Culbert delighted with 1969 reunion

On September 14th, the players and families and all those connected to the 1969 team were brought to the Balmoral hotel in West Belfast, to mark the 50th anniversary of the county’s All-Ireland u-21 title victory.

The 1969 team holds great importance for the Saffron county for so many reasons. It was their only All-Ireland u-21 title. And from that team came their one and only All-Star, Andy McCallin. However, that year also marked a great change in the county, as it was the start of the Troubles in the following decade GAA in the city was decimated.

The Casement social club felt that it was important that the 1969 team were honoured for their achievement, and so this event was put on.

According to Mickey Culbert, who was a forward on that u-21 team, it was a low-key, but significant affair.

A few shorts speeches were made, a meal was enjoyed, and then there was a remembrance of four members of the panel who are no longer with us. After which a bus brought the team down to the Casement Park Social club, where the men were presented with mementos of their campaign in 1969.

Culbert said that at times the evening was emotional particularly for those whose loved ones who have since died.

Din Joe McGrogan was killed in a Loyalist bomb at the Whitefort Inn on the Andersonstown Road. Gerry Pollock was another who has since passed. Culbert said the team took time to remember everyone, as it was a historic meeting.

“There were people there who you hadn’t seen for 50 years,” Culbert said. “The most spectacular was Jim Mullan who had come over from England. He emigrated to England not long after.

“That 1969 team was rare for an Antrim team because there were teams from division four up to divison one represented. You never really played against those players. So you never had the opportunity to meet those players.”

It’s quite remarkable that that was the case, but it had a lot to do with the Troubles, with men emigrating or leaving the north, while Mickey Culbert went to Jail for the part he played in the Republican movement.

“There was a lot of meeting up of people after a lot of years. It was very nice and very thoughtful. People appreciated being acknowledged.”

50 years is a long time. And perhaps the achievement of 1969 had been forgotten in some parts of Ulster.

“Someone remembered, and it was in the Casement social club. I thought it was very nice of them.”

Culbert said it that one of the issues was putting names to faces.

“We look different. Some of us have less of a covering on the top of our heads.”

For Culbert, the actual play of those games of 1969 have long been forgotten. He can’t remember a ball being kicked.

He does admit to remembering some ‘vignettes’ such as chasing Ray Cummings round the field in the All-Ireland semi-final having come on as a sub. He was dropped for the All-Ireland semi-final starting 15 against Cork for having gone hitch-hiking around Ireland when he should have been at the Ulster final.

“That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. In those days you could hitch hike.

“I didn’t break much delph in the second half. But I must have done something right as they kept me on in the final.”

But the event in September was a chance to remember the days when he was younger, and it served as a chance to recollect some notable events.

One of those was the flight they had to take to go down to play Cork.

“When we had to go to Cork the fear was that there was going to be murder around the Dundalk area. That was why the plane was put on.

“There was also rumours of southern troop amassing in the Dundalk area. It could have been true. It was a time of heightened tensions. But at the other night I was sitting next to Donal Burns. Now Donal Burns was a fine fella and great footballer for Antrim and his club.

“I lived on the Falls road at the time, and you used to go up to Casement Park and that was it. Donal had to walk from Glengormley to get to Casement Park. There were no buses you see. He had to walk into the city centre. He couldn’t walk through the north of the city, he would have had to walk through unionists areas. So he had to walk through the city centre and walk up the Falls road. At that time the Falls road was murder, with the British Army.

“They are the real stories of dedication to the GAA. There weren’t too many boys from Kerry or Kildare who had to do that I’m sure.”

These are the stories that were told over and over on the night. And it seems surprising that men who were team mates didn’t realise, or perhaps didn’t remember the hassles that others had to go through. Perhaps that’s to do with footballing being an escape from the harsh realities.

“Gerry Dillon was saying to me that the county board put a taxi on for them to take them up and down from Dunloy. It was precarious for them. There was no motorway in them days you see. You had to go along back roads and there was always a risk of getting stopped. You still had the B Specials then. All the things that you, the younger generation, know nothing about. And you don’t want to know about it.”

Culbert said that the event, and the stories that were told was a window into a different time, so far removed from the current state of our society, that it would seem unreal to anyone who grew up then.

“Sitting listening to the fellas they weren’t bumming or complaining about it. They were just telling their stories.”

It seems that the meeting in September was perhaps the first time that the group of players ever got to find out about each other. When they were playing, the team were in the groups. The Johnnies men stuck together, as did the St Gall’s boys, and those from outside of the city were separate too. But there really wasn’t the same amount of time to bond as there is afforded in the modern game.

“Nowadays you have all these team meetings, and bonding sessions. Back then it wasn’t like that. It wasn’t even like that at club level.

“We just got on with, trained together and played together. There were no great friendships, they would have developed in the years after when we played against each other. But that was difficult because there was such a span between the teams in the leagues.”

It took 50 years for the team to come together as a group. And while for some the memories have faded, the day was the chance for them to all to come together to remember that great achievement back in 1969.