Peter Ball, the Sunday Tribune soccer correspondent died last night after a short illness. He was 53 years old. Ball had contributed to the newspaper since 1986 and had previously written for Magill magazine. He was a well-known and popular member of the soccer correspondents' group which followed the Irish team in recent years.

Formerly a football and cricket writer for the London Times, Observer and Time Out, he collaborated on several sports biographies, most notably Only A Game with Eamonn Dunphy and Fox On The Run with Graeme Fowler - a winner of the Sports Book Of The Year award.