{"id":5038,"date":"2022-08-30T16:23:26","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T15:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.ucd.ie\/magazine\/?post_type=events&p=5038"},"modified":"2022-09-07T13:22:57","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T12:22:57","slug":"ucd-soccer-reunion","status":"publish","type":"events","link":"https:\/\/alumni.ucd.ie\/magazine\/events\/ucd-soccer-reunion\/","title":{"rendered":"UCD Soccer Reunion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

CHINA TOUR 1976<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

UCD Soccer Club visited China when the Club\u2019s 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\u2019Neill\u2019s sportswear. The tour was organised by coach and aspiring sports administrator Tony O\u2019Neill (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\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019Neill 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\u2019Neill Bar in the UCD Student Centre, which was coordinated by Dominic O\u2019Keeffe, 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"1976<\/a>
1976 China Tour reunion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Sporting<\/a>
Sporting reunion in the Belfield Bowl<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Suzanne<\/a>
Suzanne Bailey, Sports Development Manager, UCD, with Tour Captain Paddy Dwyer unveiling a picture of the touring party in front of Chairman Mao\u2019s birthplace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHINA TOUR 1976 UCD Soccer Club visited China when the Club\u2019s 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\u2019Neill\u2019s sportswear. The tour was organised by coach and aspiring sports administrator Tony O\u2019Neill (The Doc), and was led by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6027,"template":"","event_categories":[110],"class_list":["post-5038","events","type-events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","event_categories-110"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUCD Soccer Reunion - 2022 Alumni Relations - UCD Connections<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alumni.ucd.ie\/magazine\/events\/ucd-soccer-reunion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UCD Soccer Reunion - 2022 Alumni Relations - UCD Connections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CHINA TOUR 1976 UCD Soccer Club visited China when the Club\u2019s 1975\/76 freshman squad toured the Far East over a five-week period in 1976. 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