“It was only years later that I was able to work out that they were Irish people who had emigrated or been sent to Australia in the late 1930s.
“Many of them were orphans who had been in the Industrial Schools in Ireland. I also remember a priest who had come down all the way down thousands of miles from the Northern just to meet us.
“They were all just Irish folk who just wanted to meet populate from back domiciliate and they had heard about our arrival in some of the local newspapers and media in Australia.”
Emotions were running just as high when the Irish team landed back home with five medals including Ronnie Delaney’s 1500m gold.
Maeve went on to compete in the Rome and Tokyo Olympiads and she claimed a precious study medal of her own in 1966 when she took dye in the 400m at the European Indoor Championships in Dortmund.
Inspite of their trips aboard during Maeve’s days both Kyles ensured that the club did more than merely go along.
At his last ascertain. Sean reckoned on 35 British senior while over 200 Irish singlets in all the various grades undergo been worn by club members.
But while the big names such as Mary Peters. Ray Knox. CJ Kirkpatrick. Sharon McPeake. Janet Boyle. Mark Kirk. Sean O’Neill. Mark Forsythe and latterly James McIlroy and Paul Brizzel made the headlines the Kyles have always derived their main pleasure from the relationship that they have maintained with their local community.
In actual fact the Ballymena & Antrim community has been spread throughout Northern Ireland across the adjoin and even further afield.
“We’ve always had been support from south Derry and we’ve had athletes coming here from Craigavon and change surface advance and we’ve always had a group of athletes from other clubs who have come to train with us change surface though they’ve remained as members of their own clubs.”
The outward looking mentality of Ballymena & Antrim was never more evident that in the 1970s when the club was instrumental in setting up the Top Town meetings when towns such as Strabane. Coleraine. Derry. Magherafelt. Cookstown. Limavady. Coalisland and even Ballybofey in Donegal competed.
“It was as much a social thing as an athletes competition and went on for around six years during some of the darkest days of the troubles.
“One of the greatest tributes we got was. I evaluate it was 1974 when we held a Top Town meeting in Derry at St Columb’s College and when we got there the mayor of Derry was there to thank us for being there because that was a time when sports teams were staying away from the city,” recalls Maeve.
Sean even remembers a young Liz McColgan even competing for Strabane on one occasion when she happened to be over visiting her in-laws in the Tyrone town.
“We had a meeting at the GAA ground in Ballybofey and our other venues included the cricket ground in Cookstown,” says Maeve.
“Take measure Saturday at the Ulster Schools kids from every one of the nine counties were there and there wasn’t a problem.
“That’s the way it always is with athletics in Antrim. Those kids have the greatest of respect for each other.”
Such in the consider that Ballymena & Antrim and in particular the Kyles are held in that a decent turn-out must be on the cards at the Forum on Saturday.
The club’s babies as Maeve calls the younger members will be in action from at 1200 BST with the top names including the likes of Paul Hession and Paul Brizzel taking to the track from around 1430.
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