CHINA TOUR 1976
UCD Soccer Club visited China when the Club’s 1975/76 freshman squad toured the Far East over a five-week period in 1976. The tour received generous sponsorship from various companies including Swissair and O’Neill’s sportswear. The tour was organised by coach and aspiring sports administrator Tony O’Neill (The Doc), and was led by the President of the Club David Andrews TD. The tour captain was Paddy Dwyer from Drogheda. The tour itself took on even more historic significance when, shortly after the team’s arrival, Chairman Mao, founder of the Peoples Republic of China, died at the age of 82. China was plunged into official mourning and went on high-security alert in case of foreign attack. It’s a mark of the historic nature of the tour itself, the impression it made on the 18- and 19-year-old players, and the respect for Tony O’Neill who went on to make such a mark on all sports in UCD, that 23 of the 24 playing squad travelled from all parts of the globe to attend the 46-year reunion with officials from UCD Soccer Club in the O’Neill Bar in the UCD Student Centre, which was coordinated by Dominic O’Keeffe, Brian Mullins and the team from UCD Student Services and Facilities. It was on this tour of the Far East and subsequent tours that Tony found inspiration for many of the sporting initiatives he introduced to UCD, most notably the Sports Scholarships.
