Tommy Caffrey - the legend of Gormanston - wins Hall of Fame crown

EMOTIONS were running high as Irish table tennis legend Tommy Caffrey stepped forward to accept the Hall of Fame at the Fingal Independent/Maldron Hotel Dublin Airport Sport Star Awards.

Tommy competed in his first Irish Close Championships way back in 1957 and after winning the Boys Singles, Men’s Singles, Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles became known as the ‘ boy wonder’ of the Irish game and would go on to be capped for his country 151 times.

The Gormanston man won a number of Irish Open titles and continued to play for the Irish senior team until the 1990s, and the award for the outstanding player of the Interprovincial Championships, a tournament he played in for more than half a century, is actually named after him.

Tears were clearly welling up in his eyes as Tommy took to the stage to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, to a standing ovation.

You could near a pin drop as he went on to describe some of the highlights of his career, starting as a nine-year-old when he first experienced the game.

‘I came out of church in Stamullen and could hear the constant hopping of the ball inside a building nearby. A man called Sonny White came out and I said to him ‘Can I go in’.

‘When I did step in I loved everything about the place - the long, green, shiny table, the net, its posts, the table tennis bat. There was one player there who had a beautiful bat with a lovely white handle and bright green rubber.

‘It was some time after when I got my first table tennis bat, but I walked out of the hall that day with a table tennis ball and when I got home I started hitting it against the wall with a frying pan.’

From that day it was clear that Tommy had found his sporting passion and his father -a carpenter by trade - certainly thought so, for he built Tommy a makeshift arena for him to practise.

‘He had a workshop out the back and converted it into a fully fledged table tennis hall,’ Tommy recalled, ‘and I just loved the way he did it. We had very many happy days there. I started playing day and night when he built it and I suppose the rest is history.’

Tommy, now 74, went on to represent his country for the first time in 1959 and almost 60 years later he is still playing table tennis competitively.

Table tennis has been Tommy Caffrey’s life and a comment at the end of his interview with compere Michael Lyster summed it all up nicely.

‘I love table tennis. I practise every day and play all the tournaments still and I can’t wait for the league match next Tuesday night against Pioneers.’

And with that the audience broke into more enthusiastic applause as they acknoledged one of Ireland’s lesser known sporting greats.

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DULEEK BLOOD DONATION

One in four people will need a blood transfusion at some point in their lives. The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) provides the blood and blood products needed in hospitals to help these patients.

If you’d like to help, there is an opportunity to give blood at the IBTS mobile clinic in Duleek Boys National School, Duleek on Wednesday 7th February, 2018 from 5:00pm to 8:30pm

For further details, please contact lo-call Donor Information Line 1850 – 73 11 37 or Finbar Gethins, Area Manager at Ardee Regional Office, 041 – 685 9994 or www.giveblood.ie

Tommy Caffrey with Michael Lyster from RTE

The Boyne Valley Inn, Slane, recently handed over a cheque for €1,500 to the Gary Kelly Centre, proceeds of a Wax and Shave. Brian Kelly would like to thank everyone who took part and was involved in the fundraising.