Itchy Arsenal wrote:
but his tales on Mc Tigue were the one’s that had me wishing I had seen him play in his pomp.
A proper guy with fantastic handling skills and a punch that dropped many a shoitehouse. Props today doing 15 minute stints is a joke and probably one of the main reasons why my love of the game isn’t what it was.
IIRC Brian McTigue was an ex-boxer. He was that good that Joe Louis old coach wanted to sign him up to box. The Ozzies were frightened to death of him, even though he was a true gentleman - he was a real hard case.
McTigue died much too soon, he was only in his early 50's if I recall. I did message with his sister very briefly, on a messaging board some years ago.
My old dad regaled me of times before I saw Brian McTigue. I saw him play in the late 50's and early 60's, but I was too young really to appreciate him. My old dad said when some visiting players were doing the 'dirty stuff', the crowd at Central Park used to shout "get him Mac". And lo and behold, that particular forward was left lying, usually knocked out, on the floor when the scrum broke up . AFAIK, Brian McTigue never got sent off.
Alex Murphy in his autobiography wrote, he "thanked God.......that Mac was nearby" when Murphy was winding the Ozzie pack up, 'down under', on such as the Sydney Cricket ground.
