Munsterisms

I watched the game against Gloucester and stood in front of the stand when the players came out on the balcony for a chorus of 'Athenry'. I wished that I could have been a part of it; now I know what it's like. And do you know? I can see my house from that balcony

- Barry Murphy
 21 Jan 2006

 

But Thomond Park is in another league altogether. Teams know they are in for something special as soon as they land at Shannon and drive into town. Limerick is rugby. Everyone knows who you are and why you're there.

- Nigel Melville, The Guardian
 20 Jan 2004

 

So, how to explain modern Munster rugby, the phenomenon of the team and their fanatical following? Well, like their chosen anthem, it was all born of protest. Rugby offered a chance in garrison towns to take on the Brits. Rugby here is not posh, but fiercely proud, especially at Thomond Park. Here, in 1978, Munster beat New Zealand, and here not a single Heineken Cup match has ever been lost.

- Eddie Butler, The Observer
 22 Oct 2006

 

Some of us thought that night in 2000 even that Munster team could hardly recover from that disappointment. They reckoned without a resilience that is at the core of this team, a capacity to overcome even the most disillusioning adversity.“We stood here in 2000 when Mick Galway was captain after losing out to Northampton and we had nothing to show for our efforts. We promised you something to make you smile and people of Munster here it is,” said Anthony Foley holding the huge Heineken Cup.

- Michael Corcoran, RTE Radio Commentator
 25 May 2006

 

What to make of Munster? Well, you mess with a myth at your peril. If only they could bottle what they have at Thomond Park and sip from the magical potion every time they take the field, they would be world-beaters.

- Mick Cleary, Daily Telegraph
 23 Jan 2006

 

I thought that I was dead, basically, in South Africa……………coming to Munster, it was just like coming back into the light……………….maybe someone will actually come up and say well played, ya know."

- Trevor Halstead, Irish Times
 25 Mar 2007

 

We just felt numb at the final whistle. It was harder to take this time. This was another opportunity gone and for some of us it was going to be the last opportunity. Having to walk up the steps once again to collect our losers medals was hard to take.

- Mick Galwey - The Autobiography
 29 Nov 2002

 

Irrespective of where we play in Europe, leading Munster out at Thomond Park is my greatest thrill, my proudest moment as captain. All of a sudden the crowd lifts you and if you're anyway iffy about the match, they give you that certainty that you'll do it.

- Mick Galwey - The Autobiography
 29 Nov 2002

 

Irrespective of where we play in Europe, leading Munster out at Thomand Park is my greatest thrill, my proudest moment as captain. All of a sudden the crowd lifts you and if you're anyway iffy about the match, they give you that certainty that you'll do it.

- Mick Galwey - The Autobiography
 29 Nov 2002

 

Declan used to say some of our oponents were playing for their jobs whereas we were playing for a cause and I have no doubt that was true.

- Mick Galwey - The Autobiography
 29 Nov 2002

 

Alas, it was not to be. Northhampton brought the great adventure to an end at Twickenham but every man, woman and child who followed Munster through that memorable campaign felt enriched by what they saw and the people in whom they placed their trust. In no way was there any feeling of being let down, rather instead there was an uplifting of the spirit and the body which endeared the fans in red to the men in red. 'Till the day they die.

- Mick Galwey - The Autobiography
 29 Nov 2007

 

Llanelli brought out the man in our boys and reminded Munster of who they were and where they came from. Literally, Munster were face down in their roots. It was a rebirth from the soil and recalled schoolboy glory in muddy pitches back home, where it all started.

- Billy Keane - Irish Independent
 15 Dec 2007

 

We have our fastest ever back line, but for us here in Dixie a rolling maul at steamroller speed displays elegant lines and grace of movement more aestehtic by far than a shifting Ferrari skirting the harbour at Monte Carlo

- Billy Keane, Irish Independent
 15 Dec 2007

 

It belongs to the heart, not the head. Something to be embraced, or spurned - there can be no middle ground. There are those who stare blank-faced when I talk of rugby but others instantly understand my breathless enthusiasm and stomach-churning anxiety. We are the lucky ones.

- Richard Harris, Daily Telegraph
 24 May 2002

 

Sometimes you're told you can't do certain things and so it's a great feeling when you go and achieve them….At the end of the day, it's our families, our friends, the people who live in our towns who come to support us and I don’t think any player wants to let them down. It's very close to the heart when we go out there.

- Anthony Foley, after Sale match
 21 Jan 2006

 

We'd half, if not more, of the attendance and that's fantastic. It goes to show the supporters follow us through thick and thin, they always have done and hopefully always will. I think they like what they see, they see an honest team who give it everything. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose but I think eveyone feels part of this Munster set-up.

- Mick Galway, after Celtic Legue Final
 1 Feb 2003

 

The people of Munster - it's almost the Nation of Munster - it gave me shivers to see how they were supported today and that people will travel like that.

- Guy Noves, Toulouse Coach
 26 Apr 2003

 

Some people told me about this connection the fans have with the players in Munster and I wasn't really sure what that was all about until the Wasps match. The support we got was extraordinary. We were soaked and they were soaked: we were doing our job and they were doing theirs. The noise throughout the game was amazing. You wouldn't get that in too many places. Honestly, it was unique

- Doug Howlett, Rugby World
 1 Sep 2008

 

"They're not really supporters, they're more like friends and family."

- John Kelly - After his final Munster match, on being asked of the special relationship with the fans
 28 Dec 2007

 

Certainly it hurts, it hurts any of us if we're out of the team, probably more so those of us who've been around a long time. I want to keep playing for Munster as long as I can, I love every minute of it

- Alan Quinlan, before match in Clermont
 10 Jan 2008

 

I know they're [Munster] a team of heart; from where I was, in Auckland, I look at them as similar to the All-Blacks – a small region competing in a big competition and doing well. That was a huge attraction for me

- Doug Howlett, prior to Munster debut in Clermont
 11 Jan 2008

 

Looking for a warhouse? In Munster Anthony Foley and Alan Quinlan eminently qualify with honours degrees

- Johnny Watterson, Irish Times,
 11 Jan 2008

 

Age, campaigns, rank and the list of broken bones all certify pack warriors for the elevated postitions in the Munster hieraechy

- Johnny Watterson, Irish Times,
 11 Jan 2008

 

Munster are a proud team. There is a lot of pride in the jersey and a lot of pride in the fans in us. That comes out and that is a big difference

- Lifeimi Mafi, Irish Times,
 12 Jan 2008

 

In the end, they were fighting for inches, like soldiers on the front in World War One.

True, there weren't any bullets, but still you marvelled at the courage of the extraordinary men of Munster.

- Peter Bills Irish Independent,
 14 Jan 2008

 

If the sponsors could market a beer as potent as the Munster spirit, nobody would ever walk straight down the streets of Limerick again.

- Peter Bills, Irish Independent,
 14 Jan 2008

 

To the Brave and Faithful, Nothing is Impossible

- Munster motto
 1 Sep 1998

 

Yes, I am very proud of them [the players]. I'm always very proud of them but today was one of the special days.

- Declan Kidney, after Wasps match
 19 Jan 2008

 

They called Group 5 the group of death. But yesterday, on a foreign field, Munster looked death in the face and took it on.

Glorious, glorious days.

- Peter Bills, Irish Independent,
 14 Jan 2008

 

However many buckets of water were filled to overflowing beneath the drips and the drops, they could not extinguish the fire of Irish rugby on the boil again.

- Eddie Butler, The Observer,
 20 Jan 2008

 

I defy anyone not to admire Munster. Legends are replaced by men who take up the mantle - Peter Stringer by Tomas O'Leary, Anthony Foley by Leamy, Rob Henderson by Rua Tipoki. No one ever seems to let anyone down, they know their jobs, they beat you. When they sense a chance, they lift the pace. The sheer bloody-mindedness of their defence and hunger for the ball creates tries

- Will Greenwood, The Guardian
 11 Apr 2008

 

To play for Munster is an honour. The exact same effort went into the game when it was amateur and all the players down through the years gave everything they had for the team. That great spirit has filtered through from team to team, from generation to generation and just because lads get paid now hasn’t dampened that application, spirit and desire. It’s as strong now as it has always been

- Ronan O'Gara, Western People
 4 Aug 2004

 

Certainly playing them is an experience. The atmosphere at Thomond Park was electric and, with both teams normally having similar strips, the ground was a sea of red and white. Thousands of our supporters made the trip and presumably will again in 10 days' time.

- Nigel Melville, Gloucester Director of Rugby
 7 Jan 2004

 

Not many sporting days rate once-in-a-lifetime status but Munster's performance on Saturday belongs among the greatest rugby tales in history. Think Red Rum hunting down Crisp at Aintree or Ian Botham taking Australia apart at Headingley in 1981, set it in the wild west of Ireland in front of a delirious crowd and it is hard to imagine anything better.

- Robert Kitson, The Guardian
 20 Jan 2003

 

Thomond Park has generated a fair bit of heat over the years but the atmosphere at kick-off time was special. Gloucester travelled in numbers to witness a successful conclusion to their first phase but from the outset they watched as the highly charged home team set about the Cherry and Whites. With a massive task ahead of them Munster went about their task like they believed it was any other day, and the faster they got to clocking-off time the better.

- Brendan Fanning, The Observer
 19 Jan 2003

 

Just for those people who think this is the end of a journey. I'd like to tell them, 'It's not'. It's only the beginning.

- Anthony Foley at Shannon Airport after returning with the Heineken Cup
 21 May 2006

 

Thomond Park grants little concession to the nuclear family. It belongs to a bygone age, before the American and Australian razz-matazz that is perceived to be entertainment. This isn't about cheerleaders and titilation, it is pure passion. The word "entertainment" does the occassion no justice

- Stuart Barnes
 20 Jan 2003

 

Thomond Park is a special place. The atmosphere would peal the paint from the stands, if there was any paint. But the secret lies in the terracing. Tightly packed, both sets of fans in rip-roaring tribalism.

- Stuart Barnes
 20 Jan 2003

 

A lot of players learned a lot about themselves today.

- Nigel Melville, Gloucester Director of Rugby
 20 Jan 2003

 

Every club in England should aspire to match the attitude of the Limerick crowd

- Stuart Barnes
 20 Jan 2003

 

Paul O'Connell is Martin Johnson reborn - a rugby colossus who knows he can rise to the big match occasion.

- Nigel Melville, Gloucester Director of Rugby
 19 May 2006

 

On the Munster pack: "Mothers keep their photo on the mantelpiece to stop the kids going too near the fire."

- Jim Noilly, BBC TV
 19 May 1995

 

On Wedesday, November 1st, 1995 the Pat Murray led Munster played and defeated Swansea 17-13 in the first ever game in what was then the 5 Nations European Cup late the Heineken Cup. And the rest is history.

- Michael O'Flaherty (Limerick Leader)
 20 Jan 2007

 

It belongs to the heart, not the head. Something to be embraced, or spurned - there can be no middle ground. There are those who stare blank-faced when I talk of rugby but others instantly understand my breathless enthusiasm and stomach-churning anxiety. We are the lucky ones.

- Richard Harris - Daily Telegraph
 24 May 2002

 

I would give up all the accolades - people have occasionally written and said nice things - of my showbiz career to play just once for the senior Munster team. I will never win an Oscar now, but even if I did I would swap it instantly for one sip of champagne from the Heineken Cup. Good luck, boys.

- Richard Harris - Daily Telegraph
 24 May 2002

 

When I did hang up the boots after 48 appearences in the competition [Heineken Cup] the thing I missed most was the comradeship within the squad. The Munster Team spirit is one of the most unique I've experienced in sport, with everybody involved in the set-up always being made to feel equally important.

- Mick Galway [Beyond our Wildest Dreams - Ciaran Cronin]
 1 Aug 2006

 

I played for Shannon for years and won lots of All-Ireland Legue titles and even though the club meant the world to me and to everyone who played for them, playing for Munster was the ultimate. They were my Irish caps.

- Noel Healy [Beyond our Wildest Dreams - Ciaran Cronin]
 1 Aug 2006

 

It's a simple song [Stand Up & Fight], it basically tells you not to bloody give up no matter what pressure you're under. People caught onto this very fast, identified with it and they've made it their own.

- Brian O'Brien [Beyond our Wildest Dreams - Ciaran Cronin]
 1 Aug 2006

 

You always got the impression he[Declan Kidney] wanted to make you a better person as well as a better rugby player.

- John Lacey [Beyond our Wildest Dreams - Ciaran Cronin]
 1 Aug 2006

 

People came to Thomond Park to watch the opposition, the Wasps and Harlequins of this world. After beating Saracens away from home, people started to come to watch us.

- Niall O' Donovan [Beyond our Wildest Dreams - Ciaran Cronin]
 1 Aug 2006

 

I never underestimate the ability of a crowd to lift a side. Some people say they never hear what goes on around them but I hear it all the time.

- Keith Wood on Munster Crowd [Beyond our Wildest Dreams - Ciaran Cronin
 1 Aug 2006

 

It was a pleasure to play these two games. The Munster fans are really fantastic. The atmosphere when a kick at goal was being taken was something special, everything quiet, and it’s the way rugby should be played. And it's not just me, the young players in our dressing room are saying the same thing.

- John Hall, Bath Coach [Beyond our Wildest Dreams - Ciaran Cronin]
 28 Oct 2000

 

Munster played like Munster play all the time. Good defence, time after time, we make mistakes, they score the tries. It's clinical, low-errorr cup rugby. Nobody does it better.

- Keith Wood, Harlequins, Oct 2001 [Beyond our Wildest Dreams - Ciaran Cronin]
 6 Oct 2001

 

After that Munster must never say never. Any team that did what they did under so much pressure in this game must not be counted out….They're a remarkable side, absolutely amazing.

- Nigel Melville, Gloucester Coach [Beyond our Wildest Dreams - Ciaran Cronin]
 18 Jan 2003

 

There was a special atmosphere out there. I don't know what it is, the connection between ourselves and the crowd, it's like we sense their mood and they sense our mood. The intensity of the crowd matched with the intensity of our performance and was a massive lift.

- Paul O'Connell, after Castres Olynpique match
 11 Dec 2004

 

They [Supporters] pay their money to support the team and to perform a role for the team; they don't pay their money to be entertained. That's an important thing about Munster supporters.

- Paul O'Connell, Irish Times
 7 Apr 2008

 

With Munster, the supporters and players just seem to be on the one side together. They know each other very well and that's become part and parcel of it.

- Keith Wood quoted in Vincent Hogan article in Irish Independent
 24 May 2008

 

The guys always say ‘You’re only hanging onto the jersey for a few years, then pass it on.’ All I can do is learn from the lads, learn from experiences like today, go on and try to work harder to get into that jersey because there’s such a great feeling there.

- Donnache Ryan in Irish Examiner
 26 May 2008

 

You get respect here for doing your job properly .....The thing about being a foreigner doesn't come into the equation

- John Langford quoted in Vincent Hogan article in Irish Independent
 24 May 2008

 

I hesitate to use words like spiritual or religious, but to see what rugby means to Munster people is very moving

- Shaun Payne quoted in Vincent Hogan article in Irish Independent
 24 May 2008

 

And I found coming into this environment, the fans are treated like the team really - some of the planes we charter, the supporters are right there with us. A lot of the players know a lot of the supporters by name - it's that kind of environment; it's a real close knit community

- Doug Howlett, Irish Examiner
 24 May 2008

 

John Kelly said recently Munster becomes part of your life and you can't let go of it too easily. I'm only here a year and that's how I'm feeling

- Paul Darbyshire in Irish Examiner
 24 May 2008

 

The 2006 Day of days was for everybody; for the squad themselves, for those who wore the jersey before them, for every foot soldier in the Red Army, for every member of the Munster nation and for many more drawing succour and relief from it. This was too, but it was also more for the players themselves

- Gerry Thornley, Irish Times
 26 May 2008

 

There are some sporting teams whose supporters become part of the act, the momentum, or even the legend. That is rugby’s spirit at its finest, and the 60,000-strong Munster team won the Heineken Cup for the second time in three seasons.

- Stephen Jones, Sunday Times
 25 May 2008

 

Throughout the match the loyal faithful were there, connected by an umbilical cord to their heroes. The victory was their victory also and the generosity, rugby knowledge and passion earned its just reward.

- George Hook, Sunday Independent
 25 May 2008

 

It’s hard to put your finger on what Munster is but going out there and seeing the tens of thousands supporting us, and then they stayed after the game — that’s something special in world rugby.

- Doug Howlett in Irish Examiner
 26 May 2008

 

People might talk about supporters making the difference. I don't know do they really mean it. But the crowd has made an incredible difference to us. There are a lot of games that we can look back on throughout our careers that I don't think we would have ever won them without the so-called 16th man

- Declan Kidney in Irish Independent
 26 May 2008

 

I was beginning to understand what it was to play for Munster. You never gave in. It was as simple and complicated as that.

- Moss Keane - Rucks, Mauls & Gaelic Football
 1 Jun 2005

 

I’ll be honest with you, this team feeds off the supporters. You just know the great days — you’re warming up, the crowd is hopping, you just know you’re going to play well because you can’t leave them down

- Donnacha O'Callaghan, Irish Examiner
 25 Apr 2008

 

What sets them apart from the rest is that you cannot divorce the team from the crowd. They are as one and the support of an entire province is the catalyst that energises them and the team feed off the red roars.

- Ieuan Evans, Sunday Telegraph
 25 May 2008

 

Has Marcus Horan saved the bacon? It has been some week for bacon.

- Michael Corcoran, RTE during Munster v Clermont match
 13 Dec 2008

 

I have often spoken about the virtues of Munster. What Munster bring as a side is what the Lions needs to look at in terms of how we gel a team together, what it means to put on the jersey. Sometimes it’s not always about having the best players, but having the best team.

- Warren Gatland, Irish Examiner
 23 Oct 2008

 

In our group we recognise the importance of pride and of pride in the players; the Munster players today look back at the players in the past who have worn the jersey. They realise who they are now representing. They represent not just the organisation, but themselves, their families, the province, the cities and all those who have played before. Some big players like Anthony Foley, Shaun Payne and John Kelly have left, who have been tremendous servants for Munster. It’s people like them that we are now representing.

- Tony McGahan, Irish Examiner
 25 Oct 2008

 

Northampton 'had Munster's scrum on toast, yet with a man missing the Irish side won against the head, helped in no small part by the home fans cheering so much it would have taken the roof off most stadiums. They simply would not let their side concede a try. They felt sheer noise would do it, and it did.'

- Ashley Potter, Northampton Chronicle
 23 Jan 2010

 

'It was a performance that revealed a lot to me about the Munster culture. Paul O’Connell is a great leader, but he gets so much support from guys around him. Then there is Munster’s 16th man, their incredible fans.

"We didn’t think we’d have much support in Perpignan, but it was amazing to see, and hear, so many of them in the ground. They really are full-on supporters and they back their team in bad times as well as good.

"The atmosphere they help to create at games, especially at Thomond Park is fantastic. In the smaller grounds in Europe you really feel the crowd. The Munster fans really are our 16th player and it’s great being on the pitch when they are backing you."

- Jean deVilliers
 15 Jan 2010

 

History has taught us never to write Munster off, and never to be surprised, much less shocked, by what they are capable of.

- Gerry Thornley, Irish Times
 22 Dec 2009