Fact meets fiction as Gordon’s story told to young fans
WITH THE Six Nations up and running, impressionable young rugby enthusiasts will be glued to the action over the coming weeks as Ireland look to improve on their first-day victory over an average Scotland team.
Of course, it makes a big difference around these parts to have our own skin in the game so to speak, with Tadhg Furlong rightly regarded as one of the best front rows in the world at this stage in his career.
Just like Seamus Kelly in the 1950s and Gordon D’Arcy in the more recent past, he is blazing a trail for Wexford in a sport that we wouldn’t have traditionally excelled in, and doing us all proud in the process.
D’Arcy has kept himself busy and in the public eye with a high profile and a number of media assignments since he retired.
And one of his most interesting recent projects has seen him collaborate with Paul Howard - the writer behind the Ross O’Carroll-Kelly phenomenon - to bring out a book aimed specifically at the children’s market.
‘Gordon’s Game’ is part fact and part fiction, and it should be an enjoyable read for any rugby fans in the fifth class to first year category in particular.
The nuts and bolts of the story are factually accurate, in that the hero is named Gordon D’Arcy, comes from
Wexford, has two sisters and a brother, and started playing the game under the guidance of Jimmy O’Connor with the local Wanderers club.
It’s only when he moves to Clongowes Wood College in Kildare for his secondary education that the tale veers into the realms of fiction, as the D’Arcy in the book catches the eye of the Ireland selectors a lot earlier than the man himself did in real life!
Gordon gets the break he needs when he is asked to tidy the school’s Senior team dressing-room before a cup game against arch-rivals Blackrock College.
When a player cries off through injury, the coach asks the first year if he will step in, because he has seen enough of him to reckon that he won’t be out of place.
True to form, he plays a key role in the win, so the watching Warren Gatland asks him to train with the international team in Greystones!
From there he is propelled into action against France in Paris, along with BOD, ROG, Paulie and the rest.
Another star display ensues, but this is where the tale veers in another direction as young Gordon lets the acclaim go to his head when he arrives back in Clongowes.
He drops his two best friends from Wexford, and starts behaving in a manner that shows he cannot handle the acclaim that goes with being an international rugby player (remember, in the book he is still a first year!).
When he was younger, a week spent on his cousins’ farm had highlighted the value of hard work and humility in achieving life goals - two of the main messages that this book tries to convey.
Lo and behold, he pays them another visit after his rugby exploits, and it has a transformative impact on how he handles his new-found fame.
Spending time on the farm, doing a variety of back-breaking jobs, reminds Gordon of what really matters in life.
He returns to school and makes up with his friends before, wouldn’t you know it, Warren Gatland calls him back in for the Grand Slam decider. You can probably guess what happens from there, but young readers should enjoy the story as it unfolds.
ALAN AHERNE
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