Patrick Charles "Pa" Whelan (born 2 May 1950) is an Irish former rugby union international.
| Full name | Patrick Charles Whelan | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 2 May 1950 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Limerick, Ireland | ||||||||||||||||
| School | Crescent College | ||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Property developer | ||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||
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Whelan, Limerick born and raised, is a product Crescent College and moved to Dublin for tertiary studies, where he began playing for Lansdowne. He represented Munster for the first time in 1971/72 and after returning to Limerick for business reasons began a long association with Garryowen, which he would captain to a Munster Cup title.[1]
Succeeding Ken Kennedy as Ireland hooker in 1975, Whelan earned 19 caps over a seven-year span and although occasionally displaced from his position, had won his spot back by the time he retired with a neck injury in 1981.[2]
Whelan is now a prominent property developer in Limerick and a rugby union administrator.[3]
Appointed team manager of Ireland in 1995, Whelan resigned from the role unexpectedly three years later, citing personal and business reasons, but amid allegations that he had assaulted Sunday Times journalist Tom English in a Limerick sports bar.[4][5][6] In 2016, Whelan was appointed to a three-season term as chairman for Six Nations Rugby.[7]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Where Are They Now? Patrick Charles Whelan (born May 2, 1950)". Irish Independent. 2 November 2005.
- ^ "Whelan retires". Leamington Evening Telegraph. 11 November 1981.
- ^ "Whelan left his mark on modern Limerick". Irish Independent. 28 April 2011.
- ^ "Rugby is stunned by Whelan resignation". The Irish Times. 23 April 1998.
- ^ "Whelan denies pub punch-up; I quit for business reasons". The Mirror. 25 April 1998.
- ^ "Whelan remains quiet on Limerick incident". The Irish Times. 28 April 1998.
- ^ McMahon, Dave (2 May 2020). "Limerick's Pat Whelan - Gritty forward turned off field power broker". Limerick Leader.
External links
edit- Pat Whelan at ESPNscrum