PADDY MADIGAN:PADDY MADIGAN, who has died aged 75, had a distinguished career as a rugby player and gave outstanding service as an administrator in diverse capacities at club, provincial and national levels for more than 40 years.
He was the youngest of six children, three sons and three daughters born to James Madigan and Josephine (née O’Connor), licensed vintners, a career that Paddy later pursued with considerable success.
Paddy Madigan was educated at Belvedere College. He represented the college at junior and senior cup levels as an accomplished hooker and represented Leinster Schools for two seasons, playing for the province on five occasions.
He was on the Belvedere team beaten in the schools senior final by Blackrock College in 1954 in what was an epic encounter still spoken of by those who witnessed that great match.
The Belvedere team was captained by Tony O’Reilly and Blackrock College by Niall Brophy. O’Reilly and Brophy went on to play for Ireland and the Lions.
After leaving school Madigan joined the Old Belvedere Club and succeeded the late Karl Mullen as hooker on the senior side, which he captained in l959-60. He won his first Leinster senior cap in 1964, played in several Irish trials and was a bench replacement for Ireland on more than a dozen occasions, being extremely unlucky not to have won a cap.
He toured Argentina with the Ireland squad in 1970 but in those days caps were not awarded against non-International Board countries. He was honoured with selection for the Barbarians in 1971 and was a central figure when Old Belvedere won the Leinster Senior Cup in 1968 bridging a 16-year gap for the club. His late brother Michael had won two senior medals with the club to which the Madigan family has given such distinguished service.
After he retired as a player he was elected to the Old Belvedere Executive Committee, then served as the club’s representative on the Leinster Branch. He served as a Leinster selector, including a term as chairman and was president of the Leinster Branch in 1976-77.
The following year he was elected to the committee of the Irish Rugby Football Union and was a national selector from 1978 to 1981, chairing that committee in 1980-81. At the end of that season he was manager of the Ireland team that toured South Africa, a difficult assignment at the time.
He enjoyed a 12-year tenure on the IRFU committee and was elected the first chairman of the IRFU sponsorship committee, served on the marketing committee and was elected president of the union in 1987-88. That season it was on his initiative that England came to play Ireland in April 1988 in an international to mark the Dublin Millennium.
The IRFU charitable trust was dear to him and he had the remarkable record of missing just one meeting in almost 30 years as a member up to the time of his death. Not even a debilitating illness that he fought with characteristic resolution over seven years dimmed his enthusiasm. Madigan had a great sense of humour and sharp wit. Those attributes and the love and support he got from his wife of 49 years, Pat, and his family sustained him through difficult times. He was inducted into the Rugby Writers of Ireland Hall of Fame in 1999-2000. There has been no more worthy recipient.
He is survived by his wife Pat, sons Patrick and David, daughter Lucinda, three sisters and nine grandchildren.
Paddy Madigan: born July 20th l936; died May 2nd 2012