Shay Healy says ‘low-life thug’ stole his Eurovision trophy

Shay Healy, the songwriter who composed the Irish 1980 Eurovision-winning entry What's Another Year, has lashed out at the "low down, dirty rotten, low-life thug" who stole the trophy from his house.

The plastic trophy was taken from a glass shelf in the bathroom of his Dublin home.

The 74-year-old took to Facebook to decry the theft, saying "some audacious, irreverent, disrespectful and rude ass***e, has stolen my Eurovision trophy which I won in the Hague in Holland in 1980".

The former journalist and broadcaster said last Thursday was the 37th anniversary of his 1980 Eurovision win. The song, performed by singer Johnny Logan at the contest, reached number one in the Irish and UK music charts, as well as in 10 other European countries in the weeks after the contest.

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“Who would steal such a thing? It’s not like it was any great shakes as a piece of art. It was a clear plastic, multi-layered ornament that had a gold coin floating in the interior of it.

‘Precious award’

“Is there some young fellow in his bedroom standing in front a mirror with a hairbrush in his hand pretending he’s Johnny Logan, while my precious award sits on his mantelpiece forlorn and bereft of its proper home?” the songwriter quipped.

"Mind you, the light-fingered jacko who shagged off with my trophy may have solved a problem for me in obviating the need for me to make a decision as to which of my two sons will inherit the plastic geegaw," Mr Healy said.

“I’m assuming it’s a ‘he’, as a ‘she’ wouldn’t do that kind of thing … I’m not that fussed about awards and trophies but I resent somebody screwing with my musical history,” the songwriter stated.

Looking back on his famous win he said: “the Eurovision trophy was a disappointment as there was no cash prize to go with the award”.

The songwriter also hit out at the state of the music industry today, with the advent of streaming and YouTube meaning anything can go viral and pick up ninety million views, he claimed.

“The drawbacks are that for the poor schmucks like songwriters, there’s no royalties on the 90 million hits to be picked up. Everything is streaming nowadays and in places like Scandinavia they don’t buy CDs anymore,” he said.

The former RTÉ broadcaster appealed to the thief saying, "if you find yourself passing by you can drop back my trophy, no questions asked".