Madam, - As the son of a well-known Northern journalist whose greatest writing was done during the Northern Ireland soccer team's 1958 World Cup experience, I found that Antoin Murphy's article of February 6th brought back many happy memories of a father, like Antoin's, who inspired not only readers but his children. So I hope he will excuse my correcting him on one point.
His father, WP Murphy of Independent Newspapers, and Malcolm Brodie of the Belfast Telegraph were not the only two Irish journalists covering those famous quarter-finals in Sweden. My father, HC (Hamilton) McDowell of the Northern Whig was part of at least a trio or more, as I recall.
Antoin also mentions Harry Gregg, a survivor of the Munich air disaster, who performed so well in Sweden. My American wife and I fortuitously ran into Harry some years ago in Portstewart while on vacation. When I asked if he remembered my father, he beamed and said: "I was your father's hero; and he was mine!" He then invited us for a drink in his hotel/bar.
I was moved to tears, since my father had passed on a few years earlier and had spoken fondly of Harry as a warm and generous man. My wife had not met my father and was impressed by Harry's tales of merry times in Sweden with him.
So thanks for the memory, Antoin. I too remember the Munich disaster and the grief it caused my father, who knew players and journalists who perished. I am sure I met some of the reporters myself, since my father took me as his "assistant" to the press box at international and other matches. This led me to a 25-year career in journalism in Northern Ireland, then Canada, and later in the United States.
And there is another connection. Antoin Murphy briefly taught me economics at TCD. Happily, I resisted the lucrative enticements of "the dismal science". - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL HC MCDOWELL, Washington DC, USA.