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Joe Schmidt will be remembered for a long time when he packed his bags and left Ireland after the Rugby World Cup next year, the New Zealander brought an unprecedented level of success to the nation. and raised the standard for all coaches and sports.
However, there is a small pocket of Ireland that Joe Schmidt holds very close to his heart; Mullingar. Schmidt made his debut at Westmeath long before being recognized as one of the best rugby coaches in the world, and his legacy is still alive in the city of Westmeath.
Patsy Fagan played with Schmidt when he was named coach-player of the Mullingar Rugby Club in the early 90s. He credits Schmidt with turning the club into rugby but admits that no one could have predicted what he would do . reach in the game.
"I know Joe from the rugby club because I played rugby. In Mullingar, he has transformed the way we play and is involved in the training of coaches who have taken the minor teams. We probably played our best rugby ever when Joe was here. Said Fagan.
"Although no one could see where he would go because it was impossible, he was highly respected as a coach and as an individual."
Schmidt then coached Leinster to two wins in the Heineken Cup and led Ireland to eight places in the world rankings in second place. Its impact on rugby on these shores can not be overestimated.
However, in Mullingar, he will not be remembered just for rugby. In 1992, before his return to New Zealand, Schmidt relied on the green jersey Mullingar clovers and aligned for the club in a Gaelic football match.
"Joe came and coached the Mullingar rugby club. Many players would have played rugby in winter and Gaelic in summer.
"He did not live far from the Mullingar Shamrocks field, and the rugby season had just ended when he arrived one night just to see what it was all about. He also knew some of these guys because of their involvement in rugby in the winter.
"We had a junior match. We were trying to get a team together, and Joe came down and I asked him if he would play and he said that he would do it. So we gave him the shirt and he went out and played.
The Mullingar junior team defeated the Milltownpbad on a 2-8 to 1-5 score this September 1992 and legend has it that Schmidt scored one point.
Patsy Fagan can not fully subscribe to the legendary story that Schmidt entered on the scoresheet, but he admits that the Kiwi played very well, finding a new breath of life.
"Oh, he played well. From memory, I think he was playing in the half-lead line, he ran all over, grabbed the ball, missed out on the players and then sent him back.
"He did not have a lot of Gaelic skills himself, but I remember he told me that these skills were very useful for rugby players and they did well.
"Three or four of our senior team at that time would have played with Joe for Mullingar's first team. He would have known a lot of the guys from the club playing with the senior team and seen how their skills were transferred. "
Fagan recently met his old friend Schmidt at a wedding and had the pleasure of informing Pundit Arena Joe Schmidt remembers this night very well. According to Fagan, a young Schmidt loved his raids on Gaelic games.
"In fact, I met Joe three or four years ago at a wedding and I told him so. He told me that he remembered the match very well and that it was awful not to have a photo. It was Joe's only game for Mullingar Shamrock, but he remembers it.
"Ah, he loved it, it was fun, Joe was going back a bit later, so we gave him a game more fun than anything else. He expressed the wish to try it, so we let him do it. "
Joe Schmidt will always be remembered as the guy who changed the landscape of the Rugby Federation in Ireland. In Mullingar, however, it is considered much more than that.
"He's extremely well thought out, Joe is a very nice guy. He had great quality in what he met you once he knew your name, few people had this quality but Joe had it.
"He was a great man for communication. When he was talking to you, you felt that he was only talking to you. He was very good with rugby club and Wilson Hospital. He was just a very healthy guy.
"Last year he came back for a fundraiser we were doing." First of all, it was a big move on his part to get back to the club, but not only did he come over the evening with us, he did not want to take the payment that we had arranged to have him come here, he asked that he go to a better place, it was only the mark of the man. "
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