A photograph of a 1955 match at Dalymount Park featuring George Eastham, a significant figure in football history, sparks memories and highlights his impact on the sport.
A black and white photograph of a match at Dalymount Park in 1955 stirs strong memories. The Irish League side line up ahead of their match against the League of Ireland XI at Dalymount Park on St Patrick's Day in 1955. George Eastham is in the middle of the front row with 'dangerous' Tommy Walker to his left. It is an unseen black-and-white photograph of that year’s St Patrick’s Day. After a double-take, memories surge and connections occur. The reason is George Eastham .
Eastham was one of the Dalymount multitude that day almost 70 years ago. He was conspicuous by his presence – 18, slightly-built and English – and thrust into a League of Ireland-Irish League representative match with 30,000 swaying on the old, steepling terraces of Phibsborough. The attendance alone tells a tale. Thirty-odd years after independence and the formation of the League of Ireland itself, these inter-league games mattered politically as well as to each league’s self-esteem. For the players there was cross-channel attention and an extra day’s pay. And here amid the competitive Irishmen was a Blackpool boy who would go on to be one of the most important figures in the history of professional football.Sports speak 2024: the wit and wisdom - from Damien Duff to Daniel Wiffen, Kellie Harrington to Rory McIlroyThe ‘once again’ was a reference to another Irish League game – against the ‘British Army (Western Command)’ in Belfast the same year. Eastham felt he did not play well then either. A teenager given to critical thinking. News broke last Saturday that, aged 88, Eastham has passed away. The natural slump at these items was felt more keenly, perhaps because of the time of year, but also because his was a name in our Belfast home where he was known as ‘George Eastham junior’. Our father, Tommy, knew George Eastham senior. The latter was a former England international who moved in 1953 to Co Down to be player-manager of Irish League club, Ard
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