Olympic regrets

Philip Hannigan in Profile

by Colm Keane

Only the cruel intervention of a hamstring injury denied Bray Wanderers' Chairman, Philip Hannigan, the chance to represent his country as a sprinter at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tolyo.

Aged 17 at the time of the Tokyo Games, Philip - who was winner of the Top Athlete of the Year award at the Tailteann Games in 1963 and the reigning Irish champion at 100 yards and 220 yards - sustained a career-shattering injury while running at Trinity College Dublin.

But for that untimely setback, Philip Hannigan would undoubtedly have been selected for what proved to be one of the finest Olympic Games in history.

Chairman Philip Hannigan
at the 2001/02 Player of the Year Awards
Pic: Michael Tierney

Instead, that fateful race in Dublin spelled the end of his running career, culminating eventually in his retirement from virtually all sporting activity until, of course, his arrival at Bray Wanderers four years ago.

"I was on the panel for Tokyo. I had run for Ireland in the Student Games in Lisbon in 1964, where I won two Silvers and a Bronze, and I had 10.6 for a hundred metres. That was particularly fast for a young fellow in those days, because we didn't understand how to run. I had only taken up weightlifting, but even then we didn't understand that sprinters needed big upper bodies.

"I was running in a relay race in College Park - the Inter-Clubs' Relay Race - doing the anchorman, and I just got this twinge. That's where it began. Even thoiugh I ran several races after that, I was never the same.

"I could win most Irish races without full throttle. But I ran against a few internationals who came over, and when when I went full throttle the hamstrings just weren't right. They'd just rip. And they really go when you're a sprinter.

"That was a very tough time. It was the end of Tokyo. I did run a few races after that, but every time I put on full throttle they went. So I had to pack it in at the age of seventeen."

For a man whose commitment to Bray Wanderers knows few bounds, it is hardly surprising that Philip Hannigan's curriculum vitae also contains many references to his passion for soccer.

A student at Oatlands College, Mount Merrion, in the early 1960s and later at UCD, Philip played for Bolton Athletic in Ringsend and for Stella Maris - combining soccer with Gaelic football at school and athletics both at school and with the legendary Crusaders Athletic Club.

"Those were different times, in the early 1960s. There was 100% Gaelic football at school and you would not be allowed play the foreign games. So I had to sneak down to play for Bolton Athletic in Ringsend for a couple of seasons. Then I transferred to Stella Maris, where the manager was Dicky Giles - Johnny's father.

"Unfortunately, I had to give up everything after the hamstring problem. In those days they didn't know how to fix them. I went to London, to no avail. I had a deal to go to the States on a scholarship. But that all went down a black hole and I had to give everything up."

Originally from Rialto, Philip Hannigan was reared in Mount Merrion where he attended Oatlands College and, later, UCD. Thirty years ago, he moved to Bray, where his wife comes from and where his company, Hard Metal, has been based for 20 of its 25 years in existence. Yet, despite his Bray connections, his interest in Bray Wanderers is of a more recent vintage.

"I had never been inside the Carlisle Grounds, to my shame, until about four years ago. I was asked by Eddie and Frank Slevin - who supply Hard Metal with all its stationery and printing - if I would get involved. That's how thing started with Bray Wanderers.

"I was absolutely astonished when I saw the place. I just walked in the gate, took one look and said: 'My God, the potential for this is astonishing.' I had no idea the pitch was the quality it is. I said: 'Right, this definitely has to be developed. This is a stadium in the making.'

"The team needed a sponsor and someone in the town had to do it. Hard Metal is a very specialised, technical enigneering product seller. It doesn't have consumer-type products, like McDonalds or Dell. So sponsoring the club was more of a gesture than an effort to get publicity. Because I got involved with the club, it made sense that I'd take on that role as well."

Coinciding with Philip Hannigan's four short years at Bray Wanderers, the club has undergone what can only be described as a dramatic transformation. Not only has it won the Shield and the FAI Cup, while also experiencing the highs and lows of promotion and relegation; it has also, most importantly, embarked on a ground improvement programme designed to bring the club into the 21st century.

On the cusp of the new millennium, Philip is optimistic that the new club structures, the new Board of Management, the Schools of Excellence and the prospects for a favourable outcome to the ground lease negotiations with Bray UDC, augur well for the future - consolidating Bray Wanderers' position as a progressive, successful club in domestic league soccer.

"Soccer in this country is an untapped franchise. We have planeloads going to the UK every week and we have everyone watching soccer on television. Everybody knows the sport. But it hasn't been marketed correctly. It has to be taken by the scruff of the neck, at the top, and marketed nationally as a sport.

"Facilities are critical. If you improve facilities in the 'comfort zone', people will go to matches as an option in using up their leisure time. That takes a lot of money, and the money has to be focused. Our Schools of Excellence will also encourage kids, their parents and their families to get involved. And that will pay dividends, in time.

"But, overall, I think soccer needs to be franchised and marketed as a product. Thinking businessmen have got to get together with thinking sports caps and ask: 'How are we going to elevate Irish soccer?' In Bray Wanderers, the energy within the club is now greater than it ever was. The structures are there for the future. I'm optimistic."

Colm Keane

Award-winning broadcaster and writer, author of A Cut Above The Rest (Townhouse, 1999), as well as Tales of the Wanderers (Colado, 1998; this article is included in that volume) and More Tales of the Wanderers (Colado, 2000), together with other volumes based on his work for RT� Radio.
First published in Seagull Scene, the Bray Wanderers match programme.

Copyright � Colm Keane & Colado Ltd 2000; all rights reserved, no re-publication without the author's permission

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