ENGLAND’S GREATEST MAN DIES

England’s greatest man, Ireland’s Grandfather / Uncle / Platonic Friend of a similar age to yourself depending on your age, and Glanmire favourite, Jack Charlton has died. 

Glanmire favourite, Jack Charlton in his prime

The big man, immortalised for a time with a statue of him sitting with a fishing rod at a fish pond inside Cork International Airport, has left us. A man who saw seemingly insurmountable odds as but a welcome challenge, Jack brought levels of hope and audacious dreaming to Glanmire (and the rest of the country) never before seen. If anything that statue at Cork Airport did him a disservice by giving him and his rod such easy targets in a small, shallow, indoor pond. Perhaps a truer representation of the man would have been to depict Jack, paddy cap on head, diving into a great ocean with nothing but his bare hands to catch enough fish to feed a nation, and although he might not take it all the way, returning to find the peoples of our great town (and country) waiting for and welcoming him with rapturous applause and cheering and songs in his honour. Difficult to sculpt in bronze, sure, but it’s just a thought.

Rest in peace Jack. Thank you for everything.

Jack Charlton statue at the old terminal in Cork Airport