Mayo football stalwart calls for review of local sports investment

by Dr. Richard Martin

I’m from Pavilion Road, and for as long as I can remember Fergie McEllin and Pat Gavin have been at the gates of Castlebar Celtic on match days. Club stalwarts and volunteers.

Over the past century, only four men from Castlebar have represented Ireland in soccer at international level - Christy McHale, Josie Feeney, Fergie McEllin and Steven Ryan. Only four. At youth level, David Joyce and John ‘Tot’ Gavin both represented Ireland also.

I’ve heard numerous urban legends about Fergie McEllin and Josie Feeney and how they were both superlative talents. Unfortunately, I never got to see them play.

I met Fergie and Pat at the entrance of Dunnes recently (fundraising for Celtic) and I asked Fergie if I could meet him for a chat. He said no problem and we arranged to meet the following week.

RM: We kick off, you're from the town?

FMcE: I'm originally from McHale Road.

RM: You're from the road?

FMcE: Yeah, but our family moved out to Manulla in 1966.

My father's uncle was left on his own out there on a farm and he was an old man and we brought him into Castlebar but he couldn't settle so we all had to move out to the house.

RM: When did you start with Celtic?

FMcE: Well, when we were young, the youngest underage team was Under 16 and there was only two teams in the county, Westport and Castlebar. At Under 16, that's all we had. We played two games against Westport in a final, home and away, and we won that final but that's the only two games I had Under 16.

We moved up to an Under 18 team then and I found myself playing in goal for a while because they were stuck for a goalkeeper. What time period was this then? It would be 1971-ish. Okay.

RM: When did you start playing senior?

FMcE: Well, I played senior when I was 16 in goal for the senior team because they were stuck. I remember one game up in Celtic Park, we were playing Westport and, at the end of the game, Paul Gavin pulled up at the old Tennis Pavilion in his car and brought myself, Michael Bennett and Noel Jennings up to MacHale Park and we togged then out for Castlebar Mitchels against Kiltimagh.

RM: So you also played for the Mitchels?

FMcE: I played senior with the Mitchels, yes, but I missed out on a Mayo SFC title winners medal in 1986 as I done my cruciate that year. But I won the Centenary Cup with them in 1984.

RM: I always saw you more of a Celtic man.

FMcE: Well, I am a Celtic man. When I came home from England, where I spent a number of years after school and where I hadn't played football in England at all, I started playing with Tony Kelly, from Spencer Street. Tony was keeping Celtic alive at the time. Himself and a lad called Alan Fair from McHale Road. The two of them were keeping Celtic going.

The club was in a bad way at the time. Yeah, Hughie McGartland had passed away in 1974 and Hughie ran everything. Hughie was the be all and end all in Celtic. There was a big void lefty after him and the void wasn't filled.

I think there was a bit of a debt in the club as well. I think people were afraid of getting involved because of the debt.

There wasn't a huge amount of employment at the time. I said I'd do this engineering course up in Galway.

I met Tony down the town and I said: "I hear you're going up to play in Galway tomorrow, is there any chance of a lift on the bus?" He told me I could have a lift, but only if I brought my boots, socks and a towel. I had to go home and look to see if I could find a pair of boots.

RM: Just to bring you back playing with Celtic?

FMcE: That's what brought me back, yeah.

RM: What position were you then?

FMcE: Centre midfield was my position, and then a bit at centre forward.

RM: And when did you retire?

FMcE: I retired in 1991. I had to retire with injury.

RM: When did you play for Ireland?

FMcE: 1980.

RM: How many caps?

FMcE: Well, I just got the one. I didn't enjoy my time with Ireland.

RM: Really?

FMcE: No.

RM: Why?

FMcE: Because it was all political. It was all Dublin based. I'm a straight thinking guy and I didn't like what I saw with the politics.

RM: You thought there was too much favouritism?

FMcE: It was totally against the provinces. The manager was Dublin, the trainers were Dublin, the coaches were Dublin, the players, the manager, the captain was Dublin.

RM: So you were a bit disillusioned with it?

FMcE: I was very disillusioned, I was up there on loads of occasions. I played friendly matches and trial matches and scored in every match.

I played a challenge game and I was on the subs and they were losing 2-1 at halftime. I came on in the second half, got two goals and we won the game 3-2.

And I still didn't get on the starting team.

A lot of Celtic lads played for Connaught. And I remember there was four of us, Paraic Cresham, Brian Ainsworth, Larry Morahan and myself, on the Connaught team up in Sligo Showgrounds playing Leinster. And the Leinster team had 10 of the Ireland team who played Scotland the week before. And we beat them up.

RM: So that says it all really. Yeah.

FMcE: That's the kind of stuff you were up against.

RM: So tell us about Celtic then, just in your eyes, the progress down the years. Did you get involved in the club administration side of things?

FMcE: I did. I got involved with the youths set-up first. I got involved straight away, a couple of years after I joined.

Joey Burke was on the committee and he asked me to join the committee. I said I didn't have a clue what you do on a committee.

He said, just come along. I did go along, as did a number of other players, and we did well.

We came up with a few little fundraising things. We cleared the debt in the club and we got money to redo the pitch at Celtic Park and all that and the club eventually moved on. The club has got really big now.

RM: Is the place too small now?

FMcE: Oh, way too small. That's our biggest problem up there. We're hemmed in on all sides.

RM: What about the swimming pool? Is that coming in sight for you?

FMcE: The swimming pool would be good because it would give, especially the girls, their own dressing rooms and stuff like that and it would give us more space for meeting rooms and for storage.

RM: What's the story there? Are you getting that?

FMcE: No, we're waiting on a decision from the council. We've asked for it and we've asked for it.

RM: Who owns it? The council?

FMcE: The council own it, yeah. We're still waiting on a decision.

RM: It's a no-brainer though.

FMcE: That’ll solve the dressing room problems but it won't solve our playing area problems. We have an extreme shortage of pitches.

RM: Yeah, but I would say this, Celtic need a greenfield site outside the town. Is that the plan?

FMcE: It was the plan. We had identified the site where they're going to build the new athletic track at Knockaphunta with a number of pitches. We had approached the council to give us eight or 10 acres of that and it didn't go through (shrugs shoulders) because I don't know what happened.

RM: Where exactly is the site?

FMcE: Near where the new hospice is and St. Anthony's School. All the ground on your left, as you're driving in.

RM: So Celtic were looking for 10 acres there?

FMcE: Yes, we needed it.

RM: But it's not over yet?

FMcE: Well, it is because they're now going to put sports arena there and they said that they're putting a GAA pitch, rugby pitch, and a running track and there'll be one soccer pitch in the middle of it.

RM: Yeah, but I still think Celtic need their own base.

FMcE: We do, we need our own base. If you have one soccer pitch and it's in the middle of an athletic arena where the athletic clubs are training and where Castlebar Town and Mayo FC are also looking for a place to play in, then the plan is, as I see it, all over the place.

RM: It should be a greenfield site, Celtic exclusive only and five or six pitches at least.

FMcE: That's what we're looking for.

RM: Have you spoken to the FAI?

FMcE: The FAI have their own problems. They don't have any money. They can't give us any land, they can't give us any financial assistance.

RM: So what do you think the solution is then?

FMcE: The only solution is council land. We've been looking for 30 years for ground. It's either beyond our means of buying it because it's too expensive or it's too far away from Castlebar.

We need something that's in striking distance.

RM: Was it originally zoned for Celtic, that land?

FMcE: No, that land belonged to the HSE. But we knew that the council were going to get it from the HSE. But it took a long, long time for it to come into council ownership.

RM: What are the numbers in Celtic?

FMcE: Well, there's 27 teams now. All age groups, boys and girls, men and women.

RM: You can't all be in Celtic Park?

FMcE: We use St. Mary's now and again.

RM: And that's it?

FMcE: You have to get permission to use St. Mary's too and it's not ideal.

In my eyes that's where the running track should be. It's a natural amphitheatre. There's a track there already.

That's where they should be putting a running track with an astroturf pitch in the middle that can be used by the ATU. And you'd be able to build extra pitches out in this new development then because there's no running track, which is taking up a huge amount of space.

In 2022, Westport United secured €2.8 million to develop their club. More power to them. In Castlebar, we all know that wouldn’t have happened during the reign of P. Flynn. Castlebar land should be prioritised for Castlebar sport. And funded.

RM: Celtic and Mitchels are the two biggest clubs in the county in their respective sports. Their numbers and teams have multiplied exponentially over the past 20 years. They need ground. They need space and they need pitches.

Celtic have 27 teams and only one full-size pitch. Going forward it’s not sustainable. Or fair. Declan Shaw always says to me that: “We have to leave the Mitchels in a better place for the next generation Richie." He’s right.

As it stands both clubs are gridlocked and facing an existential crisis.

Ultimately, it’s the youth of the town that will suffer in the years ahead.

For me our local representatives should make the zoning of town land for town sport an urgent priority.

Going forward, anything less is an abject dereliction of duty.