The following post was kindly submitted to us by Gordon McCreath, who is a keen Ayrshire junior football historian.
Joe Cassidy was a fine goalkeeper who later became a local businessman. He joined Meadow in 1965-66 and played so impressively that he was capped for Junior Scotland against Ireland in 1968.
Readers who don’t know Joe as a footballer may recall buying groceries from him after he took over George Donaldson’s shop in Thornhouse Avenue, or sampling one of his excellent burgers from “Joe’s” at Ayr Harbour.
GMcC: Joe, they say that goalkeepers are different. Is that fair comment?
Joe Cassidy: Oh aye. Actually, I would say you have to be daft to be a goalkeeper. Goalkeepers are a wee club. I’m sure you’ll still see at the start of a game before ball gets kicked the goalkeepers wave to each other. And you appreciate it when you see your opposition ‘keeper making a good save, even though you would rather see the ball in the net. So, I think they are a wee bit different, really.
GMcC: How did you get started on your goalkeeping career?
Joe Cassidy: I remember when I was at primary school, Bobby Brown was playing in goal for Rangers and Scotland and there used to be articles in the Evening Citizen. “Tips from the Top” it was called and it was Bobby Brown the next week. So, I wrote to him for tips and he wrote back. He should have said to me, “Just pack it in, pal.” But he wrote to me and said I was to get a tennis ball and throw it hard against an uneven wall and try and catch it. Unfortunately when you’re out there, there’s not a wall to catch it off. When I was a child I suffered from asthma and I couldn’t run about much, so that’s why I got shoved into goal.
GMcC: And you decided goalkeeping was for you?
Joe Cassidy: Oh, it was great fun. I discovered you could show off and make simple things into brilliant saves. Folk would think you were great. That’s how it started. I played in the school team and then the Ayrshire schools team and then the Scottish trials.
GMcC: How long did you play for Meadow, Joe?
Joe Cassidy: I signed for Meadow in 1965 and left in 1969. I had been playing with Lugar, then one morning I got a telegram to report to Vics Park. It was signed R. Alexander, Secretary, Irvine Meadow. When Bob says, “You come,” you come. If he said “jump,” you’d just ask, “How high, Bob.” I played a trial against the Vics, which we won 4-1. Unfortunately, I didn’t get off to a good start. Lugar played in maroon and so did the Vics at the time, and the first ball I got, I rolled it out to a Vics player. I couldn’t believe it! But he got such a shock that he tapped it back to me. It was a Marymass game and Bob said “I don’t like to judge someone on one game, so I’ll give you another try.” It was at Meadow Park against Beith and we got hammered 4-1, but I must have impressed Bob and he signed me. And that’s how I became a Meadow player.
GMcC: Do any Meadow games you played in stand out for you?
Joe Cassidy: Definitely. One game in particular, when we played Cambuslang in the Scottish Cup in ’67. What a game! There was a big crowd and Johnny McIntyre, who I admired so much, played. With Johnny McIntyre it was a hundred per cent from the word Go – you never got anything less from him. Johnny warned us we were going to get hammered in the first fifteen minutes, which we did. It was a case of keeping the ball out the net any way we could. Maybole supporters were there and they were shouting my name, because I come from Maybole. So, it was an amazing atmosphere and we were up 3-1 at half-time. At the start of the second half we got another blasting from Cambuslang. Big Wullie Frew scored two goals against me that day, and they came back to three each. There wasn’t long to go and as far as I can remember, somebody threw a can of beer onto the park and hit a Cambuslang player. He went down and the game got stopped. At the re-start the ball bounced to McGuiness. He stuck the ball in the net and we won 4-3. I’ll never forget that game.
GMcC: Are there any other standout games?
Joe Cassidy: Two other games I remember, one was here and one was away, were against Petershill. When I went out to the pitch I couldn’t believe the crowd that was in Meadow Park. It was a great game, but it was a draw so we went up to Petershill for the replay. We were in the changing room and smoke came belching in. I think they were trying to gas us. Anyway, it was an amazing game. Then all of a sudden it changed for me. I made an amazing save and it went for a corner, then my life changed. It’s a memory that any goalkeeper will tell you lasts forever. The ball came across and somebody headered it straight at me. As I put my hands up I took my eye off the ball to see what I would do next and the ball slipped through my hands and into the net. Toker Boyd and big Clunie came up to me and I thought they were going to knock hell out of me, but they said, “Forget it. It didn’t happen. Concentrate on the game.” Which we did and we won, but that was my last game for Meadow. My own choice.
GMcC: Rab Lewis told me that it was you that bought the set of red jerseys that Meadow wore in the 1973 Scottish Cup final.
Joe Cassidy: I knew the manager of Finnie’s Sports Shop in Ayr. He had been a goalkeeper and played for Kello Rovers and I got on well with him. I mentioned to him that unfortunately we couldn’t play in blue, so we needed another colour. The whole strip, shirts, shorts and socks cost £100. You couldn’t even get one player’s outfit for that now. It brought good luck anyway.
GMcC: Do you think goalkeepers in the Junior game benefit from specialist coaching?
Joe Cassidy: I’m sure they do. I never was coached. Goalkeepers from my era played it by instinct. Now, ’keepers go forward to become the extra man, which makes sense to me. I think coaching is a great thing.
GMcC: Fifty years ago, you made your debut in goal for Junior Scotland against Ireland. You were described in the newspapers at the time as a “surprise choice.” Was it a surprise to you?
Joe Cassidy: According to some journalists, I should have been in goal for the Welsh game. I was reserve, but at that time the reserve didn’t get
anything. When I played in the Irish game, the reserve got a cap and a jersey. I thought I was going to be picked to play against Wales, especially because it was at Meadow Park.
GMcC: What do you remember of the game?
Joe Cassidy: When we went to Ireland, we went over by boat and we were told not to talk about politics or religion, or Rangers and Celtic. The game was played at the Oval in terrible rain. It started well for me. If a game lasted ten minutes I would have been fine, unfortunately they go on for another eighty. To cut a long story short, I fumbled a ball into the net and it finished 3-3. A cross ball. I took my eye off it and fumbled it into the net. I couldn’t believe it.
GMcC: Goalkeepers are nearly always well over 6 feet today. Much taller than you.
Joe Cassidy: Aye, they are indeed. Ronnie Simpson wasn’t a big goalkeeper. Ian Hay wasn’t the biggest goalkeeper either, but he was one of the best the Meadow ever had. He really was. No doubt about it. And he was a nice chap at well.
GMcC: There’s a German film called “The Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty” (Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter). Surely goalkeepers don’t fear penalties. Don’t they see them as a chance to be the hero?
Joe Cassidy: Maybe a chance to make amends for the mistake they made earlier. I once stopped three penalties in a game at Saltcoats. In the first half, I touched one over the bar. In the second half, the boy took it and I saved it, but the ref made him take it again, and I saved it again.