Other Sports

Eoin Hand, Former Irish Soccer manager tells it with hand on heart

May 3rd, 2005
by Weeshie Fogarty

Last Monday week April 25th on our Radio Kerry sports programme Terrace Talk we got a fascinating insight into the life and times of former Irish international soccer manager Eoin Hand, as the Moyvane resident looked back and recalled some of the many happenings of a life deeply involved in soccer both here, in England and further a- field. Eoin was my special studio guest, a man of great openness and honesty, he was lavish in his praise for the people of the Kingdom especially his friends and neighbours in Glenalappa Moyvane who have made him and his family so welcome since he built his home there four years ago.

Born in Drumcondra in Dublin where his mother still lives he would come as a young lad to Moyvane on holidays where his friends the Kirby's would look after him during those long hot summers of bygone days and it was these precious memories that prompted him to return and settle down there where he can now escape to the peace and quite among the Kerry hills when ever he feels like getting away from the rat race.

He is now the soccer analysis with RTE radio and Career Guidance Officer for The Football Association Of Ireland and is the man behind the recently introduced scheme where compensation is payable to clubs involved in grassroots training and development of a player, (from the age of 12 onwards) by oversees clubs where that players status changes from amateur to non-amateur. Eoin mentioned on the programme that awareness of the FIFA compensation scheme needed to be heightened in order that schoolboy clubs get their entitlements under FIFA regulations. Indeed this is very relevant to Kerry because this county is producing some of the very best soccer talent in Munster and many young lads have already been signed by cross channel clubs.

He has painful memories of his managerial years with Ireland, and in fact he is in many peoples opinion the unluckiest Irish manager of all. In that 1982 World Cup they just failed to make the longed for break through, his memories are vivid . 'We got off to a great start with a 3-2 win in Cyprus, then we gave a superb display at home as goals from Gerry Daly and Mark Lawerson saw us beat a star studded Dutch side, going into our final game we had been beaten just twice away to France and Belgium and then before a packed Lansdowne Road we beat France but just missed out in qualifying on goal difference, it was at the time heart breaking for everyone involved'.

The defeat by Belgium has left very bitter memories with Eoin and even now 25 year later what happened that night in the infamous Hysel stadium is ingrained in his mind and when he recalled the events of that night it is easy to understand his great frustration towards the referee following the final whistle, 'We played very well but some of the decisions were a disgrace, I went to the referee after the game I was so irate and I called him a cheat and I said you have taken money, now he understood English, and he just 'said go away', I should have been suspended. This referee had a history in Portugal which Mickey Walsh had told us about, the decisions he made were totally non-justifiable, they were ridiculous. There was a goal that Stapleton scored with a little routine he had with Liam Brady from their Arsenal training, Stapleton checked, then went back to the near post and headed in a great ball from Brady. Now there was absolutely nothing that could have been wrong with that goal, there was no off side because he was blatantly played on side by two players, no pushing, no shoving, the referee hesitated, you could see that he was visibly looking for a reason to disallow it, so he just blew and disallowed it. This is not a sob story from me, the video is there for every one to see and in fact they got a very dodgy goal to win the game near the end, if we had got the draw there in Belgium we would have gone through to the finals in Spain'.

He was very critical of the FAI set up in relation to the Irish team back up help during his term as management, however emphising at once that everything has changed for the better now and the players are looked after superbly. 'Things were very bad back then, I would even bring my wife on the trips to cook the proper meals for the team, the organisation was terrible. Following our exit from the world cup a tour to South and Central America was undertaken, and it was up to me to notify all the players and find out who was and was not available to travel. This was in the middle of the Falklands war and a match against Argentina was added to the itinerary, I said to the FAI, you can't play them, they are at war with England, some of our players hold English passports and they all play in England.

I was told to get on with it, so I approached Ron Atkinson at United and Keith Burkinshaw at Spurs, asking to release their Irish players and when they heard we were playing Argentina they told me in no uncertain terms in words which I can't repeat here on Terrace Talk where to go, so the Argentina match was scrapped from the schedule'. I questioned Eoin on his relation during that period with Eamon Dumphy and what he wrote about the then Irish manager, and it was understandable that he would not dwell to long on this subject as he recalled. 'I am not a biter person but I can't forgive Dumphy for what he wrote about me , I grew up with him in Drumcondra and what he wrote had a huge effect on my family especially my children who were bullied at school and my son had his bicycle tyres slashed and there was other stuff going on too, I just can't forgive him for all that'.

While I am only covering a fraction of my fascinating interview here with Eoin he recounted two very disturbing stories of his time in South Africa where he took up coaching following his time with Ireland. 'I was manager of a club there, Amazulu, it was just post-apartheid and I was told they did not want a white coach. One night after training in front of a big crowd including the players I was told in no uncertain terms that I was not wanted and I should pack my bags and leave. I was adamant that I was staying despite what they said, this was football not racism. Then this big Zulu stepped out from the back of the crowd and said, 'you must leave, we don't want you here and if you ever come back we will kill you'. End to story, I left, went to Johannesburg and opened a bar.

One morning this Chinese lady walked in to the bar, asked could she use the lady's room, shortly afterwards this big fellow came in, challenged me as to what I had said to his girl, and before I could answer he grabbed a bottle, slashed me across the face, down I went and I was told afterwards that he hit me a second time as I fell, I nearly lost an eye, spend time in hospital and was a very lucky person. I believe it was set up to get rid of me, so I packed my bags took down all my framed Irish jerseys from my time playing with Ireland and came home, I had had enough'.



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