'Bronco' Bradley Cup to be held in honour of Tony Hassan

This year's Bronco Bradley Cup, which kicks off tonight, will be held in honour of the late Tony Hassan.

A founding member of the Bronco Committee right up until his untimely death, Tony was a key part of The Oglach Eamonn "Bronco" Bradley Football Tournament in the late 80s, taking on the finance and dealing with the press reports and media, going to both local papers the Derry News and the Derry Journal as well as Radio Foyle and Channel 9 to do interviews around fixture dates, names of the teams and players.

He was also involved with the printing of advertising posters, as well as organising the tickets for presentations at various venues over the years.

Tony was behind the DVD for Bronco's 25th Anniversary and the Dinner and Presentation Dance in the Tower Hotel in 2007 which was a very successful evening. He was also behind the "Bronco" Booklets in 2002 for his 20th Anniversary in which local businesses could advertise themselves in a half or full page of the book, a move which brought in well-needed sponsorship for the competition. He also had a great interest in the Bradley family and kept them fully informed on all the Committee was doing.

Even as Tony worked hard as a local Sinn Fein Councillor, he still managed to do great work for the "Bronco" Bradley Committee. He was the main voice in securing the Main Sponsorship which he and Martin Sheehan organised under the name of the Celtic Bar for many years and they are still the main sponsors of the "Bronco" tournament to date.

There are still fond memoories of Tony, Jim Breslin, John Begley, Terry Francis, Oliver McFadden and wee Bobby Kelly (all passed now RIP), standing on the sidelines at Leafair Pitches giving their expert advice on how the game was going and even having a go at some players as 'They didn't do them antics in our day".

Tony passed away after a long illness in February of this year so the committee has decided to dedicate this year's tournament to him. As well as this, the 'Player of the Tournament' award will be renamed 'The Tony Hassan Award'. The Tournament starts tonight with last year's beaten finalists Foyle Harps taking on Brandywell Harps at 7pm at Leafair Pitches.

Oglach Eamonn "Bronco" Bradley 9 aside KO Cup Draw 2024

Monday 22nd July

7pm Foyle Harps v Brandywell Harps.

8pm Rosemount v Goldswifts.

Tuesday 23rd July

7pm Celtic Bar v Foyle Harps under 18s

8pm Bishops v Carrowreagh.