SPORTING AND medical figures have paid warm tributes to Ireland’s 1948 rugby Grand Slam captain Dr Karl Mullen, who has died at the age of 82.
His passing comes barely a month after Ireland bridged a 61-year gap when completing a Grand Slam with a memorable win in Cardiff.
A top-class international hooker, Mullen assumed the captaincy for the last three games of the 1948 Grand Slam success.
He was widely acknowledged to have brought a new dimension to the captaincy at a time when the captain was effectively the team’s strategist, especially in analysing his own team and the opposition’s.
Like his Grand Slam teammate Jack Kyle, Karl Mullen followed a career into medicine. Educated at Belvedere College, he went on to play for Old Belvedere and gained the first of his 25 Ireland caps as a hooker in 1947 against France.
Mullen was first choice for the 1948 Five Nations Championship. While Ernie Strathdee captained Ireland for the opening game against France, Mullen took over for the remainder of the tournament.
It was a fitting tribute that he and the rest of the surviving members of the 1948 team were able to witness the Ireland team repeat the Grand Slam this year.
On the famous victory in Ravenhill against Wales on March 13th, 1948, Dr Mullen said: “We were tense and anxious, yet I knew and the players knew we could win. Every man had his say, it was an important part of the pre-match preparations in a side whose hallmark was team spirit.”
He led Ireland to a second Triple Crown in 1949 and was also selected as captain for the British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia in 1950, playing in 17 games on the tour, including three test matches.
Dr Mullen also enjoyed a distinguished career in medicine. He was a fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and he worked in Dublin’s Mount Carmel Hospital for more than 40 years, until his retirement in 2002.
When he retired, it was estimated that he had delivered more than 40,000 babies.
A spokeswoman for the hospital said Dr Mullen was responsible for the successful setting up and running of the hospital’s maternity unit. “He was an excellent clinician who was loved by all his patients and staff alike,” she said.
Irish Hospital Consultants Association assistant secretary general Donal Duffy noted that Dr Mullen was one of the founder members of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association in the late 1980s.
“He was a distinguished medic and was highly regarded throughout his career,” Mr Duffy said.
Consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist Prof John Bonnar said Dr Mullen was as successful in medicine as he was on the pitch. He was “very highly regarded” and had “a fantastic reputation” with his patients.
At the end of his playing career, Dr Mullen continued to be involved in the game and had a noted administrative career which included serving as president of the Leinster Branch (1963/64) and also as chairman of the Irish selectors.
IRFU president John Lyons said Dr Mullen “was one of the great heroes of Irish rugby and leaves a lasting legacy for his contributions as a renowned hooker for Old Belvedere, Leinster, Ireland and the Lions and also for his input after his distinguished playing days as a committed and enthusiastic administrator of the game”.
Leinster branch president Des Kavanagh said Dr Mullen’s contribution to Irish sport would “forever be written in the annals of time”.
He said Dr Mullen was “an extraordinary man, a true leader of men in every sense who inspired all those who played with him.”.
Dr Mullen was predeceased by his wife Doreen. He is survived by his eight children, Louise, Niamh, Mary, Gaye, Anna, Karl, Paul and Marc. His removal to the Church of the Sacred Heart and St Brigid, Kilcullen, Co Kildare, will be held at 7pm today. Burial at St Brigid’s Cemetery, Kilcullen, will follow 11am Requiem Mass tomorrow.