Wow.
We never thought we’d see the day when we would be mentioning how a newspaper from the other side of the world would be paying tribute to a Cork hurling superstar from almost 50 years ago.
But our eyes have been drawn to an article in Saturday’s New Zealand Herald entitled ‘Five sporting legends You might never have heard of’ and sure enough, the GAA gets a mention. Sure why wouldn’t it?
The article explains that ahead of the Bledisloe Cup final that there is a big wide world out there beyond rugby, and that the readers might be interested to hear about the exploits of some other sporting greats.
Other sporting greats such as Cork legend Christy Ring.
The multiple All-Ireland winner is described as one of the best hurlers of all time, and the article also mentions his tragically young death at the age of just 58.
“Making his debut for Cork in 1939 as a 19-year-old, Ring would go on to play hurling for his county for the next 24 years, winning eight All-Ireland Medals. His club, Glen Rovers, won 13 championships. The unprepossessing truck driver was universally recognised as one of the legends of Ireland’s national sport and 60,000 people turned up to his funeral after he died of a heart attack aged just 58.”
Ring is mentioned along with kabbadi’s Rakesh Kumar, pool player Efren Reyes, Roller Derby pioneer Nicole Williams and Muay Thai expert Samart Payakaroon.
You can read the full piece here.
H/t Ken Lynch
