Ring has been one of local football’s top fans

After 15 years playing for the local club and another 30 in the big time, Michael Ring is walking back to the dressing room to the sound of a standing ovation from voters who never showed him the red card.

Soccer has lost one of its true supporters with his retirement from politics. The Fine Gael veteran was never afraid to speak aloud his love for the sport and has enjoyed a long association with it – particularly in his hometown of Westport, which has reaped the benefits of having such an ardent supporter involved in national and government politics.

His association with the sport goes much further back than his association with politics and it is clear from the pages of local sporting history that Michael Ring has always been a soccer man, through and through. He was a fine Gaelic footballer too – and has an All-Ireland Vocational Schools medal to show for it – but he was clearly a dab hand at soccer. In his playing days, it was typical that a match report would end by listing a few of the best performers for each team; Best for Celtic was A, B, C. Best for Westport was X, Y and Z. Ring was named quite often in these old reports and very clearly caught the eye of reporters.

Johnny Mee, writing in the Connaught Telegraph in January 1971, said that a fresh-faced Ringer, who would have been about 17 or 18 at the time, showed everyone what a promising player he was by scoring the winner for Sporting Club Westport against Castlebar Celtic – “he lashed in the ball from close range.” In March of that year, Ring scored twice for Westport United in the Connacht Minor Cup against Road Rangers, a 3-1 victory.

The Mayo News in April 1974 writes that Ring “side-stepped three defenders before scoring a brilliant goal” for Westport Textiles against Conn Rangers. He was clearly at home on a soccer pitch, maybe just as much or more so as he would come to be in the Dáil. That same year he scored seven goals in a 12-2 trouncing, again, of Conn Rangers. It is just as well he is not in the Council Chamber today or he and current Conn Rangers manager and Ballina area councillor Joe Faughnan could be at loggerheads!

The Western People from April 1975 tells us that Ring provided Westport United with a winning assist in the Mayo Section Connacht Cup Final against Balla when Mick McLoughlan tucked away Ring’s cross. It wasn’t to be the only big ‘assist’ Ring would give his hometown club and indeed, they might miss him most of all.

Even as recently as August 2022, Ring was instrumental in helping Westport United secure funding of €2.8 million under Immigrant Investor Fund for the development of state-of-the-art facilities at United Park. It is the biggest ever State allocation pumped into a sporting organisation in Mayo; it is more money than they got to build the Connacht GAA Air Dome! Westport United received different grants and sources of funding over the years and this, naturally, prompted a lot of begrudgery from other clubs around the county.

My belief is that what is good for the goose is good for the gander, and Mayo soccer is in quite a healthy place right now. Competition breeds excellence and you really need to be excellent to keep up with a club that has a man as determined as Michael Ring on their side.

Constantly coming to the forefront and supporting his hometown club was never mere electioneering for Michael Ring either. Soccer was in his heart and he has always been a champion of the sport. Westport United will always be thankful they had Michael Ring; his impact on the club is perhaps only comparable in a Mayo context to the impact the Virgin Mary had on Knock -and that is not mere hyperbole.

After Ring’s election to the Westport Urban Council in 1979, the match reports containing his involvement dry up a bit on the Irish Newspaper Archive. He did pop up with the occasional goal here and there, including a winner against Ballina Town in September 1980.

Off the field, he was proving to be just as influential. An article appearing in the Mayo News just a week after his winner against Ballina Town was headlined 'Westport U.D.C. give maximum support to Sports Park Project'. You won't believe who was Acting Chairman of the U.D.C. at this time.

"Mr. Michael Ring, the Acting Chairman, said in view of the very worthwhile benefits the development would provide for the community, he hoped the council would give generous grant assistance to the project,” the article read.

In 1984, while chairman of Westport United, he made a plea to two recently retired referees to take the whistle up once more as the county could not afford to lose their experience quite yet. It is hard to imagine any political or sporting figure standing up and saying such a thing publicly now.

In 1992, United’s most ardent supporter gave his backing to an appeal by Westport United Youths FC to use an old rugby pitch on the Golf Course Road as a soccer pitch on a short-term basis with a view to a long-term lease. He reiterated this support in 1996 and it was the continuation of an ongoing effort to develop sporting facilities at this location, at what would eventually become United Park.

One of Ring’s finest hours in the local soccer scene came in 1997 when he stepped in to mediate a dispute between Westport United and the Mayo League. It was reported in the Mayo News that a large fines and points deductions had been issued to Westport for 47 violations in relation to the playing of illegal players. Ring stepped in as mediator and helped to resolve the situation – the fine was reduced but the points deduction remained.

At the time, Ring had been a national politician for the previous three years and could have left the situation alone but he stepped in because he never stopped caring about local soccer. Maybe the fact it was his own club gave him the motivation to step in and help resolve things but his actions helped to set important precedents going forward regarding fines for clubs. The situation and its resolution helped to put the house in order at a time when it could have toppled over.

Fast forward to the launch of Mayo FC in May 2023 when Michael Ring told us all to be proud to be involved with soccer in our county and the conviction behind what he said told the room that he was proud too – proud of what he achieved on and off the sporting field in soccer. He also produced the best line of the night when he quipped; “You’ll be saying Mayo FC, I’ll be saying Mayo FG.” 

He was a politician who left things better than how he found them and Westport United may be the most shining example. In 2012, when he was Minister of State for Sport, Ring’s Department administered the grant funding that would allow Westport United to finally call the grounds on the Golf Course Road home.

10 years later, he would be on hand to make the announcement regarding the Immigrant Investor Fund. The official opening of these new facilities takes place later this month and there is no doubt that Ring will make an appearance or even cut the ribbon. He may even have a kickabout, put the ball in the top bins or nutmeg Alan Dillon; he is just that sort of character. There is a lot to be said for christening a stand or a pitch in his name someday at United Park.