Rugby Warrior by Gerard Siggins

Author:Gerard Siggins [Gerard Siggins]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781847176486
Publisher: The O'Brien Press
Published: 2014-08-23T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

Eoin realised that telling the rival scrum-halves where to get off was the right thing to have done, so he didn’t bother tiptoeing around them after that. There was too much to do, what with being team captain and having daily chats with Mr McRae about tactics, as well as training, study and homework. And then there was the project!

Eoin had let the project slide for a while now, although he had finally managed to work his way through The Complete Rugby Footballer. He had found out some details about Dave Gallaher’s sporting career, and about his life in New Zealand, but he needed more information about what it was like to fight on the Western Front.

He picked up the ancient book from his locker, collected a notebook and pen, and wandered out of the school toward his secret haunt. On the way, he bumped into Mr Finn, who was his usual enthusiastic self and was even more so when he saw what Eoin was carrying.

‘It’s for a history project,’ Eoin explained.

‘Excellent – is that for the Young Historian competition?’ asked the teacher.

‘Yes, I’m doing it on Dave Gallaher – I got interested in him when you pointed him out at the Aviva that evening,’ he added.

‘Wonderful!’ said Mr Finn, ‘I’m so glad to hear that. You should ask Dixie about him too. I’m sure we discussed him many years ago.’

‘I will, thanks,’ said Eoin, itching to escape to his hideaway. ‘As it’s a nice evening I’m just going over to find a quiet corner to read the book.’

Mr Finn bade him goodbye and Eoin broke into a trot towards the tiny stream in the woods.

He sat on the rock and opened the book. Almost immediately Dave appeared.

‘Hello there, young laddie, and how have you been?’ he asked.

Eoin explained that he wanted to hear about his experiences in the First World War and what it was like in the trenches of Flanders.

‘It wasn’t pretty, I’ll tell you that,’ Dave Gallaher started, ‘I had been a soldier a long time before in South Africa, when we fought the Boers. I was well into my forties when the Great War started. Two of my little brothers, Charlie and Douglas, went off to fight, and to be honest I wanted to go too. Lots of rugby mates signed up, and when the newspapers started reporting their deaths I felt a terrible tug. But I was married to Nellie, and had a lovely little girl called Nora, so …’ he paused, staring at his feet.

‘But both my brothers were badly injured in Gallipoli so I decided to sign up so that the Gallahers could continue to play their part. Douglas went back to the Western Front and I applied to rejoin the army. I was waiting for the call-up when my mother got that awful telegram saying Douglas had been killed at The Somme.

‘They made me a Sergeant-Major and we sailed for Europe on a big steam ship – it took us three months to get here, would you believe? – and eventually we were sent to the front line in Belgium.

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