Glentoran’s oldest surviving player, Bertie Wright, celebrates his 99th birthday on Monday 22nd October
Bertie, who lives in Laurelvale near Portadown, joined the Glens in the 1941-42 season and over the following 8 seasons played 214 games for the club and scored scored 47 goals, twice finishing as the club’s second highest scorer. Bertie also represented the Irish League on 5 occasions; three times against England and once against both Scotland and the League of Ireland. He scored one goal for the Irish League against the English League at Goodison Park in 1947, a penalty which he took and sent the legendary Frank Swift (Manchester City) the wrong way. Bertie
Everyone at Glentoran wishes Bertie all the very best for his birthday and to mark the occasion we reproduce below an interview Bertie gave to John Moore for the Glentoran Gazette some years ago.
How did a Co Armagh man become interested in Glentoran?
Although I’ve lived most of my life in the Portadown area I was actually born in East Belfast; at 19 St Leonard’s Street off the Newtownards Road. Our family moved to Portadown when I was 4 years old because of my father’s poor health but unfortunately we were only there a short time when my father died.
The first football match I remember attending was when I was about 10. It was the 1930-31 season and Glentoran were playing Portadown at Shamrock Park. The Glens had Fred Roberts, Johnny Geary and Sammy Crooks in their team then but on that day they lost to the Ports. I think it was their only defeat of the season as they won the League Championship.
Where did your own football career kick off?
I began playing football at Portadown Academy. Also in that school team was my brother Freddie, who also played for Glentoran for a short time (41-42) and Davy Cochrane who went on to play for Leeds Utd and was capped 12 times for Northern Ireland. I then played for a team called Sunnyside in Lurgan before being signed by Portadown in 1937.
Do you remember your Irish League debut?
I couldn’t have picked a better first game for Portadown. My debut came at Shamrock Park against............Glentoran!
How long were you with Portadown?
I played for Portadown from 1937 until they withdrew from the League in 41-42, due to the war. The Glens then signed me on loan for the remainder of that season although technically Portadown retained my registration.
What do you remember about your first game for the Glens?
To be honest I don’t really remember anything about it, although I’m told it was away to Belfast Celtic in the Co Antrim Shield and we lost 2-0.
You played over 200 games for Glentoran. Do any of them stand out?
There are two which I can remember very well. The first was a game against Linfield at Windsor Park, where by half time we had lost a player through injury (no substitutes back then) and were trailing 3-0. The manager wanted to make a few adjustments to certain positions but a few of us disagreed with him. After all we were three down and there wasn’t much point being defensive. The second half saw us stage a great come back and the game eventually finished 3-3. The other game was the 1943 Irish Cup semi-final against Ards at Solitude. We won the game 4-2 and I scored twice. I actually got a hattrick but the referee, Paddy Morris, disallowed one of the goals. The ball passed through a hole in the net.....he gave a goal kick!
Of your 47 goals was there one which you would regard as being a bit special?
We were playing Belfast Celtic and were awarded a free kick about 20 yards from goal. I hit it and the ball flew into the top corner of the net. The Celtic goalkeeper, Tommy Breen, was blaming the defense for not blocking the shot but he needn’t have worried as the referee decided that the free kick had been taken too quickly and declared that it should be retaken. I replaced the ball and then put it into the same top corner of the goal. As you can imagine the Celtic defenders gave him a bit of stick! Another goal which I remember for different reasons came against Linfield at Windsor Park. A Clancy McDermott free kick came in from the right and I got my head to the ball to score. Unfortunately as I headed the ball one of the Linfield defenders managed to connect his boot with my head and I missed the next few games with injury.
How did you eventually sign ‘properly’ for Glentoran?
It actually came about following a mistake by Portadown. They failed to re-register me on time and I became what is now known as a free agent. My old friend Davy Cochrane was playing for Linfield at the time (back home due to the war) and he, knowing my situation, told the Blues to try to sign me. The Linfield Chairman, Charlie Stewart, and two other directors came to see me and actually offered me terms well in excess of what Glentoran had offered. However I just couldn’t bring myself to leave my club and I signed for the Glens.
Did you always play at left-half?
No, I was originally an outside right. Travelling to Grosvenor Park on the tram one afternoon for a match against Celtic, the Glentoran Chairman, Toby Mercer, informed me that I was going to play that day at left-half. I think it was to cover Jimmy McAlinden who was back from Portsmouth and was playing inside right for Celtic. We won the game 2-0 and I remained in that position from then.
What trophies did you win with Glentoran?
I only won two trophies with the Glens, the Co Antrim Shield and the All-Ireland Cup, both in the 1943-44 season. The latter was against Belfast Celtic and was played over two legs, one in Belfast and one in Dublin. The first game (in Belfast) finished 3-3 but for the other game Glentoran had to do without the services of Johnny Macken, Frank Neary, Johnny Deakin and Freddie Ramscar, all members of HM forces who weren’t allowed to travel to the Republic of Ireland. Glentoran brought in Clancy McDermott for the Dublin game and also signed Jimmy Todd, Sid McIlroy and Billy Bradford. The Glens, against all the odds, won 2-1. After that game one of the Celtic players, Mattie Cullen, wanted to buy my medal as he’d promised his girlfriend a winners one. Needless to say he didn’t get it! I also played for Glentoran in four Irish Cup finals, but lost them all. Twice against Linfield (1942, 3-0 and 1945, 4-2) and twice against Belfast Celtic (1943, 1-0 and 1947, 1-0).
You also had the honour of being captain of Glentoran?
That’s right, I was club captain of Glentoran for about a year and a half. During that spell the legendary Peter Doherty was back at the Oval, guesting in a few games. Naturally I felt uneasy about leading the team out and told the manager I wouldn’t mind if Peter did it. Dohertyrefused, saying it was my position and he was happy that as captain, I led out the team.
Did you continue watching football after you’d stopped playing?
Not really. I’d have gone to the odd game, particularly a big occasion like the Glentoran European games against Rangers and Benfica and the 1971 friendly against Leeds but it was my grandson, Peter Taggart, who rekindled my interest in Glentoran. I now watch the team regularly.
Finally Bertie, have you any regrets?
Only one. As someone who made over 200 appearances for Glentoran I never played for them at the Oval. That’s something I’d loved to have done.
