CHARLIE O’Leary is ready to take centre stage again.
The Dubliner was at the heart of the action for Ireland’s adventures at Euro 88, Italia 90 and USA 94 as part of Jack Charlton’s inner circle. Now, he’s heading for the big screen with a new documentary about his life which premieres at the Dublin International Film Festival next month.
Fergus Dowd, producer of The Charlie O’Leary Story said: “He’ll be 102 when the film comes out. He’s a remarkable man.
“It’s very much football story, but it’s also a social history story too.”
Colin Farrell, Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas, Ciarán Hinds, Bill Nighy, Sarah Bolger, Clare Dunne and Alice Krige are some of the stars expected to walk the red carpet at this year’s DIFF.
There will be 83 films, including 17 world premieres across eleven days – among them a new Jonah Lomu documentary from Gavin FitzGerald and The Charlie O’Leary Story from director Joe Lee and producer Dowd.
Dowd added: “Charlie was there for the pinnacle of the Charlton era and met the Pope.
“But there’s a lot more to his story than just being a kitman. His life transcends football in Ireland over the last century.
“He was born on the first of February, 1924 – that was the same year the Free State played the first international match.
“He survived the North Strand bombings during World War Two and he was great friends with Liam Whelan, who died in the 1958 Munich air disaster.
“He refereed behind the Iron Curtain and in the League of Ireland and then he was right in the middle of the Charlton years. Charlie was there for all of this.”
And then there were the street leagues.
It was O’Leary who started the famous street leagues in East Wall that spread across the city and laid the foundations for schoolboy football in Dublin.
Dowd said: “There was a thing called sodalities in the church where you went to pray on a Thursday evening. Basically, in the sodality all the boys from the same street in East Wall sat together. So, Charlie came up with the idea of the sodality street leagues and he approached a priest called Father Larry Redmond about this football tournament. John Giles describes it as ‘Pray to play!’ It just started in 1945 and just spread across the whole of Dublin.”
The leagues were the starting point for future stars like Giles, Tony Dunne and Liam Tuohy, with huge crowds flocking to the Gloucester Diamond to watch. O’Leary later became a referee and officiated at international and European matches in the 1960s and took charge of the 1972 FAI Cup final.
He was working as a kind of fixer for international away teams at Lansdowne Road in the 1980s when Charlton took charge of Ireland.
Dowd said: “Charlie was helping Wales for Jack Charlton’s first match and he went in to get a pump. And Charlton said to him, ‘Oh, do I know you?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I refereed you a couple of times.
“Afterwards, Jack said to Mick Byrne, who was the physio, ‘What does Charlie do?’ And Mick said, ‘He does everything for the away team’.
“And Jack said, ‘Who do we have to do that for us?’ And Mick said, ‘No one. I do everything.’ So Jack said, ‘That’s ridiculous, get him to come and join us.’ That’s how it started.”
O’Leary became a hugely popular presence in the Ireland set-up over a glorious period of success.
He was a key link between the players and Charlton and was tuned into their every need. Even sneaking biscuits under doors at the team hotel. Most famously the kit man found himself chatting to the Pope when the Irish team visited the Vatican before the 1990 World Cup quarter-final against Italy.
Dowd said: “I think he says it was his ‘moment of history’.
“It was Mick Byrne who kept on at Jack to meet the Pope in Rome during the World Cup and then an Irish Monsignor in the Vatican arranged it. Then when they went to meet the Pope, two FAI blazers appeared, ready to shake hands with him.
“Originally, they wanted Jack Charlton to go to the front, but Jack didn’t want to do it.
“So Jack sort of taps the two blazers on the back and pulls them like apart and then he pushes Charlie forward as the Pope is coming towards them.
“The Pope actually stops Charlie from falling over and then begins to chat to him.”
Ireland legend Giles is among the contributors to the new film, along with former footballers Martin and Mick Lawlor, who both played in East Wall and politician Maureen O’Sullivan.
There’s also a rich archive of photos and videos that Dowd and the team were able to fall back on with the help of Outer Limits Post Production in Dun Laoghaire.
Dowd said: “The O’Leary family themselves, they’ve all the matches taped on VHS and some fantastic photos,” says Dowd.
“Even Charlie’s front room, it’s just like a treasure trove of memorabilia from Irish football. We were lucky to be able to tap into that.
“We obviously showed the finished film to Charlie and his son and they were delighted. And he’ll be at the premiere on February 24.”
Dublin International Film Festival runs from February 19 to March 1. www.diff.ie
