Sportsmail’s Andy Nicol pays tribute to Irish rugby legend Anthony Foley
SOME news just stops you in your tracks and knocks the stuffing out of you. That was what happened to me when I heard the news that Anthony Foley had died on Sunday.
It didn’t make sense, it couldn’t be real, but, as we know, it is all too real.
He was in Paris to coach his beloved Munster against Racing 92 in the European Champions Cup, but a suspected heart attack meant he didn’t wake up on Sunday morning.
The scenes at the Racing 92 ground of Munster fans congregating at the gates, when the news had filtered out and the game had been postponed as a mark of respect, and then singing an emotionally charged verse and chorus of The Fields of Athenry was very poignant and moving.
You could see the shocked faces of the fans that were there and that sense of shock has been replicated across the whole rugby world.
There have been many better rugby players in the world, but none as committed and as loyal as Anthony Foley or Axel as he was affectionately known.
He only played for two clubs, Shannon, his junior club, and then Munster with whom he had so much success, culminating with him lifting the Heineken Cup 10 years ago this year.
He had been the inspiration for that club for so many years, setting the benchmark and culture with the likes of Mick Galwey, Peter Clohessy and Keith Wood that the young players such as Ronan O’Gara, Peter Stringer and Paul O’Connell would follow for many successful years.
Foley (right) put Munster on the map and it was entirely fitting that, when the time came for them to be crowned European Champions in 2006, he was the last man onto the podium to lift that trophy above his head.
In that moment, a province cheered and you could see what it meant to him. Total and utter joy and fulfilment.
He is from Munster Rugby royalty as his father, Brendan, played in the famous game in 1978 when Munster beat the All Blacks at Thomond Park with a young Axel watching from the sidelines. It was in his blood, it was who he was.
I played against him many times and he was old-school. Brutally tough on the pitch but then so friendly off the pitch. Always the first guy to buy you a pint of Guinness and have a craic with you. He was not the shape of the modern-day No 8. He didn’t have great speed, but he had huge rugby intelligence. He knew what to do and, more importantly, where he needed to be, which meant he was many steps ahead of the younger, fitter behemoths that he played against. My colleague and friend Keith Wood, who has known Axel since he moved to his home town of Killaloe at the age of five, told me that he had the smartest rugby brain of anyone he knew. He didn’t say much but what he said was always 100-per- cent right on the money. It was almost a sixth-sense that very few people have and why he had made the transition to coaching so easily.
I got to know Axel very well when I attended his testimonial dinner in Limerick a number of years ago. The great and the good of Munster and Ireland were there to say lovely and deserving things about Anthony, but he found it all very uncomfortable.
He was such an unassuming guy that he didn’t think there was anything to make a fuss about and couldn’t understand why so many people had turned up. That was Axel. The next day, we played golf with Keith Wood and Zinzan Brooke and he was in his element; no fuss, just some mates having a craic and enjoying some competitive but relaxed sport.
Delighted to report that the Scottish/New Zealand pair beat the Irish pair on that day and took the money. How I wish that we could have a rematch to give them a chance to win it back?
My wife, Janet, attended an Ireland v Scotland game at Croke Park a few years ago when I was on TV duty.
She was a guest in a box where she didn’t know anyone, but Olive Foley, Axel’s wife, immediately befriended her and ensured she had a great day.
This was what the Foleys did. They made the people that were around them feel more comfortable from being in their presence.
This could have been a young Munster player in his first game for the club, a seasoned internationalist who had played for years or the wife of a player who had played against her husband many times.
Their generosity of spirit knew no bounds.
The rugby world has lost a colossus and will be a lesser place as a result.
Olive has lost a husband and a father to their two children and their loss will be felt the most.
RIP Axel.
Brutally tough on the pitch but then so friendly off it