TIM FITZGERALD PARK IS NAMED IN CHARLEVILLE
Charleville Soccer Club’s Motaville grounds officially became Tim Fitzgerald Park when former Irish international soccer player Paul McGrath jointly unveiled a plaque with Josie Fitzgerald, the mother of the late Tim, watched by a large attendance on last Saturday.
The attendance was welcomed by club chairman Kevin Buckley and the complex was blessed by Very Rev. Donal Canon O’Mahony, P.P. Charleville. Along with Josie Fitzgerald the other members of the family present were John, Patrick, Martin, Colie, Jason, Margaret, Siobhan and Vera, to watch the accolade attributed to their late brother Tim.
The official opening ceremony was followed by an exhibition soccer game between a selection of the legends of Irish soccer, which included Ray Houghton, Ronnie Whelan, Charleville’s own Dominick Foley, Glen Crowe and Mark Kinsella, who were among many other players who wore the green jersey of Ireland in international soccer through the years. They played a selection of local players who were prominent through the years with the Charleville club, in a very entertaining game to mark this momentous occasion in the club’s history.
The late Tim Fitzgerald was the guiding light behind Charleville AFC for many years up to his untimely death in 2015. He held every position in the club and was its chairman for some 23 years and was the architect of everything that has been achieved by the club to date.
He was involved in the Limerick County and District League and was vice-chairman of the Schoolboys Football Association of Ireland. His work for the sport at schoolboy level was acknowledged when he was elected to the board of the Football Association of Ireland in 2014, as chairman of the FAI Underage Committee.
He received the accolade of Exceptional Individual Achievement for his work in the community by Charleville Chamber in 2014 at their community awards ceremony.
A former employee of Golden Vale Food Products and latterly the Kerry Group plant at Charleville, Tim was prominent in trade union circles being a member of the Mallow Number One branch of the ITGWU. He was one of the most active trade union officials in the country and was elected to the national executive of SIPTU in 2010.
Among the attendance at Saturday’s ceremony was his trade union colleague of former days, Tadhg Curtis, and another Charleville man, Donal Conway, vice-president of the FAI.
That the club should rename their grounds to Tim Fitzgerald Park is a fitting tribute to a man who dedicated his life to progressing his chosen sport, bringing it from relative obscurity in Charleville to the prominent position it enjoys today, with its own splendid headquarters at Moatville on Charleville’s Limerick Road.