It's Saturday!

[firenze]

it must be football🙄I'm always reminded that In the 60s I lived in Larne N.I. Next door neighbours were the Blanchflowers! As you can imagine of  their 3 boys 2 of them with their Mother were football fanatics.  She was great and would coach all the local boys if they knocked on her door. Happy days!

[Alex22]

I remember Danny and Jackie Blanchflower, they both played for their country, had lst Division careers and I bet they were paid peanuts compared to today's salaries.

[firenze]

Thanks for that Alex I didn't know the extent of their careers.   It was fun at the time as Saturday mornings the Larne boys formed a line up the street waiting for their heroes.  I had a very happy time living there, the people were lovely and as a so called 'Heathen English' sent by R.Royce to open a factory there I treasure the time and understand a bit more of the strife Religion can cause.

[Cassandra]

Thanks for that Alex I didn't know the extent of their careers.   It was fun at the time as Saturday mornings the Larne boys formed a line up the street waiting for their heroes.  I had a very happy time living there, the people were lovely and as a so called 'Heathen English' sent by R.Royce to open a factory there I treasure the time and understand a bit more of the strife Religion can cause.

I was a Spurs follower as a child and Danny (a real gentleman) captained the famous 'Double' (FA and D1 Championship) side of 1961, the first time it had ever been accomplished. Jackie, his younger brother was tragically injured in the '58 Manchester United Air crash at Munich. He never played again.

He, like most of the United players at that time, lived in a modest house owned by the club and had to vacate it. "It was made pretty clear we had to leave," said Jean, his wife. "United were very cold, very harsh, after the crash." By January 1959, Blanchflower was on the dole. Louis Edwards (club owner) offered him a job in his meat factory, loading pies on to lorries, but he declined, working in a succession of jobs, finally becoming a qualified accountant. He also later had success as an after-dinner speaker. Just two weeks before he died from cancer in 1998, aged 65 he had attended the Munich air disaster testimonial match at Old Trafford.

Danny sadly succumbed to dementia related problems in 1993 aged 67. A blue plaque is located at 49 Grace Avenue, Belfast, his birthplace.

[zoony]

Thanks for that Cass. I was a United fan(atic) as a kid and remember Munich, the heartbreak and the aftermath, very well. Unaware of the unkindness of Mr Edwards though. A very different age..

[Cassandra]

Thanks for that Cass. I was a United fan(atic) as a kid and remember Munich, the heartbreak and the aftermath, very well. Unaware of the unkindness of Mr Edwards though. A very different age..

Zoon, I remember many of the clubs 'loaning' United players, just after the crash. My father was a devout West Ham supporter and in the loft somewhere I have a programme for Man U v the Hammers at Upton Park. On the team listings in the middle page double spread, 6 of the places are blank (to be announced) and two were currrent 1st team players loaned by West Ham. The atmosphere was electric and the West Ham crowd was solidly behind the visitors, people applauding in tears as they left the pitch at the end. A record collection from the crowd was taken that day at half time, I put in 2 half crowns and sixpence ha'penny, all I possessed at the time.

Could it be like that today, yes I really believe it would. The great sadness over Emilio Sala's tragic death was a recent example of the empathy and esprit de coeurs demonstrated by supporters of all colours.

[zoony]

  Yes..Sports fans are a funny lot and their crowd-psychology is beautifully mercurial. Smith and Warner are feeling it presently. Aussies ball-tampering? What's the world coming to..

[Cassandra]

  Yes..Sports fans are a funny lot and their crowd-psychology is beautifully mercurial. Smith and Warner are feeling it presently. Aussies ball-tampering? What's the world coming to..

Neither of them, or Mohammad Irfan the Pakistani would ever play again in my world. Mike Atherton too, for that matter. Today cheating is just a way of life, tiny fine, 12 month ban and away you go again, just like politicians! I hope Warner and Smith are reviled for the rest of their days. I think the booing from the stands, is more than than crowd sledging, they are castigated by the paying public for what they are - cheap con-men!

[Traveller]

Firenze, where did you live in Larne.  I was there for a while and lived off Curran Road near the harbour.  I never knew that any of the Blanchflowers lived there.  I believe that Danny Blanchflower refused to appear on "This is your life".

Unhappy days.  Glad to be out of the place and never want to see it again.

[firenze]

Traveller - it was Ballycraigy Ring!  I walked down to the Harbour almost daily...pushing a pram!  The Blanchflower family of 3 boys, all were footballers, Their Mother was the teacher! She loved football, the 2nd footballer of the family was son no 2 and was in the Manchester Club plane crash but survived.
 My husband was an Engineering instructor at Rolls Royce in Derby and we were there because they had begun setting up an engineering college in N.Ireland.

[Traveller]

What a small world.  I knew several people who lived in Ballycraigy ring.  Of course this was 50 - 60 years ago and it must have all changed now.  They used to say that the only good thing about Larne was the boat to Stranraer.  I definitely agreed with that and I was always glad to see Corsewall lighthouse and loch Ryan growing larger on the horizon.

Another bit of nostalgia is remembering the 'Puffers' that used to sail from Campbeltown to Glenarm to ferry lime.  That must have been a messy job.

[firenze]

Traveller we were glad to return to first of all to Leigh on Sea Essex then home (East Riding.of Yorkshire) but I loved the people in Larne. Think there must have been a lot of Turkey farmers as we were over Turkey'd at Christmas!