Bit of a longshot – Trying to get Ray Houghtons autograph for my dads Christmas present

Back in 1989 I was but a young lad of 13 growing up in a pre-Celtic Tiger Ireland. I loved playing football with the lads but had little knowledge of the Irish Football team.

All of that changed one incredibly sunny April day in 1989. Two days before my birthday my dad told me we were going to go to Lansdowne Road to watch Ireland vs Spain in what would be the first ever match of football that I’d watch live. “But why? We can see it on the telly!”, I said. I genuinely didn’t have a notion of the incredible day ahead of me.

We got the bus in to town and walked down towards the stadium. It was then I knew what all the fuss was about. I could hear the crowd. I could feel the vibrations all around me. We were heading in to this deafening arena and the match hadn’t even started yet. We walked on to the South Terrace and stood with the rest of the fans. I can still see the clear blue skies of that day. The beautiful sunny day etched in my mind forever.

Ray Houghton did some trojan work to get the ball in to the box and we (or Spain) scored to win the game 1-0.

So the other day I was rummaging round the attic and I found all my match programmes in the attic. The one vs Spain has Ray Houghton on the cover and I thought it might be a good gift to get it framed for my dad (who turned 93 this year) and get Ray to autograph it.

I emailed his agent but no response.

Short of hanging around RTE is there anyone who knows a way to contact Ray?

Or a good forger?

Thanks

P

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF8Iq5ofgyI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF8Iq5ofgyI)