AUL DECEMBER 1994

15/11/94


THE FITZIE FILE:



Tony Fitzgerald, the recently appointed chairman of the Cork AUL, first took to the football stage as a tiny tot mascot back in the late forties. That initiation came at Turner's Cross when Rock Rangers, of which his late father Thady was secretary, successfully contested the final of the Munster Junior Cup.



Tony went to Sullivan's Quay CBS where Hurling and Gaelic football were on the menu. As soccer was more to his taste, he was frequently in trouble with the Christian Brothers.



His first chance to play organised soccer came in the Ballyphehane Street

leagues where he captained Upper Connolly Road and then went on to play in the Schoolboys League with Ballyphehane City despite approaches from Tower Rovers and Glasheen, the glamour underage teams of the period. As a schoolboy, he played a few AUL games for the club's junior team.



Ballyphehane City went out of football and he joined a newly formed team

called Blues United. He played minor with them and, making his bow as an

administrator, was on the committee running the schoolboys section and was Hon. Sec. of that section when one of their players, Timmy Murphy, was capped at Under 15 level.



Out of football after his minor days, he was approached by Bridewell, then in the second division of the Munster Junior League. He was delighted to sign for them. He spent many happy years with Bridewell and was an automatic choice with the Middle Parish team during the period when they won every trophy in the Munster Junior League.



Then that Junior League went out of existence, the committee and players

decided to enter a team in the Munster Senior League. Success followed. they won the Senior Shield, qualified for various cup finals, and qualified for the 1st round of the FAI Senior Cup in 1967.



At that time, just four intermediate teams could qualify for the senior

competition and Bridewell got through by virtue of a stirring win over a great Cobh Ramblers team in the quarter-finals of the FAI Intermediate Cup.



Bridewell were drawn away to League of Ireland side Drogheda. Fitzy recalls: " We were very apprehensive about the game. But on the day we excelled and Drogheda were lucky to get away with a 1 - 1 draw. I remember Ronnie Whelan (father of Ronnie of Liverpool and Ireland fame), scored the equaliser for Drogheda".



Fitzy himself was up against the famous Jimmy Hasty, the one armed player well know to Mardyke regulars and mentioned by Charlie O'Leary on the recent Opel FAI Awards night. Hasty was a delightful player but Tony marked him so well that Hasty was dropped for the replay.



But the replay went Drogheda's way and they advanced on a 3 - 0 scoreline. The game was played in Turner's Cross but so bad were the ground and weather conditions that many thought the game should not have gone ahead.



The Bridewell players had to pay three pounds for that away trip. And

Fitzgerald remembers: "The cost included the return coach journey, B. & B. in a top class hotel in Lucan, Co. Dublin, and an evening meal on the Sunday after the game."



Eventually Bridewell folded and he spent two seasons with Wembley in the AUL. Then, in the late 60s and early 70s, he was secretary of the Ballyphehane Street Leagues and then secretary of Casement Celtic Schoolboys Club. He was instrumental in forming Casement juniors and played with them. He continued as secretary of Casement youths and schoolboys and helped them to many a success.



He first became involved with the AUL in the mid seventies when Christy

McGrath proposed him as a selector of the Oscar Traynor Cup team. Soon he was coopted onto the management committee and filled the role of fixtures secretary for many years.



His administrative skills have been noted outside the Cork area and he is

currently a member of various MFA and FAI committees. Earlier this year, he played a leading role in helping the FAI stage the European Under 16

Tournament Finals. Tony was chairman of the Munster area organising

committee, a role he filled with distinction, a distinction that he'll no

doubt bring to his new role in the AUL.