Noel Purcell (sportsman)

Olympic medal record
Men's Water Polo

Noel Purcell
Playing information
Club
Representative

Noel Purcell
Birth name	Noel Mary Joseph Purcell
Date of birth	15 November 1891
Place of birth	Dublin, Ireland
Date of death	31 January 1962 (aged 70)
Place of death	Dún Laoghaire, Ireland
School	Belvedere College ; Clongowes Wood College
University	Trinity College, Dublin
Occupation(s)	Solicitor
Rugby union career
Position(s)
Position(s)	No. 8/No. 9
Senior career
Years	Team
1912–1914; 192x–192x; 19xx	Dublin University ; Lansdowne ; Barbarians
Provincial / State sides
Years	Team
19xx–19xx	Leinster
International career
Years	Team
1921	Ireland
Refereeing career
Years	Competition
1927	Five Nations

Last updated June 18, 2024

Noel Mary Joseph Purcell (15 November 1891 – 31 January 1962) was a water polo player who represented both Great Britain and Ireland at the 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics respectively. He was also an Ireland rugby union international and rugby union referee. He was the first Olympic athlete to represent two different nations.^[2] He is also the only Ireland rugby union international to ever win an Olympic Gold medal. In 2012 his collection of medals and international caps were donated to Belvedere College by his daughter Rosemary and son Noel.

Early life

Purcell was born in Dublin. He was the son of Daniel Purcell, a solicitor who was originally from Limerick, and Mary Clara Hoey who was from Dublin. He had two older siblings, a brother and a sister. In 1911 the Purcell family were living in Leeson Street.^[3] Purcell was educated at Belvedere College, Clongowes Wood College ^[4] and Trinity College, Dublin.^[5] During the First World War, he served as a second lieutenant and then as a captain with the Leinster Regiment. He was injured while serving on the Western Front.^[6]^[7]

Water polo player

Clubs and province

Purcell was a member of both Dublin University Swimming Club and the Dublin Swimming Club. As a swimmer he won four Irish Amateur Swimming Association championship titles between 1911 and 1920. In 1911 and 1912 he won the titles over 880 yards, in 1919 he won the 220 yards gold medal and in 1920 he was champion over 440 yards. In 1913 and 1921, as a water polo player, he won two Leinster Senior Cups with Dublin University. He also helped Dublin University win an All Ireland title in 1920. In a 1921 Leinster Senior League game against Pembroke, Purcell scored all four goals for Dublin University in a 4–2 win. Purcell also represented Leinster at provincial level.^[5]^[8]

Great Britain

At the 1920 Summer Olympics, Purcell was a member of the Great Britain team that won the gold medal. It was originally intended that Great Britain would be represented by the England national team. However, in a final trial game, England were beaten 6–0 by a Rest of Great Britain team featuring Purcell. This subsequently saw Purcell included in the Olympic squad. Although representing Great Britain, pictures from the Olympics, show Purcell wearing a swimming costume with a shamrock and the word "Ireland" on it. In the Olympic final, Great Britain beat Belgium 3–2 to win the gold medal. Other members of the team included Charles Sydney Smith, Paul Radmilovic, Charles Bugbee, Christopher Jones, William Peacock and William Henry Dean.^[5]^[6]^[9]

Ireland

Purcell played for Ireland from 1910 to 1932.^[8] At the 1924 Summer Olympics he captained the Ireland team. Having previously represented Great Britain in 1920, Purcell now became the first Olympic athlete to represent two different nations.^{[ citation needed ]} In the quarter final against Czechoslovakia, Purcell scored twice as Ireland lost 4–2. Purcell was also selected to represent Ireland at the 1928 Summer Olympics. However he declined because of his business commitments as a solicitor. He also wanted to give younger players the opportunity to play at an Olympics.^[5]^[6]^[10]^[11] Purcell also represented Ireland at the Tailteann Games.^[4]

Rugby union career

Clubs and province

Purcell played club rugby union for both Dublin University and Lansdowne. He was club captain at Lansdowne for the 1919–20 and 1920–21 seasons. He also represented Leinster at provincial level and toured with the Barbarians.^[5]^[9]^[10]^[12]^[13]

Ireland

In the 1921 Five Nations Championship, Purcell played in all four games for Ireland. He made his debut against England on 12 February at Twickenham. He then played against Scotland on 26 February and Wales on 12 March. He made his final appearance for Ireland against France on 9 April at the Stade Colombes.^[5]^[6]^[13]^[14]

Referee and Selecter

Purcell refereed the 1927 Five Nations Championship match between England and Scotland. As a referee, he was not as fast around the field as he had been as a player. A match report in The Times noted "NM Purcell from Ireland refereed casually and from a great distance." Between 1939 and 1941 Purcell also served as selecter for Ireland.^[6]^[10]

Related Research Articles

Rugby union has been a men's medal sport at the modern Summer Olympic Games, being played at four of the first seven competitions. The sport debuted at the 1900 Paris games where the gold medal was won by the host nation. It was subsequently featured at the London games in 1908, the Antwerp games in 1920 and the Paris games in 1924.

Leinster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial club rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup.

Sport in Ireland plays an important role in Irish society. The many sports played and followed in Ireland include Gaelic games, association football, horse racing, show jumping, greyhound racing, basketball, fishing, handball, motorsport, boxing, tennis, hockey, golf, rowing, cricket, and rugby union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Michael's College, Dublin</span> Primary and secondary school for boys, Ireland

St Michael's College is a voluntary Catholic boys' school, with an associated primary school, located on Ailesbury Road in Dublin 4, Ireland. Founded in 1944 by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit as a second feeder school along with Willow Park, it was initially a primary school to Blackrock College. The first eight pupils were transferred from Willow Park. The next September, 58 boys were enrolled. In 1952 the first secondary school pupils were admitted. Following expansion in the 1960s and 1970s, the school developed both a primary and secondary school. It has been extensively expanded, including the opening of a cafeteria, a sports pavilion, as well as new classrooms and a new gym.

The United Kingdom has been represented at every modern Olympic Games, and as of the 2020 Summer Olympics is third in the all-time Summer Olympic medal table by both number of gold medals won and overall number of medals. London has hosted the Summer Olympic Games three times: in 1908, 1948, and 2012.

The Leinster Senior Cup is a major rugby competition in Ireland, involving all senior rugby clubs in Leinster, i.e., clubs from Leinster competing in the All-Ireland League. From 2006 until 2016 it was known as the Leinster Senior League Cup during the period when the Leinster Senior League had been discontinued, but reverted to its traditional name for the 2016–17 season upon the revival of the Senior League. From 2011 to 2016 only the top senior teams competed and those in the lower divisions of the All-Ireland League competed for the Leinster Senior League Shield.

Rugby union is a popular team sport on the island of Ireland, organised on an all-Ireland basis, including players and teams from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Its governing body, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), was founded in 1879, making it the third oldest rugby union in the world after the RFU (England) and the SRU (Scotland).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wanderers F.C. (rugby union)</span> Irish rugby union club, based in Dublin

Wanderers Football Club is a senior rugby union club based in Dublin, Ireland, playing in Division 2B of the All-Ireland League. It is one of the oldest rugby clubs in Ireland, however its exact date of foundation is open to question. In 1860 a team by the name of Wanderers played against Dublin University. However the current team gives its foundation date as 1870. While the link between the two teams is unclear, they both seem to have been founded by former Dublin University players. In 1879 Wanderers were among the founding members of the Irish Rugby Football Union. They have also regularly provided international players for Ireland, including five captains. In 1959, Ronnie Dawson also went on to captain the British and Irish Lions. They have also provided one captain each for both England and Australia.

Lansdowne Football Club, also sometimes referred to as Lansdowne Rugby Football Club, is a rugby union team based in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1872 by Henry Dunlop as the Irish Champion Athletic Club. Its senior team currently plays in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. The club's playing colours are black, red and yellow hoops, with navy shorts.

Clontarf Football Club is an Irish rugby union club based in Clontarf, Dublin. The club play in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League.

Dublin University Football Club (DUFC) is the rugby union club of Trinity College, in Dublin, Ireland, which plays in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Craig (rugby)</span> Australian rugby footballer and administrator (1885–1935)

Robert Robertson Craig was an Australian rugby union and pioneer professional rugby league footballer who represented his country at both sports - a dual-code rugby international. He was a member of the Australian rugby union team, which won the gold medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics. Prior to his rugby career he won state championships in swimming and soccer and played top-level water polo.

The Irish Amateur Swimming Association (IASA) was the national governing body of swimming in Ireland. The organisation was founded in 1893 and held responsibility for the various aquatic disciplines until it was dissolved in January 1999 following a series of sexual abuse scandals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Sydney Smith</span> British water polo player

Charles Sydney Smith was born in Wigan, the ninth of eleven children born to Thomas Smith and Elizabeth née Sayer. He was a British water polo player who competed as goalkeeper for the England Water Polo team which won gold medals in the London games of 1908, and the Stockholm games of 1912. After the Great War he returned, at the age of 44, as part of the Great Britain team to win a third gold medal at the Antwerp games in 1920. He was still in the team four years later competing in the Paris games of 1924 where the team was knocked out in the first round by the Hungarian team after extra time.

William Ernest Crawford was an Ireland rugby union international during the 1920s. He was also a noted soccer player and was included in the Ireland squad for the 1924 Olympic Football Tournament.

Hugh Patrick MacNeill OBE, commonly known as Hugo MacNeill, is a former rugby union player who played for Ireland, Leinster, the French Barbarians and the British and Irish Lions during the 1980s. During the late 1970s he also played soccer for University College Dublin and Dublin University. After retiring from sport, MacNeill went on to serve as a director for Goldman Sachs. He has also worked as a rugby pundit for TV3 and BBC Radio 5 Live.

Eugene O'Donnell Davy was an Ireland international rugby union fly-half.

Ireland is an international men's water polo team representing the island of Ireland. The Irish Water Polo Association (IWPA) was founded in 1964 and is affiliated to Swim Ireland.

Jordi Murphy is a former Irish international rugby player. He played for provincial and United Rugby Championship side Ulster as a loose forward, and played for the Ireland national rugby union team.

Adam Leavy is a rugby union player. He plays for the Ireland national rugby sevens team as a forward.

References

↑ "Noel Purcell". sports-reference.com. Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
↑ "Noel Purcell". Olympedia. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
↑ "Census of Ireland, 1911". census.nationalarchives.ie. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
1 2 "Around the Province". Irish Jesuit News. 2 May 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
1 2 3 4 5 6 "Trinity Olympians Noel Purcell" (PDF). tcd.ie. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
1 2 3 4 5 "GB Olympic Champions 1896-2014 - Water Polo". gbolympics.co.uk. 15 January 2005. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
↑ "Medal card of Purcell, Noel M Corps: Leinster Regiment". nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
1 2 "Dublin Swimming Club, A Proud History". dublinswimmingclub.ie. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
1 2 David Needham: Ireland’s First Real World Cup -The Story of the 1924 Ireland Olympic Football Team (2012, The Manuscript Publisher) ISBN 978-0-9571157-2-9
1 2 3 "Purcell's double Olympic honour". clarechampion.ie. 2 February 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
↑ Games of the VIII Olympiad: Official Report p.489
↑ "Lansdowne FC Hall of Fame Noel Purcell". lansdownerugby.com. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
1 2 "Observing the real all-round sport stars". independent.ie. 15 January 2005. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
↑ "Noel Purcell Ireland". en.espn.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2018.