George had first encountered Bohemians during a period of decline for the club. In the opening decades of the League of Ireland, Bohs enjoyed more than their fair share of success. Foremost among these triumphs was the “clean sweep” of the 1927-28 season when the Gypsies won every competition available to them. Three further league titles, an FAI cup and an array of other trophies made their way to Dalymount in the following ten years but by the end of the 1930s, things were beginning to change.

Going and into the 1940s, other teams were coming to dominate the major prizes in Irish football – Shamrock Rovers, Shelbourne, Drumcondra, Dundalk and a rampant Cork United side. Bohs were being left behind. After winning the league title in 1935-36, the Gypsies could only finish seventh the following year, and ninth the year after.

Bohs’ policy on remaining an amateur club was beginning to affect their performances on the pitch. The club, even by this stage, had a long and proud history, one of the best stadiums in the league and a strong record of bringing through talented players. Unsurprisingly, many of these same players would leave for other clubs prepared to pay them.

While amateur on the pitch, the management committee looked to take a more professional approach to training and management of team affairs. To this end, they brought in an English coach not long finished his playing days, George Lax, for the beginning of the 1938-39 campain. Important to realise was that while Lax would be responsible for training, coaching and physio work with the players, the starting XI was still primarily decided by a selection committee and this would remain the case until the 1964 appointment of Seán Thomas as Bohs’ first manager in the modern understanding of the word.

Early days

George Lax was born in Dodworth, a coal mining village near Barnsley in South Yorkshire in 1905. Unsurprisingly, young George began his working life with Frickley Colliery near Wakefield having come from a mining family. The Colliery, one of the deepest coal mines in Britain, had a strong sporting tradition, they had swimming baths, cricket clubs, athletics clubs and a football club, Frickley Colliery FC founded just after George was born. A teenage George lined out for the team at right-back and aged 22 was eventually spotted by the legendary Wolves manager Major Frank Buckley and signed by them for the 1929-30 season.

Lax immediately became a regular in the Wolves side as they finished in the top half of the Second Division and continued a run of form into the next year. His good fortune continued as he also got married, tying the knot with his fiancé Kathleen Hill in the spring of 1932. However, a series of injuries, including a badly broken jaw and later a broken ankle, began to limit his first-team opportunities at Molineux. This saw George move back to his birthplace to sign for Barnsley in 1932 after making 66 appearance for Wolves, although it would not be his last time working with Buckley. Further moves came, first to Bournemouth and later to non-league sides such as Evesham Town and Worcester City. As his playing career wound down, he was beginning to get involved as a manager and coach alongside his playing duties.

In 1938, Lax was on the go again, this time having hung up his boots, he was off to Dublin to take over the management of Bohemians from former Liverpool star and Irish international Billy Lacey. Lax had benefited greatly from working with Buckley, a character with a fearsome reputation who had led the footballers regiment during the First World War and had fought at the Battle of the Somme. Buckley’s teams were well known for their robust and very direct, physical football but this belied the fact that he was also somewhat of a pioneer and moderniser in other aspects of the game.

Buckley had places great emphasis on fitness and diet and allegedly the use of stimulants and animal gland injections. And, contrary to popular wisdom at the time, he had encouraged players to do plenty of ball-work in training. He had also helped Wolves gain promotion to Division One and greatly improved their scouting network and youth system which would help lay foundations for the success enjoyed by Stan Cullis’ Wolves teams in the 1950s. Lax borrowed heavily from Buckley’s methods and was also one of the first participants in the FA’s early coaching courses. While Bohs’ amateur status might have seemed a throwback to a bygone age, even by the 30s, in their choice of trainer, they were selecting a man in his early thirties whose coaching methods were cutting edge for their time.

Among the modern elements of the game that Lax brought to Bohs was his “magnetic demonstration board”. While such coaching aids as a tactics board are hardly unusual today, its use in Ireland back then raised more than a few eyebrows. He also brought with him a number of other tactical innovations such as “the switch”, which entailed the swapping of roles between the right winger (usually Kevin O’Flanagan) and the team’s centre forward (Frank Fullen). It no doubt helped that O’Flanagan was an exceptional and versatile sportsmen and one of the best forwards in the country. These tactical innovations bore closer resemblance to the type of tactical experiments being tried out by coaches in Hungary or Austria.

Such was the success of this tactical that other Irish sides soon started copying the ploy, with Belfast Celtic using their international winger Norman Kernaghan in the O’Flanagan role.

Call of battle and the return to English football

Lax had two spells with Bohemians, joining in 1938 before leaving in 1942 at the height of the Second World War to enlist in the RAF. As someone resident in neutral Ireland at the time, he could have conveniently avoided the danger of the conflict but instead chose to enlist. He was eventually demobilised some months after the end of the War in February 1946. The high-points of his first spell as coach of Bohs included a third-place league finish in the 1940-41 season as well as back-to-back League of Ireland Shield wins and a Leinster Senior Cup triumph.

George’s first spell at Bohs would see him succeeded by Sheffield United and Ireland legend Jimmy Dunne, who had fallen out with Shamrock Rovers where he was previously player-coach. Once he was demobilised, George was straight back into his sporting involvement, first with non-league Scunthorpe United where he was coach but also an occasional player, and then on to Hull City as a trainer-coach.

George’s job at Hull was secured by the intervention of his former mentor Buckley, who wrote to club chairman Harold Needler stating that Lax was a “grand servant, of irreproachable character, keen, willing and loyal”. Buckley also boasted that it was “on my recommendation that he went as trainer-coach to the famous amateur Irish club, the Bohemians of Dublin. He gave grand service to them and it was the war that caused their severance”.

George was joined by his mentor Buckley as manager at Hull just a month later in May 1946. Hull were stuck in the unglamorous world of the English Division Three North, however they certainly had ambition, over the course of the next few seasons Hull sought promotion to the Second Division, succeeding by winning Division Three North in 1948-49. By that stage, Buckley had moved on to Leeds United, where he would help start the careers of John Charles and later Jack Charlton.

His trusty lieutenant Lax remained on Humberside, working for Raich Carter who took over as player-manager. Carter had been one of the most highly-regarded and stylish inside-forwards of his era and over the coming years he brought some big names to Hull’s new ground at Boothferry Park. Joining Carter were players such as England centre-half Neil Franklin, Danish international Viggo Jensen and an up-and-coming young forward named Don Revie.

Carter retired in 1951 and his role was taken over by Bob Jackson, a league winning manager with Portsmouth only a couple of years earlier. George Lax stayed on as part of his coaching team although Hull, despite all their ambition, couldn’t do better than lower mid-table finishes in the second tier. After almost ten years with Hull as coach, trainer and physio among other roles, George left for a new challenge. During his time at Hull, he’d played second fiddle to some of the most famous and successful English managers in the game but perhaps he wanted to be in charge of himself again.

George had been a player-manager at Evesham before he had even hit the age of 30. During his time there, he’d helped to launch the career of players such as future West Brom and England forward Jack Haines. He was used to being his own man. Still, it was with some surprise that, in 1955, he moved the short distance to take over the management of Goole Town of the Midland League. During his brief tenure, George led the club to the third round of the FA Cup, their best ever result in that competition. George’s time in Goole was short and by 1957 he was heading back to Ireland, but this time not to Dublin but to a new club from Cork.

A return to Hibernia

In 1957 yet another Cork football club went the way of the dodo, this time it was the short-lived Cork Athletic. Although they had won back-to-back titles and two FAI cups around the turn of the 50s, and had even coaxed George Lax’s old boss Raich Carter out of retirement to lead them briefly as player-manager, by 1957, financial difficulties saw them withdraw from the league. Their spot was taken by another Rebel County-based club, this time it was Cork Hibernians. Their first manager was to be George Lax.

A tough first season for the Hibernians finish bottom of the 12-team division but gradual progress was made in the following seasons with Hibs finishing ninth and then by 1959-60 up to sixth place. George had set up a comfortable life in Cork, he ran a physiotherapy practice in the city and was on a considerable salary of £1,000 a year to manage the team. However, despite the steady progress Lax was making, he left Cork Hibernians to return to Dublin and to Dalymount to take on a Bohs side that had finished bottom the previous two seasons. By the time he left, the press credited him with having “moulded Cork Hibs into a first-class side”. Lax took the reins again at Bohemians for the beginning of the 1960-61 season, some 22 years after he had first arrived at Dalymount.

The side that George had inherited in the late 30s had some genuine stars such as O’Flanagan, Fred Horlacher, “Pip” Meighan, Kevin Kerr and Billy Jordan. The side of the early 60′s unfortunately wasn’t so blessed and the drawbacks of the enforced amateur ethos at the club was being keenly felt. Some genuine greats of Bohs history were to join not long afterwards, most notably centre-half Willie Browne who would go on to win three Irish caps during his time in red and black and became captain of the club in only his second season.

After two seasons of propping up the table, including the 59-60 season where Bohs had finished without a single win and with a paltry five points, there was some modest yet clear improvements under Lax. Bohs finished 11th out of 12 in his first season back in charge and ninth the year after. The following year, however, Bohs once again finished bottom in a reduced ten-team division and bottom again the following season (1963-64) as the league expanded again to 12 sides. Despite the initial improvements and the fact that he had helped bring through players such as Browne, Billy Young, Mick Kearin and Larry Gilmore, the club felt it was time for a significant change.

Lax left at the end of the 1963-64 season and the club directors finally agreed to the abolition of the five-man selection committee that still picked the starting XI. Full control of team affairs was to be entrusted to a team manager for the first time and Phibsborough local Seán Thomas was given the reins. Thomas’ talent and the additional authority invested in his role had the desired impact and Bohs finished the following season in third place and saw the emergence of future Irish internationals Jimmy Conway and Turlough O’Connor.

During his less successful second stay, George remained true to his footballing philosophy. Unlike his mentor Buckley, the focus on Lax’s teams was always on trying to play good football even on the boggy winter pitches of the League of Ireland. He told the Evening Herald that “there is no substitute for good football and it only will draw the crowds”. He had a focus on discipline and skill, players were instructed strictly to never argue with the referee, a practice that certainly isn’t a new phenomenon. In training, his focus was always on improving touch and ball control, often preferring to organise 5-a-sides with various handicaps such as players only taking two touches or only using their weaker foot so as to build technique. Practices that might now seem commonplace but were certainly ahead of their time for the league in the 1960s. His commitment to this footballing ideal wasn’t even shaken during times of duress. Commenting after a heavy 6-0 defeat to a strong Drumcondra side Lax rejected the idea that his team should have tried to spoil or play more direct, stating simply “I’ve made it quite clear, I want them to play football all the time”. In many ways, despite the struggles of the team in the early 60s, George Lax certainly seemed to try to embody the three golden rules of Bohemian F.C. “never say die, keep the ball on the floor and the best defence is attack”.

After leaving Bohs, George’s services were quickly in demand. He was signed up by St. Patrick’s Athletic to replace Ronnie Whelan Snr but he would spend only a season in Inchicore before quitting. He would later take on a physio role at Dundalk and later at Shelbourne where he was working well into his 60s. He continued to run a physiotherapy practice in the Phibsboro area and treated many prominent GAA players and other athletes in his private practice.

Others were former internationals, like Glenn Helder, who played four times for Holland and was George Graham’s last signing for Arsenal before the arrival of Arsene Wenger. What they had in common was a desire to give something back to sport, and collectively the teams had much to prove at Norgerhaven.

The Irish team had the smallest squad of the tournament, with only seven players available, but Bohemian Foundation President Thomas Hynes says what they lacked in numbers, they made up for in talent and confidence.

“They’re Northside lads mostly from Ballymun who play together in the Leinster League,” he told Northside People.

“A lot of them would have grown up together and gone to the same schools.

“They play as the Bohemian Foundation team in all the tournaments and exhibition games we’re involved in.

“I was worried about how we’d get on in the tournament but the lads were convinced from the start that they’d win.”

The 12-team tournament involved two groups of six teams with the top two progressing to the semi-finals.

The small Irish squad was supplemented by super subs, 46-year-old coach Kenneth Coakley and Bohemian Foundation community director Jeff Conway.

As the tournament progressed, other teams and the crowd began to sit up and take notice of the Bohemian Foundation team as win followed win.

They progressed through their group unbeaten, with keeper Graham Bedford pulling off a series of fantastic saves, and an impressive German side was disposed of in the semi-final.

The Irish team then won the tournament in a tight final against a Norwegian side thanks to a late winner from Karl McMahon, who was the competition’s top scorer.

“The standard of the games was really high and they were all really tight,” said Hynes.

“When we got to the final everybody there was convinced we were going to be beaten. The place went silent when Karl scored. It was brilliant.

“It was very nice because we were presented with the Irish flag and the played Amhrán na bhFiann. It was a wonderful moment for the team. I’m sure some of them never thought they’d be representing their country at an international tournament.

“The lads did really well and I think the authorities over there were impressed with both the team and the work the Bohemian Foundation does.

“We’ve been invited back next year to defend the trophy.”

Hynes says Irish representation at the tournament, which attracted attention from the Dutch media, is thanks to Mountjoy Prison, where the Foundation regularly brings over Bohs players to coach inmates.

“We were greatly helped by the Governor of Mountjoy who gave us a generous donation that allowed us to bring the team over to Holland and we’re very thankful for that,” he said.

“They found out I was involved with Bohemians and asked if the club could help out with bringing in players.

“I said we would see what we could do and over the last five years, it’s grown and grown. We’re in twice a week now.

“Through sport, they’re all on first-name terms, enjoying each other’s company. They can’t wait for Tuesdays and Thursdays to come.

“It relieves a lot of tension around the place and it helps show them there’s light of the end of the tunnel for them when they get out.

“We don’t just play football in the prison and leave it at that. We try to get them involved in local football when they are released – playing and coaching.

“The team that’s representing the Foundation and Ireland at next week’s competition are all people we’ve worked with over the past five years.

“We have nine guys travelling with us to the Netherlands – prisoners who have been released and who have not re-offended for a minimum of two years.”

Donnacha Walsh, Deputy Governor of Mounjoy Prison, adds: “I met Tommy five years ago and told him I’m an avid Cork City supporter.

“He told me about his involvement with Bohs and it started from there.

“It has had a very positive effect. Lads have left here and taken up playing football when they leave and have reintegrated into the community.

“Most importantly, they haven’t returned here. Anybody who doesn’t return to Mountjoy is a job well done.”

This season, it has been the turn of Bohemians first-team players Shane Supple and Oscar Brennan to volunteer their time on behalf of the Foundation.

They have conducted training sessions twice a week – on Tuesdays and Thursdays – for the past 3½ months.

Supple said: “It’s been good craic. We go in every week and we just try to let the lads play.

“They don’t get much time in the yard. They do have other bits to keep them going – work in the kitchen and stuff like that – but the lads say to us that it’s only really when we come in that they get an opportunity to go out and play.

“The more time they have out there is beneficial to them and their mental well-being. It’s a two-way thing too. They’ve taken an interest in us.

“They see our games on the telly, they see us on Soccer Republic.

“Every time you come in on a Tuesday, they’re either praising you or slagging you: ‘Jaysus Shane, that was some save’ or ‘Oscar, what were you doing there?’

“We all know these lads have done something bad. But maybe they’ve just made mistakes and want to rehabilitate themselves.

“The dynamic is interesting, there hasn’t been a bad tackle!

“Hopefully we can play a small part in how they view where they want to be when they get out.

“It’s been going for a number of years now – the lads going over to the tournament in Holland haven’t re-offended.

“In two years’ time, if some of the lads we’ve been involved with in training and coaching this year are in the same position, then it’s been a success.

“It’s small margins, but that’s what it’s all about.”

Brennan, in his first season at Dalymount Park, is studying sports and leisure management at UCD.

He was keen for his college placement to tie in with the work being done by the Foundation.

Brennan has volunteered in a number of areas with the Foundation, including working with YouthReach as well as conducting walking football sessions with people with mental and physical disabilities.

But he was particularly keen to work with Mountjoy Prison and he too is encouraged by the progress made by prisoners over the course of his short time dealing with them.

Brennan said: “I was eager to go in, I wanted to see what it was like and see what way I could help and luckily enough I got the opportunity to do so.

“When we went in first, a lot of the lads didn’t know each other’s names.

“From what I’ve seen, it’s hard to go up when you’re a prisoner and introduce yourself to other lads inside.

“It was a great way of breaking down barriers. Now you can see they’re all socialising with each other. It’s more of a community.”

Last Saturday, the prisoners and the Bohemian Foundation went head-to-head for the Conway Cup, a trophy donated by family of Bohemians members in honour of their father Jimmy Conway Snr.

The Foundation team edged the now-annual game 8-6. The match was attended by the Lord Mayor of Dublin Mícheál Mac Donncha, who was also on hand to present the trophy and medals to both teams at the post-match reception.

Hynes said: “The Conway Cup cemented our relationship with the prison. It gave the prisoners something to look forward to every year.

“But this is the first year it’s been so close, Shane and Oscar must be doing something right in the coaching sessions!”

Having enjoyed the Conway Cup in the Mountjoy training yard, now the prisoners are looking forward to going one step further – playing under lights at Dalymount Park for the Foundation Cup.

Hynes added: “At the end of Bohs’ season, we bring up about 15 prisoners who are on day-release to play a football game against a Foundation team for the Foundation Cup, which has been sponsored by Denis Cruise, who also sponsored the medals on Saturday.

“We play at 5 o’clock so they get to play under the floodlights.

“How that came about was because when I used to come into the prison first, the lads would say to me ‘that sounded like a great match on Friday’ and I couldn’t understand how they knew.

“But from some of the cells, they could see the floodlights on from Dalymount and hear the roar of the crowd.

“It’d nearly break your heart. So I thought we had to do something, so when some of these guys were on day release I said ‘would you like to come up to Dalymount?’

“Through the Prison Service and through Governor Walsh, we organise for the day-release of 15 prisoners, under escort, up to Dalymount.

“Their families aren’t even told when we’re having it. It’s fully behind closed doors but we get a Foundation team out to play them and hopefully give them something to aspire to.”

Luke O’Riordan, Public Relations Director, Bohemian FC

Photos by Stephen Burke

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We appeal to you to join us as a Friend of the Bohemian Foundation for €10 a per year. We will email you our updates on at least a twice-yearly basis to keep you informed of our plans and progress.

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Finding Billy

Anyone who has ever trawled through Irish newspaper archives or through any number of online census returns or genealogy sites will appreciate the difficulty in trying to track down a relative from the distant past. Particularly if that relative has a rather common surname, without having the specifics to hand working out if that John O’Sullivan or that Mary Byrne is your ancestor can be a thankless task. It is for some of these reasons that researching someone with the surname Otto in 1920’s Ireland is that bit more intriguing. However detail on the life of Billy Otto of Bohemian Football Club initially proved illusive and as his story developed it brought me on quite an unexpected journey.

What we know about Billy Otto begins with his birth in December of 1898, son of another William Henry Otto, in Robben Island just off Cape Town, South Africa. Robben Island is most famous for being the island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years from the 1960’s to 1980’s. However in 1898 it was a leper colony. William Henry Otto Snr. was a pharmacist which explains his presence on the island, though it was hardly the ideal place for a new born baby as part of the growing family. Billy being the 2nd born of a large family of 10 children.

In 1915, before he had even reached his 17th birthday young Billy had volunteered to join the 1st South African Infantry Regiment and was off to fight in World War I under the command of Brigadier General Henry Lukin. The Regiment was part of the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force which was a volunteer military organisation that fought on the British side against the Central Powers during the war. Billy’s regiment was colloquially known as the “Cape Regiment” as this was the area that provided the bulk of their manpower.

Early on the regiment fought along with the British in North Africa and was Billy was involved in the Action of Agagia in Egypt in February 1916 as part of what was known as the Senussi campaign. The Senussi were a religious sect based in Libya and Egypt who had been encouraged by Ottoman Turkey to attack the British. The engagement at Agagia led to the capture of one of the Senussi leaders.

But by May 1916 the 1st South African Infantry had left Africa and had been transferred Europe and the Western Front and were joined into the 9th Scottish Division. They would take part in some of the many epic and bloody engagements of the Battle of the Somme at Longueval and at Delville Wood. Brigadier-General Henry Lukin and his South African troops were ordered to take and hold Delville Wood at all costs. The battle was for a tiny and ultimately insignificant sliver of land as part of the huge Somme offensive and began on 15th July of 1916. By the 18th of July Billy had been injured in a massive German counter-offensive, the Germans shelled the small section of the Wood for seven and a half hours and over the course of day, in an area less than one square mile, 20,000 shells fell. In one account the trees of the woodland were all turned to matchsticks by the end of the bombardment.

The South African soldiers would continue to be shelled and sniped at from three sides until the July 20th when suffering from hunger, thirst and exhaustion they were led out of the wood. The Battle of Deville Wood would be the most costly action that the South African forces on the Western Front, of the 3,153 men from the brigade who entered the wood, only 780 were present at the roll call after their relief.

The injured Billy would ultimately be sent to England to recuperate and it is likely that from here he got the idea to travel to Ireland. What prompted this we simply don’t yet know.

What we do know is that Billy appears first as a sportsman for Bohemians in 1920, and featured regularly from 1921 as Bohemians competed in the first season of the newly formed Free State League. Billy usually played in a half-back (midfield) position in the team though did he feature in a number of other roles and proved an occasional goal-getter.

In April 1923 he features in the Bohemian XI that take on touring French side CAP Gallia in Dalymount, in what was the first visit by a continental side to Ireland since the split with the IFA. In late December 1923 Otto captained the Bohs side that travelled to Belfast to take on Linfield. Bohs won the game 4-2 in one of the first matches played against northern opposition since the split. He was then part of a selection under the Shelbourne banner (a composite side made up from several clubs) that took on members of the 1924 Olympic football team in a warm up game prior to their departure for Paris. Here he featured against his regular midfield teammates John Thomas and Johnny Murray.

Other prominent games were to follow in 1924, rather appropriately for Billy Bohemians took on the South African national team as the debut game on their European Tour. Billy once again captained Bohs as the South Africans ran out 4-2 winners. Tantalisingly the Pathé news cameras were at the ground that day and recorded some of the footage of the game and the teams posing before the match. As captain it is Billy we see receiving a piece of South African art from his opposite number. Tall, slim and dark-haired Billy would have been around 26 years of age when this footage was shot.

Billy was Bohemian captain for the 1923-24 season, a time of progress for the club as they were crowned League champions and Shield winners that year with the club also finishing as League runners-up the following year, he would also become a member of the club committee. He continued as a regular team member through to the first half of 1927 when he disappears from the match reports of the club. We know that during his time in Dublin he more than likely worked for the the revenue service as we know he lined out for them as a footballer in the Civil Service League around the same time that he was on the books of Bohemians. This wasn’t too unusual as a number of Billy’s other team-mates would have also been civil servants (i.e. Harry Willitts) at what was then still a strictly amateur club.

Billy sets sail

While Billy Otto might have been finishing up at Bohemians he was about to begin another chapter of his life. On the 24th November 1927 he boarded the steamship Bendigo (shown above) on the London docks bound for a return to Cape Town, South Africa. Billy was by this stage 29 years of age and listed his residence as the Irish Free State, more specifically at 28 Hollybank Road in Drumcondra. On the ship’s passenger list the stated country of his future residence was South Africa and his profession was recorded as bloodstock. There is a possible Bohemian connection here as one of Billy’s former teammates, Bertie Kerr was already by this stage and established bloodstock agent who would go on to purchase and sell four Aintree Grand National winners.

Billy and Bertie were known to be good friends outside of football. Is it possible that the Kerr family may have introduced Otto to the business? Perhaps, although there is strong evidence that there may have been a familial connection. Billy’s brother Johnny was a champion jockey in South Africa and later worked as a steward at the Jockey club.

In his personal life it must have been during his time living in Drumcondra that Billy was to meet his future wife Christine. Born Christina Quigley in Dalkey on 8th December 1900 to a Policeman; Thomas, and a housewife, Maryanne, by the 1911 census Christine was living on St. Patrick’s Road in Drumcondra. She is not listed as a passenger on Billy’s 1927 voyage and they did not marry in Ireland. However, we know that they did indeed get married and had three sons, tying the knot in December 1929 in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Cape Town. Records show that she had travelled to South Africa via Mozambique aboard the SS Grantully Castle just one month earlier. Christine Otto (nee Quigley) did make return visits to Ireland later in her life. She came back to Dublin via Southampton for a visit in 1950, the stated destination for her visit was to 25 Hollybank Road.

Billy departs

In March 1958 a small obituary in the Irish Times noted the passing on the 13th of that month of William H (Billy) Otto at his residence of Wingfield on the Algarkirk Road, Seapoint, Cape Town. “Beloved husband of Chriss (Quigley) late of Drumcondra, Dublin. Deeply mourned by his three sons and members of the Bohemian Football Club”. Billy’s passing occured within a week of the deaths of two other team-mates, Ned Brooks and Jack McCarthy, from that same championship winning team. Christine remained in South Africa though she is listed as returning again to Ireland in 1960, two years after Billy’s death. The address that she was to stay at for an intended 12 months was, on this occasion, in Foxrock, Dublin.

Billy had lived out his days in his native Cape Town, he and Chriss had three sons, another William Henry, Brian Barry and Terrence John. Whatever about his interest in bloodstock and horse racing Billy also had other business interests running an off-licence (locally known as “bottle stores”) up to the time of his death in 1958. In just 60 years he had led quite the life and defied the odds in many ways. Born in a leper colony, as a teenager he had survived the horrors of the Somme to go on and become one of the first prominent South African born footballers in Europe. He captained his club to a League title and faced off against the national team of his home nation in one of their earliest games. He built a life, friendships and family across two continents and I hope I’ve done a small part in restoring him to the consciousness of the Bohemian fraternity.

With thanks to Simon O’Gorman and Stephen Burke for their assistance and input and a special thank you to Maryanne and all of the Otto/Calitz family for sharing information about their late grandfather.

Check out Gerry Farrell’s “A Bohemian Sporting Life” blog.