Sir, – The reaction to the passing of Anthony Foley has been extraordinary. He was an extraordinary rugby player but it has been more than that. Much more. I think it also reflects the immense impact that his Munster rugby team made on so many people during their pursuit and ultimate winning of the European Cup. It was bigger than rugby. Far bigger. They were a great side. But there have been many other great sides. They had setbacks along the way. Many other teams had setbacks. They captured people’s imagination well beyond Munster and were the second favourite team of so many non-Munster folk.
I genuinely think that what made them special was the values they championed. Not values they would talk or write about but just practised. Integrity, honesty, humility, hard work, focus on the team and not the individual, extraordinary connection with and responsibility to their native place and the people they represented.
I met my former Irish coach Tommy Kiernan and teammate Donal Lenihan coming out of Twickenham having lost the 2000 European final 9-8 to Northampton.When I tried to commiserate with them they said “We were beaten by a better team.We will come back stronger”.
The reaction was the same from the Munster folk I met after the 2002 defeat to Leicester in Cardiff.
The same graciousness in defeat that they were to show in victory in 2006 and 2008.
They really connected with people in the way few teams do. They would never claim to be angels but were a genuinely special collection of men bonded to a special cause.
These things don’t just happen. They are built. Not just by exceptional players but by exceptional people. People with real values.
Anthony Foley was seen inside Munster and beyond as at the heart of this extraordinary phenomenon.
There were many others as well (some of whom were bigger names internationally) but none were more identified with the Munster cause than he. Irish rugby fans beyond Munster appreciated them because they represented Ireland so well on the world stage. We took pride in them as Irish, even if we didn’t always admit it – not to their faces anyway.
The profound sense of loss goes well beyond those who would normally be touched by the passing of a sportsman so young – his family, his friends, his teammates, his supporters and broad circle of acquaintances.
I think it is because we feel the loss of someone who helped build something special, much bigger than the winning of any particular championship or tournament. Anthony Foley built something special through harnessing the qualities and values of people at their very best. May he rest in peace. – Yours, etc,
HUGO MacNEILL,
[Ireland and British and Irish Lions],
Killiney,
Co Dublin.