Jack Bratton R.I.P.

[Carbery]

Former Armagh Great Jack Bratton passes away.
Former Armagh player, Jack Bratton, has passed away.
Jack was a member of the Armagh 1949 All-Ireland winning minor team and was also a member of the Armagh team which lost to Kerry in the 1953 senior final.
The late Jack was a terrific ambassador for Armagh football and was known throughout the length and breadth of the country.  He was held in high esteem in the Kingdom of Kerry where he had many friends.
He was a true gentleman and the world will be much poorer as a result of his passing to his eternal reward.
Condolences to his family and friends and may his soul rest in peace.

[mackers]

RIP Jack. A true gentleman.

[Any craic]

So sorry to hear this, a lovely man. Condolences to his family and all in Armagh.

[Any craic]

http://vimeo.com/6024775 - there's a nice picture here of Jack with Armagh All Ireland minor captain Declan McKenna last October in the Athletic Grounds. They're from the same club and Declan pays tribute to Jack. Maybe some of you would know better than me how to put the picture up here.

http://vimeo.com/6024775 - this is an interview with Jack last year about the Maghery game in the 50s in which Jack played against Tyrone.

[Sandy Hill]

RIP. A gentleman and a legend and always a pleasure to meet.

[emainmacha]

A true gentleman who will be sadly missed by all gaels in County Armagh, my thoughts are with his family at this sad time.
I have personal reasons to know that both Jack and his wife Joan are two great souls, he well always be remembered with fondness by so many.

[zoyler]

Truly one of the all time greats.
I remember him playing for the Harps before he went to live in Portadown for a while and we would always look into McGoverns in Thomas Street on our way home from Greenpark just to get a look at him standing behind the counter.  My Da always said that the Harps team of the 50s was the best club side in Ireland and that the great  Dublin side St. Vincents would always check to make sure that the Harps were NOT in a tourament before they would sign up to play in it.  God rest him,.

[5 Sams]

Jaysus lads that's bad news. He was up in Ballyholland last Saturday night at the charity game and him and PJ McElroy helped out with the half time draw. While he was obviously not well and looked very weak I didnt expect him to go so quick. RIP

[bennydorano]

A sad sad day for the Harps and for Armagh.  It's a measure of the man that Jack & Joan reared their own family of 6 and were a fostering family for numerous children for decades.  A true footballing great & a gent.  RIP.

[Rufus T Firefly]

Just like to echo the sentiments of everyone else here. Jack was an absolute gentleman and a great Gael - not only within our Club, where he was revered, but throughout Armagh and beyond. Sympathies to the whole Bratton Family.

May Jack Rest In Peace.

Just to add, at Dessie Boylan's wake in early July, pride of place was taken up by a photo of Dessie with his good friend Jack Bratton - both standing proudly in their Harps suits.

It's terrible to think now that both of these men - ex Presidents of our Club - have passed on within a matter of weeks of each other.

Below are a few photos of Jack, taken in recent, happier times.



October 2008 - the launch night for the Harps Book - Jack with our Senior player, Sean Morrison.



That same night - two legends of our Club - Jack with John Hanratty.



September 2009 - Croke Park - Jurys Hotel - Jack with Phil McGinn on the morning of our All Ireland Minor Final win.

[maddog]

A sad sad day for the Harps and for Armagh.  It's a measure of the man that Jack & Joan reared their own family of 6 and were a fostering family for numerous children for decades.  A true footballing great & a gent.  RIP.

Words like "great" and "legend" are sometimes used too often when former players and clubmen pass away. Not in this case by a long stretch. Its stories of how Jack and many of his generation played the game that makes it what it is today. Very sad to see those photos.
Our sympathies to the Bratton family. RIP Jack

[thewanderer]

Deepest sympathy extended to Joan, the Bratten family and the Harps on the death of a true gael and gentleman who supported Armagh all over the country in good times and bad both as a player and supporter

[Rufus T Firefly]

A lovely tribute paid in today's Irish News by local journalist and Gaelic Games follower, Joe McManus;

FORMER Armagh footballing great Jack Bratton, who died suddenly at his home yesterday, was an iconic figure.
Aged 79 and a native of Armagh City, he is the third member of the famous 1953 team to pass away this year.
His amazing playing career with Harps spanned 17 years and he also represented his county and province throughout the '50s.
Jack, one of the most spectacular full-backs of his era, made his name with an impeccable performance in that 1953 All-Ireland final, which Armagh lost to Kerry.

Four years earlier he was a member of the 1949 side that won the county its first All-Ireland minor crown.
It was a long wait for that feat to be repeated. Sixty years had painfully elapsed before the gap was finally bridged in 2009.
In the week leading up to the final, the minor management invited Jack along to training to speak to the players. He was a constant source of inspiration and encouragement to generations of young footballers.

He first played with his beloved Harps club as a schoolboy in the late '40s, part of the a full-back line that included the legendary Jim McCullough. He went on to win four senior club championship medals, captaining a number of those winning teams. He was also the holder of two SFC medals with Armagh and sampled success at Railway Cup level.

Jack was a butcher by trade and, during a period in the '60s when he worked in Portadown, he played with the local Tir Na nOg club, winning junior and intermediate championship medals. He returned to the Harps in 1973 and remained an admirable servant. He was a former club president and, also, a Hall of Fame recipient.

His continued steadfast support for his native county was widely known, travelling throughout Ireland, seldom missing a game.
He had many close friends and associates in Kerry and always looked forward to the National League trips to that neck of the woods.
Outside of football, Jack was very much community-orientated and, for many years, he and his wife Joan were in charge of a foster home in the city.

During his playing career, Jack was a 'guardian of the square' and, as a much-respected and fondly-loved pensioner, he had a job as a school crossing patrolman in the city. It goes without saying that parents could rest in the knowledge that their children were in safe hands.
Invariably modest about his achievements, Jack would have preferred to have praised the feats of his contemporaries, rather than his own.
When one spoke his name, it was with pride.

The man who blazed the trail for other famous Armagh full-backs is sadly departed.
Let his memory be always saluted. His funeral will take place in Armagh tomorrow. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam usual Gaelach.


JMcM

[crossfire]

Commiserations to the Bratton family.

RIP Jack.

[stew]

I have tears in my eyes at this news, I am absolutely gutted as Jack was my hero, I have loved him for years, he was a special man, giving and was an absolute rock as far as both the community and his family was concerned. I grieve for Jack and the family he leaves behind. To Kay and Eamon etc all I can say is that I am thinking and praying for you all at this time.