In the summer of 1979 Irish rugby jumped off a lower shelf in the nation’s sports shop, landing front and centre. This wasn’t prompted by a dramatic development on the field, rather it was a selection decision. Tony Ward, voted the first European player of the year two months earlier, was dropped. He had won the award largely for his dazzling form in that season’s Five Nations Championship. Then, before the first Test on Ireland’s tour of Australia, he was canned. It made the six o’clock news.
Ward was a gifted footballer. He would go on to play in the League of Ireland for Limerick United, starring for them against Southampton in the Uefa Cup. He looked the part: stocky, sallow, not only could he shoot the lights out but he could step off either foot, leaving opponents on their rear end. If Ireland had a catwalk then Wardy would have been a model.
