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Topic: Hardest Sportsman Ever
paulm (6,474 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 10:05	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
paulm (6,474 Posts)	Was the topic for a "text in" on newstalk last nite. Best one i heard, was the former New Zealand rugby captain, Wayne Shelford from '87, he was raked in a ruck. His scrotum split and one of his testicles came out !! he wouldn't come off, was stitched up on the pitch and played on. Pity the ba_stard who'd raked him. An honourable mention to Ollie Baker, after the blow in '96 v Limerick, tried for a few minutes to play on but in the end succumbed to the injury, 8 stitches and a fractured eye socket. This message has been edited - 26-jan-2005 @ 11:43
KK Cat (1,093 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 10:11	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
KK Cat (1,093 Posts)	they are all babies compared to john power. the amount of punishment he took from opponents was unreal!!!
TTown Boy (2,128 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 10:13	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
TTown Boy (2,128 Posts)	John Power AI final in 91 when Bobby Ryan forced him into the pitchside wire and his hand was hanging off covered in blood. Played on.
Subiaco (836 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 10:44	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
Subiaco (836 Posts)	Was it Carl Fogerty who lost a testicle during a motorbike GP and raced on to the finish? It was some moto GP guy anyway. Another story I read concerned Greg Lemond the year he won his first Tour de France. Greg was suffering from stomach cramps one morning but got up on his bike anyway. The cramps got worse and he ended up getting a pretty bad dose of the runs. He rode on anyway and made it to the nd of the stage, but by the time he crossed the finish line his legs were covered in diarrhoea. As if riding the tour wasn't hard enough, Lemond had to do a the first half of a stage with his insides trying to escape through his arse and the second half smelling like the inside of a piggery. Paul Kimmage wrote about it to give an example of courage in sport, and it hit the spot.
realdanbreen (4,700 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 10:44	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
realdanbreen (4,700 Posts)	His hand hanging off?
Ozzy (1,867 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 11:05	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
Ozzy (1,867 Posts)	That All Black guy has to win it! Fcuking hell. Brendan Lynskey must have been the toughest hurler though, he was awful tough. Some said a bit cracked.
TTown Boy (2,128 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 11:09	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
TTown Boy (2,128 Posts)	difference between tough and dirty Ozzy. RBD, yep part of his hand was hanging off and was stitched fairly shabbily on the line much later.
paulm (6,474 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 11:09	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
paulm (6,474 Posts)	I remember McGuigan, describing that title fight with Steve Cruz (in Las Vegas), said from rounds 4-7, he was hit with a haymaker in the 4th, that his only memory was of being in a sweet shop as a child in Clones..........
Ozzy (1,867 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 11:13	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
Ozzy (1,867 Posts)	Know he was considered dirty but he was tough as fcuk as well. Watching an All Ireland on TG4 a few weeks ago and he had to get treatment for a head wound. The medical people all pleaded with him to come off but he was having none of it. Was covered in blood. I suppose that kind of thing shouldn't be encouraged really.
gobuvematdelowergap (338 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 11:22	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
gobuvematdelowergap (338 Posts)	I'd say that Sean Kelly, the Co. Waterford cyclist, world number 1 for over 5 years and feared/respected by one and all in the peleton must be one of the toughest ever Irish sportsmen. The stories in David Walsh's book, Kelly, of conditions he endured and conqured to win many of his one day classics are fantastic. In rugby, it would be hard to look much beyond Gaillimh. He may have an easy smile and a soft kerry way about him, but in ruck and maul he bowed to no man - and frequently dropped many of them with a punch so fast and hard that neither they nor match official ever saw it. That's not to say he was dirty. Anyone who experienced his wrath had it coming...in spades. Paul O'Connell is his natural successor and will in time grow into the enforcer role for Munster, Irelnd and the Lions.
TC (579 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 11:30	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
TC (579 Posts)	Honourable mention must go to Liam McCarthy who played 31 minutes of the '91 AI final against Tipp (the same match where Bobby Ryan forced John Power into the wire) in a state of concussion and couldn't remember the said 31mins. Still managed to score 2 points from play during this time though.
Fr Larry Duff (439 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 11:30	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
Fr Larry Duff (439 Posts)	RBD, yep part of his hand was hanging off and was stitched fairly shabbily on the line much later. Ditto Ger Henderson in the '87 Final. Joe Cooney spliced his hand ope early on...played on the whole game nevertheless...twas an accident though. Ger was a bit of a header too towards the end of his playin days with his club...a nice fella though. Tough man. BTW I thought Sean Fitzpatrick was the kiwi captain in 87 ? he was a tough ba5tard too played over a 100 times i think as hooker for them.
Subiaco (836 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 11:40	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
Subiaco (836 Posts)	I thought David Kirk lifted the first Webb Ellis Cup in 1987.
W.B. Yeats (1,031 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 11:46	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
W.B. Yeats (1,031 Posts)	Kirk was captain in 87 I'm almost sure. Buck Shelford followed him ( I wonder why the nickname?) Fitzpatrick followed him. he tells an anecdote about losing two of his front teeth playing for the All Blacks or in the NPC after a dig if I am not mistaken and playing on. I think it was in the Sunday Times a while back. A very tough nut.
Fr Larry Duff (439 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 11:46	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
Fr Larry Duff (439 Posts)	thought David Kirk lifted the first Webb Ellis Cup in 1987. You are right... he scored a try in the final too. his scrotum was intact as far as I know!
realdanbreen (4,700 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 11:49	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
realdanbreen (4,700 Posts)	Thats a load of bollocks about Bobby Ryan forcing Power into the wire fence,he forced him over the sideline & his momentum carried him into the fence.Apart from a bit of blood there was nothing wrong with him.
Fitzy (5,226 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 12:04	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
Fitzy (5,226 Posts)	George O'Connor is undoubtedly the hardest sportsman I've ever seen, the damage he shipped in Wexfords cause is amazing, you should see the mans hands. David Kirk was indeed the All Blacks captain in 87, I know this becuase I worked for him until December last year! (and I'm bigger than him! An exceedingly intelligent man, a gentleman to boot).
Juan Bosco (51 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 12:19	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
Juan Bosco (51 Posts)	Rugby: Martin Johnson/The Claw Soccer: Kevin Moran/ Stuart Pearce Hurling: John Power/ Colin Lynch Football: Mick Lyons/ Francie Bellew
Tbilisi (1,232 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 13:57	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
Tbilisi (1,232 Posts)	Vladimir Smicer.
realdanbreen (4,700 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 14:06	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
realdanbreen (4,700 Posts)	Mike Tyson in his prime .
paulm (6,474 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 14:23	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
paulm (6,474 Posts)	Tyson was a media invention. He never beat a genuine contender/champion. Any of Joe Louis, Frazier, Foreman, or Ken Norton would have put him where the more average opponents such as Holyfield, Douglas and Lennox left him, on his arse wondering what happened. He was the violent product of the streets, a bully and ultimately a proven coward.
realdanbreen (4,700 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 14:28	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
realdanbreen (4,700 Posts)	Originally posted by paulm: Tyson was a media invention. He never beat a genuine contender/champion. Any of Joe Louis, Frazier, Foreman, or Ken Norton would have put him where the more average opponents such as Holyfield, Douglas and Lennox left him, on his arse wondering what happened. Oh right.So thats why Bruno froze. He was the violent product of the streets, a bully and ultimately a proven coward.
paulm (6,474 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 14:39	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
paulm (6,474 Posts)	"Oh right. So thats why Bruno froze." yes, is this the same Frank Bruno that does the pantomime? You've got me there alright.
realdanbreen (4,700 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 14:58	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
realdanbreen (4,700 Posts)	Until Tyson got caught on the hop in Tokyo by not preparing properly,he terrified/beat the sh*t out of all who climbed in the ring with him,--yes or no? Comparing him to former greats like Joe Louis is futile.
JohnneyCool (2,069 Posts)	Posted: 26-Jan-2005 15:01	Quote Edit Delete Report Post Post Reply
JohnneyCool (2,069 Posts)	Lads, if its boxers who you're talking about, the Muhammed Ali surely must be up there with the toughest. After letting George Foreman hammer him round the ring for 10 rounds, then to finally finish him off takes some doing. The same George Foreman had previously been knocking out opponents for fun. Then you have Roberto Duran, what a hard nut, wasn't the best boxer in the world, but you'd had to hit him with a 14 lb sledge to get him to drop and it would probably take a few goes.

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