{"id":2167,"date":"2015-03-06T16:32:18","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T16:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kildare.ie\/ehistory\/?p=2167"},"modified":"2024-06-06T13:03:30","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T12:03:30","slug":"tribute-to-larry-stanley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/tribute-to-larry-stanley\/","title":{"rendered":"TRIBUTE TO LARRY STANLEY"},"content":{"rendered":"

LEINSTER LEADER<\/em> 10 OCTOBER 1987<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tribute of 1984 to the late Larry Stanley<\/strong><\/p>\n

The poem below was written as a tribute to Mr. Larry Stanley by Harry Price in 1984 after he had been asked to write a work that could be performed on stage.<\/p>\n

The work, entitled \u201cPlay the Ball\u201d was to be performed by a thirteen year old boy dressed in the colours of the Lily Whites, while a tall man stood silent alongside the tricolour.\u00a0 The tribute was aimed at encouraging the young to play football, the game by which the late Larry Stanley won two All-Ireland medals, one with Kildare, the other with Dublin, the city in which he died last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now I am just a boy,<\/p>\n

That likes sporting ways,<\/p>\n

Even those of other days,<\/p>\n

When I look at the crowd,<\/p>\n

I speak out loud,<\/p>\n

Of a Blacktrench man<\/p>\n

From the Co.Kildare.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

He stood to attention<\/p>\n

Of this I must mention,<\/p>\n

In my childhood mind,<\/p>\n

Even so blind I could see,<\/p>\n

In the park so bright,<\/p>\n

Larry Stanley the great,<\/p>\n

Standing there with faith.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The title to a cycle 1984<\/p>\n

Lead me in your ways,<\/p>\n

Stand to attention Please,<\/p>\n

For the love of the game,<\/p>\n

GAA the name,<\/p>\n

Brought you honour and fame,<\/p>\n

Larry Stanley yet again,<\/p>\n

Is the man\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pairc an Chrocaigh inspired,<\/p>\n

Memories in the wind,<\/p>\n

Lead me to this man,<\/p>\n

That I may shake his hand,<\/p>\n

1919 on Kildare people\u2019s tongues,<\/p>\n

O how the crowd sung<\/p>\n

The Curragh of Kildare,<\/p>\n

A Nation once again,<\/p>\n

An all-Ireland in his hand.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Built with all that is strong,<\/p>\n

You jumped 23 ft. long,<\/p>\n

1924 was the year,<\/p>\n

That 6 ft. 3 1\/8\u00a0 <\/sup>ins. you cleared,<\/p>\n

O what fame you claimed,<\/p>\n

In the next football game,<\/p>\n

Another All-Ireland medal<\/p>\n

With the Metro Dublin team.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And now to the end,<\/p>\n

In this poem I send,<\/p>\n

In a Gaelic tradition,<\/p>\n

Of spot and ambition,<\/p>\n

So cool was your mission,<\/p>\n

As to play the ball.<\/s><\/p>\n

Re-typed by Mary Murphy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LEINSTER LEADER 10 OCTOBER 1987 Tribute of 1984 to the late Larry Stanley The poem below was written as a tribute to Mr. Larry Stanley by Harry Price in 1984 after he had been asked to write a work that could be performed on stage. The work, entitled \u201cPlay the Ball\u201d was to be performed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newspaper-articles","category-sport"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kildare Local Studies","author_link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/author\/localstudies\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}