Last week Linfieldfc.com revealed how a routine enquiry about a 1907 League winners medal and a team photo led to the rediscovery of the rich footballing history of Samuel Young - a Linfield centre forward who scored twice in Ireland's historic British Championship success of 1914 and who went on to serve on the Linfield Management Committee between 1948 and 1953.
The story in this centenary year of the 1914 British Championship success, has sparked great interest among Linfield supporters, rightly proud of one of their club's players contribution to a major national sporting triumph which was not to be repeated until 1980.
Yesterday, Samuel Young's nephew, Les Nelson was a welcome guest in the Windsor Park boardroom where he was greeted by Linfield Chairman Jim Kerr and club directors Irvine Woods, Frankie Taylor and A.C.
Les proudly showed off the Irish League winners medal won by his uncle in 1907 and which was engraved on the reverse of the medal with the inscriptions - S. Young - LFC - 1907.
Les also showed a team photo which he had been led to believe, was from the 1920s but which was proven from the IFA 100 Year History Book, to be the Ireland team which beat Wales 2-1 in Wrexham on January 19, 1914, with Samuel scoring one of the goals on the way to that historic British Championship success.
Irvine Woods was pleased to show Les a large framed photo of a Linfield team (including Samuel Young) with the title "a Linfield team whose success brought cheer to the trenches", while Frankie Taylor and A.C. discussed other club records about Samuel's association with the club. Les was also shown the team photos and team records from the 1914 British Championship success, as featured in the IFA 100 Year History book, written by the late, great Malcolm Brodie.
Frankie Taylor was able to reveal from his club records that to win the 1907 League Winners medal now in nephew Les Nelson's possession, Samuel Young contributed by scoring 6 goals (2 v Bobemians and one each v Distillery, Belfast Celtic, Glentoran and Shelbourne) in the 14 league games that made up that season's campaign. 10 games were won, 3 were drawn, with only one lost in the total of 14 league games that season.
Frankie was also able to reveal that Samuel Young played in the August 29, 1905 0-0 draw with Distillery which was to officially commemorate the opening of Linfield's new home of Windsor Park. The team for that historic game was Mehaffey, Sheppard, Darling, Anderson, Milne, Stewart, Harper, Jones, Connolly, Soye and Young.
Samuel Young also played a few days later (September 2, 1905) in the first competitive game at Windsor Park - a 1-0 victory against Glentoran with Soye the Goalscorer. There was only the one change from the team of a few days earlier - Rea replacing Connolly.
The centenary anniversary of Samuel Young scoring in the 1-1 draw with Scotland at Windsor Park to win the British Championship will be on March 14, 2014 and one day later, Linfield will entertain Dungannon Swifts on the same Windsor Park pitch in a vital Irish League game.
Linfieldfc.com is delighted to reveal that Les Nelson has accepted the club's invitation for him and one of his sons to be a special guest of the club on that day, to mark the occasion exactly 100 years previously, when a Linfield centre forward named Samuel Young scored the decisive goal to win the British Championship in that very same stadium for the first and what was to be (until 1980) the only time in the history of Irish football.
Les Nelson spoke to Linfieldfc.com in the Windsor Park boardroom and his interview, expressing his delight at uncovering so much family and footballing history, will be added to Linfieldfc.com in due course.