I know they say that time colours the mind but I look back with fondness on my years playing with ‘the Irish’ in the sixties.

The club was based in Sunbury on Thames, south of Heathrow Airport and was home from home for the Irish exile.

There were many colourful characters playing with ‘the Irish’ then.

Sir Tony had retired from International rugby some years before but one of the Irish wingers got injured at the Thursday morning run out and the Irish selectors arrived at Sunbury for the London Irish training session that evening and saw O’Reilly score a try in a game of tip rugby.

One of the selectors asked ‘Irish’ winger Billy Lemon how AJF was playing. “With difficulty” replied the London Irish man.

Nevertheless the big 5 decided to pick the Heinz man and he duly turned up at Twickenham on the Saturday afternoon in his chauffeur driven car.

England won the match but O’Reilly got little chance to run as it was a wet, miserable day.

The great man was tackled on one occasion and got an accidental tap of a stray boot which elicited a famous remark from a wag on the touch line “and while you’re at it kick his bloody chauffeur too”.

There was a steady stream of Irish rugby players going to London back in those recession days with people going to England to work or newly qualified university students spending some time there for work experience.

The craic was mighty at Sunbury and the ‘Irish’ ran 11 teams.

Many established Irish Internationals would play for ‘Irish’ for a season or two among them second row Niall Francis. Frano told a story in his Sunday Tribune article about one game he played in where they had over indulged celebrating a win.

He got on the tube train at Hammersmith to go to Piccadilly but fell asleep and ended up in Cockfosters, the end of the Piccadilly line.