Streets of Coleraine ring with tributes as people speak proudly of their local legend
THE weather in Coleraine town centre yesterday mirrored the mood of the people as they mourned a local legend.
Harry Gregg, who passed away in hospital on Sunday at the age of 87, has long held hero status for his bravery on and off the pitch.
Yesterday the foundation he set up to encourage a love of the beautiful game in young people paid tribute to their figurehead.
“Harry was an extraordinarily ordinary man,” they said.
“Extraordinary in that despite all that he had experienced and achieved over his life time, he was grounded firmly in principles, morality, justice and respect, sometimes to his own detriment.”
And in his home town, locals spoke warmly of their affection for the former Manchester United and Northern Ireland goalkeeper.
Harry grew up in Coleraine’s Windsor Avenue, in the shadow of the Coleraine Football Club’s grounds.
Yesterday the team’s kit man Trevor Moffatt remembered Mr Gregg as a “gentle giant”.
“Harry was a great man,” he said. “You just got what you saw. He didn’t mince his words, but he was a down-to-earth gentleman. He never let fame go to his head. He was always a Coleraine man.
“He put Northern Ireland on the map with regards football, he and George Best proved that the best footballers could come from here.
“He will never be forgotten, the great Harry, the gentle giant.”
On the streets of Coleraine town centre, many people shared their memories of the man.
Declan McSheffrey, originally from Coleraine, is now a professional soccer coach in New York. He said Harry was a “legend and a hero”.
“With regards the legacy Harry leaves behind, from a football point of view he played for the biggest team in the world,” he said.
“From a bravery point of view, he was heavily involved in the Munich air disaster, pulling people from the wreckage after he survived himself.
“Certainly for Coleraine, he was a role model. He was absolutely a hero and I am proud to be from the same town as him.”
Theresa McCabe said that there was a “lot of love and respect for Mr Gregg” in the town.
“People are very sad for his passing,” she said.
“In one way we can look at it is that so many of his teammates died years ago in the Munich air disaster and it wasn’t his time. To my generation he was a hero, someone to look up to.”
Alan Simpson from Belfast said Mr Gregg was “totally selfless”.
“I’m a Manchester United man, and what a man Harry Gregg was,” he said. “He was the epitome of what a sports man should have been. He looked after everyone else. Put everyone before himself. He was unreal, an absolute hero.
“His actions during the Munich Air disaster were just typical of the man. That was his natural instinct, to do stuff like that.
“I think people will remember him for what he was. It’s the end of an era for gentlemanship with his passing.”
Lily Doherty said Mr Gregg was “a gentleman”.
“I remember the Munich air disaster, he was such a brave person as well as a great footballer,” she said. “I think he will be remembered as a very nice and brave man.”
Ian Shanks said he remembered Mr Gregg with fondness.
“As a teenager growing up in Manchester and supporting Man United, Harry was a mainstay,” he said. “He was always so popular with the crowd. I remember him with his flat cap and his gloves in the goals with his polo neck. He always got a round of applause when he got to the goalmouth.
“People are so proud of him in Coleraine. He meant a lot to the people of this town. He will be sadly missed.”