully the above snippets give you a flavour of the Leagues over the years and in conclusion I would like to leave you with a story that I think encapsulates the whole ‘Road League’ ethos and will probably be familiar to a lot of readers. It was written at the turn of the century.

The Road Leagues . . . Earliest memories

As the Road Leagues enter the new millennium I wonder how many of you reading this article can remember your first experience of the leagues. My first experience with the Road Leagues was in 1970 at under 16 for Beaumont.

It all started innocently enough when one day the mates and I were approached by Mr Ryan (real name altered for legal reasons) and asked if we would like to play in the Road Leagues run by St Kevin’s Boys Club. As all three of us had never played soccer in our lives we assumed Mr Ryan obviously saw some of our deaf touches, sorry I mean deft-touches on the street. Still as we were led to believe St Kevin’s were only altar boys, it wouldn’t be too hard for us Gaelic players to adjust. We were told to meet in the plots beside the church. This was no doubt to allow easy access for the altar boys from the church. As all established players know the night before any tournament is a nervous occasion with sleep being a premium; me, I just couldn’t remember where my boots were.

So it was we trooped up to the plots and on arrival Mr Ryan tried to organise our assembled group into some form of team. We were to be called Beaumont and our first game was to be against Ellenfield. First reaction was that this was a girl’s team with a name like that. I was given the dubious position of inside-forward with the mates given equally weird positions of ‘sweeper’ and ‘roving midfield’. Things weren’t looking too bright as it was hard enough understanding the positions without having to learn a new language as well. Still one of the lads who played on the regular St Kevin’s team reassured us, telling us we were in fact one of the strongest teams about. (At this stage we had no idea that this particular player was destined for a career as a comedian).

We were told in passing that one of the players on the Ellenfield team was in fact a ‘trialist’. Being from another code I took this to mean somebody that was out on bail and was probably being watched by ‘An Garda Siochana’ on the side-line. After our initial meeting we were brought into a very large pavilion with many small rooms. We were told under no circumstances to leave any valuables in the pavilion. Perhaps the ‘trialist’ was doing a few odd jobs while at large. We were then given jerseys that resembled a Blackrock rugby jersey and weighed a ton. This should be interesting. Mr Ryan told us to go out and enjoy ourselves.

We trooped out to be met with what seemed a very large crowd waiting to see our game. On the positive side there were lots of girls on the side-line and no doubt with a little fancy footwork… you never know. Roll on the ‘Blind’! Ellenfield appeared and the ‘trialist’ seemed to be centre of attention. Obviously his crimes were a lot more serious than petty robbing. Let us move to the game.

With Mr Ryan’s encouraging words “get stuck in lads” ringing in our ears the game commenced. Disaster struck. Ten minutes later we were 3 – 0 down and me, I was like a polar bear waiting for winter, freezing and doing nothing. Then fate intervened. On Mr Ryan’s instruction of getting stuck in I proceeded to give my marker a hefty challenge which sent him flying. The referee wasn’t impressed and when the player got up he complimented me with “hey mucka what bog did you come out of”. My throat went dry and my appealing hands had the look of a condemned man. Anyway I was told to get on with it. I did. At this stage after about 25 minutes we were 5 – 0 down with the trialist everywhere. I personally hoped that he would be handcuffed and taken away at half-time.

Despite my best efforts to impress Mr Ryan that I wasn’t in fact a forward coupled with an eerie feeling of impending doom, I was ignored and told get on with it.

It was now the second half and the trialist had added another two. He seemed to be predominantly left-footed and our lads were getting slightly agitated trying to stop him. The Ellenfield players were extremely protective of the ‘trialist’; perhaps this was to ensure no harm came to their respective properties. In my own case winter had come and gone and I was freezing with the lack of activity.

Liam Brady and In the process of making my way to the touch line, where a gaggle of mini-skirted girls had the stars of the gathered, the ball ‘astonishingly’ arrived at my feet. There is, or so the psychiatrists’ say, a calming future 1990 moment before impending doom and as I sailed through the air I could see the contorted look on the girls faces. I got to see their shapely legs a few seconds later as I went crashing to the ground and could swear I heard the words “you should be used to eating grass” coming from my Ellenfield marker. Christ I’ve been hit by a bus! Hold on a minute there is no bus-stop in the middle of the plots. Where am I?

Strangely nobody seemed too perturbed. Then Mr Ryan’s kindly face appeared and with the help of a stranger I was dumped on the side-line. (The opposite side I might add to where the girls were). The match ended and we were beaten 9 – 0. While I was trying to work out just exactly where all the pieces of my body were everybody was congratulating the ‘trialist’ and calling him by his first name, Liam, obviously out of fear. While contemplating the fact that I only touched the ball twice and was it really worth it I was approached by a St Kevin’s official. A little care at last. “Hey son can I have the jersey I need it for the next game”. Ahh…!

And that dear reader is the romance of the Road Leagues. As you probably no doubt guessed the ‘trialist’ was one of Ireland’s greatest players, Liam Brady, who at the time was on trial with Arsenal. The great thing is that despite only touching the ball twice I played on the same pitch as Liam Brady and can tell all and sundry of same (even put in a few white lies next time). I’m not alone in having wonderful memories of the Road Leagues, long may they continue.

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Tags: road leagues, soccer school, summer camp