TOM HORAN - A Biography

THE BOSSMAN - A MAN AHEAD OF HIS TIME

By Dominic Griffin

Coming from Tralee, Co. Kerry, Tom Horan settled in Waterford in 1948 via Dublin. He was one of the first refrigeration engineers in the City. He worked for Reflex Refrigeration Ltd on Bath Street. He also spent several years with his other love which was on the Entertainments Committee of the Waterford International Festival of Light Opera and was a prominent worker for the festival.

Reading through the snippets and newspaper cuttings that Mr Horan stored of his time with the club you get a sense of the man that he was. It would seem that the club was an extension of his character and being. Organised, inspiring, dedicated, professional, principaled, a visionary and first and foremost a huge supporter of grassroots football - these are some of the words that spring to mind when you think of the man.

In this day and age when our trophy cabinets are light, it is very difficult to appreciate how great a club Crusaders had become under his guidance. From its birth in 1953 with his co founder Sean King, the club swept the boards in Schoolboy, Youth and eventually Senior grades. Undoubtedly, his greatest moment came in 1960 when Crusaders FC went on to take the National Under 15 title by winning the Evans Cup - The first Waterford Club to do so. . This was joined two years later by winning the Munster Minor Cup.

Prize Presentations in the Club Rooms in Lady Lane. Tom Horan makes a presentation to a young Crusader.

Around the same time the club moved to Kilbarry and played at Our Ladys Park for some time. To boot, A club social club was set up in No 3 Lady Lane in the city and Billards, rings, darts and other activities were provided.

In 1963, there were signs that Crusaders had in some way merged with Waterford FC as a type of youth academy with Crusaders supplying players for the future to Waterford and Crusaders were playing in Kilcohan Park. Waterford had supplied tracksuits to Crusaders Schoolboys and the Crusaders Social Club was on the premises of Waterford defunct supporters club building.

Indeed a testament to his dedication to schoolboys football was in the quality and volume of players he supplied to Waterford FC (Waterford United today). Players such as Paul Morrissey, Tony Roche, Sylvie Lynch, Shay Comerford and Brian Frazer went on to play for the blues having been nurtured by Tom Horan from an early age.

Under his watch there were many more firsts. Crusaders played both Shamrock Rovers and Athlone Town (Pioneers) in the later rounds of the FAI cups but coming off the wrong side of the results in both cases. Crusaders also became the first Waterford Schoolboy team to travel abroad when they took to the seas and travelled to the Isle of Man two play two games. Long before any Genisis Reports, he called on the Irish Government to subsidise the Irish teams and aid in their preparations to allow them to meet up more than the customary hour before the match.

In these modern times when we look for inspirational characters and heros we tend to look all to often at the silver screen and the rich and famous. If you stay a little closer to home and scratch beneath the surface, you might be suprised at what you might find.

If I am sure of nothing else, I am sure that Tom Horan was a man who was only interested in one thing for Crusaders - Progress!. With that in mind, the clubs committee has dedicated itself to a crusade of its own - bringing Crusaders FC on and into the future. We have embarked on an ambitious development drive to provide its members with some of the best facilities in Waterford while keeping schoolboy football very much the priority in our minds. I'm sure The Bossman would approve!

Dominic Griffin, Hon. Treasurer, Crusaders AFC

P.S. The material used to compile these pages were supplied by the family of Mr Tom Horan. For this I and the club will be forever grateful. Hopefully these pages can be used to inspire Crusaders players of the future and honour those of the past. While every effort is being made to be as accurate as possible, I cannot claim to be perfect. if there is any part of this page that is incorrect, historically inaccurate or could be improved by the provision of more facts, please feel free to contact me on treasurer@crusadersafc.net.