Inaugural Jason 'Milsy' Mills Memorial Cup this weekend to remember the local footballing stalwart

Football teams across Derry will be partaking in the inaugural Jason ‘Milsy’ Mills Memorial Cup on Sunday, September 15. 

Newbuildings FC will host the seven-aside competition in memory of their former player and coach, who sadly passed away last Christmas day at the age of 49. 

Men aged 40 and over will participate in the competition once the first ball is kicked at 2 pm on what would have been Jason’s 50th birthday. 

The footballing community in the city was shocked and saddened by the news of Jason’s passing last Christmas, with tributes flooding in from many former teammates and clubs. 

Jason’s sister, Sandra Semple, said the family was initially overwhelmed by the love and compassion shown towards her brother. 

She said: “We buried Jason on New Year’s Eve, but there were at least 1000 people I can remember that came to the funeral; the cemetery was packed. 

“We didn’t know the love and respect all these people had for Jason.

“At the wake at my mother's house, people would be coming up and introducing themselves, just listing off Derry clubs; 'hi, I played with Jason at Foyle Harps, his, I played with Jason at Tristar, Oxford United, Top of the Hill, Shantallow Rovers, and the list goes on. 

“He almost made it his mission to play football for every football club across the city.”

Jason applied his footballing career across Derry throughout the eighties and nineties, at the height of the Troubles. 

Always a concern for members of his family.

Sandra said: “Jason was a young Protestant boy from the Waterside. 

“All Jason wanted to do was play football, from when he was a child. We lived in Clooney; there was a piece of grass in front of the house. From when he got out of bed in the morning, he would be playing football. He would come in from the street with the clothes stuck to him, and he would go to bed, then it would start all over the next day.

“He couldn’t give a toss about religion. His religion was football.

“And when my mother would worry about Jason going to areas like Creggan and Shantallow where there could possibly have been trouble, he would just respond, ‘It will be fine. Sure,  who would mess with me anyway? Look at me,’ and he was right; he stood well over six feet tall and was firmly built.”

A tall dominant figure at the heart of defence, graced with the ability to read the game and talent on the ball, Jason attracted the interest of many professional clubs. 

Sandra explained how he trialed for the Manchester United School of Excellence at under 12, meeting club legend Sir Alex Ferguson, Kilmarnock, and then with Northern Ireland Schools at under 13 level. 

She said: “He had trials at Arsenal; now Jason was very tall, and it was for their under-16 team, but when he went over and discovered that he was only 13, they sent him home as he was too young.

“He represented Northern Ireland at under 13 and 15, captaining the under 13s to the Inter League Cup in Aberdeen. 

“Jason was offered a contract at Linfield in 1989, but he refused to go; he would have said, ‘Why would I go there? Sure, I will just play for Moorfield;’ that is just the way he was, so laid back and nonchalant.”

Jason continued playing football right up and into the 2000s for teams on both sides of the River Foyle. 

And Top of the Hill Celtic said Jason was seen as one of the first young men in the city to break down the religious divide in local junior football in Derry. 

Sandra said that Jason had a weekend football routine as a player that only changed every season with the team he was playing for that season. 

She said: “He would go out on a Saturday morning and play for Tamnaherin Celtic, then that afternoon he would play for Lincoln Court, and then on Sunday he would play for Drumahoe.

“Repeat this with Glendermott, Bond Street, and Clooney Rovers. I couldn’t keep up with the teams he has played for, now or then.”

Sandra said she witnessed Jason lift a cup or league at practically every club he lined out for, but like any footballer, he was disappointed when his career was brought to an end by injury. 

Yet, Jason continued his footballing career off the pitch, helping mould the future footballing talents in the city with his involvement coaching at his final club, Newbuildings. 

Sandra said: “He continued coaching at Newbuildings, but I remember he and his cousin Mark decided to set up the Irish Street football team as young working-class boys and men of Derry had nothing to do, and so to keep them out of trouble they set up the team.”

Jason’s playing career may have come to an end, but his son was only beginning to discover his interest in the sport. 

And Jack’s love of football flourished partly due to the influence of Jason, as he would eventually sign for his home club Derry City, under his maiden name Lemoignan.

Sandra said: “Jack and Jason were inseparable; you didn’t see one without the other. Jason was at every single match Jack played; it didn’t matter where it was; he would be there watching Jack and Derry all over Ireland.

Jason would watch games in the stand, and once the two got home, they would dissect everything, from a misplaced pass to a great play and how to improve for the next game.

“Both Jack and Jason were big Liverpool fans, and they would watch every game at the hub, my mother's house. She loved having them there to watch football.

“Jack is now carrying on the football talent and tradition that his father had in the game he loved.

And in a fitting tribute to his father, he has taken his father's name and has his father with him every game now at his new club Harland & Wolff Welders after getting Jason’s picture on his shin pads.”

While football meant a lot to Jason, it wasn’t everything. 

Sandra said: “Jason was first and foremost a family man. He adored and was devoted to his wife Lisa and his 2 sons, Jamie and Jack; he was the apple of his mother’s eye, and he was so good to her.”

Sandra believes the annual Jason ‘Milsy’ Mills Memorial Cup will be a fitting tribute to a much loved husband, brother, father, son, and Derry footballer.