I’ve got a confession. I’m not really a sportsman. I’m more a lover than a fighter. I came second to last in my primary cross country aged five, which set a crap trajectory I’ve never left. And yet, my granddad was sports captain of his school, my uncle was a provincial representative, and my father was a national champion. What the hell happened to me?
Sadly, I’m a bit crap at sports.
But when I googled my own name, Tom Semple, plus sports in quote marks, a whole world of possibility opened itself up to me.
Let me introduce you to the other Tom Semple. He was an Irish hurler who played locally for Thurles, and provincially for the Tipperary team in west Ireland in the early 20th century. Across a twelve-year career, my namesake won seven Irish inter-county titles and captained his team to two All-Ireland Championship victories. It’s a pretty far stretch from anything I’ve ever done. And he was so good, they named a stadium after him. And me.
I found an image of Tom’s memorial plaque, which describes him as “A hurler supreme, tactician renowned” and calls Semple stadium “the hurling Mecca to all lovers of the ancient game.” Not only a sporting hero, he was a hero of Irish republicanism, playing a key role in the Irish war of independence against British colonisation
So, my cousin Tipperary Tom Semple and me. Big heads of hair. Great tacticians. Literary heroes. Talk a big game. But only one is a sporting genius. For a few sad minutes, I’ve warmed myself on the vicarious flame of his sporting prowess. But now, I’m cheered by knowing that my namesake also influenced literary history. I’m much more comfortable at that end of the stadium.
Hear the full story about two Tom Semples – one who was great at sport, and one who is crap, on the sports episode of AFTRS FM!
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