Walter McFarland (1945 – 15 August 2014) was a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

footballer and coach, who played for Irish League side

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

during the 1960s and 70s.

Biography

Walter McFarland enjoyed an illustrious career playing for Crusaders from 1962 to 1976. During this time, the team, captained by Walter on many occasions, played in Europe against such sides as

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. Walter then became a coach at Crusaders, in addition to becoming Player/Manager of Ballyclare Comrades. He later captained the Belfast Showbiz Charity Team. Walter also became the first competitor from Northern Ireland to win the All-Ireland Judo Championship and in 1999 he won a silver medal in the World Veterans Championships. Walter then went on to become the World Masters Champion in 2001. In September 2007, Walter was inducted into the Crusaders' Hall of Fame. Walter was an accomplished Judo player having won the World Masters Judo Championships on 2 occasions. Walter most notably founded Abbey Judo Club based in Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland. Walter spent most of his adult years developing and working with children and adults from all aspects of the community in the Valley Leisure centre. Walter had a true passion for children's Judo!

Honours

Crusaders * Irish League (2): 1972/73, 1975/76 *

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

(2): 1966/67, 1967/68 *

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Foo ...

(3): 1964/65, 1968/69, 1973/74 *

Ulster Cup The Ulster Cup was an annual football competition held by the Irish Football League Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Eu ...

(1): 1963/64 *

Carlsberg Cup Carlsberg may refer to: Places * Carlsberg (district), a district in Copenhagen, Denmark ** Carlsberg station, its train station * Carlsberg, Germany, a municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany * Carlsberg Fjord, Greenland Other uses * Carlsbe ...

(1): 1973/74

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McFarland, Walter Crusaders F.C. players Ballyclare Comrades F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland 1945 births Living people Men's association football defenders