FLASHBACK: POWERS WEXFORD SPORTS STAR AWARDS
Sports Star Awards were the sporting social highlight in Wexford for decades
RUNNING every year from 1964 to 1989, the Powers Gold Label Sports Star Awards were a roaring success and the sporting social highlight of the year in Wexford at that time.
This week’s ‘Flashback’ collection from the Denis O’Connor Photographic Archive includes a selection of pictures from the awards night across the years.
In 2014, on the 50th anniversary of the Powers Sports Star Awards, People Newspapers’ sports editor Alan Aherne wrote that the awards were the brainchild of the late Eugene O’Sullivan from Wexford town, a man who was also closely linked to the organisation of the annual St Patrick’s Day parade.
He spoke with Eugene’s son, Patrick, who recalled that his father got the idea to start something in Wexford from the national awards at the time which were sponsored by Texaco.
‘He decided to contact Powers Whiskey in Dublin who had very strong connections with Wexford to see if they would come on board,’ Patrick explained.
‘They were delighted with the idea to such an extent that the first awards were attended by company personnel from the Chairman downwards. They also sent down from Dublin two Olympians who had competed in Tokyo that year (1964), namely Tom O’Riordan from the ‘Irish Independent’ and Dave Guiney who started with the same paper.’
Alan pointed out that ‘part of the scheme’s appeal was the fact that it wasn’t just confined to Gaelic games in an era before the infamous Ban was removed, with boxers, golfers, athletes and the like regularly honoured.
‘My former colleague, Phil Murphy, recalls that the Powers scheme lasted for 25 years and it concluded with Tony Doran being presented with a special award for the overall Wexford sports star of that period.
‘It was replaced in 1990 by the County Wexford Sports Star Awards, a joint venture between People Newspapers and Hotel Rosslare whose judges were Phil, Liam Griffin and the late former Irish rugby international, Seamus Kelly.
‘Various other award schemes have been staged in the years since, but on this auspicious anniversary it is only right that we should pause to remember the late Eugene O’Sullivan and his pioneering spirit which ensured that Wexford honoured its sporting stars at a time when such schemes were a rarity.’
Thanks to Denise O’Connor for supplying the pics from her late father’s extensive collection for this week’s trip down memory lane.