Ferris forced to retire

awec

The big man definitely deserves his own thread.

Ulster, Ireland and British and Irish Lions back-row forward, Stephen Ferris, has today confirmed that he is to retire from rugby.


http://ulsterrugby.com/News/LatestNews/TabId/149/ArtMID/793/ArticleID/1547/Stephen-Ferris-to-retire-from-rugby-.aspx



Gutted.

former legend

Ah, bollix.

Even on the basis of his limited game time, he'll go down as a great player, but he had the potential to be one of Ireland's best ever.

Hard luck Stephen.

sydthebeat

unfortunately this had an air of inevitability about it

great player, absolute dog......

molloyjh

Sadly Stephen Ferris has had to retire from rugby due to injury. It's a sad day for Ulster and Irish rugby. The guy was a huge talent and made up part of a "dream team" style back row in the 2011 RWC.

http://www.ulsterrugby.com/News/LatestNews/TabId/149/ArtMID/793/ArticleID/1547/Stephen-Ferris-to-retire-from-rugby-.aspx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55xPjGFWv9o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry8PZINojgo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wjm9u6ME4zg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZXbyx4BEK0

Best of luck to you Fez. You'll be missed.

prospect

God dammit,

A real giant of the game, in every sense.

Teferi

To the surprise of nobody really. Poor auld Fez, his body couldn't handle the intensity his mind demanded. He'll be sorely missed.

Midnight64

That sucks! Really bad news. Hope the damage will not affect his new future. SUFTUM!

These kind of retirements (injured out of the game, like O'Malley / McKinley / Barry Murphy) are tough to take.

Ferris lit the game up plenty of times, but nowhere near as many as we would have hoped to see.

Devastating.

Stan27

My opinion when playing one of our greatest players.

crashplan

A huge loss to rugby. A giant of a man.

MugMugs

Gutted for him.

This was on the cards for a good while but still gutted for him.

vienne86

Very sad news, even though there seems to have been a certain inevitability about it. A wonderful player and a huge loss to Irish and Ulster rugby. I just hope he can pick up from here and have a happy and fruitful life. He deserves some luck.

Swiwi.

All I'll say is that in 20 years they will still be replaying that Ferris v Genia clip. It's a crying shame that injury has removed a genuine world class 6 from the Ulster & Irish ranks.

LeeroyJones

Favourite player outside of the Leinster ranks. Gutted for him. Glad he has a 6 Nations medal and Lions recognition to look back on but even still there is an enormous amount of what could have been.

All the best Fez

The Pheasant2

Devastated...my favourite Ireland player even as a Leinster fan...all the best to big guy in his future endeavors

dregin

Gutted for the lad. Best of luck to him in the future.

stephen_n

Bugger!


That is all.

19543261

Sad news.

awec

There's only one f in ferris!



Will never get to sing that again.

LostArt

Inevitable but I'm still gutted for the lad

shootermacg

On my "things to look forward to", this was up there at the top. When he came back for Ulster I was delighted, especially when he carried their FB halfway down the pitch.

I personally have the big man down as my favorite rugby player.
A sad day for me, and a sad day for Ulster and Ireland.

Micky Dolenz

Crap.

Sinbad_NI

Sad sad news.

I am pie

We hoped and hoped for a miracle but it was inevitable unfortunately.

A rare talent and a rare physical specimen. Hope he goes from strength to stregnth in his career outside rugby. Hope to see him commentating or in the studio for some Ireland or Ulster games.

Stand up for Fez!

.ak

Gutted, too many good players forced to retire early.

Mahatma Geansai

The writings been on the wall for a while, but its still a hugely bitter pill to smallow. He was a genuinely world class talent, and has been my favourite back row ever since Wally was similarly forced to hang up his boots early.

A phenominal athlete with unbelievable power and pace. He'll be a huge loss to the sport in Ireland.

Rightwing

A shame but utterly predictable. A tough but right decision made.

Ballyv24

Feck!! He was my second favorite player (after David Wallace).. :-)

ssaye2

https://twitter.com/Inphosports/status/473805428808515585/photo/1

dtpc191991

Gutted for him. At his best he was World Class and definitely one of the top five sixes in the world.

jacothelad

Sorry Steve. How lucky we were to have seen you but it makes saying goodbye really hard.

shuffol

Depressing news, IMO was the best athlete in world rugby on his day and it's hard to envisage us producing another like him. Had the strength to shunt a maul 5 metres back on his own and the pace to score breakaway tries like the one against the Golden Lions in 09.

Its another example in a long list of bad fortune for Ulster with players they've produced, Ferris, Pollock and Spence been the most obvious. Ryan Caldwell had the potential to be an outstanding 2nd row but his career has misfired for a combination of reasons. Add to that guys like Macklin, McCallister, Farrell and Olding who have all had season ending injuries very early in their career.

UnitedWeStand

dtpc191991 wrote: »

Gutted for him. At his best he was World Class and definitely one of the top five sixes in the world.

Hmm I'd go a bit further than that even. One his day I reckon Fez was the best Six in the world. Not only is his physique freakish and quite rare, but he also had the brains too. He could just smash players, but instead has the brains to choke them and drive them back and assist the team in turnover ball to name one. Not many Six's can match for pace a hell of a lot of outside backs, at least at club level.

Podge_irl

dtpc191991 wrote: »

Gutted for him. At his best he was World Class and definitely one of the top five sixes in the world.

At his best he was the top 6 in the world.

awec

UnitedWeStand wrote: »

Hmm I'd go a bit further than that even. One his day I reckon Fez was the best Six in the world. Not only is his physique freakish and quite rare, but he also had the brains too. He could just smash players, but instead has the brains to choke them and drive them back and assist the team in turnover ball to name one. Not many Six's can match for pace a hell of a lot of outside backs, at least at club level.

He didn't just match backs for pace - he beat them. He was the fastest man in the Ulster squad over 100m (I think it was 100).

For a big unit he had some engine in him.

I think I read somewhere that he was at one point the fastest in the Ireland squad over 40m.

partyguinness

Very sad. Great player...:(

bamboozle

sad sad news, great player, was destined to start at 6 in SA for the lions until he got a cruel training ground injury. Great player, EOS identified him very early and had him involved with the Irish squad while just out of his teens which for a 6 was incredible.

Will Genia is probably still having sleepless nights over him.

postitnote

Well I guess we've found Plumtree's replacement as forwards coach.

Otherwise put him out to stud and we'll reap the rewards at the 2035 world cup.

In all seriousness though, all the best to Stevie. He'll be sorely missed.

Pauric89

Sad news, but it was expected... The Genia clip was one of the best moments of the last world cup

Burgo

Terrible news, was a beast of a player.

Philo Beddoe

Very sad news, absolute beast of a player. He's still only 28 and we've barely seen him for 2 years, so much potential unrealised, you really have to feel for the guy.

mfceiling

Probably up there with the death of my granny as bad news goes.

The man was unreal. He had that fast muscle twitch which isn't prevalent in NH players at all. The speed he had was something else and the strength of the man was unhuman.

Too many favourite moments but when he scored a try (against a welsh side??) in the rabo in a back line move...and he flattened the oncoming defender and then side stepped the last man and scored....you wouldn't have seen Campese in his pomp do it.

So so sad to hear this today....the very best of luck to him in the future.

twinytwo

One of the few players in the Ireland set up that was loved by fans everywhere...says it all really.

Even with only 35 caps still argueably the best backrow to ever wear the green jersey.

....beast!

Hide behind the post

mfceiling wrote: »

Probably up there with the death of my granny as bad news goes.

The man was unreal. He had that fast muscle twitch which isn't prevalent in NH players at all. The speed he had was something else and the strength of the man was unhuman.

Too many favourite moments but when he scored a try (against a welsh side??) in the rabo in a back line move...and he flattened the oncoming defender and then side stepped the last man and scored....you wouldn't have seen Campese in his pomp do it.

So so sad to hear this today....the very best of luck to him in the future.

Scarlets....class try

Brewster

Terrible news for all concerned and particularly Stevie himself. To work so hard over the last 18 months, for things to end like this, it is devastating for the lad. A special special rugby player who Irish rugby will never forget. I'm so happy he won a grand slam, toured with the Lions and also won a Celtic league title with his beloved Ulster. Nothing can take away these memories and moments of happiness.

ShamFeen

As a Munster fan I am a big fan of Fez. So many memories but the one that sticks out was a H Cup game at the Rec against Bath around 2009. He just hit everything that moved, Barnes or Morris whoever was commentating would say that any player that needed treatment, "must have had a run in with Ferris", he was phenomenal even smashed a prop in defence. All the best Fez!

Taco Corp

grohlisagod

One of my favourite Ferris moments was against England at Twickenham. They had a ruck pretty much secured and dealt with with two or three of them in it. Ferris piles in and proceeds to turn it over on his own. Unreal power. I think it was during that dismal defeat in 2012.

connemara man

The man is clearly a gent. It's such a shame his playing time was cut short. He's a beast always enjoyed watching him play. I wish him all the best and hope everything works out for him of the field.

thomond2006

It's devastating news for Irish Rugby. Ferris would be THE blindside in world rugby were it not for injuries.

mfceiling

The noise in the crowd increasing, then going apesh*t when he smashes the poor scarlets 21!!