So Why Did Belfast Celtic Really Quit? ; New Book Casts Doubt On Motivation for Resigning From League [Eire Region]

Summary

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SIXTY YEARS ago this Tuesday, the board of the Irish Football Association (IFA) met in a Belfast hotel to reflect on a letter received. It came from Belfast Celtic, the club that spawned Charlie Tully, Mickey Hamill and Jimmy Jones and was the most successful on the island. They had just announced their intention to withdraw from the Irish League with immediate effect.

Four months earlier, their star striker Jimmy Jones had his leg broken when a riot broke out after their St Stephen's Day clash with Linfield at Winsdor Park. Jones was beaten by Linfield supporters as retribution for his accidental collision with their player Bob Bryson in the first half (Linfield secretary Joe Mackey announced on the PA system that Bryson's leg had been broken - it hadn't).

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Extract

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So Why Did Belfast Celtic Really Quit? ; New Book Casts Doubt On Motivation for Resigning From League [Eire Region]

Celtic felt not enough was done by the security forces to protect their players and only the intervention of Sean McCann, a friend of Jones who had been attending the game, saved the striker's life.

Ostensibly, this was the reason the club which had won 11 of the previous 15 titles, decided to withdraw.

However, it has been sugge...

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