The late Joe Clarke - an appreciation

Posted: March 16th, 2009

There was widespread sadness amongst members of Simonstown Gaels GFC following the passing of club Founding Member and Honorary President Joe Clarke last Saturday morning.

The Clarke family has been synonymous with Simonstown Gaels since its foundation in 1965 and no words can do justice to Joe’s involvement with our club.

The biggest tribute we can pay Joe is that it is unlikely that Simonstown GFC would be in existence today were it not for him.

It was Joe who canvassed local footballers to see if they would be interested in playing with a new club.
He was a twenty-something year old eager to play football with his own team.

He also had a couple of brothers who shared his enthusiasm and a mother willing to allow goalposts be erected in a field at the back of the family house on Simonstown Lane.

After a meeting with the late Jim Lane senior in John O’Loughlin’s public house (now Knights), Joe went to then county secretary Liam Creavin’s house and paid the affiliation fee of 2 shillings and six pence.

At the inaugural annual general meeting he was appointed treasurer of the club and served in that position for the next seventeen years.

He was elected an Honorary President in 1981 when his days as treasurer came to an end.

Groundsman was another role in which he served the club with distinction while he was a permanent fixture as an umpire at Simonstown games, adult and juvenile, for many years.

As a player, he was a substitute on the Simonstown team that qualified for the club’s first ever final – the 1970 Junior B final defeat to neighbours O’Mahonys.

He was a driving force behind the setting up of the club’s juvenile section in 1976 and took great pride from Simonstown’s many successes on the field of play.

Joe was on first name terms with practically every underage footballer in the club in the eighties, nineties and early part of this decade before illness curtailed his day-to-day involvement with the club.

The annual Seamus Heaney SF challenge between Simonstown and O’Mahonys, which was due to be played tonight (Monday), was cancelled as a mark of respect.

Joe’s removal will take place from the family home on Simonstown Lane tomorrow (Tuesday) to arrive at St. Oliver’s Church at 7pm and his burial will take place in St. Mary’s cemetery after mass on Wednesday morning,11am.

Club members will be eternally grateful to Joe for his foresight forty four years ago and his immense contribution to the well-being of Simonstown Gaels.

To the Clarke family we extend our deepest sympathies.

Ar Dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

Simonstown Gaels GFC