Northern
By Debbie Orme
Notes
Music
Billy to repeat his World Cup odyssey in Malmo next summer Although all Northern Irish eyes will be firmly set on Northern Ireland's campaign to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, one Randalstown man’s eyes will be firmly set on the team’s campaign of more than 60 years ago! Eighty-eight-year-old Billy Hunter was one of a handful of fans, who travelled to Malmo in Sweden for one of Northern Ireland’s most successful World Cup campaigns and he is hoping to mark the occasion by returning to Malmo with his daughters this autumn! It was in the spring of 1958 when the then twenty-six year-old baker decided to follow his team to Sweden. ‘As a young man, I played football myself,’ says Billy, ‘but I was never going to be a top-class player – I was too small and light, and too easily hurt,’ he laughs. ‘I’d joined the Boys Brigade as a boy and I played on its football team. I wasn’t bad – in fact, I was the only player who was transferred to 3rd Bangor BB and then I worked my way up to the 21st Belfast BB. ‘I used to travel every Saturday morning on the bus to play and then I joined the Army Cadets. In 1946, I played at outside right for their team against Wales.’ Billy was a baker by trade and moved around a lot. His longest job was the two years he spent at the Inglis factory in Eliza Street in Belfast’s Markets area, making pancakes, soda and potato bread and snowballs. ‘Ninety per cent of the workers were girls,’ Billy laughs, ‘hence my reason for working there the longest!’ A lifelong Northern Ireland fan, Billy was delighted when the team qualified for the 1958 World Cup finals and so he decided to travel over as a spectator. Since he’d known that the World Cup was coming up, Billy had been saving for two months and had raised the princely sum of £200 £2000 in today’s money – so he had enough to stay for a fortnight. ‘Like the others, I’d nothing booked,’ Billy continues. ‘I just wanted to get to Malmo for the opening round. I travelled to Liverpool, then took the train to Dover and then the boat to Ostend, another boat to Skattegat and then to Malmo. The whole trip took two days’ On the boat to Liverpool, Billy had met up with Stanley Mahood and Ian Malcolmson – both of whom played for Coleraine – and got into conversation with them. When the three arrived in Malmo, they headed for the Irish team hotel. The Mayor of Belfast – Alderman Cecil McKee – who was already at the hotel with the team, thought it was brilliant that the men had taken the trouble to travel so far and insisted that they stay in the hotel at the expense of the Irish Football Association. ‘Mikey McColgan and Davey Nicholl had set up a tent in the grounds of the hotel,’ says Billy, ‘and we thought we’d be staying there, so this was a nice surprise. Needless to say, it didn’t take us long to settle in. We were treated like kings. On the first night, for example, there was a long table laid out with every type of food you could imagine. We were spoilt for choice and were licking our lips. The next minute we were sharing our tea with seventeen players and twelve assistants. It was a dream come true.
Billy Hunter: looking forward to repeating his memorable trip to Malmo next summer
‘I filled my plate to the brim. It was only later I realised that this was just the starter! I thought to myself that I could live here rightly. Perhaps unsurprisingly the table was cleared,’ he laughs. Billy was to spend the next two weeks in the company of the team, observing training sessions and dining with them afterwards. It was during one of the training sessions that Billy was to witness an innovative tactic. ‘Danny Blanchflower had got a free kick just inside own half,’ he says. ‘Peter McParland was standing on the corner of the eighteen-yard box tying his laces, letting on that he wasn’t involved in the free kick at all. All of the other players were marking each other, but Peter just stood outside of it all. As soon as Blanchflower went to take the free kick, Peter started running towards the corner of the box. Blanchflower had kicked it at head height and Peter headed it like a bullet past the goalkeeper. It was amazing to watch.’ One of the Northern Ireland players at the time was Manchester United’s goalkeeper, Harry Gregg. ‘I really felt for Harry,’ says Billy. ‘The Munich plane disaster had only happened in February of that year – just four months before the finals - and so Harry shared a room with one of the trainers – Gerry Morgan. Harry was still having nightmares about the disaster and so the team was having a religious service before each match. There was no ‘green’ Senior Times l May - June 2021 l www.seniortimes.ie 63
