Bertie Fulton (1906-1979) deserves his place in Ireland’s pantheon of sporting heroes. He played 42 times for Ireland at football, 21 of these appearances were for the full national side and the remainder for the Irish amateur team. He represented Great Britain in the infamous ‘Nazi’ Olympics in Berlin in 1936 and was a coach of the Ireland youth team as well as a summariser on BBC TV for Ireland football matches. During his long football career (he played from 1918 to 1943) he was closely associated with Belfast Celtic, the most famous Catholic football club in Ireland. A committed Catholic, he was very active in his parish of St Comgall’s in Larne. He enjoyed a long career as a schoolteacher, eventually retiring as a headteacher after over 50 years of service to Catholic education.
Hanwell Celtic - Posted 3 years ago
Soccer Schoolmaster No 4 Joseph Holmes Gettins
Today's footballer, Joseph Holmes Gettins was born in |M|iddlesbrough in 1874 attending Denmark Road Board school. He trained as a teacher at Borough Road College and then taught for a year at Isleworth Grammar School before returning to lecture at the college.
Holmes was an excellent footballer and palyed as an amateur for a number of clubs including Millwall, Middlesbrough, Brentford, Reading Spurs and Derby County although he is most closely associated with m|illwall for whom he scored 69 goals in judst 71 games. He toured South Africa with the famous Corinthians in 1897. In 1907 he was appointed Principal of Reading Day Teacher Training Colleeg and he served in the army in WW! winning the DSO and reaching the rank of Lt Colonel. After the war he worked in the Army Education Corps and was Commander of the Army School of Education from 1931 until his retirement in 1933 in which year he was awarded the OBE.
Hanwell Celtic - Posted 3 years ago
Soccer Schoolmaster No 3 Laurence Cassidy Manchester United and Oldham Athletic.
Today is the third of my articles on Soccer Schoolmasters and examines the career of Laurence Cassidy who played for Manchester United and Oldham Athletic in th epost war period.
Laurence Cassidy was born in Manchester in 1923 and educated at De La Salle College before going to London to train as a Teacher at St Mary's College in Twickenham. He served in WW2 in the RAF and after the war signed for Manchester United. His main career was a as a Teacher and he taught at St Patrick's Primary school in Collyhurst becoming Headteacher in 1958 retiring in 1983. Two famous Manchester United players Nobby Stiles and Brian Kidd were pupils at the school. During this time he was the manager of Manchester Schools Football XI winning the English Schools Football Trophy in 1974.
Cassidy only played four times for Manchester United, but he was a well respected football figure in MANchester and was always warmly welcomed at Old Trafford where he was where he was the founder member and Chairman of Mancheste United Former Players Association.
