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The Dublin Hospitals Cup THE DUBLIN HOSPITALS RUGBY CUP HAS BEEN CONTESTED BY THE TEACHING HOSPITALS IN DUBLIN SINCE 1881. A NEW BOOK BY DRS CONLETH FEIGHERY, MICHAEL FARRELL AND MORGAN CROWE, CELEBRATING 140 YEARS OF THE COMPETITION, IS PUBLISHED THIS MONTH Jervis Street Hospital
Richmond Hospital
much loved and fiercely contested trophy played annually between competing hospital teams, the Dublin Hospitals Rugby Cup was established in 1881 by a group of surgeons and physicians from Dublin hospitals. Sport played a huge part in the student experience throughout the medical schools and teaching hospitals of Britain and Ireland in the Victorian and Edwardian periods, and team sports were preferable to individual sports as they were considered to promote responsiveness to authority and discipline, as well as fostering character development and loyalty to each other. The Richmond, Jervis St and Mercer’s Hospitals, the major teaching hospitals of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), participated in the competition from its earliest years, with Richmond winning the cup for the first time in 1896 when they were captained by Larry Bulger. He received the first of his eight caps for Ireland eight weeks later on 30 March against England in Leeds. Later that year, Bulger was selected to tour South Africa with the British Isles touring party. The Richmond Hospital was represented at the inaugural meeting of the Dublin Hospital Rugby Committee by FR Cassidi and Henry Stoker, cousin of Bram. Richmond went on to win the cup on a further nine occasions and were most successful in the mid 1920’s when led by Paul Murray and Morgan Crowe. Both were selected for the 1930 Lions tour of New Zealand and Australia but only Murray travelled, Crowe having broken his collarbone in the drawn 1929-30 Hospitals Cup final against Sir Patrick Duns. Jervis St was led to its single victory in 1948 by Karl Mullen, the only man in history to have captained the British and Irish Lions, Ireland and a Hospitals Cup winning team! His first Irish cap came when Ireland lost 8-12 to France in Lansdowne Road on 25 January 1947. Just ten days previously, Mullen led 20
Mercer’s Hospital
Beaumont Hospital
out the Dublin Hospitals against their London counterparts in Richmond Rugby Club’s home ground in southwest London. In spite of reaching a few finals, Mercer’s Hospital never managed a victory and in later years joined the Federated Hospitals. In anticipation of the move to the Beaumont campus, Richmond and Jervis St joined forces, winning their first cup as a combined team in 1976 followed by further victories in ‘77 and ‘79 and an incredible five in a row from 1981 to 1985 in teams which featured players such as Dave Fennelly, Bill Twomey, Jim McShane and Conor O’Brien. Their dominance was total, repeatedly defeating Vincent’s sides that included icons of medicine and surgery in Dublin and abroad, such as Arnie Hill, Justin Geoghegan, David Moore and Hugh Brady! Finally, when transfer to the Beaumont campus was completed in 1987, the new Beaumont team in their blue Dublin strip won the cup at the first attempt and went on to dominate the competition, winning another five in a row. Eventually, the other hospitals began to adopt Beaumont’s methodical approach. According to a notable St Vincent’s rugby man, himself a medallist and perennial competition administrator, “We were fed up losing to the Blazers from the northside” – a reference to the very professional Beaumont squad who always turned up to the final resplendent in white shirt, RCSI tie and blazer. Beaumont last won the cup in 2017. Of the many students who played hospitals rugby and later went on to achieve fame as surgeons several stand out. Michael “Mickey” Butler, William “Billy” Hederman, Frank Keane, Stanley McCollum, Thomas Myles, Eoin O’Malley, Harry Meade all became Presidents of RCSI as indeed did Frederick Conway-Dwyer, Francis Crawley and William de Courcy-Wheeler in the earlier years of the competition. Perhaps the most famous of all rugby-playing surgeons was the great Terence Millin who captained Duns to victory in 1926-27 Hospitals Cup, captained the Trinity
