Buncrana Hearts remember Frank Fletcher: Honorary Club President and a dear friend

It was with immense sadness that we learned of the passing of our dear friend and Honorary Club President Frank Fletcher late last Monday night.

Frankie, as he was better known, was a stalwart of the club first as a player, then as manager before taking up the role as Honorary President on the occasion of his 70th Birthday in 2010. 

Frankie first played for the Hearts in 1957 before taking up the role of manager in the 1969/70 season the same year that Buncrana Youth Club was officially opened with himself as one of the founding members. 

In 1971 Frankie joined the exodus from the town who travelled to London seeking work and it was there that he helped found the very successful Buncrana Hearts team that won back-to-back Invicta League and Cup doubles. 

During those times in London, he would head down to White Hart Lane to watch one of his favourite players the great Jimmy Greaves play for the Spurs or go with his brothers to watch Queens Park Rangers in Loftus Road just off Shepards Bush home to thousands of Irish who descended on the capital in the early seventies seeking work. 

Frankie remarried and eventually settled in Reading close to where his brothers Jim and Joe lived. Frankie a proud Buncrana man always enjoyed his trips home especially in the summer when the Hearts would be competing in the various Summer Cup competitions.

Frankie had to deal with some hard times also especially the death of his wife Anna Friel aged only 27 and sustaining a serious eye injury that halted a very promising football career playing with Coleraine FC and attracting interest from his boyhood team Tottenham Hotspur and fellow English Division 1 club Bradford City also very interested in his signature.

In his role as Club President which he took very seriously, he was always keen to help and was part of our 50th Anniversary committee in 2011. In 2010 he travelled to FAI Headquarters to pick up the Club of the Month Award from then FAI President David Blood (RIP) who was in awe of Frankie who talked at length about his football career and the ups and downs he encountered during that period. 

Frankie often told said that he never missed an FA Cup Final watching his first in 1934, Manchester City v Portsmouth, until what now proved to be his last back in May this year when Manchester City took on Manchester United.  

A very sociable person he loved his family or a round of golf at Buncrana Golf Club where he was captain back in 2004, he loved his trip to the cinema hopping on the bus to Derry or dandering down to Buncrana Cinema, but the highlight of Frankie`s week was his few pints in the corner of the Cottage Bar.

With his mates Shaun Murphy, Jim Caldwell, Andy Doherty and Angelo Eccles, the slagging was intense with no man or woman spared a dressing down, when it was time to leave more often than not Frankie would entertain his assembled audience to a rendition of "My Way" or "Summer Wind" songs from his favourite crooner Frank Sinatra. The large crowd that attended his wake and funeral including many former teammates and opponents was a fitting tribute to a man who lived life to the full and was a Hearts man through and through. 

The club formed a guard of honour at Frankie's funeral on Friday morning and a minute's silence will be observed prior to Sunday's game against Cockhill Celtic at Castle Park.

Frankie will be dearly missed by all at Buncrana Hearts and we would like to offer our sincerest condolences to his daughter Tracey; son Joe; wife Carmel, brothers Jim, Joe, and Canice; sisters Jeanette, Anne and the wider Fletcher family circle. As Frankie would often say "I did it my way". Ar dheis de go raibh hanam.