W.A. Carpenter

Billy Carpenter was a former president of the Irish Hockey Union and the Munster Branch, an international umpire of yesteryear and the doyen of Cork Harlequins. The club’s second astroturf pitch at Farmer’s Cross is dedicated to him.

Carpenter joined Harlequins from Maryville in 1933, 8 years after it was founded. An inside forward “quick on the rebound,” he captained the side which lost in a replay to Railway Union in the 1938 Irish Senior Cup final.

Carpenter’s finest hours were being elected President of the club in 1956; the opening of Harlequins’s permanent pavilion and grounds in September 1970, and umpiring the Holland-Ireland international (3-2) in Amsterdam in 1965.

Worst moment: When Harlequins were renting various grounds in the 1950s, Billy turned up for a match one Saturday and found the pitch had been ploughed.

Twice president of the Irish Hockey Union (1963-65 and 1973-74), Billy also held innumerable positions in the Munster Branch and was an Irish selector and international umpire. Billy lived to see Cork Harlequins win the Irish Senior Cup (women) in 2000, the first national cup win for the club. Billy lived to the great age of 98 passing away in July 2002.