CLUB OF THE MONTH
Our chosen club for this issue of the Newsletter is the Portadown Northern Ireland Supporters Branch. The supporters from Portadown have been outstanding with their support over the past two years. On behalf of the George Best Foundation I would like to extend a personal huge thank you to you all.
The first meeting of the Portadown Northern Ireland Supporters Club (PNISC) was held on Monday 11th January 1988 in Portadown Rugby Club. PNISC was established by playing and social members of the rugby club who were already keen followers of the Northern Ireland football team and felt that it was time to come together and form a supporters club.
At the inaugural meeting, ten soon to be members were present and it was then that David McDowell was elected chairman, Ronnie Curran, Vice Chairman and Billy Hughes, Treasurer. Nearly twenty years on these three still hold the same position within the club! They must be doing something right as within one month of setting up the number of members had almost trebled and currently the club has over sixty members.
From its inception, the club organised buses from the rugby club to all of the Northern Ireland home games at Windsor Park and also over the years has organised trips away to international games as well as to games in the Premier Leagues in England and Wales. The highlight of each year is the annual dinner which is held on the last Friday of January in Portadown Golf Club. Over the last number of years, the club has enjoyed hosting many well known guests from the football world. These have included such well known names such as Billy Bingham, Bertie Peacock, Alex Elder, Jimmy McIlroy, Bryan Hamilton, Lawrie McMenamy, Alan McDonald, Iain Dowie, John McClellend and John O'Neill.
In 2006, the members decided that it would be fitting to support the George Best Foundation. Consequently on 26th January I was invited along with my husband, Norman, the former Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez and the former Northern Ireland international player Gerry Taggart to their annual dinner. I should mention at this point that apart from the very efficient waitresses at the rugby club, I was the ONLY other female present as it is normally an all male event! The golf club was filled to capacity with one hundred and ten present for what turned out to be a great night. The chairman David, in his usual charismatic and humorous style opened the evening with his annual address. This was followed by a lovely meal during which tickets were sold for the raffle with all monies raised going to the George Best Foundationn. There was also an auction of pictures, signed footballs and shirts which helped raise funds for the club. Following the after dinner entertainment the main attraction of the night was a question and answer session with Lawrie and Gerry which allowed members and guests to ask the sort of questions and receive the sort answers that journalists would give their eye teeth for! Both Lawrie and Gerry were presented with beautiful Tyrone Crystal Rose Bowls to commemorate their visit to the club. I was presented with a lovely framed photograph of a very handsome, shy looking George, which was taken by local photographer Ronnie Hynds during a visit made by George to Bournview Squash Club in Portadown. Subsequently I took that beautiful photograph to the south of France, where Norman and I have a holiday home. It was a place which George loved to visit as it was a place he could relax and unwind. Ronnie's photo now has pride of place there. I was also presented with a cheque for £1000 by Billy Hughes for the George Best Foundation, rounding off a perfect night in a perfect way. Those Portadown fans certainly know how to have a good time!!
However, the support of PNISC didn't end there. In June 2007, some of the Portadown supporters attended another fundraising event named 'One Night in Valencia' which was hosted by another local Northern Ireland Supporters Club called "Spirit of '82". The evening was to commemorate that famous 1-0 victory over Spain in the 1982 World Cup. The PNISC had managed to sell ten signed prints of that famous goal by Gerry Armstrong and the £200 raised was also presented to the George Best Foundation.
As has been the case on so many occasions since George died, the fans once again came out in force to show their love and support for their hero and Portadown Northern Ireland Supporters Cub did just that. Thank you all so very much.
