Table Tennis Ulster is saddened to learn of the death of Alfie Wright yesterday, 4th November. Alfie’s funeral will be on Monday 11th November at 2pm in Greenwell Presbyterian Church, Newtownards. He will be sadly missed by his many friends. Sincere condolences to his wife Margaret, daughters Julie and Joanne, and the family circle.

Alfie was a great character and well known and liked both north and south of the border. He made a great contribution to our sport and will be dearly missed.

Alfie started playing table tennis in the early 60s in the Glenford club in Ards. He was one of many talented players from that club including George Cardy, Clifford Thompson, Jack Cash and his future wife Margaret Finlay. Alfie was Irish Boys’ Champion while Margaret was Irish Girls’ Champion. However Alfie stopped playing table tennis to concentrate on football, keeping goal for a number of clubs including Ards and Sligo Rovers. In 1975 Alfie came back into table tennis following the death of Ulster Coach Cliff Thompson. He was instrumental in setting up the Ards Arena club which allowed a lot of the Movilla players to continue playing in Ards. Alfie also became a member of the Ulster Branch and was NPC of the Northern Ireland team at the 1977 Commonwealth Championships in Guernsey.