Tony Byrne “Sock it to him Anthony!”

[from the Appletree Press title Legends of Irish Boxing published by Appletree Press]

In 1962, Ireland was haemorrhaging its greatest export: its people. For Tony Byrne and his family, a new start in Canada was a very hard experience as he recalled.
      “We went out to Edmonton as Honor’s sister had settled there some time before. I got a job as a lumberjack and it was hard going in the beginning and homesickness was always there. As you settle you meet up with Irish people and they can point you in the right direction to get better employment. The one thing that we all found hard to come to terms with were the Alberta winters as the place froze over for four months each year.
      Tony and Honor had four children, twins John and Anthony, together with Ruth and Lisa. In the 1970s ‘Socks’ was associated with his local parish’s boxing club where his sons all tried their hand at the sport. Tony was working as a truck driver and he found it hard to devote his time totally to the club.
      “The thing about Canada is that people find it hard to appreciate the sheer size of the place. In Ireland we could have fought every night of the week and the furthest spot we went to was Belfast. Over here, if you wanted to arrange a competition in Alberta sometimes it would be necessary to travel all day and night to fulfil it. It just became impossible for me to give the devotion necessary due to work commitments.”
      Drogheda has never left the heart of Tony Byrne. Nor have the people of Drogheda ever forgotten Tony Byrne. In 2005, an Olympic Golden Jubilee Committee was established in the town with the aim of raising the necessary finance to erect a suitable memorial to the achievements of ‘Socks’ Byrne. Under former Mayor and chairman, Frank Godfrey, and members including Joe and Isobel Lynch, Frank Maher, Sean Roma, Malachy Godfrey, Ray and Catherine Everitt, Des Byrne, Noel Carter, Ollie Connor and Jimmy Weldon the committee set about raising the €30,000 necessary to erect a bronze statue.
      The people of Drogheda reacted as they did in 1956 when the name Tony Byrne was mentioned. Eventually, the renowned sculptor, Laury Dizengremel was commissioned to produce the statue and the date of 6th December 2006 was set as the unveiling day.
      Tony Byrne had been invited to Ireland to a number of events organised in Dublin to mark the 50th anniversary of the Melbourne Games. All the great names including Ronnie Delaney, Maeve Kyle and the boxing team were feted in Dublin on 1st December. Five days later, it was an emotional Tony ‘Socks’ Byrne who returned to Drogheda to unveil the permanent reminder to his achievements. Fittingly, Tony invited Alacoque Everitt, widow of his former trainer Rory, along with her sons Joe and Rory, to perform the honours.
     

Read the final part of Tony "Socks" Byrne - “Sock it to him Anthony!”
From the Appletree Press title: Legends of Irish Boxing by Barry Flynn.