Tom Reid (rugby union)
| Birth name | Thomas Eymard Reid | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 3 March 1926 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Limerick, Ireland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 12 November 1996 (aged 70) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Montreal, Canada | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | Christian Boys' College, Limerick | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Tom Eymard Reid (3 March 1926 – 12 November 1996) was an Irish rugby union player, who played in the lock position. Reid played club rugby with Garryowen, London Irish and Town of Mount Royal RFC, was capped thirteen times for Ireland, and was a member of the British and Irish Lions team that toured South Africa in 1955.
Personal life
[edit]Tom Reid was born on 3 March 1926, in Limerick. His father, Joe Reid had also played rugby for Garryowen and his cousin was the Irish international Paddy Reid.[1] Reid attended the Christian Boys' College in Limerick. As well as playing rugby, Reid also rowed for Limerick Boat Club.[2]
Rugby career
[edit]Reid made his first appearance for the Garryowen club in the 1947–48 season. In his first season with Garryowen, the team won the Munster Senior Cup with the team being captained by Paddy Reid. In the 1949-50 season, Reid was on the Garryowen team that was beaten in the final by U.C.C but two years later he again won the Munster Senior Cup beating UCC in the final. In the 1953-54 season, Reid captained the Garryowen team to the Munster Senior Cup, his third win in the competition. While Reid later moved to Canada, he made a guest appearance for Garryowen against an Army select side in 1974 while home on holidays.
In September 1954, Reid moved to London and played three seasons with London Irish. [3]
In 1957 Reid toured Canada with the Barbarians and decided to stay. He settled in Montreal and played rugby with Town of Mount Royal RFC alongside another Garryowen Oldboy Niall Quaid. Reid would become a Canadian rugby pioneer and would play for Montreal All-Stars, the Quebec Representative side and the Eastern Canada All-stars.
Reid made his first appearance for Munster Rugby in November 1947. He played for Munster for ten years winning the Interprovincial Championship in 1947, 1952 and 1954. He played for the Munster representative team in matches against international opposition; against Australia in 1947, South Africa in 1951 and New Zealand in 1954.
His first appearance for Ireland was in the 1953 Five Nations Championship, against England. In January 1954, against New Zealand, he moved from his usual position at lock to play at Number 8. He returned to lock for subsequent appearances in the 1954 and 1955 Five Nations Championship matches.[4]
Reid was included in the squad for the British Lions tour to South Africa in 1955. During the tour, Reid played in ten tour games against local opposition and two out of the four test matches against the South Africa national team; the second test where he played at Number 8 position and the third test where he reverted to his usual position at lock.[5]
In December 1955, Reid played at Flanker in a combined Scotland & Ireland team that played a combined England & Wales team at Lansdowne Road to mark the opening of the West Upper Stand at the venue. Further appearances for Ireland followed in the 1956 Five Nations and the 1957 Five Nations, the only edition of the championship where Reid played in all four of Ireland's games. His 13th and final game for Ireland came in that championship, against Wales.[4]
Reid also played 14 games for the Barbarians invitational team, including six games on the team's first overseas tour to Canada in 1957. Reid decided to emigrate to Canada following the tour.[6] In 1959, Reid played for the Eastern Canada team in their match against the British Lions. As of 2017 (note as well as Ricki Flutey (NZ Maori 2005 v Lions, and played for the lions in 2009), James Hook also played for and against the Lions (Lions 2009, baabaas 2013), and Jarred Payne and Elliot Daly both played for the baabaas against the lions in 2013 and subsequently played for the lions on tour in 2017. Multiple Lions also played for the BaaBaas in 1977, and tbc whether any of the Welsh XV who played the Lions in 1955 had previously played for, or subsequently went on to play for, the Lions), he is one of only two players to have played both for and against the Lions.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ Mulqueen, Charlie (10 January 2016). "Limerick mourns as Grand slam hero Paddy Reid passes away". Irish Examiner.
- ^ "Tom Reid" (PDF). Limerick Leader. 17 January 1953. p. 5. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 December 2017 – via Limerick City Library.
- ^ "Worthy Honour for Limerick Rugby Forward" (PDF). Limerick Leader. 23 March 1955. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 December 2017 – via Limerick City Library.
- ^ a b "Player: Tom Reid". ESPN Scrum.
- ^ van Esbeck, Edmund (11 December 1996). "Tributes to Tom Reid". Irish Times.
- ^ "Player Archive: T. E. Reid". Barbarian F.C.
- ^ Thomas, Clem; Thomas, Greg (2013). 125 Years of The British and Irish Lions. Mainstream Publishing. p. 230. ISBN 9781780576657.