Blast from the Past: 1972 AGM Report

AGM Report Culled From Newry Reporter dated 4th May,1972
Town’s 1972 AGM was “Bright, Breezy, And Constructive” 
“Considering the serious civic disorders in our midst throughout the season and our own poor results on the field of play, it was in my opinion a tremendous feat to incur such a small loss of  £7.27 during the past season”, stated Jim Campbell, Newry Town’s Hon Treasurer at the club’s annual meeting which was held on Monday night.
There was quite a good attendance of members despite the fact that there were many other sporting attractions held throughout the district that night and the meeting itself was informative and constructive.
 
Michael McKevitt

Look Forward Now With Confidence – Chairman 

Mr Michael McKevitt, Chairman who presided, welcomed the attendance and said that getting over a very difficult period in the Club’s history they could now look with great confidence to the future as there was a great abundance of talent in the locality. He thanked his energetic Committee for giving him their magnificent support during the time he was in the Chair.
Luck Deserted The Team On Many Occasions 
Mr William McVicker, the Hon Secretary in his report dwelt mainly on the playing performances of the team during the season. He said that on many occasions luck had completely deserted the side and in many games they had just failed by the odd goal.
Their poor performances however in the cup competitions was a bad blow to the club. He thanked the players for their great loyalty during the season in which upwards of 40 games had been played.
Treasurer’s Report 
“It took £1,272.87 to run the club during the season”, stated Jim Campbell in his Treasurers Report. “We had a net working loss over the period of £7.27. Deficiency of Capital with the Bank on the 22nd March of this year was £199.40. The Management Committee had succeeded in slashing expenses in many ways during the season but perhaps there could be further economies in such items as laundry and fuel/ light.”
He drew the members attention to the fact that approximately 25% of the total expenditure on the balance sheet presented belonged to debts accrued from previous seasons which included the upkeep of Ground, players outfit, printing and fuel/light.
The cost of operating the 2nd Eleven in The Mid Ulster League was also included in the expenditure sheet . The improved financial state of the club was made possible thanks to another generous and substantial contribution from The Newry Town FC Supporters Club which coming as it did after the 31 st March was too late to be included in the current balance sheet. The most notable achievement on the income side of the Balance Sheet came from the Supporters Club and The Treasurer thanked John Grant and Jim Weir most sincerely for their magnificent work and leadership in the fundraising efforts of the Supporters Club.
He also thought it right and proper to record that the great majority of the Club Management Committee had stood solidly behind Newry Town FC throughout the season and also had played a big part in the fundraising efforts of the Supporters Club.
It is now apparent that the finances of Newry Town FC are in much better shape than they were a year ago but it will take a lot more hard work and sheer dedication to put the club back where it belongs in the top flight. The Treasurer added this was not however an impossible task and in his opinion their Salvation in the future regarding a safe guaranteed financial income depends entirely on the success or failure of The Social Cub Project at The Showgrounds. This project has an estimated cost of £ 8,000 and if it succeeds then Newry Town FC can march forward with a new confidence which could be rewarded with Irish Senior League and European Football. If it fails, he said, they must be realistic and conclude that Newry Town FC was doomed, certainly as far as big time football was concerned. Therefore it was imperative that more and more football minded people in Newry should come forward to help The Social Club Project.
Newry Town FC as a football club belongs to all the local people – It is their club, they should not be content to stay out and criticise but they should be prepared to come in and help to shape it’s future, a future that could reap the rich rewards mentioned and fully utilise the wonderful facilities existing at The Showgrounds.
Election of Officers and Committee
The Election of Officers and Committee resulted as under:
President – Mr F Whitcroft
Chairman – Mr M McKevitt
Vice Chairman – Mr J Weir
Secretary – Mr Wm McVicker
Treasurer – Mr J Campbell
Committee – Messrs R Holmes, S Campbell, H Poyntz, W Murphy, N McCullough, F Harrison, H McAlpine, R Johnston and M Turley
TRIBUTE 
Before the meeting got underway, the Secretary referred to the passing of Mr Billy Heather who had been a great friend of local football down through the years and most particularly of Newry Town FC.
A short silence was observed in memory of the late Mr Heather.

Blast from the Past: Remembering Robert ‘Bud’ Hamilton

By Jim Campbell

Robert Hamilton was a local lad who was rated by many neutral observers to be the best full-back in Ireland when playing for Newry Town FC.

Robert or ‘Bud’ as he was affectionally known by many of his friends, first came into prominence when playing for Damolly Rovers during the 1924-25 season.

The Town’s local scout quickly recognised the young defender’s ability and persuaded him to sign up for The Marshes club towards the end of that season.

Newry’s management decided that it would help Robert’s development if he was loaned out to Portadown Reserves, whilst still remaining a signed senior league player with the Frontiermen.

Robert Hamilton

After six months or so ‘Bud’ was back in harness with The Town and at the beginning of the 1926-27 season he signed professional forms becoming an automatic choice at left full-back in the senior side.

His form in the early part of that season was absolutely magnificent and helped to catapult The Town into a top six Irish Senior League spot.

Interesting to note that Robert’s younger brother David, was also, by this time, an automatic choice at centre half in Newry’s very solid rearguard.

After a run of outstanding games in the senior league, 20 year old Robert was selected to play for The Irish League Representative Team against The Free State League at Windsor Park on Saturday 5th March 1927.

The game attracted a massive crowd in excess of 15,000 plus a host of cross channel scouts. Hamilton had a fine game, attracting the attention of Liverpool, Hearts and Glasgow Rangers. Rangers won the race for his signature but they had to increase their original offer to keep him away from Hearts or Liverpool.

The Town completed his transfer to Rangers on Thursday 10th March 1927 for an undisclosed fee and ‘Bud’ made his debut for the Glasgow club on Wednesday 16th March 1927 against Greenock Morton.

The Ireland’s Saturday Night newspaper commenting on Hamilton’s transfer to Glasgow Rangers said “Hamilton’s future is now in his own hands. He has the ball at his feet as it were and with him alone depends how high up the ladder of football fame he will climb. He has gone over to one of the best managed clubs in the land, a club that is known to give youngsters every opportunity to make good. He has everything on his side to make good. Youth, Height and Weight are assets which combined with ability should make any player feel comfortable in the best company.”

Very quickly Robert settled in at Ibrox Park and just as he was at Newry he became an automatic choice at left back in a great Rangers team that was sweeping all before it in Scotland.

In 1928 he was a member of the first Rangers team to tour America and also was a member of their 1929-30 clean sweep team winning the League Championship, Scottish Cup, Glasgow Cup and Glasgow Charity Cup. ‘Bud’ played in a further three Scottish Cup Finals ( Winning Two) and claimed three more Championship and Charity Cup Winners Medals.

Whilst at Rangers he added five full Irish International caps to the Inter League honour he had won at Newry.

Hamilton left Rangers in 1933 to sign for English Div 2 Club, Bradford City FC where he spent two seasons. He then moved North of The Border again to join Third Lanark and later went to Morton as his trophy-laden career came to a close.

After Robert signed for the Ibrox club in 1927 his younger Brother David continued to play for The Town in the Irish League but David’s career in football was halted when he emigrated to Canada.

Another of Robert’s brothers, Sammy ran two successful businesses on the Belfast Road in Newry for a number of years, namely Rockfoot Service Station and Rockfoot Carpets.

Married to a Welsh Lady, ‘Bud’ passed away in Cardiff on the 7th Feb 1964.

Blast from the Past: 10,000 fans at the Showgrounds for 1957 Irish Cup Tie

By Jim Campbell

In this article I recall the day almost sixty three years ago, when Newry Town played an Irish Cup second round tie against a powerful Glenavon side at the Showgrounds, in front of a record breaking 10, 000 crowd. The gate receipts of £525 (worth £12075 in today’s money) was also a record.

The date was Saturday, March 2, 1957 and the memories of that historic cup tie became permanently engraved in my schoolboy mind at that time.

Newry had qualified to play in the Irish Cup for the first time since 1940 and the town was buzzing with excitement for weeks ahead of the game.

Could Newry shock the football world and beat this fantastic Glenavon team with all its superstars such as Cush, Jones, Elwood, Corr, Campbell and McVeigh?

I vividly remember standing outside Woolworths’ front door in the town centre with a dozen or so other students from Newry Technical School when town star Pat Curtis came along and we were literally over the moon when our hero took the time to stop and talk to us about the game. He told us that the team was confident of success and reminded us that another Alliance League club Dundela had beaten Glenavon in the final of the Irish cup just two years earlier.

The town had a pre match defensive problem with Jimmy McKinven doubtful on the injured list so an urgent transfer of Teddie Harte was arranged with Banbridge Town FC (There was no such thing as transfer windows in those days).

There was a severe shortage of petrol, particularly in the Newry area so dozens of town fans living in the outlying hinterland had to use bicycles to get to the game.

The huge contingent of Glenavon fans travelled to the Showgrounds by bus, car and train.

One of the entrance gates at the Showgrounds collapsed under the pressure from the huge crowd before kick off and I reckon a hundred or so fans got in free of charge before the town management got the situation under control.

The town opened brightly and took the lead in the 15th minute of the game. The home fans erupted when NI Junior International star Pat Curtis collected a brilliant pass from the diminutive Jimmy Gallagher and slammed a magnificent twenty five yarder into the top corner past Roy Rea in the Glenavon goal.

But thereafter this star studded Glenavon side upped their game and ran out 4-1 winners – although this match was much closer than the scoreline would suggest. The battle between the two hard men – Wilbur Cush for Glenavon and Gerry Robinson for Newry in the midfield area was a feature. The two of them kicked lumps out of each other for almost the entire 90 minutes.

Newry Town’s panel for the historic game was: Jim Parkhill, Albert Black, Teddie Harte, Stanley Kidd, Jimmy McKinvin, Jackie Bowers, Gerry Robinson, Jimmy Gallagher, Billy Hewitt, Jimmy Edgar, Pat Curtis, Stevie Mallon, Derek O’Brien, and Eddie McGivern.

Glenavon: Rea, Armstrong, Lyske, Corr, Davis, Cush, Wilson, McVeigh, Jones, Campbell, and Elwood.

Referee: Mr C Flanagan (Sheffield)

Centenary Year Legends Match

We are delighted to announce that as part of our Centenary Year celebrations we will be hosting a
Newry City Legends & Guests vs Evos Legends Match on Saturday 16th November KO 5pm at The Showgrounds. £5 / £3 concession.

Our centenary jersey (as modelled by Mark Hughes) will be available to pre-order from tomorrow night at the club shop v Portadown. Tickets for the Centenary evening in the Canal Court with special guest Stephen Kenny also on sale.

What a fantastic opportunity to see Newry lteam Managed by Robbie Casey and legends such as Ray Byrne & Mickey Keenan back in a Newry jersey once again!! 🔵⚪️

Photograph Courtesy of Brendan Monaghan Photography

Foley NIFWA Championship Player of the Month

Delighted to share the news that Adam Foley has been rewarded for some scintillating performances with the NI Football Writers Bluefin Sport Championship Player of the Month. Newry Manager Darren Mullen commented “This accolade is just reward for some excellent performances by Adam in October. He’s a player with undoubted ability who just needs to perform consistently and thankfully he has shown that recently. Our style of play suits him and he has been thriving in a new role so hopefully that continues for the remainder of the season. He’s a great lad who has fitted in well at the club and will be the first to acknowledge the work of his teammates in helping him receive this award.”