I was saddened to read of the death of former Thirds right back - Matt Balunas, who was a real star in the sides of the forties & fifties.
Matt joined Thirds from Newarthill Juniors, in May, 1943, and went on to provide almost uninterrupted service in the Colours untill May, 1955.
He made the right back berth his very own, and formed a superb defensive pertnership[ with Johnny Kelly, for a full five seasons. Recognised as the finest full back pairing of that era.
Matt had been a miner before turning football pro. Very few if any "flying wingers" flew past him
Many years ago in discussion with the late Celtic legend Charlie Tully, the name of Balunas came up. Charlie comments " Yes he was a terrific defender, and if I was to be sidelined for any reason in my time at Parkhead, then I genuinely hoped it would be when scheduled to play Thirds. He was my personal bogey man, and i have nothing but admiration for him" - quite an accolade.
Matt played for Thirds just over 250 games and never gave less than best.
A true Club man, and a gentleman, Matt will be sadly missed, particularly by his family, to whom
Sorry Panda, Forgot a number of you are overseas. It went into a lot of detail about Matts time at Thirds, was a very good lenght, almsot I would say a quarter of a "Glasgow Herald" page. He was at Newarthill before the HiHi. Playing in the game against Celtic for Thirds in the Glasgow cup had a crowd of 86,000 at it. Talks a lot about the Thirds players Matt played with and compares him to players today. There is also a large picture of Matt playing in a Thirds away top. The article is similar to tone to the heralds tribute to the late great Jocky Robertson again a very touching piece by Bob Crampsey.
What I will do Panda is try and see if I can find an online link to the "Glasgow Herald" story anywhere. If not then I will try and type it though as I say it is of some length, alternatively I would be more than happy to photocopy it and psot it to anyone wanting to see a copy including yourself Panda.
