Benny Gaughran (footballer, born 1915)

Bernard Michael "Benny" Gaughran (29 September 1915 – 20 September 1977) was an Irish soccer player during the 1930s. Gaughran won the League of Ireland title with Bohemians in 1935–36. His Bohemian teammates included Harry Cannon, Plev Ellis, Fred Horlacher and Billy Jordan in the side and Benny was top scorer that season with 15 goals in 21 league games.[1] In his 39 appearances that season in all competitions, he netted 32 times.[2] In 1936, Gaughran was part of the team who broke a record by winning the fifth league title of the free State League Championship by defeating Cork 4–1, and Gaughran scored the third and fourth goals of the game.[3]

Benny Gaughran
Personal information
Full name Bernard Michael Gaughran
Date of birth (1915-09-29)29 September 1915
Place of birth Dublin, Ireland
Date of death 20 September 1977(1977-09-20) (aged 61)
Position(s) Centre-forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1935–1936 Bohemians 21 (15)
1936–1937 Celtic
1937 Southampton 7 (4)
1937–1938 Sunderland 2 (0)
1938–1939 Rochdale
1939–1940 Dundalk
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Gaughran later went on to play professionally for Celtic, Southampton, Sunderland, Rochdale and Dundalk.

Playing career
Bernard Gaughran, playing for Bohemians.

Early career

When Gaughran was young, he played Gaelic football for St. Laurence O'Tooles and subsequently took up rugby with O'Connell Schools,[4] where he had great possibilities as a full back.[5] Gaughran's main sport was rugby until 18 years of age when he played his first game of Association Football.[6] While with O'Connell Schools he played for Leinster against Connacht in a schools' junior interprovincial. He later joined Clontarf, where he played a few games for them.

Charlie Harris, the Bohemians' trainer succeeded in inducing him to take up Association Football.[4] Gaughran believed that his rugby training gave him a good grounding for soccer and that "[i]f one could kick an oval ball accurately there should be no great difficulty in learning how to control a round one."[6] After a few games with Bohemians' Leinster League team he made his debut for their Free State team against Waterford at Kilcohan Park and very soon attracted the attention of a number of cross-channel clubs. Arsenal were very keen to sign him towards the close of the 1935–36 season and sent their chief scout to sign him but they were unsuccessful.[4]

Bohemians was not his first soccer club, as he played 6 matches for a junior team in the Phoenix Park, scoring 36 goals for them.[4]

Interest from UK clubs

At the start of the 1936–37 season, there was interest in Gaughran from several UK football clubs, including Arsenal, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Burnley,[7] Blackburn Rovers[5] and Manchester United. Scouts from Manchester United came over to vet Gaughran, were satisfied and made arrangements to sign him, with Louis Rocca, United's Chief Scout, travelling over to Bray in November 1936 to complete the deal. Rocca was disappointed to arrive to Dublin to discover that Glasgow Celtic's representative, Johnny Paton, had stepped in and topped United's offer and brought Benny Gaughran to Glasgow after tentative terms were agreed on.[8] In fact, Celtic were watching Gaughran's progress for 13 months and when news began to filter through of other clubs' interest, Celtic acted promptly.[6]

Celtic, Southampton, Sunderland, Rochdale and Dundalk
Benny Gaughran, centre forward from Dublin, having just transferred from Bohemians, just before playing his first game in Glasgow Celtic colours on 21 November 1936

He joined Celtic in November 1936 as a centre-forward[9] at 20 years of age.[10] In June 1937, he moved to England to join Southampton, where he stayed for five months before joining Sunderland in November. After six months he moved on to join Rochdale and then returned to Ireland in 1939 to join Dundalk.[11] At Southampton, Gaughran had seven league appearances and four goals, giving him an average strike rate of one goal every 1.75 games [12]


Personal life

Education and work outside of sports

When he started his football career, he was a salesman.[6] Later on in life, in the 1960s and 1970s, he worked as a beekeeper.[13]

Family

Bernard Gaughran was married with three children, two boys and a girl - Benny, Ken & Laraine. His father, Bernard, was a well known hurler for Meath. His brother Charlie played Gaelic football for Dublin and his brother John had a Gaelic football, rugby and soccer career.[14] His son, also called Benny Gaughran, was a Gaelic footballer and won an All-Ireland Club medal with UCD (Dublin), three Dublin Championship club medals (one with UCD and two with Civil Service), an inter-county National League medal (with Louth), an inter-Provincial Railway Cup medal (Leinster) and a Sigerson’s medal (as captain).[15]

Honours

Bohemians

References
  1. Bohemian FC match programme, Vol. 54, no. 16
  2. Bohemian FC match programme, Vol. 52, no. 24
  3. Bohemians In Sight of F.S. League Honours, Irish, Independent, 10 April 1936
  4. Glasgow Celtic Grab Gaughran, Irish Press, 16 November 1936
  5. Gaughran Gone to Glasgow: Celtic Club, Irish Independent, 16 November 1936
  6. Celtic’s Dash To Sign Irish Star: After Wait of 13 Months, The Daily Mail, 26 November 1936
  7. Four Clubs Want Him: Gaughran Should Await Biggest Offer, Irish Independent, 11 November 1936
  8. United Fight for Dear Life: Celtic Grab Gaughran - but Manchester Grab Carey, Evening Herald, 18 June 1968
  9. Press, Irish (19 November 1936). "Turner Free to Play: Will be Released Shock for Bray".
  10. Celts Had to Jump to It, Weekly News, 21 November 1936
  11. Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing. p. 136. ISBN 0-9514862-3-3.
  12. Strikers, Saints. "A look at Saints top Goalscorers down the years". Southampton FC News. Digital Sports Group. Archived from the original on 8 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  13. Federation of Irish Beekeeping Associations, The (1976). "The Irish Beekeeper: An Beachaire". 30: 164. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  14. Independent, Irish (17 November 1936). "Gaughrans Played a Large Part in Sport".
  15. "Bernard L Gaughran & Co. Solicitors staff profile". Retrieved 10 June 2015.
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