Ulster Rugby vs Connacht & Munster

‘THE DOC’ SIGNSHIMSELF OFF

When Munster arrives in Belfast on the first Friday of 2020, a very important member of Ulster’s rugby history of the last 40 years will say his farewell.

was to bring a new vision to his job and the ambition and enterprise of his players, Jimmy Davidson. There were characters aplenty in Ulster sides of the time, and though Irwin was very much in charge on the pitch and a model of application he could hold his own, and more, with Willie Anderson, Jimmy McCoy, Peter Russell, Ian ‘Bruno’ Brown, Trevor Ringland, Keith Crossan and that most elegant of full- backs, Philip Rainey. Nigel Carr and Phillip Matthews were friends and team-mates, their pedigrees unquestioned, but independent-minded as so many of the players were they had an undisputed ‘skipper’. The games were played hard, whether in rugby kit or post-match casual wear, the vital ingredient ‘Jimmy D’ and his players brought to that unique group of amateur talents was totally professional enjoyment. Irwin, as those who know him well will insist, is unafraid to voice an opinion, to hold team- mates and officialdom to account, but what he is to his very core is loyal: to robust but decent values, honesty, friendships made and maintained with diligence. He brings those same steadfast qualities to his work as a GP in Belfast, and from which he is slowly, gradually easing back. Today we watch players who are properly well-rewarded for their efforts, for David Irwin and the generations before and for a time afterwards dedication to the sport had to be allied to a parallel application to making a living. This is also perhaps key to the successful family he and his wife Janet, happily a rugby fanatic too, have brought up to enjoy the

He’s not one for fuss, more someone who sees merit in positive action. But just as he gave so selflessly of himself in the Ulster midfield, and in his medical capacity for successor generations, David Irwin deserves a full- throated ‘Ravenhill Roar’ of appreciation from the stands and terraces at Kingspan Stadium that evening. ‘Putting your body on the line’ is an overused phrase, but in the cause of his clubs, Province and country never has it been truer than in the case of a man whose passion for the game and his team remains undiminished. There’ll be many in the crowd as Munster, for which he has some very special memories and affection, who’ll recall a pre-professional era when Irwin was the predominant influence on the pitch and in the dressing room. As a captain he had few peers, and there are scores of former and present players – and coaches - who’ll attest to his undimmed ambition for Ulster, and who can always look to ‘The Doc’ to rally spirits. David Irwin has given far more back to the sport that it ever gave him – and it gave him much success with a fine Queen’s University side in the 1970s, with his beloved club, and then – almost incredibly – a dominance with Ulster in the 1980s which will perhaps never be matched. He made his debut against Lancashire and became a constant in teams coached by, amongst others, Harry Williams in a first ‘shift’, Cecil Watson, as wily as coach as he was craggy as a player, and then the man who

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