Willie Anderson & Author Brendan Fanning chat with Gary Cooke - Crossing the Line - Part 1

Senior Times

Irish rugby has produced many charismatic figures over its history. None more than Willie Anderson. Most sports biographies are written too soon after the final whistle. The rush to cash in on hard-won, short-lived fame means that many such books lack perspective, focusing instead with wearying repetitiveness on the pressures of being a professional sportsperson: the drudgery of training, the constant injuries, the elation and relief of victory, the gnawing self-doubt in defeat. Anderson’s book is different. Written more than 30 years after he won his last cap for Ireland, Crossing The Line is raw, uncompromising, sometimes brutal and always passionate; a perfect distillation of Anderson the player and Anderson the man. In this podcast interview willie describes how alcohol was a factor in his life from his teenage years, taking control of him by the time his coaching career was in full flow. When rugby went professional his coaching talents were sought by London Irish, Leinster and Scotland – but the head coach role in Ulster, the job he wanted most, never came his way. By today’s standards Anderson’s international career was only moderately successful. Twenty-seven caps was a decent haul in the amateur era, and he was part of the 1985 Triple Crown winning team, but as a player he is best remembered for the challenge to the All Blacks’ haka in 1989 in Lansdowne Road, when he led the team in a Walls-of-Limerick style incursion into the heart of opposition territory during the ritual. Asked if he was scared, New Zealand captain Wayne Shelford said Anderson came so close he was afraid the Irish captain was going to kiss him. Written by Brendan Fanning