Guess who’s coming to dinner?
An ex-clubman, Tony is guest speaker at Dolphin's centenary dinner and it will be an honour to be in the same room as a true hero.
When God was throwing his great gifts buffet, O'Reilly loaded his plate with film star looks, Olympian ability, wit, a large dollop of intelligence and lashings of charisma. The anecdotes are too numerous to mention but suffice to say, at the dinner for all-time rugby characters, O'Reilly will be guest speaker and Willie John, Campese, McLaren, Meads et al, will be spellbound.
Rugby has produced many great characters, every club seems to have one colourful individual who becomes one of their defining symbols. I remember John 'Diver' Casey at UCC and Con Murphy in Lansdowne, there was Ned O'Connor in Cork Constitution, a true gentleman, and of course, Frankie Flynn still belts out the 'Isle' for Shannon.
In Dolphin, we have a wonderful little rogue by the name of Billy Neiland. Due to his time with the St John's Ambulance brigade he is known to all as Billy St John or Doc, even though his medical knowledge wouldn't get him through a game of Operation.
Billy also served in the British Army and retains a tremendous devotion to the British monarchy.
Despite spending his short military service peeling potatoes in 1950s Germany, he claims to have had a central role in every major military engagement of World War II. The Normandy landings, jungle warfare in Burma, the North African campaign, you name it, Doc was there.
Billy's war stories are as legendary as they are outrageous. The most famous one involves him being lost in the Sahara desert with nothing but his camel and his radio. After three days of murderous heat the camel collapsed and Billy radioed for help.
"Mayday, mayday ... camel ruptured, camel ruptured," went the message and he claims he sparked off wild celebrations in Montgomery's base camp because they thought he had said "Rommel captured".
He never misses a chance. A simple enquiry as to his health and he tells you he is dying from a headache because of the Japanese bullet lodged in his brain. Recently, when he found out I was going to North Africa (Tunisia) on holiday, he told me to go into Victory Square and make sure his name was on the monument.
Think of the famous meetings throughout history. Henry Stanley encountering Dr Livingstone in the African jungle, Pacino and De Niro sharing a coffee in Heat, Clinton and Kennedy shaking hands at Clinton's high school in the early 1960s.
Well, tonight could witness an epic encounter, the first meeting of AJF O'Reilly and Billy St John.
In the professional era, a lot of the fun has gone out of rugby. The stakes are higher, it has become a livelihood.
It is therefore vital we treasure the great characters left in the game and let them help us remember that for all the money, marketing, contracts and creatine, it's still a sport. To be enjoyed.
So, in conclusion, I'd like to echo the sentiments of the late Queen Mother. I have it on good authority that the Queen Mum, on her death bed, called over Prince Charles and with her last, gin-fumed breath, whispered in her grandson's ear, "tell St John...thank you".
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