Читать книгу Once Were Lions: The Players’ Stories: Inside the World’s Most Famous Rugby Team - Jeff Connor - Страница 4

On 15 July 2006, I sat in the Caledonian Club in London, surrounded by friends from the British and Irish Lions who had toured Australia with me some seventeen years previously.

Rory Underwood apart, the rest of us had long given up on our youthful looks, and much water had passed beneath the bridge since those wonderful days back then. It was a night of great warmth, more than a few drams: an evening of mutual respect, trust and friendship. Before we said Grace, I suggested that in the intervening years, probably not one of us has escaped the passing of time. In truth, most of us at some stage must have trod a pretty uncomfortable path, whether that had been in terms of health, wealth or indeed happiness.

But why should a British Lion be different from anyone else? The truth is of course, he is not, and just like everyone else, they are burdened with the trials that come along in this life of ours.

To quote Max Ehrmann:

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born out of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

A night like that in London reminded us all just how privileged we had been in our lives to have come in contact with this wonderful pastime.

This book, Once were Lions by Jeff Connor and Martin Hannan, perhaps underlines that although some may have suffered at times, all Lions, I’m sure, will have felt privileged to at least have been given the chance to have worn the famous red jersey in their rugby lives.

Finlay Calder, January 2009