Ireland’s Call: Irish Sporting Heroes Who Fell in the Great War

Ireland’s Call follows the fascinating stories of 40 Irishmen who swapped the sports field for the battlefield - household names who gave up their careers to volunteer for war. Using letters, memoirs, and newspaper reports, the book features the stories of international footballers, rugby players, cricketers, GAA stars, athletes, and hockey players, whose lives ended in the mud of the Somme, the despair of Ypres, and the heat of Gallipoli. Stephen Walker’s charming yet poignant collection of stories includes an Irish athlete who competed in the 1908 London Olympics, and follows the remarkable journey of two GAA players who starred in All-Ireland Finals and later died at the Western Front.Walker also presents to readers the exceptionally talented Harry Sloan, the Irish football international who was the first to score at the newly built Dalymount Park; Basil Maclear, the rugby center, capped 11 times for Ireland and who captained Munster when they played the All Blacks in 1905; Irish international cricketer and President of the Irish Rugby Football Union, Frank Browning, who went on to set-up the Rugby Pals Battalion based in Lansdowne Road; the first Irish golfer to win prize money at the British Open; the first schoolboy to play rugby for Ireland; and the story of Barney Donaghy from Derry, who played for Man Utd, Burnley, Celtic, Hibs, Belfast Celtic, and Glentoran, and who was ultimately killed at the Battle of the Somme. A century on, their sacrifice is finally recorded in this unique and poignant account.