‘From Rags To Riches’ Book On Sale Now

At over 600 pages, with over 700 photographs covering every season and every men’s test match in this period, it will be the definitive record of the rise of Irish rugby to the top table of the game and will be a go to reference point of this era for years to come.

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Written by Feargal O’Rourke, who contributes the statistical history article to Irish match day programmes, and all profits from the sale of the book are going to benefit the IRFU Charitable Trust.

“I wrote the book for three reasons. Firstly, there hasn’t been an account or record of the Irish men’s team since Edmund van Esbeck wrote his book for the 125th anniversary of the IRFU in 1999. Secondly, over the years there had been various errors and omissions in records of matches which offended the inner rugby stats nerd and accountant in me!

Thirdly, I wanted to show, over the span covered by this book, just how far we have come as a rugby playing nation. If you’re say in your mid 20s, you might think it’s nearly always been good days. But for those of us who soldiered through the 80s and 90s supporting Ireland, it has been an incredible transformation in terms of results.”

One of the innovations in the book is the use of QR codes to link to highlights of Irish matches. “Of the 316 test matches to the end of the tour to South Africa in the Summer, there are YouTube highlights of about 250 of those. So in the book, you can read about the overall season, the match itself, the Irish line up, the scorers, scoring sequence, various facts and then scan the QR code to look at the actual highlights. It’s been a real hit for people who have tried it”.

The book is published by Irishrugbybooks.ie and available in store and online from Elverys. “Jimmy Staunton (owner of Elverys and President of the Connacht Branch this season) and his family have been exceptionally helpful in providing a route to market for the book and helping the Charitable Trust.”

Feargal retired as Managing Partner of PwC in the Summer of 2023, having inked the first PwC sponsorship deal with the IRFU to sponsor the Irish Under 21s in 2005. “It has been a wonderful partnership with the Union – PwC are the second longest continuous sponsor of the IRFU after Guinness – and I’m delighted it is continuing after I am gone”.

Retirement (although he is now Chair of IDA Ireland and a non-executive director on a few boards) allowed Feargal to “turbo-charge” his efforts on the book. “I had been tipping away at it in my spare time for a few years but when I retired from PwC, I was able to knuckle down and devote real time to it.”

Feargal is a lifelong member of Buccaneers RFC and reckons he has missed about 5 home games since his first match against Scotland in 1978 as a 13 year old. “My dad was Secretary of the club for nearly 20 years and then President and he and his pals would religiously travel from Athlone for the home international matches. I was always badgering them to be brought along. I never thought over 45 years later I would be chronicling the successes of the Irish team”.

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