Snow, smog, mud... and a deep freeze that led to Man United starring in Cork

Has there ever been snow on the ground in an All-Ireland final? It’s extremely unlikely to happen now the showpieces are in July.

But there was snow on the pitch at Croke Park when the All-Ireland Hurling Final took place on October 24, 1926. Cork saw off Kilkenny 4-6 to 2-0 that day, and among the scorers was Willie Higgins, who won a second Celtic Cross in 1927.

Willie’s son, George Higgins, of Cobh, contacted the Holly Bough about several articles in the 2022 edition, including the one about Dinny Barry-Murphy, who was in those 1926-7 Cork teams with his father.

George, a life-long sports fan, emigrated to London in 1962, and said: “At that time the hurling and football finalists from the previous year came to London on Whit weekend to play exhibition matches at Wembley. They attracted big crowds.

“During the GAA season, if you took a trip up to Alexandra Palace, then a BBC sub-station, you could wire your transistor radio to the pylons nearby and get perfect reception of Micheal O’Hehir on RTÉ in full voice! In the grounds of Alexandra Palace was a flat-racing course, I saw Lester Piggott riding there a few times.”

George also remembered Breda Greene, who featured in last year’s Holly Bough as the grandmother of Ireland women’s World Cup soccer star, Lily Agg. Breda, like George, emigrated from Cobh to London in the 1960s.

The 2022 Holly Bough paid tribute to Cork rugby great Tom Kiernan, and George added: “I was at Twickenham when Tom scored Ireland’s points in a drawn match against England.”

George also reflected on our article last year on the Cork floods of March, 1962.

“At work the morning after the storm, I discovered workmates living outside of Cobh were stranded all night in the dockyard as Cobh was cut off from the mainland,” he recalled.

“In the summer of 1962, I emigrated to London. Going to work one morning in early December, the city was clouded over with smog. By 10am, it had got worse. It was decided to finish work. The buses had stopped running. Most of my journey was by tube, which was not affected. When I reached the northern exit of Finsbury Park Station, it was pitch black at midday.” It took George three hours to walk home - a stroll that normally took half an hour.

The 1962 London Smog led to London authorities bringing in a new law for smokeless fuel only. It was just the precursor to the infamous winter of 1962/3, when the UK and Ireland froze over for months on end.

“After Christmas, it started snowing and so began one of the worst winters of all time,” said George. “It lasted over two months. All building sites were closed due to frozen ground. A lot of workers including some Irish fell on hard times. In those days some contractors paid money in the hand. You paid no tax or insurance so you had no stamps to claim the dole.”

Sport was decimated. Manchester United did not play a competitive match for eight weeks, and the FA Cup third round took 66 days to complete: a tie between Coventry City and Lincoln City was postponed 15 times. In Scotland, a cup tie between Stranraer and Airdrie was called-off no fewer than 33 times!

Although Ireland suffered in the freeze too, many English clubs came here to play friendlies, an idea sparked by Coventry City manager Jimmy Hill. Nine English clubs took part in 10 matches in Dublin, Cork and Limerick in just 17 days, attracting around 100,000 paying spectators.

Hill’s Coventry lost 3-0 to Wolves at Flower Lodge, having shared a chartered flight from Birmingham to Cork. Some fans claimed a goal by Ron Flowers was the best seen in the ground, leading to suggestions it be renamed Flowers Lodge.

However, the ever-innovative Hill’s proposal to the English FA for the cup tie between Coventry and Lincoln to be moved to Dublin fell on deaf ears.

Hill recommended Flower Lodge to Manchester United manager Matt Busby, who promptly arranged a match. His United team flew into Dublin before catching the Cork train the next morning to take on Bolton Wanderers.

The two sides were met off the train in Cork by the Lord Mayor and factory workers started their shifts earlier in order to get out in time to see local hero Noel Cantwell, who would captain United to FA Cup glory a few months later.

United’s team that day 60 years ago, on February 13, 1963, included Denis Law, Gregg, Johnny Giles and Pat Crerand, making his debut after a £50,000 move from Celtic. Bobby Charlton did not travel as he had been invited to London to meet new England manager Alf Ramsay, who was due to take over the team in May.

United won 4-2 - a young Francis Lee, who died las tyear, scored for Derby. Afterwards, Crerand said: “I’ve never seen as much mud in my life.”

As a result of the pitch cutting up so badly, Hibs had to cede home advantage for their FAI Cup tie against St Pat’s.

That did not bother Busby, who predicted: “This is only the start. From now on. you can expect more and more English sides in Ireland for match practice during these weather stoppages at home.”

Busby called for a March-to-November soccer season, and Bolton boss Bill Ridding said summer soccer was “inevitable”.