Arthur Dunne ,Half Moon RIP

Hi there,
I've been playing Waterpolo now for over 20 years and for as long as I could remember Arthur Dunne was involved. He was one of the great characters of the game. He just loved it. He was always involved, I don't think his mind switched off from waterpolo at all. I had many a laugh, many a pint and sang many a song with him (he was mad for sing songs). I still can't believe he's gone. I still tog out and get on to the bank, looking out for him. I still expect to see him refereeing. He was great mates with my coach Mick Cope and he always came over to chat to us - he coached us as well (North Dublin).

I have a story of my own below but one of the best I heard of him was at his eulogy, given by Ben Kealy of Half Moon - on the Friday, the day before he died, they were all at a funeral of another member of Half Moon. Ben Kealy was walking back down the aisle, having received communion and Arthur was in the seat as he passed and Arthur leaned over "Pssst Ben. Pssst Ben," "What Arthur?" replied Ben, expecting something solemn as they were at a funeral. "I have the hours booked in the NAC for the Half Moon tournament!!!!" That was him all over.

I made the Junior International team around 1992/1993. We travelled to Loule in Portugal at the end of June to play. In addition to the team, Brian O'Dwyer was coach and Eddy Duffy (poser - he was just short of wearing a thong around the pool), the supporters club was made up of Arthur Dunne, Pat Crowe (God rest him), Vinnie Nicoletti and Frank O'Dwyer. Loule was a small town with very little going on bar the pool. The town more or less shut down at 10pm. The supporters were having difficulty finding a decent bar or even a supermarket to buy beer. They went missing for a day, presumably on a beer hunt.

The following morning, they arrived back to the pool whilst we were warming up for a game. The four of them were burnt to a crisp - I mean red raw. They were happy as Larry because they had managed to find a bar and a supermarket where they bought a tray of beer. They (particularly) Arthur were dancing around the balcony, teasing us with the beers, knowing we couldn't have any. Summer time was his song and it was sang a few times from the bank. Paddy Dorris, a lad who played for Clonard up North, could speak 5 languages and Portuguese was one of them, he noticed something wrong with the beers. He got out of the pool and read the label off one of the cans - it turned out the lads bought a tray of non alchoholic beer!!! Sick as parrotts!!! It didn't stop Arthur singing though. He gave us great support on bank. He sang his head off. That was him. Remember him.

Arthur Dunne RIP.