Ulster Rugby vs Treviso

41 / 64

39 ULSTERRUGBY
ULSTER’S OLDEST FAN
ULSTER RUGBY’S OLDEST SUPPORTER
BILLY NOBLE
At 106 Billy Noble can look back over many decades of Ulster Rugby and reflect
on the many great players the Province has produced and on the great pleasure
he has derived from watching a large volume of exciting Ulster matches.
It is hard to believe that although he attended
Belfast Inst he never played rugby there, his first
love being football. However shortly after joining
the Northern Ireland Civil Service in 1926 he started
to play rugby at Civil Service. As a member of one
of the lower teams they played a demonstration
game against a gather up team from Ballyclare to
encourage the setting up of a team in that area and
had the distinction of being beaten!
Billy’s time at Inst coincided with that of Tom and
Frank Hewitt who played for Ulster and Ireland with
Frank holding the record as the youngest player
ever to be capped for Ireland at 17 years and 5
months, while still at school.* Other brothers, Victor
and Hamilton also played for their Province with
Victor gaining international caps while Hamilton
played soccer for Ireland.
George V Stevenson is regarded by Billy as one
of Ulster’s and Ireland’s greatest internationals of
this period with 42 international caps. In the 1923
England – Ireland match George was one of four of
the backline who were from Inst and Ulster and in
the Five Nations Championship of 1924 one of 6.*
While Ulster has provided a goodly supply of backs
to the international side some significant forwards
have also been supplied including three captains of
the British and Irish Lions namely Sammy Walker,
Robin Thompson and Willie John McBride.
Billy has appreciated the contributions to Ulster
Rugby of forwards like Jimmy Nelson and Syd
Millar whose contributions to British and Irish
Lions and to the development of rugby have been
significant. He is proud of the quality of backs over
the years and of course, special mention must be
made of the late Jack Kyle a real genius and much
respected throughout the rugby world. He was
capable of turning a match around with one side-
step. Mike Gibson was another top quality player at
the highest levels.
David Hewitt, son of Tom Hewitt, was like his uncle
Frank also a schoolboy international who toured
with the British and Irish Lions. He was a dazzling
player, very quick, especially over the first 50 yards.
Willie John McBride recounts in his book ‘The Story
of My Life’ how David Hewitt, when playing in a
provincial match in South Africa, went on one of
his runs, when nobody was able to put a hand on
him, crossed the try line and found his way to the
posts blocked by a big forward. He went back into
the field of play followed by the opposition player
whom he easily side-stepped and touched down
between the posts! Years earlier, when playing for
Ulster Schools against Leinster Schools at Ravenhill
in January 1958, with snow lying on the pitch, the
ball was passed to him under his own posts from
a scrum. With a few side-steps and dummies he
quickly broke through their defence and ran the
length of the pitch to score between their posts,
really magnificent.
A match that stands out for Billy was Ulster v South
Africa in the early fifties when Ulster trailed 3-5 and
had pinned down South Africa on their line for the
last 10 minutes but just could not cross the line. So
near and yet so far. A superb effort by the whole
team who deserved to win.
Another very memorable occasion at Ravenhill for
all loyal Ulster supporters must be the semi-final of
the European Cup against Stade Francais when
towards the end of the match David Humphreys
created the winning try. Obviously winning the
final in Dublin was a red letter day for Ulster Rugby
and its fans. Billy is looking forward to a repeat
performance sometime soon!
Over the years Billy has enjoyed many Ulster teams
who have achieved many deserved victories.
The Ulster Rugby scene and the significant
contribution the players have made to Ireland and
the British and Ireland Lions is commendable.
Ulster has played its part in the development of the
game of rugby.
In latter years Billy took enormous pleasure from
following the fortunes of Ulster on television or
listening to Jim Neilly’s radio commentaries.
Billy was pleased to see Ulster reach a new high a
few years ago when they reached the final of the
Heineken Cup and the continued development
of new home grown talent to add to the existing
pool of quality players from home and abroad
is fantastic. He appreciates that the magnificent
Kingspan Stadium is a major step forward and that
much remains to be done to maintain Ulster Rugby
at a level with other top class clubs.
Good luck to Ulster this evening and in the future,
I am sure there are many more memorable
achievements to come!
Written by Denis Noble (Son)
*The Royal Belfast Academical Institution
– Inst Rugby 1872-2012 by David Haslett