Conference tallis::celt

193.0. "Joe Sherwood - Remember him ?" by AYOV10::DHUNTER (I came, I saw, I left!) Wed May 06 1987 08:37

Taken from the Sports pages of today's Glasgow Herald (Brian
Meek's column).....

"There was a marvellous old Dublin journalist by the name of Joe
Sherwood, who was forever being banned from the pressbox by the
Irish Rugby Football Union. One of Joe's milder claims which
upset the authorities was that the men who had selected Ireland's
team were 'either mad or drunk and probably both'.

When Scotland went to play the Irish in the early '60s, he produced
and intro' to his article that stands as an all-time great. "People
who have seen them," Sherwood wrote, 'tell me that Scotland are no
good. Well, I have news for them, Ireland are no good either.'

Of course, the IRFU's banning of Joe never did the slightest good,
except to boost the sales of his newspaper. He always managed to
get in to the game and would write his pungent criticisms on the
back of an envelope while standing behind the goalposts.

Players who felt they had received a raw deal from the selectors
surreptitiously contacted old Joe, who then gave lurid accounts
of back-stabbing in smoke-filled rooms. When Ireland put him off
the official bus, he hired a chauffeur-driven limousine and
waved to the team party as he overtook their coach."

Does anyone remember this character and have any more anecdotes
to relate ?

Don H.