AUL 2001

John Barnes was the AUL's first adopted Dubliner and was a leading soccer legislator.




He played with Ballinlough Rovers in his youth. He was with the club when they became one of the AUL's founder members in 1947.



John retired from the league in 1974 after 26 years of dedicated service, 21 of which he led from the chairman's throne.



During his dynamic reign he saw the league grow from just 14 teams to 150 and it would be impossible to chronicle his achievements over those years.



He spearheaded the drive behind the construction of the excellent 10-room pavilion at the league's headquarters in Church Road, a ground whose lease he also secured.



He was a member of the Munster Football Association for a lengthy period and served as the body's chairman during its Golden Jubilee year in 1972 when the famed Borussia Moenchengladbach visited Flower Lodge.



His presence on the FAI junior and youth committees was rewarding for Cork in that many of the players who received international recognition might never have achieved that cherished ambition but for his efforts in promoting Cork soccer.



He was chairman of the FAI junior Council for several seasons.



(by Plunkett Carter)



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JOHN BARNES RIP



John Barnes, who died last week, gave twenty-six years of dedicated service to the Cork AUL, twenty-one of them as Chairman.



Before his retirement in 1974, he helped the league expand from under 20 to over 150 teams. He was a driving force in the securing of Church Road and the construction of large pavilion there. A Dubliner, he helped the Cork league and its players achieve a new prominence at national level.



As a youth, he played his football with Ballinlough Rovers and was with them when they became founding members of the AUL in 1947. Soon afterwards, John was to start his magnificent service on the league's management committee.



He was also a member of the Munster Football Association for many years and indeed was chairman from 1972 to 1974. During that term, he helped oversee the Golden Jubilee celebrations. He also worked on the FAI junior and youths councils.



These few words barely scratch the surface of the huge contribution that John Barnes made to football. There was some small acknowledgment of that work when, in 1998, he was a proud recipient of a Distinguished Service Award from the Cork Soccer Honours Committee.