Shocking story of one-armed title-winning footballer who had limb amputated at 14 and was shot dead aged 38
WHEN you think of Belfast’s greatest footballing export, your mind immediately wanders to George Best – and rightly so.
But while Best has gone down in folklore as one of the all time greats – up there with Pele and Diego Maradona – another Northern Irish icon has somewhat faded into the mist.
That man is Jimmy Hasty.
To say his story is unique would be an understatement.
Hasty lost his arm aged 14, made history on the football pitch, took a job as a bookie and was shot dead at point-blank range aged 38 during ‘The Troubles‘ in Northern Ireland.
Following his death in 1974, Hasty has slowly been forgotten by the masses.
But his story is absolutely worth regaling.
Born in Belfast in 1936, Hasty was just 14 years old when he lost his left arm.
The teenager had just taken a job at Jennymount Mill when he was involved in an accident on his first day.
Hasty got his arm caught in a machine and had to have it amputated. He was awarded £1,200 in compensation.
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Nonetheless, the youngster was determined to follow his passion: football.
Hasty played for several youth teams in and around Belfast before ending up at Newry Town in Northern Ireland’s B division.
The forward was firing goal after goal, before Dundalk chairman Jim Malone – out and about on a scouting mission – urged the board to sign him.
However, another member of the board had heard the name – and quickly clicked he was the “One-Armed Wonder”.
The board rejected their chairman’s plea – but Malone refused to give up and signed the player with his own money, bringing him just south of the border.
Eventually, Malone pestered the board and the boss hard enough to convince them to give young Hasty his debut.
Records claim seemingly half of Dundalk descended on the stadium, curious to confirm the rumours of their new one-armed forward.
And what a debut he had.
Dundalk’s official record of the match claims: “He scored once and brought gasps of astonishment at his football skills.
“His ability to ghost past defenders was greeted with disbelief.
“Nor was he just a scorer – he was the general of every attack, holding the ball until executing perfect passes to his colleagues.”
Team-mates were in awe of his talent, in clear defiance of biology.
Francie Callan, his strike partner for Dundalk, claimed: “It’s not easy to be a footballer with an arm missing, you use your arms an awful lot in running, movement, balance…
“But somehow you wouldn’t know he had only one arm.”
Ex-Dundalk captain John Murphy even claimed Hasty used his missing limb to his advantage.
Murphy revealed: “He could lean on you with that stump so you couldn’t get off the ground, and the ref could be looking and see only a sleeve dangling.
“Everyone wanted to see the one-armed bandit… it was like the circus coming to town.
“He took the League of Ireland by the cobblers.”
Son of the ex-chairman, Paddy Malone, revealed he and his childhood friends would tuck their arm in their sleeve to emulate their hero.
He said: “We never considered that Jimmy Hasty had a disability, we just considered that he was a great player.”
Despite a string of injuries, Hasty went down in Dundalk history.
He scored 103 times across six seasons.
Most-impressively, Hasty helped to end the club’s 30-year league title drought in 1963.
That win resulted in a European Cup appearance – eventually losing 4-2 on aggregate.
After losing 3-0 to Zurich at home, Hasty nearly dragged his side into the next round, scoring one, setting up another and nearly scoring his side’s third.
Dundalk ultimately lost 4-2 on aggregate, but the 2-1 win in Switzerland went down in history as the first European win by an Irish side ever.
After a brief stint at Drogheda between 1966 and 1967, Hasty retired and forged a new life in Belfast.
He married childhood sweetheart, Margaret, and the pair welcomed two sons – Paul and Martin – to the world.
TRAGEDY
Hasty took a job as a bookmaker – and it was on his way to work one day that tragedy struck.
Around 8am on October 11, 1974, Hasty was walking to work when a car stopped.
The driver shot Hasty three times in the back in a sectarian murder attributed to the Protestant Action Group – a cover name for the Ulster Volunteer Force.
In the catalogue of those killed in The Troubles, Hasty features as number 1,205.
The murder left chairman and friend Malone heartbroken.
Son Paddy said: “It was the only time I saw my father cry.”
His family, too, were left crestfallen.
But Hasty’s son, Paul, got to live his dream, too: To watch his father play football.
Since 2015, there have been three documentaries centering around the ‘One-Armed Wonder’ – most recently released on Uefa TV in March 2023.
Seeing old footage of his dad in his hey-day, Paul revealed: “[Getting to see him play] you knew it wasn’t a fairytale or made up.
“It was fantastic. Like a hundred Christmases at once.”