Now fifty years ago, a time when Irish cycling was going well but it hadn’t quite made a stamp on the world stage. Sean Kelly came on the scene in the early 70’s and turned professional in 1977, then a few years later along comes Stephen Roche, (first picture of the series) the two of them went on to be international cycling superstars. The following years put cycling on the front pages of national papers in Ireland.
These are some pictures that were on negatives I dug out from old boxes in my garage. I must add, I’m not a sports photographer, I just took pictures as a hobby, so the quality is variable and action photography back then was a lot more difficult than today with the modern digital cameras.
A couple of years ago I bumped into an old friend of mine Peter Morton, he told me the old pictures I had been posting on my website (IrishCycling.com) are the only coverage from those years and they are an important record for the sport. That got me thinking and I put it on my bucket list to publish what I can find in videos and pictures over the next number of years. Sadly Peter Morton passed away earlier this year, it’s thanks to him that started me putting these online.
I started cycling in the early 70’s, it was a time when many people used bikes as there was not much money, around. Cycling was also freedom and allowed you to see your surroundings. I joined the Les Jeunes Cycling Club in 1973, at that time the club did both cycle touring and cycle racing. The following year I started racing and raced for a few years. I got involved in the organising side of things with the club and I felt I my time was better spent there than racing. Separate to that I did a bit of photography as a hobby. During the time I was racing I was surprised that there was little or no pictures of local races, yes there were pictures of the Tour of Ireland and the Ras Tailteann but little of anything else.
Occasionally, I would take pictures at events and this is how I have a built up a collection. Then, in the early 80’s I was working for a TV company and purchased a portable video recorder and camera that was a step up from pictures and I captured some video of races. Over the years the cameras got better and when time allowed I got some video or pictures.
Now many years later, in my retirement, I have more spare time and have appeared at events with a camera again. I am publishing pictures and video of cycling events to have an archive for people to see how things have changed over the years.
Pictures and Editing by Peter Purfield
Enjoy – More to follow when I have time
More archive pictures and video on https://www.IrishCycling.com
10 Comments
Thanks Peter. Enjoyed that photo tour.
Cycling today is nothing more than a freak show. Men back in the 70's had muscle and power. Today they look like lady boys with these ridiculous skin suits riding those sloping bar sweat shop Taiwanese carbon crap.
Nothing had to change. All the great frame builders nearly gone now, no wheel builders left. If you want a classic steel frame you have to fly to Italy to find one. Disgusting really to see such a beautiful, exciting sport turn into a freak show.
Why did people involved in the sport and up and coming cyclist's buy into this carbon crap fad? It was the "Giant Bike Company" in the States that started this sloping top tube geometry to standardize all frame designs and base all bikes off of a mountain bike design. No wonder there are so many crashes today. Once you alter the top tube and increase the head tube size you throw off the way the bike tracks, especially into corners. And yet everyone bought into this utter rubbish design and allowed these criminals to mass produce this rubbish. Bicycles of the 70's, 80's and early 90's were works of art. Bicycles today are nothing more than piles of shit made in sweat shops in Asian third world countries by robots and child workers. They will never hold any value or worth and never be collector's items.
Wonder what happened to the guy with the chubby cheeks in the first photo! 🙂
Cycling is in a sorry state because you allow the Irish Cycling Federation to dictate the rules to cyclists. Why do you allow them to charge cyclists a third party fee on their credit cards, i am speaking about "Event Bright". This also applies to taking out or renewing a cycling license. Why is corruption in Ireland considered normal. The Irish Cycling Federation have destroyed the sport. Cyclists should be allowed to pay for a race entry on the day of a race like 20 and 30 years ago. What is wrong with all the clubs? Are there any men left in them or are all of you now just a bunch of rice cake eating skinny lady boys on bikes.
Great to see a lot of old friends, sadly gone now, great days.
Super photos Peter as always, thanks for sharing
Great photos as usual Peter, fantastic times.
Nice one Peter – I remember those days – I was a spectator !
– those racers were hard men really tough !
A friendly bunch of guys when you got to know them though !