Tommy Eglington – The Flying Winger of the Fifties

The Irish international left-winger, gave unstinting service to the Blues’ cause during some of the club’s darkest days. He is forever associated with his teammate and great friend, Peter Farrell, who crossed the Irish Sea with him in 1946.

Rob Sawyer 18/05/2020 30comments  |  Jump to last

Tommy Eglington, the Irish international left-winger, gave unstinting service to the Blues’ cause during some of the club’s darkest days. He is forever associated with his teammate and great friend, Peter Farrell, who crossed the Irish Sea with him in 1946.

Tommy was born in Donnycarney, a Northside suburb of Dublin on 15th January 1923. He was one of seven siblings born to Christopher (a butcher by trade) and Margaret. As was the norm, Gaelic Football was played in school, so Tommy would only get to indulge his passion for the ‘British game’ in the fields near his home after lessons finished. His early footballing experience was with Grace Park - a Sunday team he formed with friends (it disbanded when the war broke out). On a Grave Park tour of the Midlands he was offered a trial with West Bromwich Albion but he turned it down - feeling that he was too young to leave home. He’d go on to play for Munster Victoria and Dublin Distillery before being picked up by Shamrock Rovers in 1943, and it was there that the left winger appeared in three successive FAI Cup Finals. Away from football Tommy worked in the family butchery firm (his brothers would also enter the trade).

As the Second World Draw to a close, Everton FC was on the lookout for fresh blood (at modest prices, in those austere times) to supplement the aging and depleted squad. Secretary-Manager Theo Kelly and Chairman Ernest Green watched Shamrock Rovers play Glentoran in Belfast, scouting a particular player. But it was the performances of Tommy and Peter Farrell that caught their attention. After the match the Toffees officials approached the pair and the railway station and asked for the contact details for the Shamrock Rovers Chairman. Tommy and Peter obliged, doubting that anything would come of it. Rovers were chaired and supported financially by a successful bookmaker Joe Cunningham but it was his wife, May who was hands on in the operation of the club and team selection. So, a short while later, Kelly headed to Dublin to negotiate a double-transfer - mindful that other English clubs were displaying interest. The £3,000 deal - £2,000 for Farrell and £1,000 for Tommy (although reported in the press as £10,000) - was agreed between the clubs but the two players took some time to consider whether they wanted to leave home and go to England, which was in slow recovery from the ravages of war. In the end the lure of playing in the Football League for a big club with a huge fanbase won out over concerns over rationing etc. The transfer was finalised on the evening of 11th July. May Cunningham told the Liverpool-based sports journalist Don Kendall (‘Pilot’): “You will find Peter and Tommy charming fellows and grand players.’

The Everton team in change shirts in the late 1940s

The Everton team in change shirts in the late 1940s

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On 29th August 1946, nearly three weeks after Everton’s pre-season preparations got underway, Tommy and Peter set sail on the night ferry to Liverpool. It was a rough crossing and that, combined with the homesickness already creeping over him, made him contemplate staying on the boat for the return journey to Dublin. Such thoughts were dispelled by the smiling presence on the quay of Theo Kelly and Everton club captain Norman Greenhalgh. Their warm handshakes and greetings helped dispel the gloom and soon Tommy looked forward to playing for what he later described as ‘the greatest club in the world’. After a visit to a cafe next to Goodison Park and a quick tour of the ground, the pair were shown to their digs with Mrs Egan on Harris Drive in Bootle. The kind-hearted landlady became like a second mother to the pair and helped them settle on Merseyside. Tommy recalled a decade later: ‘We never felt a moment’s strangeness or anxiety. Right from the start we were made to feel as though we “belonged” and that we were one of the family. I shall never forget the happy days I spent in Harris Drive.’

Within a couple of days of disembarking in Liverpool, Tommy was having a brilliant debut for the reserves in a Central League fixture at Hillsborough. He progressed to the first team at Goodison on 11th September - he replaced Wally Boyes in the number eleven shirt for the visit of Arsenal. The result was a morale-boosting 3-2 victory. Stork wrote in the Daily Post that Tommy had ‘a successful debut without pulling up trees’ One pleasing aspect was the quick understanding established on the left of attack with compatriot Alex Stevenson. One match report noted: ‘Changes had to be made and these undoubtedly were all to the good. Don’t think that all is well, but there was definitely more combination in the side. Stevenson’s return to link up with the new Irish laddie, Eglington was a happy stroke, for Wee Alec...holds the ball, he slips it out to the open spaces and if his colleagues sense what he is about they move into those spaces.‘

Eglington and Farrell are welcomed to Goodison Park by Theo Kelly, Alex Stevenson and Norman Greenhalgh

Tommy and Peter are welcomed to Goodison Park by Theo Kelly, Alex Stevenson and Norman Greenhalgh

Tommy was joined in the team two months later by Peter Farrell, once recovered from injury, who would go on to replace the departing Joe Mercer at wing-half. The pair became mainstays of the team for over a decade. Tommy got off the mark in his sixth appearance for the Blues. It was very welcome as the Toffees had not scored in the previous 298 minutes of play - an indication of the struggles being experienced. However, the goal came in a 4-1 pummelling at Roker Park. Shortly after returning to Merseyside from the match he wrote to update his parents on life at Everton: The letter is reproduced here:

Bootle, Liverpool

15/10/46

Dear Ma & Pa,

Just a few lines to let you know that I arrived back after my long journey. We left Liverpool at 5PM on Friday and we arrived in Newcastle at 10:30pm - we stayed there all the time - it was only a few miles from Sunderland. I slept with a Catholic - McIlhatton, the outside-right and the two of us went to Mass. We left Newcastle at 9:40 Sunday morning and arrived back in Liverpool at 4pm. It was a grand trip and they can take a beating very well, the directors included. Well pop, we were beaten badly - the team did not play as well as usual. I had a good game myself and scored a grand goal. Our outside-right sent in high ball and the opposing centre-half headed it away. Before it hit the ground I smacked it into the net. It was the best goal that I ever scored and all the lads gave me a great handshake after the match. They are the best fellas in the world and I don’t think there is a better club in England even though we are not doing too good. Sunderland have a great side and I would say that they are the best we have played so far.

Mum - I hope that you got the money I sent you. Have you made up your mind when you are coming over? I hope that it will be soon. Tell all the family I was asking for them…

Yours truly,

Tom

PS By the time you receive this letter we might be out on strike. If we do come out, Peter and I are going home.

Flash Eggo cartoon

Tommy was already a full international player when he joined Everton. His first call-up to the Dublin-based FAI side came in a match against Portugal in June 1946. Five months later he’d make the first of six appearances for the Belfast-based IFA - lining up with Peter Farrell, Alex Stevenson and Johnny Carey in a goalless draw with England. From 1948 onwards his appearances would solely be for the FAI - his 24th and last being in fixture with Spain in November 1955. In that era clubs were not obligated to release their players for international fixtures but Tommy would recall that Everton respected his patriotic desires:

‘They always treated me fairly when international honours came my way. There was never any moaning about the loss of services for a club game. It is things such as these which give players a feeling for a club.’ One of Tommy’s biggest regrets in his long football career was not being selected for the Irish side to face England at Goodison Park on 21st September 1949 (Tommy O’Connor of Shamrock Rovers got the nod to play). Blues teammates Peter Farrell and Peter Corr were chosen for the eleven captained by Johnny Carey. Tommy was would from the stand as Ireland inflicted the first defeat by a non-British team on English soil; Peter Farrell scored at the Park End in an Irish 2-0 win.

Tommy led a healthy lifestyle and was a dedicated trainer, determined to make the most of natural assets and continually improve. With that and the luck of avoiding serious injury (maybe defenders could not get near enough to clobber him) it’s little wonder that he enjoyed a long career. He won friends on the terraces for his direct, barnstorming wing play. Unlike predecessors like Jackie Coulter and Wally Boyes who indulged in trickery with the ball at their feet, he used his blistering pace to leave right-backs trailing in his wake. He was affectionately known as ‘Flash Eggo’ in recognition of his jet-heeled properties and Everton trainer Gordon Watson recalled:

Tommy Eglington's wedding day in 1950

Tommy's wedding day in 1950 with Peter Farrell as his Best Man

‘Tommy had the fastest feet in the game and Theo Kelly often joked that he’d received a complaint from fans in The Paddock about the smell of scorched turf’ Mick Meagan, who joined the club six years after his countryman, recalls: ‘When an Aer Lingus plane flew over Goodison we’d say ‘There’s Eggo flying up the wing!’ Tommy was very much left-footed and, in addition to crossing for the centre-forward, would often let-fly at goal (he scored 82 goals). His, more erratic, right-foot shots were a source of mirth for some supporters, but his ‘swinger’ improved over time.

Back home in Ireland, Tommy married Doris ‘Dorrie’ O’Donohue in the summer of 1950 - no prizes for guessing that the best man was Peter Farrell. In time, they raised three children, Bernard, Anthony and Paula. On returning to Liverpool, the newlyweds lodged for several months with Tommy’s former landlady Mrs Egan in Bootle until moving into a club house on Mostyn Avenue in Old Roan.

It was Tommy’s misfortune that his best years were spent in the doldrums of the Second Division (normally with John Willie Parker playing just inside of him and Dave Hickson leading the line). His greatest feat in the royal blue shirt occurred in September 1952 when he scored five goals in a 7-1 rout of Doncaster Rovers (player-managed by his friend and Ireland captain Peter Docherty). His haul had journalists leafing through the record books to check for precedents (Dixie Dean and scored five on three occasions whilst Jack Southworth hit six past West Brom in 1893 - but they were both centre-forwards). Ranger, in the Liverpool Echo, wrote: ‘Eglington has written his name in football annals in a manner that dozens of outstanding wingers of former days never achieved.’ Tommy, looking back some years later, said: ‘I remember two headers the most vividly. Both crosses from the right wing and I met them at the far post and nodded them in.’ Smiling, he noted that he had not been too greedy as John Willie Parker also weighed in with two goals!

Congratulations are received from Cliff Britton on achieving promotion in 1954

Tommy missed only one match in the 1953/54 season as Everton earned promotion back to the top-flight in 1954. He rated this as a highlight of his career and recalled the journey to the final game of the season at Boundary Park: ‘Apart from the result, my outstanding memory was the support we had that night. We travelled along the East Lancs Road and it was packed with Everton supporters waving blue and white favours and cheering us on. It was an amazing sight.’

The arrival of new coach, Ian Buchan, in 1956 marked a shift towards blooding younger players, so Tommy’s days were numbered. One of the emerging local players was Brian Harris who later told the Everton match day programme: ‘When I got into the first team I was well looked-after by Eggo and all these players. When you are a young player that helps you a hell of a lot because they know how things work, They passed everything they learnt to me. Eggo was a good player, very quick. I can’t say enough about him. He was a smashing guy and we had a lot of laughs, and he’d always help you if you had any problems.’

Graham Williams took Tommy’s place on the left wing towards the end of the 1956/57 season. His final League appearance came in a home defeat to Portsmouth on 23rd March but he bowed out in fitting fashion in May when Everton played Shamrock Rovers in Dublin (for the record, Rovers won 4-2). In late June of that year the Merseyside press picked up on efforts being made by Third Division Tranmere to acquire the 34 year-old’s services - a £1,750 deal was swiftly finalised. Ranger, writing in the Liverpool Echo, lamented Tommy’s departure from L4 whilst recognising that time waits for no man:

We shall miss Eglington at Goodison Park –and possibly in more ways than one. I had hoped the same clemency might be extended to Eglington, bearing in mind his eleven years of whole-hearted service to the club and the fact that never once had he caused them a moment’s anxiety. Fortunately he has got fixed up all right. Eglington might not always have been everyone’s idea of a first-class winger. He had spells when he suffered off periods. But so does every player. Taken by and large over the eleven years, however, he gave Everton good value for his wages, and missed barely a couple of dozen matches. Football today is very strictly business - there is little or no room for sentiment. Nevertheless it is still a matter for regret when time brings its inevitable changes and a noted player has to stop down into a lower sphere where the cheers of the smaller crowds make less sweet music than those to which he has so long been accustomed.

Tommy had amassed 428 appearances for the Blues (the 12th highest appearance-maker as at April 2020). Everton did not find a satisfactory long-term successor for the number eleven shirt until John Morrissey arrived in 1962 (Tommy Ring had dazzled on the wing in 1960 before suffering a badly broken leg).

Tommy was joined a few months later by Peter Farrell a few months later (Farrell was appointed as Rovers’ player-manager - and regularly joked that he was going to sack Tommy). He enjoyed four productive seasons on The Wirral - he was almost an ever-present and racked up 185 appearances in League and cups (in spite of a fractured fibula in April 1960 he was back fit for the 1960/61 season). On the 17th April he bowed out from competitive football in this land - as fate would have it, it was at Goodison Park in the Liverpool Senior Cup semi-final. Watching the 4-1 victory for the Toffees from the stands was Tommy’s ex-strike partner, Harry Catterick, who had been appointed as Everton manager earlier that day. As he brought down the curtain on his career in England he was granted a benefit match at Prenton Park on 1st May 1961 against an All-Star XI which included Bryan Douglas, Dennis Stevens, Alan A’Court, Jimmy Armfield, Billy Liddell and Tommy’s former Everton teammate, Matt Woods. He was also given a fitting farewell at a civic function hosted by the Mayor of Birkenhead.

Returning to the Emerald Isle he turned out for (the now defunct) Cork Hibernians. Even at this veteran age, he was selected on multiple occasions for League of Ireland representative sides. Having hung up his boots in 1963 he focussed on his butchers business in Clontarf (he had founded it whilst at Tranmere but left his brother, Kevin, to manage it in his absence). Needless to say, football fans - not just of an Evertonian persuasion - would seek him out at the shop and request autographs or have photos taken. In time his son Anthony would take on the most famous butchers and victuallers in Ireland. Naturally Tommy met up with Peter Farrell regularly up until Peter’s death in 1993 and the families remained close.

Tommy Eglington with family

At home with the family


Eglington Martin and Farrell circa 1980

Tommy Eglington, Con Martin and Peter Farrell, circa 1980

A talented golfer, Tommy was a regular at St Anne’s club - being elected as captain in 1970. He’d got the links bug from Alec Stevenson in their time together at Everton. ‘Stevie’ took him to the course in Bootle for instruction (and no doubt some gentle leg-pulling). His first round took 117 strokes and cost him six lost, balls but soon the handicap was in single figures and he enjoyed a weekly fourball with Peter Farrell, Eddie Wainwright and Don Donovan.

Tommy remained an Evertonian – a copy of the Monday edition of the Liverpool Echo was posted to him every week by Terry Egan, the son of his former landlady in Bootle. He’d check the Everton reports first, followed by Tranmere and Liverpool (‘...because I have happy memories of them and their fans too’). He was a regular visitor to Merseyside to take in matches - his children being amazed when young supporters recognised him and asked for autographs. Such trips gave him the opportunity to visit Harry Leyland and his wife (who would in turn visit Dublin). He was at Everton’s Wembley Cup Finals in the mid-1980s and in 1995. Back home he’d watch the Toffees when they ventured over (for example, the European Cup Winners’ Cup match against UCD in 1984). He was also happy to oblige fans by attending supporters’ club functions in Dublin (with the Irish Toffees) and in Cork, where he’d sometimes go with friend and former teammate Don Donovan. He’d be interviewed about his playing career and once said: ‘I think that there was more enjoyment and fun in the days that Peter and I played. There’s so much money in the game now, and more pressure on players.’

Tommy Eglington at his butcher's shop in Clontarf

The family butchers in the 1950s; Tommy at his butchers shop in Clontarf in 1991

At the age of 68 Tommy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and the prognosis was bleak but the skills of surgeons gave him a new lease of life. He passed away in 2004, aged 81, having lived with vascular dementia in his final three years. Seven years later a display in his honour was unveiled at the FAI head office in Dublin (during his lifetime he was awarded an FAI merit award at half-time in an international match as he had come up just short of the 25 caps required to receive an engraved silver shamrock). His children and grandchildren continue to make regular visits to Goodison Park.

Let’s close with remarks Tommy made in 1955, nine years after moving to Merseyside:

‘No matter where I might be in the years ahead...I shall always have a soft spot in my heart for the Goodison Park club and the hundreds of friendly and hospitable folk I have been fortunate to know.’

Acknowledgment:

My sincere thanks to Tommy’s family for their assistance with this article

Sources:

The Eglington Family
Mick Meagan
The Everton match day programme
Liverpool Echo and Liverpool Daily Post
Irish Toffees Facebook article
Everton Encyclopedia
evertonresults.com
bluecorrespondent.co.uk (Billy Smith)
Photos are from the Eglington family collection and the Everton programme 1st April 1991)

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Reader Comments (30)

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Terry OConnor
1 Posted 18/05/2020 at 23:19:14
Had a drink with his son and nephew Alan a few years ago in the Cedars in Raheny. It was the night Tim Cahill scored a late equaliser at Anfield heard some great stories about him.
John McFarlane Snr
2 Posted 18/05/2020 at 23:42:32
Hi Rob, I have many now fading memories of Tommy Eglington but the one that I can recall most is the occasion he scored 5 goals against Doncaster Rovers on 27 September 1952, a 7-1 victory for Everton. A cousin of mine got married on that day, and I was the only family member to attend the game, and when asked what the game had been like, I replied, "I'm not telling you, you should have gone to the match".

Tommy was one of the quickest wingers in football at that time, another memory is of him scoring a goal against Manchester United in the 2-1 win in an FA Cup game at Goodison, the day that Dave Hickson suffered a serious head injury, and returned to the pitch to score the winning goal, his bandaged head covered in blood.

Tommy was transferred to Tranmere Rovers in 1957 and the last time I saw him play for Everton was 27 August 1956 in a 2-2 home draw against Bolton Wanderers. That was two days before I joined the Army, sadly it was also the last time I saw Peter Farrell.

Thanks for another excellent article, I know you're aware of my love of nostalgia, some call it an obsession.

Des Farren
3 Posted 19/05/2020 at 12:49:35
Hi Rob.

I really enjoyed this article. I started following the Blues circa 1955, but living in Dublin I cannot recall ever seeing him play although I would safely say that it was the Irish connection, particularly Tommy and Peter Farrell that was responsible for my supporting Everton.

As you say his career was over before the advent of television so quite a bit of what you write is new to me even after 65 years!

Thanks again for a lovely jaunt down memory lane.

Ken Kneale
4 Posted 19/05/2020 at 13:43:01
Rob – as ever, impeccable research and well written. Thanks.
Dave Abrahams
5 Posted 19/05/2020 at 14:41:48
Lovely story, Rob, as usual, of a grand man, to use an Irish phrase. A good player who played in a time when football was played on a level playing field for all clubs and as enjoyable to watch as it was to play.

Eggo was so down to earth, that's why I referred to him as a grand man, he really was. Me and my mate met him on a train coming back from London after an Everton game, so easy and natural to talk to, even though we young teenagers still at school. My mate Mick said to him, “Tommy, you are playing for Eire next week, is there any chance you could get us a programme?"

Tommy replied, “Certainly, no bother at all.” We missed the next away game but the following one, Tommy found us on the train, he said “Where were you the other week? I was up and down the train looking for you? Anyway, here's your programme." (Eire v Portugal, I think) and we had another good gab to him. A nice genuine man with no airs and graces at all, as well as being a good football.

Eggo and Peter Farrell played in the top three English leagues and two international teams together, Ireland and Eire.

By the way, Rob, it was Graham Williams who replaced Tommy in 1957 not Gareth, and to finish what an old fashioned but beautiful letter he wrote to his parents, describing his weekend in the North East, old fashioned manners with lovely Ideals, sums up Tommy very well I think.

George Carroll
6 Posted 19/05/2020 at 15:36:41
Thank you, Rob, for a great piece that brought back floods of memories. As I said elsewhere, Tommy and Peter were my favourite players of that era.

The 1949 International stands out as a memory because a friend and I sagged Rugby (held on a Wednesday afternoon and Saturday) at St Edwards to go and watch the game.

We thought we would be safe in the crowd but unfortunately two of the Christian Brothers had also skipped Rugby to watch Ireland and they spotted us. However, they didn't punish us, thanks to Peter scoring and Ireland winning. Happy days, and thanks again, Rob.

Tony Waring
7 Posted 20/05/2020 at 09:46:30
Great article on a great player. I was at that game against Doncaster. What a match. We haven't scored that many goals on many occasions – though I also fondly remember rampages against Chelsea and Southampton.

George (6), I empathise with your situation as I was at St Mary's at that time and well aware of the Christian Brothers' attitude to footy.

Mention of Tommy Ring also evokes memories. I was at that match at Stamford Bridge where he broke his leg. I was working in London at the time and a pal and I visited him in hospital in Fulham. He was in a general ward and glad to have a visit from a Blue – no fancy private hospitals for players at that time!

Derek Taylor
8 Posted 20/05/2020 at 11:58:10
Great article about an Everton' great' of those early post-war years. My personal 'fave' in those days was Efraim 'Jock' Dodds but Tommy came a close second!

By the way, Rob, how did Liverpool's Secretary, Peter Robinson, sneak into the picture of the re-union of 1980?

Gerry Killen
9 Posted 21/05/2020 at 04:19:34
Cheers George Carroll, my memories are similar to yours.

I was 14 and my big brother used to watch me safely into the Boys Pen, then he would make his way into the Paddock, but this day, he took me into the Paddock with him. I was a skinny kid so he kept hoisting me up to see the game.

I remember the smoke haze all over the ground, most people smoked then, and he told me to look up at the Main Stand. There was rows of clergy, nuns, priests etc, must have just got off the Dublin boat, my brother said they looked like a row of penguins.

England had a fine team out but most had come to see Stan Matthews and Tommy Lawton – neither played that day. The crowd cheered the Irish lads and it was a great win. My brother wrote me a sick note for the teacher, but it didn't wash and I can still feel the Six Of The Best across my fingers – just because I said we went to watch Ireland... He yelled - "It's Eire!"

Rick Tarleton
10 Posted 21/05/2020 at 20:44:01
Part of the first Everton team I remember that won promotion and re-established Everton in the old First Division. There were four Irishmen in that team. I remember Eglington for his speed and the crosses he gave for Hickson.

I stood near him at Wembley in '66 and he was an enthusiastic supporter. Part of the last generation of maximum wage players who really were just like us.

Mike Berry
11 Posted 22/05/2020 at 19:22:53
An old Aunt used to call Everton the 'Irish' Mafia' because of him and Farrell. She also said he was a good lad and player. Bit before my time but never heard anything bad about him.
Frank Wade
12 Posted 22/05/2020 at 20:29:47
Thanks Rob for writing this fantastic article on Tommy Eglington, giving more insight into the Irish connection at Everton.

I grew up in Marino a neighbouring parish to Tommy's birthplace in Donnycarney. Like Des at #3 above, the exploits of Tommy, Peter Farrell and others was responsible for my calling.

What a great letter he wrote to his parents after that Sunderland game.

Dave Abrahams
13 Posted 22/05/2020 at 20:45:04
Mike (11), Tommy and Peter were the well known Irish Everton players but there were a few more Irish lads at the club around the same time as them, Jimmy O'Neil, a very good goalkeeper, full-backs Don Donavon and John Sutherland, Mick Meagan, wing half and full back who was another gentleman, George Cummins, a talented inside forward, international who was transferred to Luton Town, he came back to live in and work in Liverpool.

There might have been quite a few more but I think Everton gave one Irish club, not sure which one, such a paltry sum after the Irish lad made the grade, that they vowed never to let any of their lads go to Everton in the future. I've an inkling that Liam Whelan who played for Man Utd was one of those players, he died in the Munich disaster.

Dave Abrahams
14 Posted 22/05/2020 at 21:05:29
Just thought on, I forgot Tommy Clinton, full-back, played in the 1953 FA Cup semi-final versus Bolton, missed a penalty just before half time.

In the end of the ground I was watching from, all seven goals were scored at the other end of the ground, and Peter Corr who played in the England v Eire game in 1949, played outside-right.

Frank Wade
15 Posted 23/05/2020 at 22:57:04
Thanks Dave, you have given me a new name in John Sutherland. My list of Everton Irish in the 40/50s contained only international players. John passed away last year and I found this obituary which contains a photo of a team from 1956. No names given but I am sure yourself, Rob and John will be able to fill them in. Link

I didn't realise George Cummins was an Everton player either, as I associated him with Luton. Thanks again Dave, a fountain of knowledge. That makes 9 Irish players from Tommy Eglington to Mick Meagan.

Robert Workman
16 Posted 24/05/2020 at 17:49:19
Both Tommy Eglington and Peter Farrell, plus quite a few other Irish players, were playing in my first game at Goodison Park. We beat Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 on 24 November 1956 (I still have the programme, which cost 4 pence). I was a proud, almost 9-year-old, sitting on the front row of the Upper Bullens.

I saw Tommy Eglinton playing for Tranmere Rovers a few years later – and enjoying some banter with the crowd! I also saw John Willie Parker playing for non-league New Brighton in the Lancashire Combination.

John McFarlane Snr
17 Posted 24/05/2020 at 19:52:47
Hi Frank [15],

The photo you submitted was taken when I was serving Queen and country in Cyprus. The line-up:

Back row, from left to right: John Sutherland, Jimmy Tansey, Jimmy O'Neill, Tommy Jones, George Kirby.

Front row, from left to right: Tony McNamara, Tommy Eglington, Peter Farrell, Bert Llewellyn, Jimmy Glazzard, Ken Rea.

I never saw John Sutherland, Jimmy Glazzard or Kenny Rea, play for Everton, they were gone when I was demobbed in 1959.

George Cummins made 24 appearances for Everton without scoring. On his return to Goodison, he netted in the first couple of minutes, but fortunately goals from Tommy Eglington and John Willie Parker saved the day.

Frank Wade
18 Posted 24/05/2020 at 22:08:00
Thanks John.
Derek Taylor
19 Posted 30/05/2020 at 13:48:55
Among my autographs of Everton players during the 1948-49 season, I have a signature for one `DP Cameron` of whom I have no memory at all. A follower even more ancient than I believes that, like Seamus Coleman, Cameron was signed from Sligo Rovers but, unlike our present skipper, played only a handful of games before returning from whence he came.

Any more info on this Irish mystery man, anybody?

Dave Abrahams
20 Posted 30/05/2020 at 14:28:01
I remember this lad, doubt if he played many games for Everton's first team or any at all to be honest, if he did I never saw him. But he did play in a few reserve games that I saw; he was a right half. Definitely wore the number four shirt, so they mostly played in the position that their shirt number indicated in those days.

I would say he was a big lad but to be honest every player looked big to me then, as I was only eight or nine.

Steve Barr
21 Posted 30/05/2020 at 15:13:20
Dave Abrahams, while you are online take a look at my post re the Everton Red Triangle Boxing club in case you missed it under the General Message forum.

I'd appreciate any insights you have on the club under Joey Curran's reign!

No problems if not.

Derek Taylor
22 Posted 30/05/2020 at 16:04:53
Thanks, Dave. I've since heard he played just one game in the first team although I must have been there to get his moniker in the book!
Dave Abrahams
23 Posted 30/05/2020 at 17:58:25
Steve (21), I remember you talking about The Everton Red Triangle Club when you were back in Liverpool a few tears ago, so I presume you visited the club when you came.

The club was the brainchild of Joe Curran, a nephew of the boxer of the same name, who fought for the world flyweight title against Rinty Monaghan. Joe opened the club for kids who lived locally who were interested in boxing, somewhere to keep them off the streets and to learn discipline as well as being well taught in the science of boxing.

Joe also introduced a well run social club, with any profits going towards the boxing club. The boxing produced a world champion in Colin Dunne, a nephew of my mate Jimmy Dunne who fought in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, along with many outstanding amateur and professional clubs. The club had many good coaches over the years Tony Carroll who fought for the British title being one along with Harry Curry, a great coach and a gentleman. I'll continue soon, Steve, got to go out.

Steve Barr
24 Posted 30/05/2020 at 18:28:14
Dave, Thanks for the update and I look forward to hearing more. Happy to correspond via email in the event this is not the right forum to talk boxing.
However, the ERT Boxing Club does have a kind of connection with Everton FC.

As Rick Tarleton pointed out in another thread, his Uncle, Nel Tarleton, the great Featherweight Champion started his career at the ERT and was good friends with the legendary Dixie Dean!

Joey Curran did indeed revive the ERT back in 1981 when he opened it up at 38 Everton Road. I managed to find an article in the Echo on the opening and there is a picture of Joey, with his son Stephen along with Harry Curry and a Billy Webb. As an aside Billy Aird one of Liverpool's former heavyweight contenders formally cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony.

Prior to that it was located at 120 -126 Everton Road and records have it starting at that location in late 1919/1920, when the then committee took over the old Newsboys home for destitute children.

Dave Abrahams
25 Posted 30/05/2020 at 18:41:23
Sorry Steve, back in, in the above post one line should have read “ with many outstanding amateur and professional boxers.

Noel Quarless who fought the British heavyweight title learned his boxing at The Red Triangle along with David Price another heavyweight boxer. Alan Rudkin also helped out at the club along with presenting the prizes at a few shows.

I was the recorder at the club for a good few years, the recorder has no dealings with the actual boxing, a good job, they would have learned nothing off me about boxing, I just filled in all the results, referees and judges of the fights, which was then sent to the ABA.

I finished with this job and replaced by a girl !!, the daughter of Tony Lynch, brother of Alan Lynch who ran the neighbouring Salisbury ABC. I still continued to drink in The Red Triangle until it closed, not sure when that was. Joe was getting on a bit and maybe the job was too much for him, he passed away around five or six years ago, he was well respected in amateur boxing circles and his funeral was very well attended.

Hope I have been of some help Steve.

Steve Barr
26 Posted 30/05/2020 at 19:18:34
Dave, Thanks so much for those insights which are most helpful.

The comment you made about Joe "opening the club for kids who lived locally who were interested in boxing, somewhere to keep them off the streets and to learn discipline as well as being well taught in the science of boxing" is really the essence of the club. It has always been there in the district helping the less fortunate kids get a leg up in life!

I did indeed visit the club when I was last over, back in Feb 2019 and will be back when they finally get the green light for their centenary celebrations.

A Joan Stevenson, along with her sons Paul and Mick are now running the club and I think she is a relative of Joe's!

She told me they moved to the new location just a mile up the road in Albion Street back in November 2005, so I guess that would be around the time it closed at its previous Everton Road location.

Anyway, If you are interested, I'll let you have a copy of the "ERT Scrapbook" once I get it completed.

Dave Abrahams
27 Posted 30/05/2020 at 21:28:28
Steve (26), yes Steve that date, 2005 fits in with time the EVT closed in Everton Road and moved to Albion Street.

Steve, on recollection, David Price possibly fought for the neighbouring boxing club Salisbury ABC not the ERT.

It would be a pleasure to have a look at the “ERT scrapbook” you are compiling, thank you.

Steve Barr
28 Posted 30/05/2020 at 22:33:50
Dave,

I'll go one better and let you know when the Centenary bash finally takes place. As an ex-recorder at the club, you're more than qualified to be at the celebrations!

Dave Abrahams
29 Posted 31/05/2020 at 14:04:34
Steve (28), that will be fine, thanks very much.
Jay Wood
[BRZ]

30 Posted 31/05/2020 at 15:44:13
Another excellent read as always, Rob.

Thank you.

Well before my time, but he sounds one helluva player does Tommy 'Eggo' and a nice fellah as well.


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