John Hayes imminent retirement

mr_edge_to_you

Heard on the radio today that Tony McGahan expects John Hayes to hang up the boots in the coming weeks.

I think its only right that we acknowledge the immense contribution that the Bruffmeister has made to both Ireland and Munster rugby.

Was never flash but he always did his job well. The consummate professional and he never let Ireland or Munster down.

My favourite John Hayes moment is a picture taken on Croke Park on the night of the England match. It showed Paul O'Connell at full stretch receiving a ball in a line out and underneath lifting him was the Bull who was also at full stretch.

I wish him all the best in his new career, presumably a full-time farmer.

cityman 18

Best of luck to the Bull in the future, a consummate professional and down to earth guy. My favorite moment was from the same match Vs England when the Bull got emotional during the rendition of Amhran na bhfiann.

Magic stuff.

mr_edge_to_you

cityman 18 wrote: »

My favorite moment was from the same match Vs England when the Bull got emotional during the rendition of Amhran na bhfiann.

Magic stuff.

Only man in Ireland allowed to cry during national anthem.

d-gal

mr_edge_to_you wrote: »

My favourite John Hayes moment is a picture taken on Croke Park on the night of the England match. It showed Paul O'Connell at full stretch receiving a ball in a line out and underneath lifting him was the Bull who was also at full stretch.

chris85

d-gal wrote: »

That is a very impressive picture. Class.

Chavways

Not too bad at saving lives either.

http://ire43eng13.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/john-hayes-putting-ronan-ogara-in-recovery-position-ireland-scotland-six-nations-2007.jpg

closeline

What a man. What a servant for Munster and Ireland. They wont have the likes of him for a long time.

thomond2006

funky penguin

Jesus, the look in POC's eyes in that lineout!!! :eek:

justsomebloke

I'm getting a sense of deja vu about this thread.

Truthfully I expect him to make an ollie le roux style come back next year though so I'll leave it till then to say my goodbyes;)

pmct

Check out this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mf919_qRGE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

myflipflops

justsomebloke wrote: »

I'm getting a sense of deja vu about this thread.

This is at least the 3rd one!


The 'Go on Bull, 'tis your field' is one of the best banners i've seen over the years. A great man.

Benny Cake

The bull was a one-man lineout pod, the likes of which I've never before seen.. I met him once or twice in and around UL and to say he was a gentleman is an understatement.

I think we can say for certain we won't be seeing John Hayes join Marcus Horan on Sky Sports any time soon! (unless the start covering the ploughing championships!)

Santa Claus

Anyone else find it strange/bad form that McGahan announced they wouldn't be offering him a new contract rather than letting the Bull announce his retirement ???

durkadurka

Santa Claus wrote: »

Anyone else find it strange/bad form that McGahan announced they wouldn't be offering him a new contract rather than letting the Bull announce his retirement ???

Also why let him go at xmas - surely you'd hold onto him till the end of the HEC group games - its only another few weeks - he can't be costing that much surely?

Maybe theres a tax implication to finishing this calendar year.

johnnysmack

Santa Claus wrote: »

Anyone else find it strange/bad form that McGahan announced they wouldn't be offering him a new contract rather than letting the Bull announce his retirement ???

I dont think Hayes is the kind of fella that would announce it. Id say he would prefer to quietly slip away and say nothing when his contract was up so if McGahan hadnt said anything no one would know.

buck65

Hayes should have retired last year but stayed on to cover the RWC, his contract was never going to be renewed. He did Munster a favour for the last few games, good luck to the man - looking forward to saying goodbye on Sunday.

daveharnett

Santa Claus wrote: »

Anyone else find it strange/bad form that McGahan announced they wouldn't be offering him a new contract rather than letting the Bull announce his retirement ???

Not really. The fact is that if Munster asked him to keep playing, then he would keep playing until his legs fell off.

For the sake of his long-term health, I'm delighted that they're letting him go. Fair to say, the guy has given enough. In the last decade, I can think of two occasions when he was unavailable through injury. The man must be held together with tape and (baling) twine at this stage.

As others have said, a real gent, and an incredible soldier. Can we have a testimonial? He'd hate it

Bearcat

A great man, a true servant to country and Provence with no frills attached.

[Jackass]

I feel bad for Hayes in hte sense that he was made to drag out his career a lot longer than he should have imo.

The lack of tight-heads in Ireland meant that he was kept going, and starting for Munster / Ireland well past his prime, and he had some rough days at the office, and much younger men got the better of him, which they wouldn't have had in his prime.

But rather than tarnish his reputation, I think it just shows his loyalty and commitment to the cause.

Always had and always will have a soft spot for Hayes. A gentelman also I'm lead to believe!

leakyboots

[Jackass] wrote: »

Always had and always will have a soft spot for Hayes. A gentelman also I'm lead to believe!

Complete and utter. I used play tag rugby out in Bruff and he'd pop down to support, present the prizes at the end of blitzes etc. Always had a kind word and time for everyone, very much at his ease.

A member of my immediate family has been sick for a while and is a massive Munster fan, Bull took the time to write to him on a number of occasions (not just a once off) when a neighbour of his, one of my aunts, told him of our situation. They should name part of Thomond Park about him, the bedrock of our success. He'd hate that though! Someone on Munsterfans said it'd be a nice touch for Bruff to rename their ground after him.

My first away match was Toulouse in Bordeaux over 10 years ago and Bull flopped over the line for a try after pretending to tie his lace (taking a breather!) what a moment, we couldn't believe it, him of all players! If it wasn't after 3am now I'd watch that match again!

My favourite story about him is Tommy Bowe from 2009!

“Ah well, John (Hayes) scored the training try of the week down in Cork last week. An intercept. He ran up out of the line. He got a round of applause from everyone . . . It must have been half the pitch. The whole coaching staff nearly fainted. They didn’t know what was going on. The players clapped him off the pitch. Man-of-the-match style.”

I'd have paid a lot of money to be there for that. One of the all-time greats, it's been a privilege to watch you Bull, enjoy the pasture!

My favourite part about John Hayes is that he kept it simple, it was about the rugby, that's it. No glamour, no interviews, no padding, the man liked a game, was really really very good at it, and played it as intensely as he possibly could.

I reckon if you asked him if he was much use at the sport he'd say no, he's not a man for the spotlight, he's a man for the team.

John, we're gonna miss you, you (literally) were a corner of our scrum for a decade. I hope you got as much from the game as we got from you.

phog

From Vincent Hogan in the Independent

The size of the space John Hayes is about to leave behind in Irish rugby won't be filled by another tighthead's jersey. That will happen only with the consolation of time. Because 'Bull's' story has left its handwriting on all our lives.

He doesn't drink, yet made an exception the day in 2001 that England's Jason Leonard equalled Sean Fitzpatrick's appearance record for a forward. That happened in a Six Nations game against Ireland at Twickenham and, to Hayes' astonishment, Leonard materialised in the Irish dressing-room afterwards to present the young Limerick man with his jersey.

Leonard's name and the match date had been embroidered onto it, so this was no ordinary shirt.

The English prop was also carrying a six-pack of beer and began handing out cans to each member of Ireland's front-row. Hayes decided to sup like a seasoned drinker. "I suppose t'would have been bad mannered not to," he later observed.

WeeBushy

What a complete and utter gentleman, sums him up to a tee.

Gowan the bull.

phog

Asked if this would be Hayes’ swansong, McGahan said: “That’s certainly what we’re looking to do, to include John in the next home game at least.”

Indeed, the intention is for the Munster squad to train in Hayes’ home-town club, Bruff RFC, on Thursday morning as a prelude to their squad and/or team announcement for next Monday’s game.

Nice gesture for Hayes and Bruff, dont think this has happened before for any of the other player who retired.

funky penguin

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2011/1221/1224309338090.html

Yet another good article from Quinlan, mainly about Connacht, but with a nice little story about Hayes at the end.

FROM THE BLINDSIDE: Connacht need success to bring in the crowds to generate the revenue. And to have success, you need the players first. Catch 22.

THIS CHRISTMAS, I am going to do something out of the ordinary. I am going to enjoy it. I am going to relax and take it easy and not worry about going training or watching what I eat or drink.
I’m not going to think about Munster’s game against Connacht on St Stephen’s Day other than to organise who I’m going to go along and watch it with.

Rugby takes away enough of your Christmases as a professional rugby player, so this year I’m going to take one back.

Last year was a terrible Christmas. We were down to play Connacht in the Sportsground on Stephen’s Day, but it got pushed back to the 27th because of all the snow and ice. And then when the game did actually go ahead, I managed to dislocate my elbow.

I dived for a loose ball and next thing you know my arm got trapped underneath one of their players. It was one of the most painful things I can remember happening to me on a rugby pitch, as anyone who was watching on TV will have guessed by the big girly screams I let out of me within earshot of the referee’s microphone.

I was rolling around on the ground in agony and squealing with the pain, making noises my team-mates slagged me about for weeks afterwards. Once I came off, I waited for about half an hour before being brought to the hospital to get fixed up. I was annoyed because I knew this would be the last time I’d play in The Sportsground and I didn’t want to go out with a bad memory of the place because I’d had enough tough battles there down the years. As it was, my last playing trip to Galway ended with Paul O’Connell bringing me a burger and chips in a hospital bed – and all after me spending Christmas preparing for the Connacht match.

I was a Connacht player once, actually. It was once and once only, but it’s the truth – I got a game and wore the jersey. It was just before the 1999 World Cup and I was a standby player for the Ireland squad. Warren Gatland had his side play a few warm-up matches against the provinces and I played for Munster when we beat them down in Musgrave Park. Connacht were next up for the World Cup squad a week later, but they were crippled with an injury crisis in the back row so myself and David Wallace were called in to help out.

We were Connacht players for one game and we loved it. Wally and I were both bursting to make an impression and show that we were ready to go if anyone dropped out of the squad. We scared the life out of them as well – going something like 21-6 up on them after half-time. Wally got a try and I managed two of my own as well, but they reeled us in eventually and beat us in the end.

I’ve often thought since that I should have asked if I could hold on to the jersey from that day.

Although we’re talking about completely different scenarios, the basic reason we lost that day isn’t a whole lot different to the reason Connacht are going through their bad patch now, a full 12 years later.

It’s a lack of resources, a lack of playing power. I played with Eric Elwood for Ireland and I have huge admiration for what he’s been doing there.

Losing to Gloucester the way they did last weekend was a killer, but I know that with his integrity and intelligence, he will find a way to improve them. I would only love to see him get the support he needs to do that.

Connacht’s problem is that their squad is just too thin to cover all the high-intensity games they’re having to play. They weren’t able to get a good enough squad together for the Heineken Cup and it has caught up with them. You can have all the fight and all the spirit in the world, but, ultimately, that lack of depth is going to catch up with you. Eric lost four of his best players before they knew they were going to be in the Heineken Cup and, without Ian Keatley, Fionn Carr, Jamie Hagan and Seán Cronin, they’ve been struggling.

They have four defeats from four matches in the Heineken Cup after last weekend and if you bring it down to brass tacks, I just don’t think they have the players to compete at what is almost Test match level rugby. They have a few outstanding players who could get their game anywhere else, fellas like John Muldoon and Michael Swift who have been hugely loyal to Connacht.

But they just don’t have enough of them and when big matches come down to tight margins at the end like they have for Connacht over the past few weeks, those are the guys you need.

But how do you get those players into the Connacht squad?

That’s the question we have to face up to. With more and more kids playing the game every year and more and more talent coming through, you are going to need room for 120 elite professional players in the country.

The challenge is there at all times and in all provinces to attract top players. You can’t blame the likes of Carr and Cronin and the rest of them for going to where they think their career might be helped along and you can’t blame the other provinces for looking after their own patch.

In a way, I understand it from the IRFU’s point of view. The other provinces attract big crowds and play in the Heineken Cup every year. They can afford to get players to move to them because they’re more self-sufficient – money is tight everywhere and provinces have to help themselves. So you could argue that Connacht need to be generating their own revenue if they’re going to have success.

But there’s a Catch 22 involved in that they need success to bring in the crowds to generate the revenue. And to have success, you need the players first.

That’s why I think there should be some sort of loan system within Ireland. Each of the other provinces has a handful of young guys who are still developing, who are hugely talented, but who aren’t getting any game-time.

Most coaches know at the start of a season what they have in mind for the players in their squad and, realistically, they know which players they’ll be calling on and which ones will be left to a few starts here and there in the Pro 12. Surely, it would be better for these players in the long run to be playing full-time.

Obviously, this isn’t an idea that would appeal to Tony McGahan or Joe Schmidt or Brian McLaughlin. Any coach will guard his own patch and will want to keep the best 30 or 35 players available to him where he can use them if he needs them. If a player goes to Connacht early in the season on loan and gets cup-tied for the later rounds of the Heineken Cup, then he’s no use to his own province if there’s an injury crisis down the line.

But the IRFU have a duty to look after the bigger picture. If there was a system in place where they could go to Connacht for six months or even a full season, the players would progress and the fourth province would benefit too. The deck is stacked against them in so many ways and this seems such an obvious way to improve it.

You have an over-supply of quality rugby players in the country and a fourth wheel that is crying out for attention.

If you look at the playing numbers in France and the playing numbers in England, we’re way behind the curve here.

We have to be able to support 120 professional players here, otherwise we’re going to be losing a lot of young players to foreign clubs over the next few years.

It’s tough on Connacht having to come to Thomond Park on Monday with Munster on a high having won four games from four, but they will have to tough it out.

And the other factor they’ll be up against will be the huge wave of emotion surrounding John Hayes’s last match for Munster.

As if Munster weren’t going to be trying hard enough in the first place.

The first time Hayes and I played against each other, the try was still only worth four points. Clanwilliam beat Bruff in a Munster Junior Cup match back in 1992 and Hayes was playing second-row. He was useless that day, clearly a man with the footballing ability for the front row and nowhere else.

Over time, we became team-mates at Shannon and Munster and Ireland and got to be very close friends. Myself, himself and Mick Galwey always seemed to drift towards each other.

If Shannon were after playing a game in Dublin, the three of us would go down to Kilkenny with Gaillimh for the night afterwards.

Hayes was a terrible drinker for a man his size and you’d often see him reduced to sleeping standing up in a pub – you could nearly mistake him for a pillar holding up the ceiling. At the end of the night, we’d head to the chipper and Hayes would gather up all the scraps on the tables and eat them while he was waiting in the queue.

Although he was never much of a drinker at all, he gave it up altogether a few years ago.

I always said it made him more boring, but it was because when it came to playing for Munster and Ireland, he was just so professional.

The whole of Ireland can see that he had no interest in attention, that all he ever wanted was to get on with the job. He’s very humble and respectful and all the things most people think he is, but he’s very funny too and he’d do anything for you.

And I do mean anything.

When I had my dislocated shoulder in Australia during the 2003 World Cup, I couldn’t reach around to wash my own back.

Hayes never blinked – he scrubbed my back for me for the rest of that tournament. Talk about above and beyond the call of duty.

I’ll be there for his send-off on Monday and, hopefully, we’ll be able to slip off and have a quiet pint when it’s all over.

It’s Christmas, after all.

badbeatcentral

Complete and utter gent until you find yourself under a maul and he's stamping on your face.

He'll be remembered as a legend though which is fair enough considering the service is made to Munster and Ireland.

kmart6

Wow one discretion over his career and you have to drag it up...fair play to you!

badbeatcentral

Sorry for letting the truth get in the way of blind sentimentality, my bad.

Sabre0001

badbeatcentral wrote: »

Sorry for letting the truth get in the way of blind sentimentality, my bad.

How many mauls has he been involved in and one moment overshadows his status? That is one blemish on an otherwise startling career - he is a player that many could do with learning from...

Benny Cake

Sabre0001 wrote: »

How many mauls has he been involved in and one moment overshadows his status? That is one blemish on an otherwise startling career - he is a player that many could do with learning from...

Just ignore him, he was looking for a reaction. Don't give him one.

justsomebloke

Benny Cake wrote: »

Just ignore him, he was looking for a reaction. Don't give him one.

agreed, people are entitled to their opinions no matter how you feel about it, so just ignore them

Careful Now

In fairness u could argue he held back the progress of most irish props and in particular mike ross who is now prb 3rd most important player in irish set up. Hayes was a nice guy alright but bit of a disgrace that they let him rack up so many caps instead of giving others a chance.

part time punk

Careful Now wrote: »

Hayes was a nice guy alright but bit of a disgrace that they let him rack up so many caps instead of giving others a chance.

Bit of a Catch 22 situation - he won so many caps for ireland because for years there were no other viable alternatives. But I can't think of any other top 10 rugby country where he would have won over 100 caps. However I do think he played/was made play for about 2 - 3 years beyond what he should have. He should have called it a day after the Grand Slam.

Dermighty

daveharnett wrote: »

Not really. The fact is that if Munster asked him to keep playing, then he would keep playing until his legs fell off.

For the sake of his long-term health, I'm delighted that they're letting him go. Fair to say, the guy has given enough. In the last decade, I can think of two occasions when he was unavailable through injury. The man must be held together with tape and (baling) twine at this stage.

As others have said, a real gent, and an incredible soldier. Can we have a testimonial? He'd hate it

He's a beast. Good for him, when I think of Rugby I think of him. (I'm not a rugby supporter)

vinny chase

Careful Now wrote: »

In fairness u could argue he held back the progress of most irish props and in particular mike ross who is now prb 3rd most important player in irish set up. Hayes was a nice guy alright but bit of a disgrace that they let him rack up so many caps instead of giving others a chance.

Absolutely ridiculous.

How did he hold guys up? If another prop had been capable of coming along at Munster and taking his place they would have done so. It's hardly his fault that guys like Tim Ryan and Tony Buckley weren't up to it.

He probably would have retired given a choice a while ago if permitted, but he's tried his best to help Munster and Ireland out by staying around as long as he has.

Fireball07

Careful Now wrote: »

In fairness u could argue he held back the progress of most irish props and in particular mike ross who is now prb 3rd most important player in irish set up. Hayes was a nice guy alright but bit of a disgrace that they let him rack up so many caps instead of giving others a chance.

That's just not true, he played because he was better than them. Mike Ross wasn't good enough to start ahead of him. Tony Buckley certainly wasn't. It took Ross over a year to start at Leinster too.

wixfjord

Caption comp!

Full set of pics from his last training session here:
http://thescore.thejournal.ie/in-pictures-john-%E2%80%98the-bull%E2%80%99-hayes-bids-a-fond-farewell-to-munster-312155-Dec2011/

kmart6

I'd say he hated the interviews and press conference!

danthefan

Careful Now wrote: »

In fairness u could argue he held back the progress of most irish props and in particular mike ross who is now prb 3rd most important player in irish set up. Hayes was a nice guy alright but bit of a disgrace that they let him rack up so many caps instead of giving others a chance.

Not really his fault he got selected, that was the failure of the management.

interlocked

You choose heroes carefully, because all too often they let you down.

I had lots of heroes when I was a child, I had very low standards of discrimination then, and I thought being famous was sufficient.

Then I learnt about characteristics like loyalty, honesty, dedication and courage.

Men like Dermot Earley, a leader of men on the football field and as Head of the Army. or George O Connor twenty years hurling for no reward and in his last match the 1996 All Ireland he played because of an injury to another player and when the winning whistle blew he dropped to his knees to give thanks.

These were men that appreciated sacrifice. These are men that I would have followed into battle

And then there is the Bull.

Has there ever been a more undemonstrative player

Sure O Driscoll and O Gara have been the stars, but I suspect that if you ask the average Irish person. what they think of John Hayes, they'll stop and smile and think of all the attributes of above

Because he reminds them of good things.

Like bawling crying in Croke Park on behalf of us all and than going out and beating the tar out of the Tans.
Like epitomising honesty and decency in his behaviour. Being the farmer that happened to be the lynch pin of the Irish team.

Just being an ordinary man. A man of whom you would be proud to call your fellow countryman.

We recognise the extraordinary in the ordinary

That is why John Hayes is one of my heroes.even though I'm not from Munster and it's why I will travel a long way on Stephens Day to say Thanks.

Bull
Twill always be you field

Fireball07

interlocked wrote: »

You choose heroes carefully, because all too often they let you down.

I had lots of heroes when I was a child, I had very low standards of discrimination then, and I thought being famous was sufficient.

Then I learnt about characteristics like loyalty, honesty, dedication and courage.

Men like Dermot Earley, a leader of men on the football field and as Head of the Army. or George O Connor twenty years hurling for no reward and in his last match the 1996 All Ireland he played because of an injury to another player and when the winning whistle blew he dropped to his knees to give thanks.

These were men that appreciated sacrifice. These are men that I would have followed into battle

And then there is the Bull.

Has there ever been a more undemonstrative player

Sure O Driscoll and O Gara have been the stars, but I suspect that if you ask the average Irish person. what they think of John Hayes, they'll stop and smile and think of all the attributes of above

Because he reminds them of good things.

Like bawling crying in Croke Park on behalf of us all and than going out and beating the tar out of the Tans.
Like epitimosing honesty and decency in his behaviour. Being the farmer that happened to be the lynch pin of the Irish team.

Just being an ordinary man. A man of whom you would be proud to call your fellow countryman.

We recognise the extraordinary in the ordinary

That is why John Hayes is one of my heroes.even though I'm not from Munster and it's why I will travel a long way on Stephens Day to say Thanks.

Bull
Twill always be you field

A fitting tribute. I couldn't put it better myself...but I'll probably try anyway after that game. I get strangely emotional any time I think about it being his last game.

phog

Hayes Packs Kilballyowen

22 December 2011, 7:25 pm By The Editor

They turned up in their hundreds to Bruff RFC today, ostensibly to watch Munster being put through their paces ahead of the RaboDirect PRO12 Stephens Day clash with Connacht, but in truth the main attraction was their own John Hayes, who will bring the curtain down on a remarkable career next Monday in Thomond Park Stadium.

Hayes began his career in Kilballyowen, as he said himself playing in the second row and back row, but progressed to the front line of the pack at club provincial and international level, earning every honour possible, RWC medal excepted, in a professional career that has spanned 14 years.
He's been capped times by Ireland and on Monday, will become Munster's second most capped player - after Peter Stringer - when he runs out for the 217th time in the game against Connacht.

Perhaps his great strength, evidenced yet again today, is his modesty. That and a genuine astonishment that there should be any fuss at all about himself, whether that be to do with his achievements, his longevity in the most demanding department of rugby or his contribution to Munster and Irish rugby. Unassuming simply doesn't cover it when you talk about John Hayes.

When coach Tony McGahan was asked about him he said, "When I speak of the John Hayes I've known in my time time here I'd speak of John as the person more than anyone else. I think just his general demeanour. Who he is and what he's about has always been about the team and that's been evident all the way through. Even for him to sign on after the World Cup to help us out of a situation gives you a measure of the man.

"Y'know, whenever there was a Cork game on he was the first man down there in the dressing room after the game. He has a young family, lives the other side of town and guys who lived 10 kilometres away didn't bother going. But he was always the first one down there. And for me that really speaks volumes of who he is.

"It didn't matter who you were in the squad, first in say like myself when I arrived, he always had time for you. Didn't matter whether you were staff or player, anyone, it didn't matter. He treated everyone the same. His legacy as a person will be one of the abiding features of him here at Munster."

This afternoon, Hayes applied himself to his job with the same focus as any of the other countless sessions he's been involved in. He scored his fifth and perhaps final try for Munster in the course of the short game refereed by George Clancy and afterwards had perhaps, the busiest afternoon of his career with the assembled media.

Then he stood and smilingly signed jerseys and posters for young and old alike.

And finally, after a Tony Mullins prepared meal shared with wife Fiona Steed, daughters, Roisin and Sally and teammates Denis Fogarty and Donncha O'Callaghan, Hayes retired to the bar. To sign more posters and jerseys.

I have lots of memories of this guy but the one that I found special was -Munster were playing Connacht in the Sportsgrounds a few years, possible one of the games where we put a massive score of 3 points on them.

At halftime, two underage teams take the field, as they're being called off as the seniors are about to come back for the 2nd half, one young lad hung around the middle of the field, I tought he was looking for his gumshield or something, then as John Hayes ran across the field to take his place for the restart, the young lad ran over to shake his hand. Hayes duely shook his hand, clap on the back and the young lad ran off the field happy.

phog

From the IRFU

On the eve of his final game for Munster we at IrishRugby.ie would like to say THANK YOU to 'The Bull'.

John's record is simply outstanding -
Ireland Caps - 105

Munster Caps - 212

Celtic/Magners League - 2003, 2009, 2011

Celtic Cup - 2005

Heineken Cup - 2006, 2008

Triple Crown - 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009

RBS 6 Nations Championship - 2009

Grand Slam - 2009

From all at IrishRugby.ie we simply say: Thanks Bull!

Related Links -

John Hayes: Ireland's First Rugby Centurion

He has some war chest, he won something in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2011.

Brian P

and let's not forget his numerous AIL wins with the remarkable Shannon from the mid 90s.In those years before the Heineken cup the AIL was the only game in town besides the internationals and I remember a young Hayes along with Foley Halvey,Quinlan,Galwey and other excellent players battle with the best in Ireland every Saturday in some marvellous encounters.

Benny Cake

Not to forget 2 lions appearances as well to top off the big mans career...

johnnysmack

any one else getting teary eyed just thinking about this? what a legend!!

dtpc191991

What a player, legend. Just look at his trophy cabinet. Most players could only dream of winning as many competition as John Hayes won over his career. A great servant of Irish and Munster rugby and I hope he enjoys his retirement back on the farm. =')

thomond2006

http://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2011/1223/hayesj_av.html

Hayes talks a small bit!

Loved Axel's quip!

phog

From independent.ie

John Hayes’ career, mirroring his personality, would be a tribute to quiet, determined consistency

Saturday December 24 2011

"Have you got a moment?"

Outside the Palace Bar on a balmy September evening, as shocked Dubs and even more stunned Kerry folk mingled in muted reflection upon the pavement, a middle-aged lady approached.

A few months before, she had heard that a neighbour had told legendary Munster prop John Hayes about the plight of a desperately ill Munster fan.

Hayes went away and wrote a letter to that fan. In fact, he wrote several. It was typical of the man -- quietly doing just the right thing, with the smallest amount of fuss and, seemingly, with the minimum of effort.

For sure, he would have preferred if his career had finished without an accompaniment of fanfare.

However, it is precisely because the shadow of this quietest of dark men has been cast so far and wide that the requiem deserves to be so deafening.

On Monday, the Thomond Park choir will have their opportunity to deliver their own eulogy.

Hayes will deal with the commotion with disarming diffidence. After all, this is his third retirement.

He spoke to us after what should really be remembered as his meaningful swansong on a rugby field, the Magners League final last May, when he helped Munster push Leinster's scrum over the line.

"Will you have a chat, Bull?" "Arrah, sure why not?"

OPTIMISM

Eventually, Declan Kidney persuaded him to remain on for the summer, but, despite private optimism, Hayes would not make an emotional return to New Zealand for the World Cup.

Meanwhile, Munster required short-term cover. Hayes being Hayes, he didn't refuse. The last few months have been possessed of an air of indignity to many observers. Except, of course, Hayes himself. Just happy to help. He loves his job, but it never consumed the farmer and family man.

"He'd rather get on, do his job, get off and get home to the farm and rub his cows," according to Donncha O'Callaghan.

"He's just living it, really, rather than working at it," says Kidney, as reluctant to eulogise as the player himself.

Keith Wood, alongside whom Hayes propped when he made his Irish debut against Scotland in 2000 -- Peter Clohessy was the loose-head -- memorably described the Shannon graduate, by way of Bruff and Invercargill, as being possessed of "the personality of a ninja, if not the stealth."

As Bob Dylan wrote of Rubin Carter in another time and another place, Hayes "never did like to talk about it all that much."

And, just as when he skidaddled from Ireland's Grand Slam celebrations last year to be with his family on the Cappamore farm, "when it's over, just as soon go on my way."

When Eddie O'Sullivan's Irish team were so narrowly denied the Six Nations championship in 2007, many of the Irish team joined supporters in the lobby of their Rome hotel to watch the second-half of France versus Scotland.

The Irish team's recovery session had been delayed as they awaited the outcome; to their horror, an Elvis Vermuelen try in the game's last play denied them the title. Hayes had spotted both the throng and the attendant cameras and had immediately bailed for the lift when the coach dropped them off at the hotel, eager for the solitude of the swimming pool.

O'Callaghan remembers being the first to join him.

"Hayes, France won."

A long pause.

"F*** it, we were close enough."

Hayes would have spurned the thoughts of someone else having to do him a favour. For him, you do your best on your own patch of field and if that wasn't good enough, so be it. It was an attitude that formed his close professional and personal relationship with the sod beneath his feet.

A Grand Slam was all that mattered, so when that particular bountiful harvest arrived, it represented deliverance for so many seasons of toil. Not that it made him any less immune to how he reacted to the vicissitudes of his life and sport.

For him, family now underpinned all those hours spent toiling in the mud-splattered fields of sport and silage. "I wasn't a rugby man," he once revealed some years before.

And so, as the Irish team made an embarrassing exhibition of themselves, Hayes asked Kidney could he be excused.

"Drive on," said one of his most trusted mentors. And so Hayes sped home to see his wife Fiona and the girls, Sally and Roisin, then just two-weeks-old.

When one of the players noticed he was gone, they fired him a text. "Where are you?" "I'm at home on the couch watching ye fools on the telly!"

He was not a rugby man; hurling and football with Doon CBS and then Cappamore represented his sporting upbringing until his occasional interest in the Five Nations on TV prompted him to watch the fêted 1991 World Cup clash between Ireland and Australia on TV.

He went over to Bruff for a look and that was it, initially playing blindside flanker, debuting in a 0-0 draw with Newcastlewest. He was applauded on to the club's next training session.

He might still be a welder and part-time on the father's suckler farm were it not for that peculiar twist of fate which introduced a man earthed in hurling terrain to a rugby field.

Although a belated convert, his steps in the sport were stealthy, even if he first demurred when Niall O'Donovan asked him to join a scrummaging session at Shannon with Mick Galwey just a week after he had scored the Twickenham try that beat the English. Over a decade later, 'Gaillimh' would credit the fork-lifting Hayes' heft with prolonging his career by at least two seasons.

Perhaps the most salient influence on his career arrived on the other side of the world in Invercargill, New Zealand, to where he had travelled with a returning Bruff team-mate, Kynan McGregor.

It was there that the Marist coach 'Doc' Cournane tried the Limerick man at prop; destroyed at loose-head, he tried the other side.

The conversion would be a prophetic one.

His career, mirroring his public persona, would be a tribute to quiet, determined consistency, remarkable unbroken streaks in green and red an indication of his indispensability and, too often, a stick to beat him with when things went wrong.

But few would forget his decisive impacts, such as the tilt in the Munster scrum to allow Peter Stringer to score his decisive try in the breakthrough Heineken Cup win in 2006.

Watch it again and see how the scrum remains locked tight, the slightest shove from Hayes allowing Stringer to gleefully gambol down the blindside to score.

His durability represented how crucial he was to Irish rugby.

O'Callaghan's recent tribute is perhaps most apt.

"He was the kind of player that only his team-mates could fully appreciate. The pundits who were critical of Hayes would never buy a line like that, but you can't fool the people you play with."

Bull was nobody's fool. Just everybody's hero.

- DAVID KELLY

Irish Independent

jacothelad

I think I can safely speak for most Ulster fans and say thank you John for all you have given to Munster and Irish Rugby. The way you played the game embodies all that is good about the sport. We will miss you more than we know.

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.


Jaco.