This 'Sectare Fidem' book is good reading and is going to provide lots of material for future posts.
The best rugby team in the history of the school - **Warning** this is controversial.
I mentioned in the first post that early in the book - page seven in fact, the writer, Michael Fitzsimons deliberately presented misinformation - a lie in fact when he made a statement about the 1967 6A rugby team when he said:
If Mr Fitzsimons had done proper research he would have discovered (and I believe that he knew this as he was at the school at the time and would have a copy of the 1970 'Patrician' school magazine) that the 1970 2B rugby team was the only undefeated team in the school not only that year but for many years.
It could equally claim to be:
"the finest rugby team to have ever taken the field in the blue and white."
Mention of the team having won all games was on page 47 with the rather minimalist comment "2B coached by Father P. Dooley, won all games."
The team photograph, poorly printed was buried in the second to last page before the school roll - page 93. Shame on you Michael Fitzsimons who I suspect of having been involved in the production of the 'Patrician' at the time and then also made attempts to bury the story which threatened his own dodgy narrative of a vastly inferior, smaller and younger team coached by the crazy Father Unverricht.
I don't think that I've obsessed over this too much as it is a story that must be told.
Oh, in the interests of full disclosure I must mention that I was a member of the 2B rugby team in 1970, it being my first year of playing rugby after many years of soccer playing. I played as right wing or centre.
Being a magnanimous sort of person I'm prepared to share the 'finest team' accolade with Fitzsimons' team even though we would have kicked their arses if we'd had a chance to play against each other.
3 comments:
Better to be able to remember where your 3rd form classroom was in 1966.
When I arrived at St. Pat's for my first day, we were divided into four groups of random boys and sent to four different classrooms. Obviously they were still processing the test results. I was sent to the 3P classroom - I remember it well as being under the science labs. A teacher gave me a note to deliver to the staffroom. I knocked on the door and Mr. Naylor opened it and read my note. He read it and said, "Ah, the brain boxes of the future!" I returned to the classroom, and a little later we were all dispersed to our correct rooms. I finished up in the classroom almost next door, but in the same building. I was in 3G and not a brain box of the future. My memory of this is accurate.
Please accept my apologies.
I can see how that must have been traumatic for you and obviously shaped your future.
Who knows, you might have become a politician, a doctor or a property developer if they'd let you through the magic door. Maybe a priest.
I thought that I have a good memory but acknowledge that significant events sharpen recall. Who knows - maybe why it doesn't mean that much to me is because they stuffed up and I was supposed to be in the G or C classes?
It wasn't traumatic. I was quite happy to be in the G class because my older brother wasn't in the P class and I wanted to be like him.
Post a Comment