Rugby Flyer
Fourteen-year-old Rugby-mad Eoin Madden, a loyal Munster lad, is part-thrilled, part-horrified to be offered a weekend Youth Academy Induction Course by Munster rivals, Leinster. It would be a fantastic chance, he knows, but Leinster? Eoin’s other talent is that he can see and talk with ghosts.
His grandfather, a former Leinster player, tells him that it’s OK to like and respect your rivals. He tells Eoin about Prince Alexander Obolensky, a Russian émigré, born in 1916, whose family fled the Russian Revolution. Later, Obolensky played Rugby for England. He became a legend before his untimely death in 1940 as a trainee RAF pilot in World War II. Eoin is fascinated, especially as Obolensky actually stayed with his uncle, Mr Lubov, in the big house next door! His grandfather gives him a strange object like a medal dome with sparkly bits in it which Mr Lubov had given him, and Eoin decides that it will be his lucky charm. But is that all it is? Eoin sets out to explore the ruined house…
Most of Rugby Flyer follows Eoin’s time on the Leinster course, but it’s not all about sport. There are other lessons to be learned: getting on with boys from different places, some of whom, like the loud-mouth bully, Marcus, try to make his life a misery. Then there’s Eoin’s best friend, training with Munster, who sees him as a traitor and won’t speak to him. Does Eoin have the necessary commitment? Will he work hard and play fair?
I have to say that Rugby Flyer only just scraped into the historical novel category because of the Alex Obolensky connection. But he really existed. Alex’s ghost tells Eoin his story, and Eoin learns that, even though foreign-born, Obolensky, too, was a worthy Rugby hero. For boys aged 10+.
