Fr. McGreer wrote:Help please. So i've watched it a few times and does the ould fella with peg leg swap the messages? Is he a traitor? What was on the original message if he did swap? What is the significance of '99'? And am i taking this too seriously?
Ah, I've been waiting for someone to ask. I thought on first watching that it might be a bit obscure to people who aren't obsessed with the game.
The ould fella with the peg leg is the great Willie John McBride, legendary Irish rugby player of the 60s and 70s, who was captain of the 1974 Lions tour to South Africa. The South African side was regarded as being particularly aggressive, and the Lions decided before the test series started that they would get their retaliation in first. So at the first hint of brutal play by the South Africans, the call would be "99" - and when they heard that call, it was to be "one in, all in", and it was the signal for all the Lions players to thump the opponent nearest to them. The Lions won the series 3-0, so it appears to have been a successful tactic in its way. But this was in the days before video referees, who'd soon put a stop to that sort of thing nowadays. So it probably won't work on the upcoming tour...
What was on the original message in the advert, I've no idea. I'm not sure we're meant to know. But a lot of the people featured in the ad are former or current Lions rugby players, and it's fun trying to spot the lot if you're into that kind of thing.
Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 7:25 pm
The ad is fantastic.