Ivan Alexander Walsh (29 December 1924 – 12 May 2005) was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who represented

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

at international level as a forward. He was also a

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

er.

Football career

Walsh was born in 1924 at

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

and was educated at the

Christian Brothers School The following is a list of the schools, colleges, and other educational institutions founded, run or staffed (in any capacity) by the Congregation of Christian Brothers (sometimes called the Irish Christian Brothers) since 1802. Some schools no l ...

there.McCarron A (2010) ''New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010'', p. 135. Cardiff: The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians.
Available online
at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 5 June 2023.)Ivan Walsh

CricInfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

. Retrieved 16 February 2024. He played soccer for the Northern Club in the city and by 1948 was playing for the Otago representative side. Walsh scored on his full New Zealand debut in a 6–4 win over

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

on 22 September 1951 and ended his international playing career with four official A-international caps and four goals to his credit, scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in his final appearance, a 9–0 win over

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...

on 4 October 1951.

Cricket career

Walsh also played cricket at a representative level. A right-arm medium paced bowler, he played for the North East Valley club in Dunedin alongside his brother Brian."Well-balanced Grange team deserves honours", ''

Otago Daily Times The ''Otago Daily Times'' (ODT) is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand. The ''ODT'' is one of the country's four main daily newspapers, serving the southern South Island with a circulation of around 26,000 and a c ...

'', issue 27042, 29 March 1949, p. 8.
Available online
at Papers Past. Retrieved 16 February 2024.) Considered "one of the most promising medium-paced bowlers" that Otago had "had for some years" with "exceptional promise",Giantkiller in Shield cricket, ''

'', issue 26984, 20 January 1949, p. 8.
Available online
at Papers Past. Retrieved 16 February 2024.) he played three times for

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

in the Plunket Shield.Ivan Walsh
CricketArchive. Retrieved 16 February 2024. He made his debut for the side in January 1949, opening the bowling and taking seven wickets, including a

five-wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batsman. Takin ...

in the first innings, against

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

at Carisbrook.Walsh, Ivan Alexander, Obituaries in 2005, ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'', 2006.
Available online
at

. Retrieved 16 February 2024.) The ''

'' felt that he was the "find of the match" and it was expected that he would become one of the "mainstays" of the Otago side in future seasons. After taking seven wickets against Southland in a non-first-class match in December 1949, Walsh was included in the Otago side for the season's Shield matches in 1949–50. He played in the first two matches but took only one wicket and was left out of the side for the final Shield match of the season against

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

. He was not selected in the Otago practice squad later in the season and did not regain his place in the side in future seasons.Several newcomers in cricket practice group, ''

'', issue 27298, 26 January 1950, p. 4.
Available online
at Papers Past. Retrieved 16 February 2024.)

Later life

Walsh worked as a teacher. He died at Dunedin in 2005 aged 80. Obituaries were published in the 2005 ''New Zealand Cricket Almanack'' and in the 2006 edition of ''

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Ivan 1924 births 2005 deaths New Zealand men's association footballers New Zealand men's international footballers New Zealand cricketers Otago cricketers Men's association football forwards Association footballers from Dunedin