Sporting glories preserved for future
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Friday September 10 2010
THEY are captured moments of sporting history: returning heroes, visiting champions, All-Ireland medal winners and local children competing in the inner city games.
These and more are to be found in a new city sports archive set up to mark Dublin's term as European City of Sport 2010.
The photos include: 'Heffo's Army', the All-Ireland-winning Dublin team with Lord Mayor James O'Keefe in 1974; Manchester United with manager Matt Busby in the Mansion House in 1976; and boxer Barry McGuigan being greeted on the streets by crowds after becoming World Featherweight Champion in 1985.
But it's not just pictures in the new archive, but all manner of sporting paraphernalia associated with Dublin. "We're looking for programmes, photographs, flags and banners, cups and medals, or scrapbooks, or even correspondence or the minutes of club committees," city archivist Dr Mary Clarke told the Irish Independent.
The archives have already received the records of the second-oldest hockey club in Ireland, Three Rock Rovers, which date back to 1894, and are hoping other sporting bodies will follow their example.
"We really want to focus on clubs at local level across a wide range of sports and are encouraging people to send us anything which tells the story of sport and the capital city," added Dr Clarke.
A signed copy of his autobiography has been donated by Olympian Ronnie Delany, who won a gold medal in 1956 in Melbourne. The new resource is to be launched at a seminar on Saturday at Dublin City Library & Archive on Pearse Street.
- Ken Sweeney
Irish Independent
