Gallacher, Patsy – Misc Articles

Sources

R. Kelly,Celtic(1971) · T. Campbell and P. Woods,The glory and the dream: the history of Celtic F.C., 1887–1986(1986) · T. Campbell and P. Woods,A Celtic A–Z(1992) · W. Maley,The story of Celtic(1939) · D. W. Potter,The mighty atom: the life and times of Patsy Gallacher(2000) · d. cert. · G. R. Rubin, ‘When Patsy Gallagher was prosecuted for playing for Celtic’, 1984 [unpublished typescript]

Likenesses

photographs, repro. in D. W. Potter,The mighty atom(2000)

Wealth at death

£17,802 5s. 11d.: confirmation, 2 Oct 1953,CCI

Lisbon Lions honour their Celtic Bhoy Patsy

Independent.ie
(source: link)
FOR a small town to produce one international sporting legend is noteworthy, but to produce two is remarkable.

Ramelton, Co Donegal, population circa 1,900, is exactly such a town, being the celebrated birthplace of the first All-Blacks captain Dave Gallaher and legendary Glasgow Celtic forward Patsy Gallagher.

Born in the late 19th century the length of a football pitch from each other, just 20 years apart, both left, as children, the north Donegal town for better lives in New Zealand and Scotland.

In November 2005, Dave Gallaher (1873-1917) was honoured in his birthplace when the All-Blacks team travelled to Ramelton to unveil a plaque at Crammond House in the town’s Market Cross, the house where he was born.

Yesterday, Ramelton, home of Swilly Rovers, re-affirmed its soccer roots when another plaque was unveiled at a house just off the Cross on Main Street, next to where once stood the humble cottage in which Patsy Gallagher was born.

Unlike his Presbyterian neighbour, Patsy Gallagher (1891-1953) was born into desperate poverty, emigrating to Clydebank, Glasgow, with his family at the age of eight.

Despite his thin, frail appearance, he quickly gained a reputation as a skilled footballer, making his debut for Celtic at Parkhead in 1911.

Earning the nickname “The Mighty Atom”, he scored 192 goals in 569 appearances with the club, to earn sixth place in Celtic’s all-time scoring records.

Thousands of miles away in New Zealand, Dave Gallaher had also sealed his place in sporting history, captaining the first All-Blacks tour of Britain and France in 1905 and 1906.

In brilliant sunshine yesterday, eight former members of the famous ‘Lisbon Lions’ Celtic team, the first British team to win the European Cup in 1967, led by captain Billy McNeill, joined members of the Gallagher family and hundreds of local people to remember the Celtic forward.

Celtic chairman Brian Quinn said that Patsy Gallagher had captured the essence of the Celtic team.

“He had excellence and style and the ability to do something unexpected and unusual.

“He was a beacon for Celtic players to come and I want to thank the town of Ramelton for giving him to us,” he said.

Fianna Fail TD and lifelong Celtic supporter, Pat the Cope Gallagher, said it was important that sportsmen like Patsy Gallagher and Dave Gallaher were remembered in their native place.

ANITA GUIDERA

No doubt among those who saw him: Mighty Atom was the greatest

Herald and the Sunday Herald, The (Glasgow, Scotland)
November 11, 2000

HOW do we measure greatness in a player? And how can that greatness be converted into a currency that is accepted through the passing of years?

The championing of such as Jimmy Johnstone or Jim Baxter can be bolstered by simply inserting a video into the machine and thus converting the callow sceptic. There is a difficulty, however, when pressing the case of greatness of those such as Patsy Gallacher who have left their marks on the football record books but who have never been captured on film.

In this respect, and in so many others, Gallacher was the original will o’ the wisp. There is no grainy newsreel to hint at his greatness. There are few, too, who saw the great man in action and live to tell the tale. Gallacher remains as elusive to the present day fanatic as he was to the toiling defenders who sought to contain him in the early twentieth century.

David W Potter’s task, then, is a formidable one. In The Mighty Atom (Parrs Wood Press, Pounds 8.95) he seeks to capture the essence of greatness and make it a solid reality for the reader.

He brings to his work an enthusiasm in style and an assiduity in research that almost breathes life into the great Patsy. The dusty record books contain contemporaneous accounts of a remarkable career but Potter has tried to put some flesh on the bones of the waif-like Gallacher who stood just 5ft 7ins and weighed less than 10st at the start of his career.

There is much of Gallacher’s illustrious playing career for Celtic and then Falkirk but Potter lifts this from the realms of prosaic fact by trying to place the Atom in a historical context.

Gallacher was born in Milford Poor House, Co. Donegal, on March 16, 1891, to illiterate parents and immigrated from Donegal to John Knox Street, Clydebank, at the turn of the twentieth century.

Patsy stood just 5ft 7in and weighed 9st 10lb when he was spotted by Celtic. Potter does not skirt the sectarian and political issues of the era but he is at his most adept when detailing the career of a man who many believe was the greatest Celt ever. Two of his strongest advocates for that title were Willie Maley, the long-serving Celtic manager, and Allan Morton, who as a Rangers player witnessed much of the mayhem that Gallacher was able to create with a slip of the shoulders or a well-crafted pass.

Gallacher joined Celtic in 1912 and immediately won a Scottish Cup medal. His career ended at Falkirk when he was approaching 40.

This span of 20 years covered triumph on the park and tragedy off it. His wife was only 35 when she died after giving Gallacher a sixth child. He accepted his responsibilities and carried on with the same quiet fortitude that enabled him to survive on the park in an era when a ball player was regarded as a legitimate target.

Potter’s research covers all the public glory and some of the private heartbreak. Due tribute is paid to Gallacher’s goal in the 1925 Scottish Cup when the great one scored in a crowded penalty area by the simple expedient of lodging the ball between two feet and somersaulting into the net. Recognition is made, too, of Gallacher’s uncanny ability and his quiet resolution in inspiring the lesser souls that surrounded him.

The straitened conditions for footballers in that bygone era are also beautifully invoked. Gallacher once missed almost an entire season because he played in borrowed boots that were too small, thus poisoning his toes. He also missed games after dropping a tool on his foot while working in his day job as a shipwright on the Clyde.

But Gallacher’s genius can not be confirmed through the record books. Other Scottish players have played more, scored more, won more.

Potter’s trump card is his questioning of the witnesses. Gallacher was the founder of a footballing dynasty. His sons played professionally and his grandson is Scottish internationalist Kevin Gallacher. The Divers’ family tree has also its roots in Gallacher soil. Potter’s antecedents are more humble in footballing terms. His father was merely a fan but his testimony, allied with so many others of that era, has the simple power to convince.

When arguments raged about the relative merits of Johnstone, Pele, or Puskas, Mr Potter Sr delivered a summing up which brooked no contrary verdict over who was the greatest of them all: ‘Look, I’ve seen Patsy Gallacher.’

In later years, he ran the International Bar in Clydebank.

He died on June 17, 1953.

October 2019