Modern game is ‘like a bullfight’
Fifty five years is a long time to wait for a repeat and both men are confident that this mighty English team can be brought down to earth with a bang on Sunday.
O’Hanlon, a winger on the ’48 side, is now 79, while Reid, a gifted centre, celebrated his 80th birthday on St Patrick’s Day.
“We know from our own experience how hard it is to beat Ireland at Lansdowne Road,” declared O’Hanlon yesterday. “When you have 50,000 cheering you on, it’s a big advantage.”
Reid was of a similar view: “I think they’re good enough to win. They deserve it and it’s the best chance they will ever have. They play as a team and their handlers deserve great credit.
Bertie O’Hanlon and Paddy Reid remain loyal supporters of their clubs, Dolphin and Garryowen respectively. They aren’t exactly enthusiastic about the way the game has gone.
“It’s like Rugby League under Rugby Union rules,” argued O’Hanlon. “It’s just too physical, the ball goes out to the centre and immediately they cut back in to take on the forwards. If I had a son, I’d be slow to let him play rugby. It’s like a bullfight. You have Martin Johnson going out there waving his fist. It’s not right. You have to be 6 ft 2 ins and 17 stone to be considered big enough for the front-row. I was at a CBC celebration dinner a couple of years ago and I discovered that their schools pack was stones heavier than the Irish pack that did the Grand Slam in ’48. For God’s sake, Jim McCarthy was only 12½ stone.
“But they were great times and we had great fun. There was tremendous spirit in the side and we were very fit.
Professionalism changes everything in every sport. They spend more time in the gym nowadays than they do on the pitch. We used to spend a half hour at College Park on the eve of a match and have a short team talk after.”
Bertie attended the recent game against France but gave away his tickets for Sunday’s match. The price is not the reason, far from it, although he expressed surprised at having to pay 57 for a stand seat and aghast at reports that people are prepared to fork out 1, 200 for a ticket.
Paddy Reid will be in Lansdowne Road on Sunday and while hopeful and indeed confident of a positive result, accepts Bertie O’Hanlon’s Rugby League analogy while going a little further. “And it’s not good Rugby League either,” he noted. “By and larger, wingers are on the dole although this Irish team is trying to play rugby and deserve success for that. You’d be slow to let kids play the game nowadays. People are being taken out without the chance of protecting themselves and that’s sheer brutality.”
Paddy described the atmosphere prevailing in the Irish camp on that famous day in 1948 when they completed the Grand Slam against Wales at Ravenhill.
“We went out to Bangor on the morning of the game and I remember saying to Jim McCarthy how hard it was to believe we are going out today for the Triple Crown. On the way to the ground, somebody started singing Molly Malone and we took it up from there to arriving at Ravenhill. The place was packed and the atmosphere was electric. Our preparations had been very thorough. Every man was given a job to do. It was man for man, a real team situation.
“I don’t think they were ever going to beat us. We simply wouldn’t let them pass. The excitement afterwards was fantastic. It took ages to get to the dressing-room and many a jersey had been torn from our backs before we got there. I’m often amused by the number of people who tell me they shouldered me off ... if they all did, I’d never have come down at all.”
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