Dave Elton with match programmes including the 1978 Finn Harps v Everton UEFA Cup home and away match publications. A TRALEE resident will complete a unique quest later this month when he visits Finn Harps home in Donegal.
When Dave Elton visits the Ballybofey grounds for Finn Harps v Cork City on July 31, he will have visited every current League of Ireland ground in the country.
While that might not be unusual on the face of it, what makes it special is that Dave has already visited the 92 grounds in England which he completed back in 1985 and the Dutch equivalent in 1994.
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His local interest was ignited by Kerry FC’s entry into the League of Ireland in 2023.
“Going to the away games sparked the groundhopper inside me and made me realise that visiting all 20 clubs was achievable,” said the Liverpool native, who moved to Tralee back in 1995.
“I managed to visit quite a few grounds when I lived in Dublin in the early ’90s, but many of those grounds have since closed to League of Ireland football, such as the RDS, St James Gate, Harolds Cross and Bishopstown in Cork.”
“There’s an element of nostalgia attached to finishing off at Finn Park because, as a child, I used to support Everton. We played Finn Harps in the UEFA Cup in 1978. I watched the second leg in Liverpool, but I was too young to travel to Donegal. Finn Harps kindly sent me the programme from that game, which I still have.”
Dave’s football fanaticism also extends to subbuteo and back in 2022 he founded the Tralee Table Football Club.
The avid football fan has watched 850 football games and has visited over 260 grounds worldwide since he was a boy and is looking forward to completing a unique Irish/English/Dutch treble in a few weeks.
