Anna Caplice on why it's so special following Munster and Cork GAA teams lift big prizes
Munster fans wave a flag ahead of the homecoming after winning the URC. Picture: INPHO/Ben Brady
IT was a warm and muggy early summer’s night. I met my friend on the bridge. Darkness had fallen.
There was no one around except for one passing stranger in the distance.
“Did you bring it?” “Yes. Have you got the cable ties?” “Yes.” We had to work fast. We threw my friend’s mother’s bedsheet over the side of the barrier and attached it to the poles, working as quickly as we could and then ran off into the night just as the rain began to fall.
The next morning the text messages started to go around as it seemed the town of Mallow was in a mild panic. “Why does it say “Come on Murder” on a big sign on the pedestrian flyover?
I think everyone going to school and work that morning thought that the running red paint might have been a symbol for something else.
Maybe some kind of intimidation tactic from a nearby GAA rival.
By the time I got to school and saw my friend, her mother’s bed sheet had been removed from the flyover. Our mission had failed. We knew that the Cork-based Munster players at that time drove through Mallow on their way to training in Limerick and we wanted to wish them luck before they played in the Heineken Cup final. The year was 2006.
Fast forward to 2023 and hundreds of Munster fans are off down to Cape Town with the same hopes as the hoards of fans all those years ago heading over to Cardiff with one goal in mind. To shephard home a trophy. My guess is that the generation of fans from 2006 and 2008 are the ones leading the charge with the memories of glory still somehow fresh in our minds.
Munster’s URC victory means a lot to many people. Munster haven’t seen silverware in 12 years. The players have been justly rewarded for staying in the battle after years of disappointment.
They deserve to be players with medals on their chests and confidence in their hearts.
Beating Leinster might be one big result from this year’s tournament, but I’m happy that they proved that it wasn’t their ultimate goal and went further by winning the tournament.
Maybe also, after so many outstanding performances and wins, some close losses are what the Leinster players needed. An important feeling to remember when you’re looking for that extra 1% in the closing moments of any close game.
Will the Stormers players lucky enough to make it to the Rugby World Cup with South Africa be haunted by the Irishmen who they potentially come up against in the tournament later this year? I think so.
While all of the above is true, what Munster gives to their fans is what is most important. Something to have an interest in. Something to follow. Something to grow a love for.
Sharing a passion with other people. Becoming and being part of a community. Having days in the sun that you will never forget. Learning words to songs and singing them with friends. With strangers.
Running around at 16 years old with your friends thinking you might be arrested for hanging a bedsheet from the flyover.
I had a friend who wore his Cork jersey everywhere. It’s only recently that I realised how lucky we were as teenagers to have a county team that won games.
Game after game, summer after summer, we were on the train to matches in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Semple Stadium, Croke Park. My friend in his jersey. Same as the rest of us.
Smiling. Singing. Holding hands. Chanting. Lighting flares. Lighting up the world.
And when the games were done and the summer was over, my friend still wore his jersey. Hands in his pockets. Clinging to the memories of those summer days.
The best days of our lives.
So when we see the Munster players fall to the floor with utter joy and delight at the final whistle it means so much more than just a victory on the pitch.
Maybe it gives them friends for life. Maybe it gives them the bravery to steal their mother’s bed sheets to decorate the town.
Maybe they’ll never want to take off their jersey and be part of this forever.
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