Milk Cup visit to Holland
The Milk Cup Committee sent a team to play in Holland in 1997 following an invite from former Nottingham Forest and Netherlands international star Johnny Metgod who had brought teams to the tournament from the Feyenoord club.
Bertie Peacock with ex-Ajaz and Sparta defender Wim Meutstege, coach of Exclesoir
The squad was based in Amsterdam and played local teams Feyenoord and Excelsior with County Armagh's Gerry McKee and County Antrim's Joe McCall the accompanying coaches.
The Milk Cup team beat Feyenoord 2-1 with goals from Ciaran Smyth and Jim Wilson, drawing 1-1 with Excelsior in a game which saw the miss two penalties and hit the woodwork.
The trip also included a tour of the Feyenoord stadium and among the squad was defender Chris Baird who, of course, went on to play in the 2003 FA Cup Final with Southampton who lost 1-0 to Arsenal and later joined Fulham.
He also become a full Northern Ireland international.
A number of journalists were also on the trip which was sponsored by the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland, main sponsors of the Milk Cup tournament.
The Council's chief executive, Mike Johnston, accompanied the party
The Milk Cup squad
in the Netherlands back in 1997
Gerry McKee (kneeling left) and Joe McCall (standing, extreme right) with the Northern Ireland Milk Cup squad at Feyenoord's training grounds. Beside Gerry is Cullybackey's Chris Baird who went on to play at full senior level for Northern Ireland.
Coach Joe McCall pictured with the County Londonderry players Barry Gormley and Damien McDonald in Holland
The visit to Amsterdam was sponsored by the Milk Cup tournament's major sponsors, the Dairy Council for Northern Ireland, who have been associated with the event since 1985
The long and the short of it! Dutch legend Johnny Metgod (right) and journalist Grant Cameron tower over Committee man John Hart!
