The 50th anniversary of a Guinness World Record set by Fossa Youth Club will be celebrated later this year.

In August 1975, members of the club played five-a-side soccer for 57 hours non-stop over the bank holiday weekend.
The marathon effort set a new world record and regained the title for Fossa, who had originally set the record at 55 hours before it was beaten by the Duke of York’s Royal Military School in Britain a short time later so they had to have second go a bring the record to 57 hours.
The original match was played at Fossa GAA grounds, with players rotating in and out but keeping the game going for more than two days and nights without a break
The players were eventually hosed down with cold water after the final whistle.
At the time, the achievement made national headlines. RTÉ News broadcast a report in August 1975 under the headline: “A Kerry youth club sets about creating a new world record for non-stop five-a-side football.”
The Killarney Advertiser also carried full coverage. Writing in his report, journalist Eamonn Fitzgerald said:
“Members of Fossa Youth Club [in Killarney, County Kerry[ spent the August bank holiday weekend breaking the world record for the longest game of five-a-side football. They played for 57 hours. The Fossa Club recaptured a record they had set originally at 55 hours which was broken by the Duke of York’s Royal Military School in Britain.”
He described the remarkable scenes at the finish:
“Players cooled off after the marathon game as onlookers gathered around the pitch to witness history being made. The club sent details of their latest 57-hour effort to the Guinness Book of Records for ratification.”
The feat was later confirmed by Guinness World Records.
Now, 50 years on, two of the original participants, James Houlihan and Noel Fitzgerald are contacting former club members who took part with the aim of organising a reunion later in the year.
Funds raised at the 1975 event went towards the construction of the new Prince of Peace Church in the village.