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The Guardian
5 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
‘The Lions built this club': watching the first Test at Ballymena RFC, home of Lions legends
An hour before kick-off, and I'm beginning to wonder if watching the first Test at Ballymena RFC was such a bright idea. It's only me and the girl working the bar, and she doesn't have a strong opinion on whether or not Tom Curry should be playing No 7. 'Which paper did you say you were with, the Ballymena Guardian?' No, it's the other Guardian, I say. 'Oh, the Antrim one.' Just about the time I was beginning to think that all of Ballymena's thousand-or-so members must have been among the tens of thousands going the other way into Portrush for the Open, they began to trickle in, one, two, three, four dozen, and more. Soon enough everyone's comparing the vintages of their Lions jerseys. There's one from '01, another from '05, a few from 2013, and a couple of little kids, more interested in playing their own game than following the one on the TV, have the 2025 edition. They're too young to understand anything much about the match except that it matters to the adults. The Lions is an idea that gets passed on from one generation to the next, follow it back long enough and you'll end up at to two men who were born and bred in this very club, Willie John McBride and Syd Millar, who did as much as anyone to make the team into what they are today. Millar, the son of a butcher, and McBride, the son of a farmer, were both Ballymena men. There's a wood-panelled room upstairs in the clubhouse which is named after them. It's filled with their memorabilia. They played, coached, managed, and chaired nine Lions tours between them, and led the legendary 1974 tour, when Millar was coach and McBride captain of the team that went unbeaten in South Africa. There's a huge picture of McBride in the moment after the third Test all along one wall, signed by every one of his squad. When Scott Quinnell visited here four years ago, he broke down in tears standing in front of it. 'Attitude is the first thing a Lions team needs to have,' Millar said. 'If the attitude is right, the other things fall into place.' Downstairs, the Lions' attitude seems to be shaping up just fine. They are 10-0 up already, and the sting has already gone from the game. Truth is, it doesn't feel like there's a lot of jeopardy on this tour. Most people in the bar seem worried for Australia, who are in the unfamiliar position of being seen as easy-beats. 'I'd hoped the Wallabies would give them more of a game than this,' says the man on the next barstool along. Turns out he has a Lions jersey of his own at home, 1989 vintage, although he's not wearing it. 'But then,' he says, 'I was only a midweek player.' Stevie, as they all call Steve Smith, was the reserve hooker for Finlay Calder's Lions team, who came back from 1-0 down to beat Australia. 'I played against his da',' he says, watching the young Tom Lynagh on TV. Smith has the look of a man who's done some hard living. Maybe his busted knuckles are still recovering from the time he knocked out four of Sean Fitzpatrick's teeth. He still seems a little in awe of McBride. 'They were big shoes to fill.' But he loves Millar, who gave him a break by picking him for the Barbarians when he had been banned from playing for Ulster because of his misadventures on tour. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion But then everyone here owes a lot to Millar. He even came back to serve as the club rep after he finished his four-year stint as the chair of the International Rugby Board (now World Rugby). They say he used to give the union hell in the provincial committee meetings. When the French decided to award him the Legion d'honneur, they asked if he would fly out to Paris for the ceremony. No, Millar, told them, but you're welcome to come here, and we can do it upstairs in the Ballymena clubhouse. In Millar's day Ballymena were the best club in Ulster, and Ulster were the best team in Ireland. Smith was part of the Ulster team that beat the Wallabies during their famous grand slam tour in 1984, 15-12 at Ravenhill, 'a better Australian side than this one', I say, and he doesn't disagree. When Ulster won the Heineken Cup in 1998-99 they had 15 Ballymena players in the squad. No wonder the club won the all-Ireland title a few years later. It's different now. This is the first time in 20 years there's not an Ulsterman on tour with the Lions, but no one's complaining, Ulster are on their uppers, three million in debt and third-bottom in the URC. At Ballymena, too, there are members who ask why the club aren't winning like they used to. But back then McBride, Millar, Smith, Trevor Ringland and all the rest of the international players used to turn out for the club at every opportunity. These days their best young players get funnelled into the professional system, and they don't see them again till they're spat out the other end. They even took down a photograph of one of their more recent international players because he had never actually turned out for them, only been registered to the club by the governing body. So Ballymena's changing. They've become a community hub, and a participation club, with five adult sides, and a full slate in age groups, and a side for players with learning disabilities. 'The Lions built this club,' Smith tells me. 'It put us on the map.' But it's true, I say back to him, that once upon a time a couple of men from this club built the Lions, too.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
‘The Lions built this club': watching the first Test at Ballymena RFC, home of Lions legends
An hour before kick-off, and I'm beginning to wonder if watching the first Test at Ballymena RFC was such a bright idea. It's only me and the girl working the bar, and she doesn't have a strong opinion on whether or not Tom Curry should be playing No 7. 'Which paper did you say you were with, the Ballymena Guardian?' No, it's the other Guardian, I say. 'Oh, the Antrim one.' Just about the time I was beginning to think that all of Ballymena's thousand-or-so members must have been among the tens of thousands going the other way into Portrush for the Open, they began to trickle in, one, two, three, four dozen, and more. Soon enough everyone's comparing the vintages of their Lions jerseys. There's one from '01, another from '05, a few from 2013, and a couple of little kids, more interested in playing their own game than following the one on the TV, have the 2025 edition. They're too young to understand anything much about the match except that it matters to the adults. The Lions is an idea that gets passed on from one generation to the next, follow it back long enough and you'll end up at to two men who were born and bred in this very club, Willie John McBride and Syd Millar, who did as much as anyone to make the team into what they are today. Millar, the son of a butcher, and McBride, the son of a farmer, were both Ballymena men. There's a wood-panelled room upstairs in the clubhouse which is named after them. It's filled with their memorabilia. They played, coached, managed, and chaired nine Lions tours between them, and led the legendary 1974 tour, when Millar was coach and McBride captain of the team that went unbeaten in South Africa. There's a huge picture of McBride in the moment after the third Test all along one wall, signed by every one of his squad. When Scott Quinnell visited here four years ago, he broke down in tears standing in front of it. 'Attitude is the first thing a Lions team needs to have,' Millar said. 'If the attitude is right, the other things fall into place.' Downstairs, the Lions' attitude seems to be shaping up just fine. They are 10-0 up already, and the sting has already gone from the game. Truth is, it doesn't feel like there's a lot of jeopardy on this tour. Most people in the bar seem worried for Australia, who are in the unfamiliar position of being seen as easy-beats. 'I'd hoped the Wallabies would give them more of a game than this,' says the man on the next barstool along. Turns out he has a Lions jersey of his own at home, 1989 vintage, although he's not wearing it. 'But then,' he says, 'I was only a midweek player.' Stevie, as they all call Steve Smith, was the reserve hooker for Finlay Calder's Lions team, who came back from 1-0 down to beat Australia. 'I played against his da',' he says, watching the young Tom Lynagh on TV. Smith has the look of a man who's done some hard living. Maybe his busted knuckles are still recovering from the time he knocked out four of Sean Fitzpatrick's teeth. He still seems a little in awe of McBride. 'They were big shoes to fill.' But he loves Millar, who gave him a break by picking him for the Barbarians when he had been banned from playing for Ulster because of his misadventures on tour. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion But then everyone here owes a lot to Millar. He even came back to serve as the club rep after he finished his four-year stint as the chair of the International Rugby Board (now World Rugby). They say he used to give the union hell in the provincial committee meetings. When the French decided to award him the Legion d'honneur, they asked if he would fly out to Paris for the ceremony. No, Millar, told them, but you're welcome to come here, and we can do it upstairs in the Ballymena clubhouse. In Millar's day Ballymena were the best club in Ulster, and Ulster were the best team in Ireland. Smith was part of the Ulster team that beat the Wallabies during their famous grand slam tour in 1984, 15-12 at Ravenhill, 'a better Australian side than this one', I say, and he doesn't disagree. When Ulster won the Heineken Cup in 1998-99 they had 15 Ballymena players in the squad. No wonder the club won the all-Ireland title a few years later. It's different now. This is the first time in 20 years there's not an Ulsterman on tour with the Lions, but no one's complaining, Ulster are on their uppers, three million in debt and third-bottom in the URC. At Ballymena, too, there are members who ask why the club aren't winning like they used to. But back then McBride, Millar, Smith, Trevor Ringland and all the rest of the international players used to turn out for the club at every opportunity. These days their best young players get funnelled into the professional system, and they don't see them again till they're spat out the other end. They even took down a photograph of one of their more recent international players because he had never actually turned out for them, only been registered to the club by the governing body. So Ballymena's changing. They've become a community hub, and a participation club, with five adult sides, and a full slate in age groups, and a side for players with learning disabilities. 'The Lions built this club,' Smith tells me. 'It put us on the map.' But it's true, I say back to him, that once upon a time a couple of men from this club built the Lions, too.
Daily Mail
16-07-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Sir Clive Woodward: These are my 50 greatest Lions players of all time - who claims top spot?
The first memory I have of the British & Irish Lions is watching the 1971 Tests with New Zealand, games which featured true greats like Sir Gareth Edwards, Willie John McBride and JPR Williams, among others. I was hooked straight away. As they were then, the Lions remain rugby's greatest team. I love everything it represents, with players from the four Home Nations coming together to form a common bond once every four years against the best of the southern hemisphere. Your browser does not support iframes.
Times
13-07-2025
- Sport
- Times
Henry Pollock: We want to win Test series 3-0 and be best Lions team ever
Henry Pollock revealed the British & Irish Lions' plan for the Test matches against Australia — to win the series 3-0. The Lions have swept the board in Australia, beating the Western Force, Queensland Reds, NSW Waratahs, ACT Brumbies and the Australia & New Zealand Invitational XV by a combined score of 211-53. Now their aim is to whitewash the Wallabies, starting with Saturday's first Test in Brisbane. This is part of their pitch to be 'the best Lions team ever' which took an immediate blow in Dublin when they lost 28-24 to Argentina in their pre-tour home fixture. However the Lions have rebuilt their confidence in Australia, and Pollock wants them to 'dominate'. The Lions were last unbeaten on foreign soil in 1974, when they won 21 of 22 matches, drawing the final, fourth Test against South Africa having already won the Test series 3-0. Those 'Invincibles', led by captain Willie John McBride, will likely never be surpassed in the Lions record books.
IOL News
06-07-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
British Lions tours were more fun in the amateur days — ask the Irish rover who masterminded a jailbreak
The British and Irish Lions tour is under way in Australia and I came across a delightful recollection of the Queensland Reds' defeat of the mighty Lions of 1971, the team that went on to win a series in New Zealand. The anecdotes in the story highlight what a different sport it was in the amateur days and it is hard to argue that far more fun was had when the players were not playing too make a living. The Reds' game was the Lions' tour opener and they blamed their 15-11 loss on hangovers and jet lag. And they weren't lying. Their travel schedule was excruciating and when they got to their last stop before Australia, Hong Kong, they had a long night on the lash. Their London to Brisbane marathon was via Frankfurt, Tehran, Delhi and Hong Kong. 'I was on the field. I wouldn't say I was playing. All I wanted to do at half-time was lie down,' captain Willie John McBride said. On the Queensland side, one of the players, Jeff McLean, was pulling beers in his father's pub on the morning of the game before throwing his gear together to play on the wing. It was no easy thing getting into the ground for the Queensland players. 'There was such a traffic jam that the coppers stopped us at the gate at Ballymore and weren't going to let our car in,'' McLean said "(Reserve flanker) Jules Guerassimoff was with me and said to the policeman: 'Have you ever seen this many people riot? No, but you will, because we're the players'.'' Despite the sweetness of beating the star-studded Lions, Queensland captain Barry Honan was back teaching maths and physics at Marist College the next day. Honan said, 'They were the true amateur days. I was back at work the next day and got a bill from the Queensland Rugby Union a few weeks later for jerseys I'd swapped.' But my favourite stories from Lions tours are about the ultimate Irish rover, Blair 'Paddy 'Mayne, who got up to spectacular mischief in South Africa in 1938. In Durban, a bored Mayne contrived to have some fun. With his sidekick Bunners Travers, a coal miner from Wales, they dressed up as sailors and prowled the roughest pubs at the harbour, causing so many fights that the Natal Mercury carried a report about unrest in the harbour. Both made it back to their hotel intact and unnamed. In Johannesburg, Mayne noticed prison laborours erecting temporary stands at Ellis Park. He got chatting to a prisoner and was told the fellow had been jailed for stealing a loaf of bread. Mayne was appalled at the harshness of the sentence. That night, he and Travers snuck back to the compound at Ellis Park where the prisoners were sleeping with bolt cutters. A hole was cut in the fence and the prisoner freed and given a set of clothes. The fellow spent a few days on the run before being rearrested — a policeman had stopped him because he looked too well dressed. It was Cape Town that witnessed Mayne's tour de force. The Lions players were walking from their hotel to an official function, resplendent in white dinner suits, when Mayne spotted a group of men sitting outside a bar with rifles and lamps. Mayne, a skilled marksman, was curious and quietly peeled off from his group and joined them. It turned out these men were on their way to the outskirts of Cape Town for a nocturnal hunt. Mayne's roommate, George Cromey, read until 3am in his bed, waiting for Mayne to return. He had just given up and was dozing off when the door was flung off its hinges and a triumphant Mayne stood in the doorway and proclaimed: 'I have just shot a Springbok!' A highly alarmed Cromey switched on the light, and there was Mayne, his white suit streaked in red, with a four-legged Springbok draped over his shoulders. 'The boys have been complaining that the meat in South Africa is not as fresh as at home,' Mayne beamed. He then proceeded to captain Sam Walker's room and flung the animal at him, adding: 'Fresh meat for you, Sammy!' Unfortunately, one of the horns jabbed into Walker's thigh and he could not play for a few weeks. But how to dispose of the antelope? Mayne knew that the manager of the Springboks was staying in the same hotel. This fellow had a balcony outside his room and Mayne somehow climbed up to it with the bok and hung it over the railing with a note attached: 'A gift of fresh meat from the British Lions rugby team.' Mike Greenaway is the author of best-selling books The Fireside Springbok and Bok to Bok.
