Willie-John McBride – a veritable  ‘Player of the Century’!

 
Long before Ben Stone and I launched the Friday Night Sports Show on Radio Pembrokeshire (which we always taped on Wednesday at 2pm) I was lucky to be invited to my first sporting social evening when Tenby United’s clubhouse in Frog Street was the venue for an ‘Evening With . . .’ Event put on by a drinks sponsor in front of a packed audience.
 
And it was small wonder the place was packed because the two famous speaking guests were none other than world-famous rugby stars Phil Bennett and Willie-John McBride - and somehow, I was lucky to be sitting close to those veritable giants of their sport.
 

What an honour to meet both great characters of rugby

 
I was lucky to meet Phil twice more, as reported in another of these features but to actually speak to the great man of Irish Rugby was amazing and to have my photograph taken with both of them was truly the real icing on the Carne cake!
 
Willie-John was a giant of a man who looked even more imposing than his 6’4’ and 17 stone 5lbs frame suggested, with a surprisingly soft Irish brogue as he spoke in total silence to a captivated audience.
 
He held very strong views on the state of the game in Ireland, The UK and across the world – and we were all captivated!
 

What a playing record – and such modesty about it!

 
Willie-John was very modest about his achievements as he said that he was just lucky to be in the right place and the right time when he was young - but there is no doubt it was far more than that  because from 1962 to 1975 he earned 63 caps (11 of them as captain), a record-breaking number of 17 appearances for the British & Irish Lions, including 71 appearances in the coveted red jersey on tours to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand in 1962, 66, 68, 71 and 74!
 
Those remarkable figures include the captaincy in South Africa in 1974 where they came away unbeaten, with three test wins and a draw.
 
So, it is small wonder that Willie-John was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2009 and named as ‘Rugby Personality of the Century’ five years earlier in a newspaper poll - and awarded the CBE by Queen Elizabeth in 2019 for his services to rugby!
 
At the Frog Street fiesta, Willy-John told is about starting out at the Ballymena Academy at 17 and said that another highlight was scoring his only international in his final appearance, against France.
 
He was also asked about the infamous ‘99 call’’ when The Lions played tests against a South African team renowned for its intimidatory rugby and the Lions decided that any foul play against a Lions’ player would result in a ‘one in, all in’ approach, with skipper McBride issuing the call and every player piling in to serve notice of a refusal to put up with any skullduggery. And it worked!
 
Surprisingly, Will John admitted that he was not for replacements, other than for an injury ratified by a doctor, and felt that 23-man squads were ridiculous.
 

And finally . . .

 
After he had stepped down, he coached the Irish team for a while and was team manager when the Lions toured New Zealand in 1983 - but they lost that 4-0 to a rampaging All Blacks’ team.
 
Now 85, Willie-John McBride, is still going strongly and is rightly revered in Ireland, and across the rugby-playing world, and I will never forget his speech that night or his frank answers to questions - and the time just flew by because it was as good as any I have ever heard in the long time since that memorable evening with The Seasiders!