Waterford’s United Nations

by Shane Murphy

(first published in the June 2011 Salthill Devon match programme)

For a club that are new to the League of Ireland from the junior ranks, there’s an international feel to the Salthill Devon teamsheet. They mightn’t all be available tonight, but their squad this season has included two Romanians (Ciprian Straut and Daniel Rupa), a German (Pascal Berger) and a Frenchman (Etanda Nkololo) with whom we were very impressed on our April visit to Drom. Most famously, they also have the St Vincent and the Grenadines international Wes Charles in their ranks. Charles has been one of the most popular players in the League of Ireland over the past 13 years since he first signed for Sligo Rovers. I had the pleasure of having a pint with him in Bray after a gruesome defeat a few years ago. He’s a very likeable character and told me and a fellow fan about his time in Russia with FC Rostov among other things. He also spent time at Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact, but he’s back in Connacht now with Devon. Injury has restricted him to just one start so far this year, but it would be nice to see an appearance tonight from a player whose name was regularly linked with a move to Waterford over the years.

Amazingly enough for such a small, faraway place, we’ve had our own St Vincent and the Grenadines international. Rodney Jack came to the RSC for three months at the end of 2005 when we were desperate for a goalscorer. Having made a name for himself with Torquay United, it was an exciting signing even if Rodney didn’t seem fully aware of our circumstances. His debut was away to Longford Town in a match shown live on TG4 so the newcomer thought all of our matches would be shown live on television. Jack scored goals against Finn Harps and Bohemians, but he didn’t quite fit in with Pat Dolan’s plans here (actually Pat said he nearly took Rodney’s head off with a clipboard in the dressing-room after another defeat in Bray!)

Rodney Jack is a good example of how a mysterious signing from foreign climes can create a buzz of excitement amongst the fans. Sometimes these signings work out and become cult heroes, other times they’re complete disasters. The novelty factor, however, means that they are usually better remembered than most other players. We often recall these international visitors and many find a place in the hearts of our fans. Once I told friends that I was writing this piece, the spontaneous reaction was “don’t forget Haakon and Trond”, “make sure to mention Big Dom” or “what about Tiao?”

By my reckoning, the Blues have been represented by players from five continents and from places as diverse as the Congo, the Caribbean and the Arctic Circle. Obviously, we’ve had our share of players from England, Scotland and Wales and were managed by USA international Eddie McIlvenny, but he was as Scottish as Sean Connery, so the first real foreign star we had was Piotr Suski, the Polish international midfielder who was part of Waterford’s 1972/73 league winning squad. His skill and bravery made him a real favourite at Kilcohan Park and he made many friends during his time on Suirside. Less well-recalled are two Polish players who joined us in 2006 – Kristian Lamberski and Andrzej Polewczak, the latter who created a stir among fans because he had been signed from Germany. We didn’t quite know how many leagues are in the German pyramid system! By the time fans had mastered the pronunciation of their names, they were gone.

Certain managers had a penchant for exotic signings. Jimmy McGeough used his contacts across the Atlantic to bring in Americans Seth Lilburn, Mario Longo and Roger Kennedy in 2002 as well as Alex Dixon from Panama and the Argentine Gus Di Lella. Jimmy also brought us Emmanuel Danso from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The international flavour was welcomed and songs were created for “SethBomb”, “D-I-X-O-N” and DiLella (“It must be Gus, Gus, Gus”), but all of them had left for various reasons by the end of the year. Mike Kerley was another manager who searched far and wide for players. As well as the aforementioned Poles, there was New Zealander Darren Young, American trialist Ryan Purtell, Nigerian-born, but locally-residing Paul Ometeso and American-born Corkman Ben Spicer.

You have to go back to the early ’90s for some of our most exotic, unspellable players. There were two Australians, Robert Markovac (of Croat descent) and Vasilios Kalogeracos (of Greek). There was Vitor Dominguez, a first cousin of Spurs’ Portuguese international Jose. Scott Garlick of the USA stayed for two seasons and was a top goalkeeper for us, as was the ‘dynamique’ Belgian Dominique Wouters. And then there was Jose Quitongo – probably the definition of a cult hero. The Angolan winger was first signed in 1994 by Johnny Matthews, and enjoyed his time in Waterford so much that he came back again for the second half of the 2004 season. He was best known for his mazy dribbles and bubbly personaility and made a big impression for somebody who was five foot nothing! Another cult hero was Dominic Iorfa who won 21 caps for Nigeria and played for QPR, Galatasaray and Antwerp as well as in Nigeria, China and Scotland (for Falkirk) before coming to the RSC. He missed a penalty on his debut at home to Bohs, but soon became a crowd favourite with his power, pace and yellow boots. Watch out for his son Dom Jr who recently signed for Wolves and is regarded as a good prospect.

In the ’80s we had Terry Kearns from Sydney and Tiao Brazil from Rio de Janeiro. Terry actually had three spells with us from 1982 to ’93 and was a regular goalscorer. A profile of Tiao Brazil in the match programme when he joined would almost make you believe they had named the country after him. Having played professionally in Brazil and France, he was signed as a midfielder by Alfie Hale, but could also play up front or in defence. On his debut in 1986, the little Brazilian pushed Mock Reid aside to take a free kick from which he scored an absolute cracker, ran to the bench, and started throwing little bags of sweets to the fans! And then, after two appearances, he left as mysteriously as he came.

I’d be savaged by certain fans if I didn’t include Haakon Johansen and Trond Debes – two Norwegians signed by Tommy Lynch in 1996. Haakon scored twice on his debut against St Francis, but left after just seven matches. Trond stayed for the year and was an important part of the run to the 1997 FAI Cup semi-final. Both still keep an eye on how the Blues are doing.

Finally, our most recent import was Chris ‘Jersey Shore’ Konopka, a Polish-American dual passport holder who played in goal for us last season. Our foreign legion has been wide and varied, and many left a lasting impression. I’m sure Salthill fans will talk about their international recruits as fondly in the future.