Capacity crowd at Town Hall meeting over future of Dundalk Football Club

June 1966

SUCH was the interest aroused by the new Board taking control over the affairs of Dundalk FC in June, 1966 that the chairman, Tom McGrath took the unusual step of calling a public meeting which drew a capacity attendance to the Town Hall.

The new Board had taken control of the club in the middle of the previous season and had embarked on an ambitious programme of improvements to Oriel Park, and investing in an almost complete new team.

Work on changing the pitch around, and building a new stand had started in the close season, and there was an air of excitement generated not just at the meeting, but throughout the town at the progress that had been made.

The chairman told the meeting that £6,000 had already been spent on the work in Oriel Park, but much more needed to be done. He also revealed the club’s plans to installed the first floodlights in a ground outside of Dublin, and got the support of the meeting for the formation of a special committee to raise the £10,000 needed to instal the floodlights.

A list of the new players signed for the following season was given to the meeting and former winger, Paddy Barlow, and a former Irish international, who would be looking after the Dublin based players, told the meeting that he had talked to John Charles the former Welsh ‘great’ who was impressed with the set up at Dundalk and said that if he decided to come to an Irish club it would be Dundalk.

The club, Mr. McGrath revealed were on the look out for a player-manager, and would be interested in talking to John Charles and other candidates in England and elsewhere.

There was enthusiastic support at the meeting for the various fund raising projects announced by the newly former Supporters Club and Mr. McGrath stressed that sufficient funds could not be generated through ‘gates’ to match the club’s needs for better facilities and a team capable of bringing honours to the club.