Alfred "Alfie" Hale (born 28 August 1939 in

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

, Republic of Ireland) is a former Irish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

and manager who played for several clubs in both the League of Ireland and the English League, most notably,

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, Doncaster Rovers and Cork Celtic. During his career, Hale scored 153 goals in the League of Ireland and a further 66 with English League clubs. As an international, Hale also played for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. After retiring as a player, Hale managed several teams in the League of Ireland, most notably, Cork Celtic, Waterford United and

Kilkenny City Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilkenn ...

. In June 2003, Hale and such other notable

footballers as

Davy Walsh David Joseph Walsh (28 April 1923 – 14 March 2016), commonly referred to as Davy Walsh or Dave Walsh, was an Irish footballer who played as a centre forward for, among others, Linfield, West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa. Walsh was a dual ...

Paddy Coad Paddy Coad (14 April 1920 – 8 March 1992) was an Irish football player and manager. He played as a forward for Waterford, Glenavon, Shamrock Rovers and Ireland. Although known, primarily, as a maker of goals, Coad scored 126 goals in the ...

, Peter Thomas, Jim Beglin and John O'Shea were honoured by the Waterford City Council and presented with a Waterford Crystal vase.

Playing career

Waterford

Hale spent much of his playing and coaching career at Waterford United. His father, three brothers and two uncles had all played for the club in the 1930s. In 1930 the trio even formed an all-Hale half-back line in a league game at home to

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

. At the age of 17 Hale junior along with Peter Fitzgerald (footballer) made a scoring League of Ireland debut at Kilcohan Park on St Patrick's Day 1957 in a 3–1 win over Bohemians He left Waterford in 1960 but after seven seasons in the English League, he returned in 1966. Then together with Johnny Matthews, he became a central figure in a Waterford team that dominated the League of Ireland. In 1971–72 Hale was player-manager of the side when they beat

Cork Hibernians Cork Hibernians F.C. were an Irish football club based in Cork. They played in the League of Ireland between 1957 and 1976 and, from 1962, played their home games at Flower Lodge. In 1971, they were League of Ireland champions. History The ...

in dramatic circumstances at Flower Lodge to claim his fifth league title in six seasons. In both 1971–72 and 1972–73 he also finished as joint top goalscorer in the league, scoring 22 and 20 goals respectively. He is also the 7th highest League of Ireland goalscorer of all time with 153 league goals. Top goalscorers in League of Ireland – RSSSF
He was awarded a benefit game in August 1971. He scored twice against AC Omonia in the

1972–73 European Cup The 1972–73 season of the UEFA Champions League, European Cup association football, football club tournament was won for the third consecutive time by AFC Ajax, Ajax in the final against Juventus F.C., Juventus at Red Star Stadium in Belgrade. T ...

Aston Villa

In June 1960, aged 19, Hale was sold by Waterford United to

for a fee of £4,500. However, Hale failed to establish himself in the Villa first team and went on to make just 7 first team appearances, scoring 2 goals. Despite this Hale won his first international cap for the

while at Villa.

Doncaster Rovers

Hale signed for Doncaster Rovers in the summer of 1962 and made his debut for the club on 18 August in a 2–0 defeat to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

in the

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

. He scored four goals in a single game as he helped Rovers to a record league win when they beat

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

. In three seasons with Rovers, Hale made 119 league appearances and scored 42 goals. He also made 7 appearances for Rovers in the League Cup and 9 in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, scoring 2 further goals.

Republic of Ireland international

Between 1962 and 1973, Hale made 14 appearances and scored 2 goals for the

Republic of Ireland national football team , FIFA Trigramme = IRL , Name = Republic of Ireland , Association = Football Association of Ireland (FAI) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , website fai.ie, Coach = Stephen Kenny (foot ...

. He made his senior international debut on 8 April 1962 in a 3–2 home defeat against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Hale went on to score twice for the Republic of Ireland, both goals coming in 1968, against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and then Austria. He made his last appearance for the Republic of Ireland on 21 October 1973 as a substitute in a 1–0 home win against Poland.

Coaching career

As a manager, Hale would return to Waterford United for two further spells. During the first of these, between 1982 until 1986, he guided the club to victory in the League of Ireland Cup in 1985 and to the

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

final in 1986. He returned to manage the club again between 1991 and 1993 and helped them achieve promotion from the First Division in 1992. In 2005, he briefly returned to Waterford United once again, this time acting as special advisor. Aside from Waterford, Hale has also coached several other teams in the League of Ireland. He was appointed player/manager of Thurles Town in May 1981 where he made history by becoming the League of Ireland's oldest ever goalscorer, and also the only player to score in four different League of Ireland decades. As manager of Cobh Ramblers, Hale gave

Roy Keane Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish football pundit, coach and former professional player. He is the joint most successful Irish footballer of all time, having won 19 major trophies in his club career, 17 of which came during ...

his debut in 1990. Between 1995 and 1999 he was manager of

and in 1997, with a team which included the likes of his Nephew Richie, Brendan Rea, Paul Cashin and Pascal Keane, he guided them to the First Division title. After leaving Kilkenny, Hale remained active in junior football working with Waterford Crystal F.C. and Tramore F.C, winning the first league in 50 years with Tramore in 2000–01.

Businessman

At the same time as managing various League of Ireland clubs, Hale also established himself as a businessman in the

area. In 1978, he opened a sports shop, later trading under the name ''Alfie Hale's

Intersport Intersport GmbH is a French sporting goods retailer based in Bern, Switzerland. Its purchasing division is IIC-Intersport International Corporation. It has a presence in 5800 locations and in 65 countries. History In 1924, La Hutte company, ...

'' and located at Arundal Square. He also owns a chain of pubs including ''Alfie Hale's Bar'' in Ballybricken and ''Alfie Hale's Sports Bar'' on Lombard Street. In December 2008, he settled with the Revenue Commissioners for over €100,000. At the end of the

2012 League of Ireland The 2012 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 28th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division featured 12 teams. Sligo Rovers were champions, winning their first top league title since 1976–77. Drogheda United finis ...

season, Hale was tenth in the all-time League of Ireland goalscoring list with 153 league goals.

Honours

Player

* League of Ireland **''1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73:'' * League of Ireland Shield **''1968–69:'' * Top Four Cup **''1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1972–73:'' * Munster Senior Cup **''1965–66, 1966–67:'' * SWAI Personality of the Year ** 1972–73

Player manager

Cork Celtic * League of Ireland **''1973–74:''

Manager

* League of Ireland Cup **''1984–85:'' * Munster Senior Cup **''1985–86:'' Kilkenny City *

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division ( ga, Céad Roinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division, is the second level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. Th ...

**''1996–97:''

References

*''Who's Who of Aston Villa'' (2004): Tony Matthew

*''The Boys in Green – The FAI International Story'' (1997): Sean Rya

External links

Honoured by Waterford City Council Career details with Waterford
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hale, Alfie 1939 births Living people Association football inside forwards Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers English Football League players League of Ireland players Aston Villa F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Limerick F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Waterford F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Waterford F.C. managers Republic of Ireland football managers League of Ireland managers Association footballers from County Waterford Irish businesspeople Cork Celtic F.C. players Cork Hibernians F.C. players League of Ireland XI players