Hasty was one of football’s most remarkable and overlooked players – who then fell victim to a malignant arc of history
In October 1960 Jim Malone, the chairman of Dundalk
Football club, told the board he had discovered an exciting talent, a centre-forward who was scoring goal after goal for Newry Town, just across the border in Northern
Ireland. He was tall and strong, had preternatural balance and was lethal in the air. Dundalk should sign him immediately, said Malone. The player’s name was Jimmy Hasty.
Another board member piped up. He had heard of Hasty, heard something fanciful – that the fellow had only one arm. Malone conceded this was true. Hasty had only one arm. But Dundalk should sign him, he said.