Kilkenny’s soccer heritage is honoured

Sunday was a day of celebration and remembrance for the Kilkenny & District League as they paid tribute to the people who laid the foundations for the local game.

Derdimus was the venue as two plaques were unveiled to commemorate the achievements of local teams and milestones in the game. Among the guests of honour at the ceremony were some of Kilkenny soccer’s elder statesmen, men like Joe Doyle, Tom Hogan and Ber Scott, as well as many of the players who represented the League and its member clubs over the past 75 years or so.

The first plaque featured the foundation dates of momentous occasions in Kilkenny soccer dating back to the foundation of Kilkenny AFC in 1893, 1910 when Kilkenny Celtic was formed and the first Kilkenny AFC League in 1911 to the first Irish Free State League in 1926. Also recorded is the 1948 League when soccer was reorganised after World War II.

The establishment of a Kilkenny Ladies soccer League in 1968 is also included, as well as mention of the South Eastern Kilkenny-based league in 1970 and schoolboys’ league in the previous season. This League was the catalyst for the current Kilkenny & District League to be formed in 1971. The game mushroomed locally at this point with clubs mainly from Kilkenny, Carlow, Laois, Tipperary and Wexford making up a most competitive and successful League. It also marks the foundation of Kilkenny City AFC and the opening of the Astroturf pitch in Derdimus back in 2015.

The second plaque honours the achievements of various Kilkenny teams, including the Oscar Traynor and youths’ interleague winners, the Evergreen women’s team who won the FAI Women’s Cup and Emfa, who won the League of Ireland Shield and First Division title as Kilkenny City in 1997. The plaques were unveiled by soccer historian Donie Butler, who also served the League and FAI for many years.