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In the middle part of
the last century there was many a pitch-and-toss school in and around Newry.
The one I remember most was the one in Dromalane Park. It usually started after 10.30 Mass down at
the football pitch.
There were first the ‘looker-outers,’ usually
young boys who had a ball and looked out for the police. If they were seen then the shout went up and
the members of the ‘toss school’ took up playing football. The boys had it down
to fine art and I don’t remember anyone getting caught by the police at the
toss.
Then
there were the ‘stookies’. They were in
charge of the money of the person tossing the half-pennies. It was their job to get as much as possible on
for the person tossing the two coins who had to ‘head’ the half-pennies. The call might go up ‘heads two shillings’ or
whatever and if one was betting on him not to head the coins, then the reply
was ‘harps your two shillings’ or what ever part of it you liked. If he headed the coins then he collected the
money and stayed ‘in’ until he harped the coins. The ‘stookie’ would get a few
bob from the player if he won. The
stookie would then start into playing the toss so the money went round. It was
never ‘heads’ or ‘tails’ by the way it was always ‘heads’ or ‘harps’.
It
was pretty hard to cheat at the toss but people were sometimes found to have a
two headed half-penny but woe betide the person caught with one. To make sure that all was above board the
‘harps’ side had to be up front so that the punters could see them. Many a wage was lost at a toss and many a
person went away with quite a bit of money. This is one such story.
One
Sunday at about 1.30pm the toss was going well when a gentleman, who was on his
way home from certain club for his dinner, stopped at the toss. The call went up: “ Heads a pound” and the
said gentleman said, “I’ll cover
that.” He duly did, and went on to cover
any other bet with any one who would take his money. The player harped the coins and lost. The
gentleman won his money and continued to back ‘harps’ for about twenty minutes
and won every time. He then bid everyone
good day and went home leaving the school nearly broke.
The next two Sundays he proceeded to
do the same and again broke the school. On the forth Sunday things changed. The looker-outers were told to forget the
police and watch out for a certain gentleman. The shout went up, “Here he comes!”—
The toss was abandoned and the players
started to play football. They waited until he went into the house and the toss
recommenced. The next Sunday the same
thing occurred and after that he came no more. I don’t know if he ever wondered
what happened the toss and why the boys always seemed to be playing football
when he passed by. Well he does now.
Who was that gentleman?
Step forward one Tom McKeown, writer with
Newry Journal and late of Dromalane Parish.
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Recreation 
