THE YMCA club have paid tribute to its longest-serving member and his long and committed service to club and province.
In a fitting ceremony at its Claremont Road ground club president Aideen Rice announced that the pavilion end of the ground would from now on be known as the Cecil Medcalf End. The presentation coincided with Cecil’s 89th birthday and the renewal work at the Cecil Medcalf End of the ground saw the sightscreens refurbished with an innovative revolving black/white design by Mariusz Pawlikowski. The work was sponsored by the Medcalf family and a grant from Aviva Stadium.
Cecil grew up nearby in O’Connell Gardens and joined YMCA, with his cousin Des, in 1939 when he was 12 years old. At the time the sub for schoolboys was 2/6 (about 13 cent) and the adult sub £2. The YMCA outfield was kept in trim by a horse. Cecil’s playing career was mainly on the 2nd XI but he played a few senior games. Among his playing memories were of an all-night post-match session in Civil Service when he and his teammates emerged from the basement bar as dawn was breaking.
YMCA’s own temperance policy was tested by some members who kept a stash in a disused air raid shelter on the grounds. Cecil retired aged 38, in 1964, playing his last game on the international ground in College Park, as family had started to encroach – four of his nine children had been born by then. Many of them went on to play for YMCA and Claremont and his youngest son, Karl, captained the unbeaten 5th XI to the Division 11 title this summer. But while Cecil rarely donned the whites after 1964, he continued to serve the sport for more than 30 years on the Leinster Junior Branch where he had a long spell as Hon Sec, as well as many club positions.
He served as selector and team secretary at YMCA as well as putting in many hours working on the ground. He was YMCA President in 1994, when the 1st XI won the Leinster Senior Cup, and 1995. Almost eighty years after his first appearance as a schoolboy Cecil still enjoys wandering into Claremont Road to watch a game several times a week.