Who will be revealed as the giants of NI sport?
HARP® REVEALS TOP 3 ‘LIVING LEGENDS: GIANTS OF NI SPORT’------------------------------------------------------------
Join the HARP Living Legends debate on and have your say on who you think is Northern Ireland’s greatest sporting legend.
It’s a conversation (or sometimes a heated debate) that has taken place many times over a pint of HARP® in pubs all across Northern Ireland: Who are the very best sports stars Northern Ireland has to offer? And who would make a Top 3 ‘Living Legends: Giants of NI Sport’?
In a bid to answer those burning questions, HARP brought together four local sports experts to start the debate and thrash out their Top 3. Thirty years on from becoming World Champion at Featherweight and being named BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Barry McGuigan was joined by Graham Little (Sky Sports), Adrian Logan (former UTV sports editor) and Jackie Fullerton (voice of NI football) at The HARP Bar in Belfast to attempt to reach definitive answers.
Football, horse racing, GAA, motorsport, rugby, athletics, boxing, hockey, cricket and golf were all on the agenda and after some serious consideration - and much mickey-taking - the panel eventually agreed their Top 3 Living Legends.
They are - in no particular order - Rory McIlroy (golf); AP McCoy (horse racing) and Pat Jennings (football).
He won his first major at the US Open in 2011 with a score of 16 under, the best score ever recorded in the history of the event. A year later he became World Number 1 and won his second major, the US PGA Championship.
2014 proved to be the outstanding year in Rory’s career (to date) when he collected two more majors - The Open and another US PGA Championship.
If he goes on to win the Masters at August, he will join an elite group of players to have won all four majors.
Before he retired earlier this year, he achieved champion jockey for his twentieth consecutive year. The best record holder held seven consecutive jockey champion wins.
By the time he finished his career, he had 4,348 wins, a record that seems impossible to beat and he was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2010 after winning the Grand National.
Pat played 119 times for Northern Ireland in a 22-year career and pulled off amazing saves in pretty much every game, including in two World Cups.
During his club career he was Number 1 for both Spurs and Arsenal, and is still revered at both clubs (no small feat!) as he won the FA Cup with both of them.
He was named the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year in 1973 and the PFA Player of the Year in 1976.
Leading the debate was boxing icon Barry McGuigan who channelled his inner ‘LaMotta’ as he geared up to take part in the HARP Living Legends: Giants of NI Sport debate.
Barry McGuigan ruled himself out of contention by arguing that he hadn’t been at the top long enough to justify inclusion. Barry said: “It really wasn’t easy picking a Top 3, and we all had a favourite that didn’t quite make it. But the consensus among the panel was that AP, Pat and Rory have all had an incredible impact and reached the very top level; the pinnacle of what is possible to achieve in their chosen field.
“These three guys are known around the world for their achievements: AP, who was champion jockey twenty times in a row, absolutely peerless; Rory, who has already won four majors and could go on to become the greatest golfer of all time; and Big Pat, Northern Ireland’s most-capped player, a man who won the FA Cup with both Spurs and Arsenal and would surely have been in any ‘World 11’ in his day.”
The filmed chat, created by HARP as a way to champion the very best of Northern Ireland sport, saw much lively debate as the experts whittled down a longlist of 24 men and women who each, in their own right, could be considered a giant of their sport.
Suggested criteria to start the conversation was that the Top 3 must have reached the highest point in their sport and stayed there for a long period of time; must have made an impact internationally; and must be a household name.
Lisa Ronayne, Senior Brand Manager Europe – HARP, said: “With the eyes of sports media turning to Belfast in December for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2015 award, we’ve started a local debate with an expert panel. We’re sure there’ll be plenty of people out there who agree with our Top 3, and plenty more who think that personalities like Barry McGuigan, Willie John McBride, Jonny Rea, Dame Mary Peters and Dennis Taylor should’ve made the cut.
“It’s now over to HARP fans and the people of Northern Ireland to continue the debate in the office, at the dinner table, in the pubs and on the HARP Facebook page, where they can watch a series of short films which capture how the panel arrived at its decision.”
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