Rala o reilly

durkadurka

Anyone know much about him? Players seem to love him, he seems to be some sort of agony aunt/ baggage man?

JustinDee

Two words cover Rala:
Inishbofin
Terenure

GerM

Seems a very popular man alright. The 2009 Lions tour is a great look at him. Also, check out the story of 2007 when the squad players locked him in a laundry cage and hid him behind a curtain which opened in the middle of a team meeting. Guy seems to be an integral part of the squad in terms of bonding and squad morale.

rockman15

effectively their mother/wife/girlfriend's all wrapped up into one person.

Allegedly he was gagged, taped to a chair and put in a lift. Whereafter the players in question pushed the button and sent him to the lobby. The French (iirc) hotel staff didnt know what to do when he arrived down so they left him for 20mins going up and down in the lift with other guests.

i also recall that the players for match days go to rala's room the night before games to collect socks and shorts and some kind words of encouragement etc.

Blobby George

He has a massive cock.

Systic

He went out with O'Callaghans mother many years ago.

justsomebloke

Not sure what to make of this thread so I'll leavevit open for the moment but if descends into crap I will just lock it

phog

Reading through a few of the books brought out by Irish players they all seem to have huge regard for him.

CatFromHue

He is the baggage man and been there a long time. That makes him part of the team set up but in no way part of the team running. He doesn't drop players, he doesn't tell the players "your leg is screwed we have to send you home", he doesn't discipline a player if they miss curfew. The players can relax around him more. Plus he seems like a nice guy.

There is usually a fella like that in most teams / organisations.

I've a feeling but can't remember exactly but a recent enough Irish football team manager replaced the baggage guy and it went down very poorly with the players.

EmacB

He gets mentioned alot on twitter.

laugh

He sorts them out with socks and studs and stuff.

Badgermonkey

Joe the Santa wrote: »

Not sure what to make of this thread so I'll leavevit open for the moment but if descends into crap I will just lock it

Even in the context of a Rugby forum, discussion of the bagman is nerdism gone mad.

davidpfitz

Badgermonkey wrote: »

Even in the context of a Rugby forum, discussion of the bagman is nerdism gone mad.

It's generally said that he hasn't picked up a bag in many a year!

I've spoken to him a couple of times, and he's a very funny and personable guy. I think the players enjoy him being around as he's not part of the coaching hierarchy, but he's been around the block with the teams over the years and acts as a bit of an agony aunt (uncle?) to the players.

theboss80

The man himself from tommy bowe twitter

Systic

sitting beside the GF here and she just said that DOC is 100% wearing fake tan in that photo! I'm shocked!

testicle

Systic wrote: »

sitting beside the GF here and she just said that DOC is 100% wearing fake tan in that photo! I'm shocked!

It's fake as in acquired from a sunbed, not a bottle.

actuallylike

Know him well, couldn't meet a nicer man. Very important to the team and very professional in his job. Been in a few situations where one of the team would pop up to his room asking for something mundane and sure enough he'll have it there, be it socks, tie, cufflink, boxers. Gave up his own blazer for one of the team for one of the post match dinners. Went down a treat for the Lions tour as well, very likeable man.