A collector of up to 8,000 pieces of rugby memorabilia in Limerick has called for the city to take over the collection and create the State's first rugby museum.
Mr Johnny Brennan believes Limerick, as a place which rivals Wales and New Zealand for its rugby passion, should have a museum commemorating its clubs.
Over the past 20 years, he has built up a collection, the importance of which has been recognised by all the clubs in the city.
"Limerick is the home of rugby. Why not have a place in town where you could have all the memorabilia from all the clubs? You could have a shop as well and videos of all the matches. Somebody could make a business out of it, especially with all the hype in Munster rugby now."
At his own expense, he has built three additional rooms to his home on the Hyde Road and has framed the dozens of jerseys he has collected from around the world.
"I put a lot of money into this. I am surprised that somebody has not taken it up already. They love stuff like this in New Zealand and Australia. I would be agreeable to having it moved. For the rest of my life, I am not going to be worrying about this."
Following today's Munster-Leicester European Cup Final in Cardiff, he hopes to get a signed jersey to add to his collection, which includes photographs, rosettes, rugby balls, boots and ties. He also has a sod from Lansdowne Road, taken from the spot where Aidan O'Halloran kicked the penalty goal to win the All-Ireland league in 1993.
One of his most prized possessions is one of the three rugby balls used in the Munster win over the All Blacks at Thomond Park in 1978. The signed laced leather ball has scratch marks from when it entered the brambles, which at that time grew at the end of the ground. He got the signature of the last player, Donal Canniffe, only last year. The Munster captain had a bereavement on the day and left the grounds immediately.
Caught up in the occasion of that historic game, Mr Brennan says he doesn't remember much about it. "It was afterwards that you were trying to think back on it."
At the time, he was team secretary for Young Munster. "I did bagman from 1971 to 1989. It was a tradition going back in the family. In 1928, when Young Munster won the Bateman Cup, my uncle was scrum-half and the bagman would have been my grand-uncle." The Bateman Cup, he says, is now in the display window of Weir's jewellers in Grafton Street, Dublin.
The beginnings of his own collection were a few photographs - one famous one is from 1961, where a set of Young Munster jerseys is being dried at Patsey Naughton's chip shop, to be ready for use the next day.
When he built a one-room ground-floor extension to his home 20 years ago, the impression went out that he was actively collecting memorabilia. In fact, the room was for his late mother, Josie, a lifelong rugby fan, who was having difficulty going up stairs.
"Her first game was in 1928 when she went to watch her brother play. She never missed a cup match in all those years. She died in 1997."
Even the building of the room extension has a rugby resonance. Peter Clohessy, who now runs a pub and nightclub in Limerick, was involved in building then. "He gave me the mixer and took the levels. Then somebody said: 'Are you building a museum?' It kind of snowballed," he says.
Anthony Foley was one of the first players to donate a jersey. Among the collection is Michael Bradley's Triple Crown jersey from 1985, a Canadian jersey donated by Tony Ward, and one from a visiting Soviet Union team.
The Limerick-born actor Richard Harris visited him last year while in the city for the filming of a documentary. "He stayed for a good while. He could not get over the place." Among the items are a Bohemians cap which belonged to the father of Des O'Malley, former Limerick TD, an over-sized cigar which belonged to Tom Clifford from the days when he was a British Lion and a World Cup cap donated by the Tongan player, Matt Te Pou.