Exile Healy a stand-out shining star for West Indies’ Sevens

TOM HEALY is literally the stand-out rugby player in the West Indies.

White men are a rare sight in the Caribbean’s growing union playing community and Healy’s skin tone has set plenty of tongues wagging in recent months.

The 28-year-old Cork-born accountant lives, works and plays in Bermuda and his call up to the West Indies for the IRB Sevens tournament in San Diego earlier this year turned Healy into something of a minor celebrity.

He became the first Irishman — and white man to boot — to achieve the honour of selection to the team which boasts the best talent from the region.

“There was talk of some politics involved in the selection,” he admitted this week.

“Everyone naturally wants their own guys on the team so some feathers were ruffled when a white Irish guy was selected. There were undercurrents or resentment but nothing on the surface. The guys on the team are just like Cork boys — they give as well as they get.

“After a while they accepted me as one of their own but admitted that when I came first they were a bit unsure about why I was selected. But it shows the level of friendship that has developed that they are comfortable telling me that.”

Three and a half years ago Healy was working with AIB in Dublin when an opportunity to work in Bermuda came his way.

The decision was easy and he has few regrets about the choice made.

“When I was in Dublin I played with Monkstown and before that with UCC,” said the Bank of Butterfield employee whose brother, Cronan, lines out for Cork Con in the AIL Division One semi-final this afternoon against UL Bohs.

“So I got involved in rugby soon after arriving here with a team called the Renegades. But I had to be spent three years in Bermuda before I could be eligible to play for the national team. I became eligible on November 20th which was unfortunately a week after the Caribbean Championships started.”

Despite missing the tournament, word of his talent spread and he was called up for a trial game for the West Indies — the elite of the region with players from the Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Bermuda amongst others.

Healy impressed, played in the Trinidad International Sevens and qualified to play in the prestigious US leg of the IRB Sevens.

“It was a huge experience, one that I would never have gotten at home. In our first game we played in front of 30,000. We played against Scotland, Fiji and Argentina. Sevens legend Waisale Sirevi was playing with Fiji so it was a huge thrill to be on the same pitch as him. We didn’t win a game but we gave a good account of ourselves against Tonga and the US in the secondary competition. All these guys are 100% amateur and we were playing against some of the top professional sides in the world.”

Making a difficult task all the more onerous is the geographic spread of the West Indies selection. There can be no training camps or get-togethers. Instead the side try to arrive at the tournaments a few days early in an effort to get much needed group sessions under their belts.

Rugby isn’t his only passion. Recently he has taken up boxing and boast a three for three record in the ring, including a tough bout against the British Police Team.

“One of the rugby clubs have a fight night. The tradition began as a means of allowing players to sort out any rows and arguments in the ring. But now it has turned into a massive amateur boxing tournament with crowds of about 2,000 watching properly sanctioned fights with referees.

“I did months of training before I stepped into the ring. I have a perfect record with three wins from three. It is a really big deal out here.”

As the sun sets on another heavenly evening, Healy admits: “I have no real intention of coming home. My house is on the beach. I have a good job and good friends. And the rugby isn’t too bad either.”