Bertie Peacock Statue

[Dinny Breen]

A statue in memory of a Northern Ireland footballing legend is to be unveiled in his home town of Coleraine.
Bertie Peacock earned 31 caps for Northern Ireland, and while managing his country in the 1960s gave an international debut to George Best.

The memorial will be unveiled by former NI and Spurs goalkeeper Pat Jennings, who also gained his first Northern Ireland cap under Peacock in 1964.


The bronze statue by artist Ross Wilson will depict Peacock, who died in July 2004 at the age of 75, wearing his international kit.

Jennings said taking part in Saturday's ceremony at the Diamond would be one of the biggest honours of his career.

The Newry-born star will be joined at the ceremony by Bertie's son, Russell.

"I am so pleased to have been asked to take part in this tribute to a great man," Jennings said.


"He encouraged us and we all held him in the highest esteem. He was a legend himself and yet was always such a humble person."

'Little Ant'


Peacock, dubbed the "Little Ant" for his heroics in the 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden when Northern Ireland reached the quarter finals, is the first international to have a statue erected in his honour in Northern Ireland.

He also had an illustrious club career at Celtic, where he won Scottish League and Cup medals with the Glasgow giants and also captained the club.

After his playing managerial careers ended, Peacock was instrumental in starting the annual Milk Cup tournament in Coleraine.

The tournament has since developed into one of the leading youth football competitions in the world.

Tournament chairman Victor Leonard said having the statue in place was a fitting way to kick-off the 25th anniversary of the tournament, which is due to begin on Sunday.

"We would not have this tournament without the input of Bertie," he said.


The statue will be unveiled in the centre of Coleraine at 1600 BST on Saturday.

[nifan]

Good news, one of NIs best.

I remember NI played Brazil in the Milk Cup in coleraine the day he died.

[T Fearon]

I wholeheartedly support this.Peacock is a Celtic legend and played in the British Queen's Coronoation Cup Final win in 1953 (when the Celts won a tournament which included Arsenal and Man Ure) and also in the magnificent 7-1 win over Rangers in the League Cup Final in 1957.