| Syd Over and his father Fred, Secretary of the representative team for many years, made an outstanding contribution to the
development of soccer within the R.U.C. during the 1930’s and early forties when representative games were played against the Sheffield and the Glasgow City Police.
He was also an outstanding Captain of the representative and a dynamic centre forward for Cliftonville who had a number of R.U.C. members on their books at that time.
He played his first game for Cliftoville against Portadown on 21st November 1931 and scored his first goal against Larne in December 1931. He was the leading scorer for Cliftonville on 4 occasions scoring 119 goals in approximately 200 appearances. He scored 13 Hat-tricks
including 4 on three occasions and 5 in an 8-2 Cliftonville win over Ards on 8th.December 1934.
In March 1936 he played on the right wing for the “ reds” against Chelsea.
On another occasion he went with Cliftonville on a visit to Bury who then played in the English Second Division for a friendly at Gigg Lane. Over turned out and scored a hat trick in a 4-1 win. Over would not have been playing had their regular centre forward Sammy Banks, an Irish International who played for Ireland against Wales in 1937 been available.
He played his last game for Cliftonville in May 1941 in the Regional Home League and again was on the score sheet.
On leaving the police
Syd became an official in the bar library until he retired before immigrating to Australia where he lived with his daughters for many years. |
