Irish amateur international Paddy Hasty was born in Belfast on St Patrick’s Day 1934 but he moved to Fleet in Hampshire as a youngster with his family. He started his football at Salisbury City but after a brief spell moved to Tooting & Mitcham in 1954and went on to play 142 League games and score113 goals for them, including four on his début in a 7-2 win over Barnet. Tooting went on the win the Athenian League in his first season at the club. He was with them when they won the Isthmian League in 1958 and 1960 and in between he played in Tooting & Mitcham’s greatest ever match when they held Nottingham Forest of the first division (now Premier League) 2-2 in the FA Cup (after leading 2-0) before losing 3-0 in the replay. Forest won the Cup that year. At international level he made his Northern Ireland début against England in 1955. He once scored a hat-trick against Scotland and is one of only five men to score a hat-trick for the Northern Ireland international amateur team. He played in the 1960 Roma Olympics and scored a memorable late equaliser against Italy. He scored Britain’s third goal in the 3-2 win over Chinese Taipei (then Taiwan) and it turned out to be the last goals scored by Great Britain at the Olympic Games until Craig Bellamy netted against Senegal in 2012. After the Roma Olympics, Hasty turned professional with Aldershot in 1961 after the abolition of the maximum wage for footballers. He had played for other League clubs including Leyton Orient and Queens Park Rangers but previously declined offers to turn professional, including one from Everton in 1958-59. He joined Guildford in 1962 and a after a brief spell moved to Hillingdon and then moved into management with his hometown team, Fleet Town.
Great Britain