Sports commentator Philip Greene was vindicated in his decision to boycott a soccer international between Ireland and Yugoslavia in 1955, his funeral mass was told today .
The now-notorious incident where Mr Greene agreed to a request from the Archbishop of Dublin Dr John Charles McQuaid to boycott the game because the persecution of Catholics in the then Communist country, was recalled during a eulogy delivered by former Irish Times soccer correspondent Peter Byrne.
Mr Byrne said there was a perception in Ireland that the Yugoslav teams were puppets of General Tito's regime.
He told mourners that Mr Greene's decision to boycott the game, when he was effectively head of sport at RTÉ, opened up "all kinds of dark possibilities, but to his eternal credit he never wavered in his stance and he was subsequently vindicated when RTÉ and the FAI shrank from imposing sanctions".
Several hundred mourners from the world of sport and broadcasting turned out for Mr Greene’s funeral at the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Foxrock. Mr Greene died last week aged 90.
His passion for Shamrock Rovers was reflected in the large attendance from those associated with the club. They included former Ireland internationals Paddy Mulligan, Damien Richardson, Pat Byrne and Liam Buckley.
The current chairman of the club, Jonathan Roche, and three current players Craig Sives, Ryan Thompson, who both carried the coffin, and Chris Turner represented those still involved in the club.
RTÉ broadcasters past and present Jimmy Magee, Fred Cogley, Seán Óg Ó Ceallacháin and Des Cahill were also present.
The mourners were led by Mr Greene's wife Patricia, sons Philip and Eoin, daughters Rhona and Edeana and his grandchildren.
His daughter Rhona said the congregation was there not to mourn but to celebrate her father’s "long happy life" and "his huge capacity for joy".
He loved his work and his public life, but he was also a private man who lived for his family, she added.
Mr Greene's son Eoin said his father was buried wearing a Shamrock Rovers tie and he also had the radio with him.
He described his father as a "great man" who was honest and modest. He was a perfectionist both at work and at home.
He recalled the time that his father had done a broadcast for the BBC on the Belgium-Ireland European Championships qualifier in 1987 where he and his brother Philip Jr who were with him for the commentary were told to keep quiet until after the match.
When the match ended 2-2 his father put down the microphone and told his children to “turn up the volume on the television”. His father had covered the match from home.
Mr Greene retired in 1985 before the glory years of the Charlton era. His son recalled that when his father was asked if Ireland could beat England in the opening match of the European Championships in 1988, he responded by quoting Padraig Pearse's poem The Fool: "O wise men, riddle me this: what if the dream come true?"
Mr Greene's remains were buried after funeral mass at Shanganagh Cemetery.
