Capped for hurling by the President of Zambia - Swindon Link Poetry Correspondent Maurice Spillane shares a memory

I regularly enjoy a few pints with elders, such great stories.

John Dale and Ian Handy have no end of stories about national service in the 1950s. Every re-telling has a freshness and is a catalyst for more.

Another friend, Tim, who was born in Zambia, played Irish rugby under 18s until injured by Bill Beaumont.

Tim was capped for Ireland many times. We’d friends in company and Tim, tongue in cheek, said: “Tell them about your international cap, Maurice."

I lived in Zambia in the 1970s. We played hurling to a high standard, emigrants like me, and many from mixed marriages who couldn’t live in Northern Ireland during the troubles.

In 1973, we put a hurling team together to travel to Ireland. A reporter from the Zambia Times interviewed me. I got carried away with the history and the reporter got confused about the hurley being made from the ash tree. His article was all over the place, including saying that the Irish burn timber and make hurleys from the ash.

The President of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda, who knew the game, read the article. His secretary rang me and said the President cried laughing. He wanted to know about the tour, and I said our jerseys and hurleys had the flag of Zambia printed on them.