Alfie Hale

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Alfie Hale
Personal information
Full name Alfred Hale
Date of birth August 28 1939
Place of birth    Waterford, Ireland
Playing position Forward
Youth clubs
195x-1957 St. Joseph’s Juniors
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1956-1957
1957-1958
1958-1960
1960-1962
1962-1965
1965-1966
1966-1973
1973-1975
1975-1976
1976-1977
1981-1982		 Waterford
Cork Hibernians
Waterford
Aston Villa
Doncaster Rovers
Newport County
Waterford
Cork Celtic
St Patrick's Athletic
Limerick
Thurles Town
x (1)
x (21)
5 (1)
119 (42)
34 (21)
x (111)
x (9)
x (3)
x (2)
x (1)   
National team
1957-195x
19xx-19xx
1962-1973		 Republic of Ireland schoolboys
Republic of Ireland amateurs
Republic of Ireland		 2 (x)

14 (2)
Teams managed
197x-1973
1973-197x
197x-197x
1982-1986
198x-199x
1991-1993
1995-1999
200x-200x
200x-200x		 Waterford
Cork Celtic
Thurles Town
Waterford
Cobh Ramblers
Waterford United
Kilkenny City
Waterford Crystal F.C.
Tramore F.C.

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Alfred Hale (born August 28, 1939, Waterford, Ireland), commonly referred to as Alfie Hale, is a former Irish footballer and manager who played for several clubs in both the League of Ireland and the English League, most notably, Waterford, Aston Villa, Doncaster Rovers and Cork Celtic. During his career Hale scored 153 goals in the League of Ireland and a further 66 with English League clubs. As an international, Hale also played for the Republic of Ireland.

After retiring as a player Hale managed several teams in the League of Ireland, most notably, Cork Celtic, Waterford United and Kilkenny City. In June 2003 Hale, together with other notable Waterford footballers such as Davy Walsh, Paddy Coad, Peter Thomas, Jim Beglin and John O'Shea, was honoured by the city council and presented with a Waterford Crystal vase.

Contents

[edit] Playing Career

[edit] Waterford

Hale spent much of his playing and coaching career at Waterford. His father and two uncles had all played for the club in the 1930s. In 1930 the trio even formed an all-Hale half-back line in a league game at home to Bohemians. Hale junior made his debut for the club in 1957 at the age of 17. He left Waterford in 1960 but after seven seasons in the English League, he returned in 1966. Then together with Johnny Matthews, he became a central figure in a Waterford team that dominated the League of Ireland. In 1971-72 Hale was player-manager of the side when they beat Cork Hibernians in dramatic circumstances at Flower Lodge to claim his fifth league title in six seasons. In both 1971-72 and 1972-73 he also finished as joint top goalscorer in the league, scoring 22 and 20 goals respectively. [1].

[edit] Aston Villa

In June 1960, aged 19, Hale was sold by Waterford to Aston Villa for a fee of £4,500. However, Hale failed to establish himself in the Villa first team and went onto make just 7 first team appearances, scoring 2 goals. Despite this Hale won his first international cap for the Republic of Ireland while at Villa.[2]

[edit] Doncaster Rovers

Hale signed for Doncaster Rovers in July 1962 and made his debut for the club on August 18 in a 2-0 defeat to Brentford in the English Fourth Division. In January 1964 he scored four goals in a single game as he helped Rovers to a record league win when they beat Darlington 10-0. In three seasons with Rovers, Hale made 119 league appearances and scored 42 goals. He also made 7 appearances for Rovers in the League Cup and 9 in the FA Cup, scoring 2 further goals.

[edit] Republic of Ireland international

Between 1962 and 1973, Hale made 14 appearances and scored 2 goals for the Republic of Ireland. In 1957 Hale had won the first of two caps at schoolboy level against West Germany. He also represented the Republic of Ireland at amateur level before making his senior international debut on April 8 1962 in a 3-2 home defeat against Austria. Hale went onto score twice for the Republic of Ireland. Both goals came in 1968 and both were late equalisers which earned the Republic a 2-2 draw on each occasion. The first came on May 15 against Poland at Dalymount Park. It was set-up by Eamon Dunphy, who in the 89th minute, beat four defenders before crossing to Hale, a late substitute, who then headed it past the goalkeeper. His second goal came on November 11 in another home game against Austria, when in the 86th minute, Hale finished off the rebound from a Johnny Giles shot that had hit the post. He made his last appearance for the Republic of Ireland on October 21 1973 in a 1-0 home win against Poland.

[edit] Coaching Career

As a manager Hale would return to Waterford, now renamed Waterford United, for two further spells. During the first of these, between 1982 until 1986, he guided the club to victory in the League of Ireland Cup in 1985 and to the FAI Cup final in 1986. He returned to manage the club again between 1991 and 1993 and helped them achieve promotion from the First Division in 1992. In 2005 he briefly returned to Waterford United once again, this time acting as special advisor.

Aside from Waterford, Hale has also coached several other teams in the League of Ireland. In 1974 as a player-coach he guided Cork Celtic to the league title. During the late 1970s he also coached Thurles Town and as manager of Cobh Ramblers, Hale gave Roy Keane his debut in 1990. Between 1995 and 1999 he was manager of Kilkenny City and in 1997, with a team that included Tommy Gaynor, he guided them to the First Division title. After leaving Kilkenny, Hale remained active in junior football working with Waterford Crystal F.C. and Tramore F.C.

[edit] Businessman

At the same time as managing various League of Ireland clubs, Hale also established himself as a prominent businessman in the Waterford area. In 1978 he opened a sports shop, currently trading under the name Alfie Hale’s Intersport and located at Arundal Square. [3] He also owns a chain of pubs including Alfie Hale’s Bar in Ballybricken[4] and Alfie Hale’s Sports Bar on Lombard Street[5].

[edit] Honours

Player

Waterford

Player manager

Cork Celtic


Manager

Waterford

Kilkenny City

[edit] Sources

  • Who’s Who Of Aston Villa (2004): Tony Matthews [1]
  • The Boys In Green - The FAI International Story (1997): Sean Ryan [2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Top goalscorer in League of Ireland
  2. ^ Aston Villa site
  3. ^ Alfie Hale’s Intersport
  4. ^ Alfie Hale’s Bar
  5. ^ Alfie Hale’s Sports Bar


[edit] External links