Blue Blood
It was supposed to be a six-week loan but, 50 years later, Johnny Matthews is still a Waterford man
THE THOUGHT of her only son going to Ireland when the Troubles in the North were beginning in the 1960s was too much to bear for Johnny Matthews’ mother. The Coventry City forward was just 18 years-old and had never lived away from home. But here was his manager Jimmy Hill trying to convince him that a six-week loan spell with Waterford in the League of Ireland was best for his development.
With a little bit of help from Sky Blues coach and former Republic of Ireland international Pat Saward, the deal was arranged.
‘I was just coming back from a cartilage injury and Jimmy called me in and told me what was happening,’ Matthews recalls.
‘My mother was devastated. We were hearing on the news and reading in the papers what was happening with the Troubles and she didn’t want me to go. She was very upset. I didn’t even know where Waterford was but my father was able to convince her that I would be OK and it was the best thing for me.’
So Matthews headed for the sunny south east with one clear instruction from his mother. ‘I was under strict orders that I was to call home every single night. No exceptions. She wanted to know I was safe and well. And that’s what I did, but the plan was always to just go there, build up my fitness for six weeks and then come back to Coventry.’
Fifty years later, Matthews still lives in Tramore and is the most decorated player in Waterford’s history. Along with the six Premier Division winners’ medals, those famous European nights and a record 147 goals — including strikes against Manchester United and Celtic — he remains in the county’s soccer scene as a referee.
‘I still want to be a part of the game,’ the 71-year-old insists. ‘I’ve never done any of those coaching badges so I wouldn’t be able to be a manager so this isn’t too bad.’
The club he knew and starred for is once again under the guise of Waterford FC, rather than United, and after a decade away from the Premier Division they returned to the top flight with a home win against Derry City last Friday.
But Kilcohan Park, the site of so many of Matthews’ triumphs (although his goal against reigning European champions Manchester United 50 years ago came at Lansdowne Road) is no more. The RSC is the place to be now and while he is eager to always look forward it also seems important to celebrate those achievements.
Matthews’ exploits may be history, but that doesn’t mean they belong in the past. The glory days will always live on for Waterford supporters and Matthews is one of the remaining links with that time. ‘It’s a shame that whenever we tend to meet up now it’s for a funeral,’ he laments. ‘Another name scratched off the team sheet.’
Waterford had the best of all in Ireland for close to a decade with Matthews starring in six leaguewinning sides between his arrival in 1966 and 1973. And when they were paired with Matt Busby’s United in the first round of the 1968-69 European Cup, just months after the Scot’s side had lifted the trophy at Wembley, Matthews had the biggest stage of all to showcase his talent.
‘The first leg was Denis Law 3 Johnny Matthews 1,’ he says with a laugh. ‘Law was The King, he scored a brilliant hat-trick and I was able to get one as well.’
That tie, as well as Matthews’ goal, was historic not just because the reigning European champions came to Ireland for a competitive fixture, but rather it was the beginning of a new era at Lansdowne Road for the game in this country.
‘[Chairman at the time] Don Kennedy and the directors of the local club, including secretary Dick O’Brien, came up trumps once again,’ the Munster Express reported. ‘They made an approach to the IRFU and history was made when the first ever soccer game was played at Lansdowne Road, the forerunner of all the international fixtures that have since taken place there.’
The return fixture at Old Trafford was a formality for United, cruising to a 7-1 win, but the memories are still fond ones.
‘We tried to play football the right way, get the ball down and pass and play quickly,’ Matthews explains. ‘Maybe the crowd thought we were just going to come over and kick the United players but that wasn’t our way.
‘The crowd clapped us and I remember the Stretford End joining together and singing “Give us a goal Waterford”.
‘It was a great experience to play there against Georgie Best, Law and Bobby Charlton because they were the best around and we were part-time with jobs. I remember Al Casey was plodded by Nobby Stiles. He was on the ground in agony and Tommy Dunne ran over telling him “get up, you can’t be that tired already”. Al shouted back “it’s ok for you, you can relax and go and play golf in the morning. I’ve to be home for the early shift in work”.’
Although Best had other ideas for some of the Waterford players.
‘My family had come to see me play, it was great to be able to have them there so they could watch and afterwards when we were with our families George came over to a few of us and asked if we had plans for the night?
‘I said I was going to spend some time with my family before they went home to Coventry and he told a few of us to come out on the town with him that night, of course we agreed. Later on he pulled up outside the entrance in his E-Type Jaguar and a few of us jumped in to go out for the night.’
Matthews didn’t call home to his mother that night. It was all part of a journey with Waterford which was only supposed to last six weeks but instead produced memories and stories to last a lifetime.
‘GEORGE BEST PULLED UP IN HIS JAGUAR AND A FEW OF US HOPPED IN’