Northern Ireland striker Gerry Armstrong's 1980 British Home Championship Medal up for auction with £8K-10K estimate
The British Home Championship Medal awarded to Northern Ireland legend Gerry Armstrong in 1980 will be sold to the highest bidder Ross’s auctioneers have said.
The medal will go on view at Ross’s Montgomery Street Rooms from today (March 15) and bids can be made online at www.rosss.com. Bidding ends on Thursday, March 23 at 7pm.
Gerry’s medal is cast in 9ct gold, bearing the Northern Ireland crest in relief. The reverse is engraved ‘British Championship Winners, May 1980. G Armstrong’. It goes under the hammer with an estimate of £8000-£10,000.
The British Home Championship was an annual football competition spanning 100 years from 1884 to 1984 and making it the oldest international association football competition in the world.
It was competed for between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, who won it in 1980 and again in 1984.
A Ross’s spokesperson said: “Gerry Armstrong represented his country for 62 games, scoring 12 goals.
“We all remember the historic goal scored by Gerry Armstrong in the 1982 World Cup over host nation Spain in Valencia which still remains part of football folklore.
"In 1980, he represented Northern Ireland in the British Home Championship, which they won outright.
“To have a winner’s medal from Gerry Armstrong is truly historic as Northern Ireland had only won this prestigious tournament once in 96 years up to then.”
Gerry began his sporting life as a Gaelic footballer and Hurling and won numerous honours for club and county.
At just 16 years old he began his soccer career with Bangor and played Irish League football for three years before Tottenham Hotspur came to sign him in 1975. He spent five seasons at Spurs before going on to play for the likes of Watford and Real Mallorca.
On his retirement he became the voice of Spanish football for over 20 years.
While Gerry’s medal may be going under the hammer, fans won’t be getting their hands on his old shirts. In a recent interview he said: “My shirts from the World Cup go back from over 40 years ago. The shirts are priceless – they are very special and sentimental to me so I don’t think I’ll ever be selling or throwing them out.”