Jack Kyle my player of the century

As we come to the end not alone of a year, a decade, a century and a millennium and stand at the gate of a new year and century, inevitably there is reflection and indeed gratitude for a host of golden memories. One can read, and do so with considerable interest, a varied selection of the greatest teams, the greatest matches and the greatest players people have seen in all sports. It will, of course, be a matter of personal choice from the chronicle of the greats.

Selecting "teams of the Millennium and team of the century" has become a popular occupation. The selections will give, and have given, rise to many an animated debate and provided entertaining argument.

My personal view is that a prerequisite for anyone selecting teams should be that the selector should have seen the player in action or at minimum seen reasonable filmed evidence of the player in action. Unfortunately there is little in the way of film footage available in some sports for the first half of this century. Those who will be performing such tasks 100 years from now will be in a very much better position to reflect on a century with the incredible advances made in technology in the modern era.

Back in the dim and distant days of my youth in Cork, many is the time I spent my last few pennies going to the cinema just to see a few fleeting minutes on a newsreel of a rugby international when Ireland was involved or to see the highlights of an FA Cup final. And so it is that I can still see in my mind's eye Reg Lewis scoring the two goals in the 1950 FA Cup final for Arsenal against Liverpool. I can see again, too, the old flickering black and white images of Ireland's rugby men carving out glory half a century ago.

There is, of course, well documented if not filmed evidence of the achievements of great sportsmen and women through the years, people touched by the legend of accomplishment, whose deeds are indelibly etched in the annals of their own particular sports.

But as a matter of personal choice I would not select an Ireland rugby team of the century for the very good reason that the first international I saw was Ireland versus Australia at Lansdowne Road on December 6th 1947. I would therefore confine myself to selecting a team from the last 52 years. But that is a task I will set myself in the very near future.

Going through the annals of Irish rugby, Ireland had many great players in the period between 1900 and the outbreak of war in 1939 that ended official internationals until 1947. The deeds of many are enshrined in the annals of the game in this country. Those men maintained a great tradition. Yet apart from players such as Louis Magee and a few others who won a Triple Crown in 1899 and were still there in 1900, a Triple Crown proved not just elusive but, in the end, unattainable for almost half a century.

And so we come to what is referred to as the post-war era and in the years that immediately followed, what is rightly called Irish rugby's golden era, the years between 1948 and 1951.

Those of my generation will readily reel off the names of the men who brought unprecedented glory to Ireland in that wonderful period. And those of us who lived through it, and saw those men in action can feel especially privileged. The men who recorded Ireland's only Grand Slam in 1948 hold a unique place in the history of the game in this country. They were superbly led by a young medical student, Karl Mullen.

BUT if I place one man apart from that great array of talent it is not to devalue in any way the contribution of any. The man concerned is Jack Kyle. Over half a century has passed since that Grand Slam and 42 years have gone by since Kyle played the last of what was then a world record 46 matches for Ireland.

Yet his name is still a household word in Irish rugby. He is synonymous with Ireland's Golden Era, his performances are readily remembered and recalled by those of my generation with delight. The memories of his performances remain evergreen.

Note well the number of caps he won, 46. That is a magnificent testimony to the consistency of his performances. It was in an era when the only tour Ireland undertook was to Argentina and Chile. Kyle was not available for that tour and, in any case, caps were not awarded.

Throughout most of his career, Ireland played just four matches a season in the championship. Indeed Kyle appeared in just four matches apart from the championship games, twice against Australia, once against New Zealand and once against South Africa. He was on the first Ireland side to beat a major touring team when Australia were defeated at Lansdowne Road in 1958. He toured Australia and New Zealand with the Lions led by Karl Mullen in 1950 and played in all six tests on that tour.

The New Zealanders - and there are no more discerning judges - rated him the greatest out-half to have played in that country. Men such as the late great commentator Winston McCarthy was in no doubt at all. His great friend and Welsh adversary Cliff Morgan talks with reverence of Kyle the player and Kyle the man. Cliff has refereed to him as being "incomparable."

Kyle's 46 caps would equate in today's game to well in excess of double that amount.

Ireland had not won a Triple Crown for 49 years when Kyle came on the scene. He was the inspirational font from which the means of victory so often flowed. From the day he first wore an Ireland jersey as a teenager, he revealed a maturity beyond his tender years and the exceptional promise found expression in that jersey. He had the enthusiasm and application to complement his genius, and the innate modesty so often the mark of the great.

Now, on this the last day of this century, I want to pay tribute to a man to whom I owe a great debt. He helped me form a romance with a game that has not alone never wilted but has blossomed through the years. Kyle captured a young boy's imagination, he was my boyhood hero.

And now, in the evening of my age, he still is. He captivated and inspired a generation. He enriched our lives and still does our memories. His play and approach to the game were a very faithful reflection of his character, brilliantly rounded, never tainted by the vulgarity of vanity or meanness of spirit. John Wilson Kyle stands apart for me as my player of the century.