22
Celebrate thirty
years of boxing
THE VOICE OF SPORT
Joppa’s grand old man of cycle speedway,
John Murphy to celebrate his 80th birthday
at the world championships in Australia
[email protected]FOR THE MOST poignant of reasons John
Murphy missed the entry date for his age-
group due to the death of Diane, his wife of 55
years, in August. But he was persuaded to
travel anyway by fellow members of his
Edinburgh Falcons club, notably Steve Gilroy
and George Swanson.
John said: “Some time ago I was privileged to
be made an honorary member of the Salisbury
cycle speedway club, near Adelaide, where the
world championships are being held so I have
connections ‘down under and on one occasion
while there spoke with Joan Young, wife of Jack
who won a world speedway title out of
Edinburgh Monarchs in the 1950s.
“I won’t be racing but I have been asked to
provide an exhibition.
“I’ll maybe show off a bit with my trick
of riding a bike backwards, something
I learned when I was about eight years old
and a team mascot.”
The Australian audience won’t have to worry
about John, a former taxi driver, being rusty in
the saddle as, last month, he turned out as a
guest for the Northumbria Vikings when they
arrived a rider short; it was a winning
appearance in the North and Scottish League
too for a man who simply insists “cycle
speedway is in my blood”.Dubbed “The Master” by Steve Gilroy, in his
heyday, when he wasn’t travelling to Las Vegas
to attend four Elvis Presley ‘live’ concerts John
ventured around the world on two wheels
although his “claim to fame” occurred closer
to home at the Jack Kane Centre.
There a Danderhall BMX racing club
challenged John’s cycle speedway outfit to
a match.
“I found myself racing against a young lad by
the name of Chris Hoy – beat him too!”
Another notable experience occurred while
racing in Poland.
“A bus promoting the event displayed some
really attractive posters and I fancied bringing
one home to Edinburgh.
“A young local girl could only have read my
mind and climbed aboard the bus and handed
the poster to me.”
That young girl turned out to be Anita
Wlodarczyk who has gone on to become
Olympic hammer champion in 2012, 2016
and 2020.
“Every Christmas Anita sends me a
calendar” said John, whose own experience of
multi-sports gathering extends to running with
the Queen’s Baton message along Portobello
prom in the build up to the 2014 Glasgow
Commonwealth Games.John’s eventful career extends to racing for
TWO countries and – typically – there is an
intriguing story behind his selection for
Northern Ireland after a Scotland racing career
went into remission.
“The Cycle Speedway Council noticed
I wasn’t in the Scotland team and for them to
get Sports Council funding they needed a
home international tournament involving four
home countries. The missing link was Ireland.
“Somebody reckoned with a name like
Murphy I had to have some Irish blood so
I checked things out to discover there was a
grandad from Enniskillen I never knew I had!”
Over the years titles and honours have piled
up but there was one that eluded John in
bizarre fashion.
“Back in 1987 the first British over-40’s
championship was held and I drove to Norwich
to find that even maximum points from my
races wasn’t good enough for the title.
“When I queried this I was told that
there was somebody older than me in the
field and a rule provided bonus points
according to age so I lost out. That rule was
never used again.”
A year later though John was selected for
Great Britain when he got the chance to wear
that team’s blazer.Murphy’s
Law... just
keep on
cycling!
CLOVENSTONE Amateur Boxing Club’s
Craig McEwan is hoping as many ex-
champions and other former members
can be contacted to share in celebrations
marking a 30th anniversary this month.
Craig, former Commonwealth Games
bronze medallist and successful pro, who
for a spell, fought out of Hollywood,
California, has taken over the running of
the club from his dad, Rab, 70,
(photographed in foreground below) who
set up the venture on 5 November 1993.
Recounting how the club has grown
from small beginnings, Craig said: “My
dad, who was a successful international
amateur with 100 bouts out of the
Meadowbank club, was also janitor at our
local Clovenstone Primary and was aware
of a couple of huts in the school grounds.
“An approach to the headmaster saw
these huts knocked together to form a
gym and these lasted until we were
fortunate to get new premises with help
from, among others, the National Lottery.
“Things are the same today as they were
back then with the club taking pride in not
only a competitive element but doing our
bit helping recovering drug addicts and
others get their lives back on track.
“Among our 30 registered boxers we
have a couple who have just won Scottish
development titles and others looking
forward to taking part in a show in Ireland.
“But the keep fit side sees us train
policemen, lawyers, the army and
students at Heriot Watt University. I’m
pleased to be taking on the role filled by
my dad having accompanied him as an
eight-year-old to Meadowbank.
“When it came to having my first fight,
at Longstone Hearts Club, I lost and cried
all the way home, but by then I’d caught
the boxing bug and aged 14 I was the
only member of my family with a passport
as travel opportunities opened up
through boxing.”
The plan is to celebrate in the gym.John MurphyBill Lothian