On January 5th we held our first Members Meeting of 2023 when our guest speaker was Hull City ex-player David Meyler.
Before David was introduced Adrian Ellis gave a heartfelt thank you for the donation of £500 for his charity which we presented to him at our Christmas lunch. Adrian set up the charity GEO (Get Emotions Out) in memory of his son George. GEO is a charity that helps people with mental health problems. It helps people in coping with their emotions, offering coping strategies. The donation was a big surprise for Adrian and for which he is very grateful.
NOTICES
Outings Information from Barbara.
- Our outing on 19th January is local and there are still vacancies. This is a visit to the Street Life Museum, a tour of the Hull Minster with our very own Rev. Allen and lunch at the Sailmakers Arms for £10.00
- There are 8 places left on the outing to the Exhibition Centre at the Bomber Command Memorial & Lincoln on 23rd February. Coach plus entrance fee is £23.50.
- The outing to Jaguar Land Rover in March is full.
- The trip to the away match at Stoke on 11th February is back on. The cost is £20.00 which includes a £1 tip for the coach driver. Contact Ernie for more details.
Barbara asked whether anyone would be interested in an overnight stay to London to see a show. This is to be looked into further as there was enough interest in going.
Football Club Supporters Meeting.
Barbara informed us that she attended the rescheduled Supporters Meeting on Wednesday 4th January. She said how lovely the meeting was with the new team at the Club. One of the questions raised was the state of the stadium. Apparently, this is one area of improvement that is already on their agenda.
Membership Cards.
There are still some membership cards not collected. If you are one of those people please see Barbara.
INTERVIEW WITH DAVID MEYLER
Allen gave a warm welcome to our guest speaker, David Meyler and our very own interviewer Richard Beachell.
David first became a professional footballer playing for his home team Cork City. He then moved to Premier League side Sunderland in 2008 before joining The Tigers in 2013 after a short spell on loan here. He played 26 games for the Republic of Ireland between 2012 & 2018. In 2018 he moved to Reading where he finished his playing career in 2019 through injury.
He helped The Tigers gain promotion for a 2nd time to the Premier League and was in the starting 11 for our memorable appearance in the FA Cup Final in 2014.
Growing up in Ireland he played their national sport of hurling. It was his favourite sport and said it shaped the way he played football during his football career. As a youngster, as well as hurling he also played football and at the age of 15 decided that football would be his future as it allowed him to play professionally as hurling could not.
Having to retire at the early age of 30 through injury was very difficult for him. Football gave a structure to his life and he especially struggled when Covid hit the world.
David enjoyed his time here which was the most successful period in his career. However, he has a great affection for Sunderland as they gave him a chance after his injury.
David and his family still live locally as his wife loves it here and he thinks Hull is similar to his home city of Cork.
After retiring from football David set up the David Meyler Football Academy at Bishop Burton College. At present, he has 81 children taking part from across the East Riding and is hoping that more children will join. David also coaches the Republic of Ireland under 17’s and one day he would like to be a football manager.
David’s other passion is playing the online game FIFA. During his football career, it helped him to switch off after a match. He became very successful at it which allowed him to raise money for a Breast Care charity.
During the Covid pandemic, a book about his life was ghostwritten for him by an Irish journalist. David was due to bring some signed copies of his book to our meeting but unfortunately have been delayed. Hopefully, he will be able to bring some to one of our meetings soon.
David finished by saying that over the years there have been some great Irish players. The Irish always have a chip on their shoulders and want to prove themselves. Well, David has certainly done that.
If anyone would like one of his books please give your name to Barbara.
Pat Ellis gave our usual vote of thanks to David.
RAFFLE
Finally, we had our usual raffle which was drawn by David. The raffle raised £235.00 from the sale of tickets.
MEETING CLOSED
Richard Beachell and David Meyler