Dick Fitzgerald (left) was Kerry football’s first superstar, he played with Killarney Crokes during the period of the 1915 county final.
YOU know that undercurrent of rivalry that Killarney and Tralee has for each other?
Well, a fight in a county final between a selection of both town’s best footballers back 100 years ago this weekend, could be the source of some of that animosity that bubbles under the surface.
On April 12, 1915, the football county final was played between Tralee Mitchels and Killarney Crokes. In the intervening years, Tralee Mitchels split to form other clubs in the town, mainly down to its strength of numbers in the early days of the county championship.
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In the second half of the that 1915 final, the match had to abandoned after fights broke out between both players and fans.
The mass brawl kicked off after the Tralee side scored a goal late in the game which put them one point ahead with dizzying high score being (1-2 to 1-1)…and they say football now is negative!
As soon as the players began fighting, supporters entered the field of play to mill in with their heroes.
Eventually though, order was restored and the dust up halted, but Killarney refused to play on so the match was awarded to the Tralee team.
So began a rivalry that has accelerated over the past century!
The game was highlighted on Century Ireland, which is a fortnightly online newspaper
