Forever Blue - Micky Wall

Long-time Blues fans were saddened to hear that the powerhouse of a supporter, Micky Wall, passed away yesterday morning at the Oak Ward in UHW. From Abbeyside, and formerly Dungarvan, Micky was a true Blue who spread the word like gospel. For me and others, he was best-known as a good-humoured steward at the RSC, but for people in Dungarvan and the west of the county, he was THE man to go to about anything to do with the Blues.

Heavily-involved in Dungarvan United too, Micky was a football man. He’d have kids playing soccer on the old gravel pitch there all the time. He coached with the club and his encouragement meant so much to so many young players over the years.

He was a Leeds United fanatic too – rarely seen without a Leeds cap on and probably a jersey or jacket too. He seemingly had a contact in the ticket office there who would help with trips to Elland Road for Micky and his many friends.

But he was a pure missionary for the Blues, talking everyone he met into supporting them and bringing them up to games. As his brother Tony tells me, “He would do anything for the Blues.”

 

(Mickey, in his trademark baseball cap, celebrating promotion in 2003 with Jimmy McGeough and the squad)

 

Financing was always an issue for the club and Micky would take forty or fifty books of the Blues lotto every draw. He’d distribute them to people all over the west on a Saturday and then collect them again the following week. That was a big help in keeping the club going through the years.

As for his influence on generations of fans in the west of the county, one friend explains that “Micky would organise a bus to away games and have me fill it with as many teenagers as I could. Three or four of us still go to Blues games regularly because of that. He will be sorely missed. I know for a fact there’s plenty of fans in their 30s and 40s in the west, including me, who would credit him with getting us into the Blues.” That’s as good a testament as I can imagine for anyone who loves their local club.

Since Micky’s reposing takes place tomorrow evening (Drohan’s Funeral Home, Dungarvan from 5 to 7pm), the best tribute we can pay is to think of him during tomorrow’s match and hopefully win it for him.

My sincere condolences to all of Micky’s family and friends. We owe him a lot and he’ll be forever blue.