Ireland’s Call - Stephen Walker

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that Maclear was ‘the best of examples to young would-be officers’. He also stated that Basil Maclear was ‘upright, a man amongst men, leading a noble blameless life. He was worshipped by the cadets’. He ended his letter to Mrs Maclear by quoting a Latin phrase that would be made famous by the war poet Wilfred Owen. Sapper wrote, ‘Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori’, which translates as ‘It is a sweet and honourable thing to die for one’s country.’ Mrs Maclear also received sympathy from officials of the Irish Rugby Football Union, who said he was one of Ireland’s ‘most brilliant players, a thorough sportsman and a fine gentleman’.

      Maclear’s death was reported extensively in newspapers across Britain and Ireland, and many fulsome tributes were paid to one of the finest rugby players of his generation. His body was never recovered, and today, like many thousands of other servicemen who died in the fields of Flanders, his name is inscribed on the Menin Gate, which is a memorial to the ‘Missing’.

      Basil Maclear’s contribution to Irish international rugby, which stretched from his debut in 1905 to his final game in 1907, was immense, and he was the most talented member of the squad. If he were a player in today’s professional game he would be viewed as a national and international sporting celebrity, his every performance would probably be the subject of hours of broadcasting analysis, and he would attract many column inches in the written press.He was one of the game’s early superstars, and his style of play and the coverage that followed added to rugby’s growing appeal and popularity.

      Every sport, whether it is rugby, football, GAA or hockey, needs characters, and those with an unusual backstory add to the colour and drama of the game. Maclear’s curriculum vitae does not read like that of a traditional Irish sporting hero. After all, he was born in Portsmouth, educated in Bedford, and was rejected by English rugby selectors. Yet this background did not deter Irish rugby fans from accepting him as one of their own.In Bedford, in Sandhurst and at the headquarters of Irish rugby, he is remembered as a schoolboy, a soldier and a sportsman, a talented wing three-quarter who on a November day in Belfast outran the South Africans and scored one of Ireland’s greatest ever tries.

      2 Crossing the Line

      ‘AMAGNIFICENT SPECIMEN OF AN ATHLETE.’

      – The Cork Weekly Examiner on Paddy Roche, Irish Olympian, 1907.

      Wearing a white vest that accentuated his powerful frame, Paddy Roche stood on the cinder track and waited. His time was about to come. He stretched his limbs, and alongside him runners from Canada, the United States of America and Holland did the same.It was a pre-race routine that the Irishman was used to, but never in these circumstances. The crowd, the noise and the occasion were like no other he had ever experienced. Ireland’s finest sprinter was about to perform on the greatest stage in the world.

      Suddenly, the competitors were called forward. They nervously took their positions at the starting line and waited for the crack of the pistol shot. When the race began Paddy Roche kicked out, pushed his legs, and as his heart thundered against his chest he found his stride. He pushed again using the power of his thighs, and propelled himself forwards as his arms cut through the air.

      The 200 metre heat was all over in seconds, and the London crowd whistled, cheered and shouted in their thousands. On a summer’s day in the White City Stadium they watched as Roche, a 22-year-old from Cork, secured a place in the semi-final of the Olympic Games. It was a remarkable performance and marked the pinnacle of the young athlete’s sporting life. As he walked around the arena and acknowledged the applause he knew he was within touching distance of winning a medal.

      An All-Ireland athletic champion, an Irish international and an Olympian, he was one of the most gifted sportsmen to emerge from Ireland in the twentieth century. Yet, over a hundred years on, he remains largely hidden from the history of Irish sport, a forgotten figure whose life was prematurely taken. His story is all the more remarkable because his athletic prowess was discovered by chance, and as an athlete he carried his talent easily and modestly.

      Patrick Joseph Roche was born in 1886 and lived with his parents William and Ellen Roche in Cork. Known all his life simply as Paddy, he was a very active child who enjoyed the outdoor life, and like young boys of his age he had his share of accidents. One day he fell from a horse and badly damaged his left arm, an injury that would stay with him all his life. This did not stop him from enjoying most sports, particularly Gaelic football.Tall, and with powerful legs, he had a great turn of pace and was easily the fastest runner amongst his peers. While he was still at school and playing Gaelic football for a local team he was spotted and encouraged to join Knockrea Athletic Club. The club had a nationwide reputation for producing good athletes, and their runners would often dominate race meetings across Munster. Officials from the club wanted to see how fast young Roche could run, so one evening in 1905 they tempted him away from playing Gaelic football and organised a trial race.

      The teenager was pitted against Paddy Kavanagh, who had originally spotted Roche’s potential when he watched him play Gaelic football as a half-forward. A student at Queen’s College in Cork (University College Cork), Kavanagh was an experienced runner and the captain of the Knockrea club. The challenge was supervised by Jim Connolly, who was another stalwart of the club, and he, like his friend Paddy Kavanagh, was keen to see what kind of speed Roche could reach.To compensate for Roche’s age and lack of experience, he was given a few yards’ head start since it was expected that Kavanagh, as the more seasoned runner, would have the measure of him.To startled onlookers, Roche outpaced his older rival and won the race well.

      A second race was then organised, but this time the rules were slightly different. Watching club officials were now aware that Roche was at least a match for, or even faster than Kavanagh, so it was agreed that both runners would start at the same place.In the second race Roche outran his older rival and triumphed again. As the small crowd took in what they had witnessed, Jim Connolly and Paddy Kavanagh both realised that they had an athletic sensation on their hands. Paddy Roche became an established member of the Knockrea Athletic Club, and he was very quickly tested against other runners from across Ireland. A series of victories followed in local race meetings, and his easy-going style on and off the track won him many admirers.

      In July 1906, in fine weather in front of a large crowd at the GAA championships in Cork, he ran in his Knockrea vest in the 100-yard and 220-yard events. He won both races handsomely, and The Irish Times observed that Roche was ‘one of the most promising youngsters we have seen in years’.

      He enrolled as an engineering student at Queen’s College Cork in 1906, and as he was keen to advance his running career he had a difficult job balancing his studies with training.The student athlete was given great encouragement from friends and family to continue his running, even though he was still learning the sport. He was persuaded in 1907 to enter the Irish Amateur Athletic Association championships in Dublin.

      Roche made the journey up to the athletic meeting in Ballsbridge with a small band of supporters, including his younger brother, Dick. Feeling confident after his easy wins in the GAA championships the previous year, Paddy Roche was hopeful that he could repeat the trick in Dublin. By this time Paddy Roche had changed physically, and as the Cork Weekly Examiner would recall in fulsome praise, he had ‘blossomed into a magnificent specimen of an athlete’. The newspaper described him as standing well over six feet tall with a ‘wonderful depth of chest over good loins’. The correspondent added for good measure that ‘his limbs were so beautifully straight and graceful that he looked a picture’.

      However, he faced strong opposition from Denis and Willie Murray, who were both outstanding runners. These two brothers were amongst the finest competitors in Ireland; Denis was the reigning and six times 100-yard and 200-yard champion, and Willie had recently returned from winning a prestigious tournament in England. In the first race, the 100-yard event, Paddy Roche swept past the Murray brothers and crossed the line first to the cheers of his family and friends.

      In his next competition, which was the furlong race, Roche once again found himself up against Denis and Willie Murray. In the early stages very little

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