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Bertie Fulton Soccer schoolmasters. Series feature: Part 2 of 12. by Colm Hickey Celtic and the (John Paul II Foundation for Sport) 1936 Olympic Games

Throughout his teaching career Bertie Fulton (1906-1979) deserves his place in Ireland’s pantheon of Fulton ran and coached school teams. sporting heroes. He played 42 times for Ireland at football, 21 of these One former pupil, Jim Campbell, appearances were for the full national side and the remainder for the Irish recalled “Fulton was my teacher in amateur team. He represented Great Britain in the infamous ‘Nazi’ Olympics McKenna Memorial School, Larne, in Berlin in 1936 and was a coach of the Ireland youth team as well as a about 1946. He coached our team. I was summariser on BBC TV for Ireland football matches. During his long centre half… we were the best team in football career (he played from 1918 to 1943) he was closely associated our category. His son Sean played with Belfast Celtic, the most famous Catholic football club in Ireland. alongside of me.” Another former pupil A committed Catholic, he was very active in his parish of St Comgall’s in wrote: “Bertie was the principal at St Larne. He enjoyed a long career as a schoolteacher, eventually retiring Comgall’s where I attended… I saw a as a headteacher after over 50 years of service to Catholic education. very intelligent man who loved his kids He is an excellent choice as our second soccer schoolmaster. and left me with wonderful feelings of joy and thanks to God that I was fortunate enough to be under his charge Fulton the educationalist and those of his team at St Comgall’s. It When Fulton was born in November is where I got my education to carry me 1906 no one could have predicted the through life”. outstanding sporting and educational Apart from his commitment to youth career he was going to have. He was football (he was also briefly coach of educated at McKenna Memorial the Ireland Youth Team) Fulton was School, a small local Catholic active in his faith. A fine singer, he was elementary school in his home town of also the Choir Master of St Comgall’s Larne. A talented scholar, he became a Catholic church taking both the senior pupil-teacher from the age of 13 until and junior male and female choirs. His 18. This meant he would be taught by long association with Belfast Celtic, the headteacher before and after school with its strong Catholic and whilst learning to teach the boys in the nationalistic antecedents, provides a elementary school during the school strong pointer to his motivations and day. After five years he sat a beliefs. He had 14 children (eight girls scholarship exam and in 1925 he and six boys). Two became teachers entered St Mary’s College in and another two became priests. Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, to train as a teacher. Fulton the footballer Fulton returned to Larne in May 1926 Fulton had already been identified as a and became a teacher in his former talented footballer before he went to St school. He was to remain there for the Mary’s. He played firstly for Larne and next 32 years before becoming the first then briefly for Belfast Celtic, making headteacher of St Comgall’s secondary enough appearances at the start of the school in Larne in 1958. He retired from 1925/26 season to gain an Irish League the school in 1964 at the age of 60. medal. While studying at St Mary’s he

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from strength to strength and the inter-war years proved to be Celtic’s strongest: they were league champions four years running after their return. The club’s demise can be traced back to events on Boxing Day 1948 at the annual Linfield-Celtic game at . Celtic was winning for most of the match but Linfield equalised in the last minute. Their fans invaded the pitch and attacked several Celtic players, including centre-forward Jimmy Jones who suffered a broken leg. As a result the club decided to withdraw from the league, citing the safety of their players and supporters. After the 1948/49 season Belfast Celtic went on a tour of America from which they returned midst internal wrangling over flags and financial issues. At a meeting of the board it was decided that Celtic would temporarily leave the league until such matters had been resolved. They were not and the internal wrangling at boardroom level continued until was sold to developers. The club would never again play a competitive match but played several friendlies including an historic victory over Scotland in the United States in 1949 and a match at home to Celtic on the 17th May, 1952. A final match was played away to Coleraine on the 24th June, 1960. The ground continued to function as a greyhound stadium until the 1980s when it was bulldozed and replaced by a shopping mall which now contains a plaque and a small museum.  Fulton’s international career Fulton made his amateur international debut in May 1925. In all he appeared 21 times for the Amateurs, becoming the played for London Caledonians - one of England’s leading most capped player. Three years later he won his first full amateur teams of the time. He assisted the Caledonians to cap in a 4-0 defeat by France in February 1928. 2nd place in the Isthmian League and victory in the London The following season Fulton was back in the Ireland Senior Cup. Fulton was a Corinthian in every sense of the team, as Wales were demolished 7-0 at Celtic Park. From word. He strongly disapproved of people being paid to play then until the outbreak of the Second World War, he was football, believing that the love of the game should be a Ireland’s regular left-back. sufficient honour in itself. During his career he was courted In 1936, Fulton was selected for the Great Britain team in by, and rejected Manchester United preferring to play the Berlin Olympics. The Great Britain captain was football in Ireland. Bernard Joy of Arsenal. He was scathing about the Games Fulton had a long and distinguished spell with Belfast claiming that Adolf Hitler ‘prostituted the Olympiad of Celtic. The club was established in 1891 on the same 1936 to the end of glorifying the Fatherland.’ Britain’s principle of raising community spirit and money for charity approach was muddled and chaotic. The Games were in as the famous Celtic. By playing for the club August, yet it was not until the 14th July that a team was Fulton was demonstrating his Catholic allegiances in a finally selected. Joy thought “it is entirely my own view difficult period in Irish history, as the political violence that that it would have been better to select an entirely English engulfed Ireland in the 1920s spilled onto the terraces of side” as “the attempts to blend different styles and the Irish League and Celtic was forced to withdraw in temperaments in so short a time was a failure.” The 1920, not rejoining until 1924. Despite this, the club went amateur team approached the Olympic experience in a >

Representative Honours: Ireland: 21 Full Caps (1928-1938); 20 Amateur Caps / 1 Goal (1925-1938); Irish League: 15 Caps (1929-1940); Northern Regional ‘War-Time’ League: 4 Caps (1941-1943); Great Britain Olympic Team: 2 Games (1936 Berlin Olympics); Ireland/Wales v Football League (1935). Club Honours: (with Larne) runner-up 1927/28; (Belfast Celtic) Irish League Champion 1925/26, 1928/29, 1932/33, 1935/36, 1936/37, 1937/38, 1938/39, 1939/40; Irish Cup Winner 1937/38, 1940/41, 1942/43, runner-up 1928/29; Northern Regional League Champion 1940/41, 1941/42, 1942/43; Gold Cup Winner 1939/40, runner-up 1929/30, 1937/38; City Cup Winner 1925/26, 1929/30, 1930/31, 1932/33, 1935/36, 1936/37, 1937/38, 1939/40, runner-up 1931/32, 1933/34; Co. Antrim Shield Winner 1935/36, 1938/39, 1942/43, runner-up 1931/32, 1932/33; Charity Cup Winner 1931/32, 1935/36 (shared), 1938/39, 1939/40, 1940/41, runner-up 1924/25, 1929/30, 1930/31, 1934/35; (with London Caledonians) London Senior Cup Winner 1925/26.

August 2012 - Catholic Life 39 •38-40 Soccer schoolmasters (2)_Layout 1 18/07/2012 15:40 Page 3

(left) Great Britain Football Team, 1936 Olympics. (below) A ball used in the 1936 Olympics on display at the German Leather Museum.

thoroughly amateur way as Joy recalled, “One of the team had his wife staying in a Berlin hotel and many of the others went to the Berlin amusements with a deal of freedom. Several players watched the athletic events in the afternoon before our matches in the evening, although it was the wrong sort of preparation. Our approach may have been typically amateur, but it was not realistic in view of the efficiency of our rivals.” Fulton played in both games, a 2-0 victory over China, and a 5-4 defeat by Poland a game the team should have won as Great Britain under performed at a major international tournament.

Conclusion Bertie Fulton’s footballing career, his service to education and his commitment to Catholicism deserve a wider audience. He is owed more recognition, not just for his sporting exploits but more for his religious beliefs and educational philosophy. He was a man who practised what he preached. He remained resolutely amateur throughout his playing career and passed on his knowledge to his scholars and trained and coached both schoolboys and international youth teams. A devout Catholic who was prominent and active in parish life, he was no sectarian. As such he provides an inspirational role model for Catholic sporting educationalists as the Church seeks to reach out to its youth through sport. Next month: Jackie Burns, Middlesex Wanderers, Queens Park Rangers and Brentford.

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