Birth name | Nigel John Carr | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 27 July 1959 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Place of birth | Belfast, Northern Ireland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
School | Regent House Grammar School | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
University | Queen's University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nigel Carr (born 27 July 1959) is a former Ireland rugby union international whose promising career was cut short due to injuries sustained in an IRA bomb explosion.
Nigel John Carr was born in Belfast on 27 July 1959. He won Irish U-23 and 'B' caps in 1979 plus further 'B' appearances in 1980, 1982 and 1984, before winning his first senior cap in 1985. [1]
Carr was renowned as one half of an extremely effective back-row duo along with Phillip Matthews. They played together at Regent House Grammar School, Queen's University, Ards RFC, Ulster and Ireland in the late 1970s and into the 1980s. [2]
Carr made his senior international debut against Scotland at Murrayfield on 2 February 1985 and was part of the Triple Crown winning side of 1985. He was on the subsequent 1985 Japan tour. He won his 12th and final cap in 1987 against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park. [3] Carr missed out on the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup because he was forced to prematurely end his career through injuries due to an IRA car-bomb. On 25 April 1987, Carr, David Irwin and Philip Rainey [4] had set off for a training session in Dublin before the World Cup. On that day the IRA had targeted Lord Justice Sir Maurice Gibson - Northern Ireland's second most senior judge - who was travelling back from holiday with his wife, Lady Cecily Gibson, and a 500 lb land mine was detonated at Killean, on the border, killing them both. The three Ireland internationals were on the same stretch of road when the bomb exploded and although miraculously, they all escaped serious injury, the explosion ended Carr's rugby career at just 27. [5] Carr has been described as one of the best players to have pulled on the Irish jersey. Carr, although he never toured with the Lions, did play for them against The Rest of the World in a one-off game in Cardiff in 1986. [6] He also played for the Barbarians.
Dr Nigel Carr works for Invest NI in Belfast and previously also produced and presented a UTV sports programme, 'Sport on Sunday'. [7]
Bloody Friday is the name given to the bombings by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 21 July 1972, during the Troubles. At least twenty bombs exploded in the space of eighty minutes, most within a half hour period. Most of them were car bombs and most targeted infrastructure, especially the transport network. Nine people were killed: five civilians, two British soldiers, a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) reservist, and an Ulster Defence Association (UDA) member, while 130 were injured. The IRA said it sent telephoned warnings at least thirty minutes before each explosion and said that the security forces wilfully ignored some of the warnings for their own ends. The security forces said that was not the case and said they were overstretched by the sheer number of bombs and bomb warnings, some of which were hoaxes.
Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won once. Ulster were the first Irish team and the first team outside England and France to win the European Cup in 1999.
Gethin Jenkins is a Welsh former professional rugby union player who played as a prop for Pontypridd, Celtic Warriors, Cardiff Blues and Toulon. At international level, he won 129 caps for Wales. On his 105th appearance in 2014, he became Wales' most-capped player, overtaking the record held by Stephen Jones; having earned his final cap in November 2016, his record was surpassed by Alun Wyn Jones in September 2019. He is one of a small group of Welsh players to have won three Grand Slams. He also won five caps for the British & Irish Lions on three tours in 2005, 2009 and 2013. He is the sixth most-capped player in rugby union history and the most-capped front-row forward.
Cameron Michael Henderson GibsonMBE is a former rugby union international player who represented Ireland and the British & Irish Lions.
Robin Henderson Thompson was a rugby union international for Ireland, a former British Lions captain and rugby league player.
Pedrie Johannes Wannenburg was a South African rugby union player. He last coached for Austin Elite Rugby in North American Major League Rugby. He played for Austin in 2018, Denver Stampede in the now defunct PRO Rugby League of North America and Castres Olympique for two seasons, after two years with Irish club Ulster.
The Rt Hon. Sir Maurice Gibson, P.C., was a Lord Justice of Appeal in Northern Ireland. He was killed, along with his wife Cecily, Lady Gibson by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Rory David Best is an Irish former rugby union player who was the captain of the Ireland national team from 2016 to 2019. He played hooker for Ulster and was registered for Banbridge RFC. Best earned 124 caps for Ireland, making his debut in 2005 and retiring at the end of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, his fourth World Cup. Best is one of the most capped rugby players of all time, as well as the most-capped forward to represent Ireland.
Malone RFC is a rugby union club based in Belfast, in Northern Ireland. It is currently in the Division 1B of the All-Ireland League. The club is affiliated with the Ulster Branch, itself part of the Irish Rugby Football Union. It is one of the last remaining Belfast rugby clubs not to have amalgamated and still plays at its original ground. As well as its successful Senior teams, it has a thriving Youth and Mini structure, and was the first Mini rugby team from Ireland to play in the renowned Fundacion Cisneros International rugby tournament in Madrid.
Darren Cave is a retired professional Irish rugby union player who played centre for Ulster, sharing the province's appearance record with Andrew Trimble and Rob Herring with 229, and won eleven caps for Ireland.
Queen's University Belfast Rugby Football Club is the rugby union team of Queen's University Belfast, currently playing in Division 2A of the All-Ireland League. Founded in 1869, it is the most successful and oldest continuous rugby union club in Northern Ireland. They originally played as Queen's College, Belfast and have won the Ulster Senior Cup a record 23 times.
Phillip Michael Matthews is a former Ireland rugby union international. He was a member of the Ireland team that won the 1985 Five Nations Championship and the Triple Crown. He represented Ireland at the 1987 and 1991 Rugby World Cups. He also played for both the British and Irish Lions and the Barbarians. He captained both Ireland and the Barbarians. He subsequently served as a rugby union co-commentator with BBC Sport and TV3. Between 2010 and 2016 he served as the President of the National College of Ireland. His daughter, Hannah Matthews, is an Ireland women's field hockey international and played in the 2018 Women's Hockey World Cup final.
This is a timeline of actions by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group. Most of these actions took place as part of its 1975–1998 campaign during "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland. The INLA did not start claiming responsibility for its actions under the INLA name until January 1976 at which point they had already killed 12 people, before then they used the names People's Liberation Army (PLA) and People's Republican Army (PRA) to claim its attacks.
Jared Benjamin Payne is a retired rugby union centre who played for Ulster and the Ireland national team. He was a member of the 2017 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, but did not play a test match. On his retirement from playing in 2018, he took over as Ulster's defence coach, a position he left at the end of the 2021-22 season. Since 2022 he has been defence coach for Clermont Auvergne.
This is a chronology of activities by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) from 1980 to 1989. For actions before and after this period see Chronology of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions.
David Humphreys MBE is a former Irish rugby union player. He played 72 times for Ireland, scoring 560 points, including 6 tries, and at the time of his international retirement was Ireland's most capped out-half. He played his club rugby for London Irish and Ulster, winning the 1998-99 Heineken Cup, the 2004 Celtic Cup and the 2005–06 Celtic League with the latter. Since retiring as a player he has served as director of rugby for Ulster and Gloucester
Philip Rainey is an Irish rugby union former player who played fullback for Ballymena, Ulster and Ireland.
Jack McGrath is a former Irish rugby union player who played loosehead prop. He played professionally for Leinster and Ulster and has also played international rugby for Ireland and the British and Irish Lions.
Andrew Warwick is an Irish rugby union player who plays loosehead prop for Ulster Rugby.
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