On the eve of the last ever FA Cup Final at the old Wembley, Breaking Ball ran a lovely little feature on the only man to play Gaelic football and soccer at Wembley, Mr. Tony Grealish.
The Wembley tournament ran from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s, attracting as many as 40,000 spectators. The big names often made the trip. The Dublin and Kerry footballers zoomed over frequently, playing each other in a filmed game in 1976. The Galway footballers, the kingpins of the 60s, were often over.
The big teams often made the trip. The Dublin and Kerry footballers zoomed over frequently, playing each other in a filmed game in 1976. The Galway footballers, the kingpins of the 60s, were often over.
Tony Grealish's father Packie recalls that the pitch suited football more than hurling. Ollie Walsh drove a puck-out out over the stand one year.
The Anglo Celt has unearthed footage of the final of the 1966 tournament. Cavan beat Sligo 3-10 to 1-10. Like Bobby Moore, Cavan's Charlie Gallagher lifted silverware in Wembley that year.
Our Cavan correspondent Mark Farrelly has spotted what he believes to be a stripper at 1m. 40s.
The consensus is that the man is indeed a stripper. You can see the coppers chasing after him in vain just before the change of shot.
If true, this could be another case of the UK press overlooking Irish achievement.
For years, they've written that the concept of streaking at sports events was invented by Erica Roe at Twickenham in 1982, in much the same way that they used to contend that Hungary was the first foreign team to beat England at home.
We now know that Ireland beat them at Goodison in 1949 and that this man streaked across a pitch well before Erica Roe.
