Nigel Carr MBE (born 27 July 1959) is a former Ireland rugby union international. His career was cut short due to injuries sustained in an IRA bomb explosion. His service as a player, selector, broadcaster, and charity volunteer was recognised by the

2021 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2021 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

award of an MBE for his contribution to sport and community relations.

Early life

Nigel John Carr was born in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

on 27 July 1959. He was a very talented footballer, sought by

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

(signed by Larne FC), before focusing on rugby union. He captained the Ulster Under 19 team, subsequently representing Ulster U-23 & Ireland U-23 followed by an Ireland 'B' cap in 1979 plus further 'B' appearances in 1980, 1982 and 1984. He won his first senior cap in 1985.

Senior rugby career

Carr frequently transformed the teams he joined, bringing previously rare or unforeseen success, often as one half of an extremely effective back-row duo along with Phillip Matthews. They played together at Regent House Grammar School, Queen's University,

Ards RFC Ards RFC (Ards Rugby Football Club) is a rugby club based in Newtownards, County Down, Northern Ireland, playing in the Ulster Rugby Championship Division 2. It is affiliated to the Ulster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union. The club curr ...

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

from the mid 1970s and into the late 1980s.Where are they now? Philip Matthews (Gloucester 21/1/60), Compiled by David Kelly published Wednesday November 23 2005
/ref> His influence as captain lead to Regent House reaching the Ulster Schools Cup final for the first time ever in the world's second-oldest rugby competition. In his earliest year at Ards RFC the club were promoted to the senior league as the

Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won ...

’s Team of the Year for the first time since their foundation in 1928. Queen's "seasons in the doldrums" immediately changed to Ulster Senior League winners with Ulster Senior Cup success the following season (the "ubiquitous" Carr being the game's "Player of the Season" while also representing Irish and British Universities with Queen's as "Team of the Season".) Carr's two-year absence from the Ulster team ended weeks after a third knee operation, when he was widely praised for an "immense contribution" and "playing magnificently" in the defeat of the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

Grand Slam

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team. This marked the beginning of Ulster's decade of dominance as "one of the best provincial teams in Irish rugby history". Carr made a winning senior international debut against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Murrayfield Murrayfield is an area to the west of Edinburgh city centre in Scotland. It is to the east of Corstorphine and north of Balgreen, Saughtonhall and Roseburn. The A8 road (Scotland), A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murra ...

on 2 February 1985 (Ireland having lost all their games in the preceding 1984 Five Nations Championship season). He was a critical part of the undefeated (for the first time since 1951) Triple Crown and Championship winning side of 1985, his performances "having a profound influence on Ireland's success". Ireland did not enjoy another undefeated Championship until 2009. He was injured on the subsequent 1985 Japan tour, with a first comeback game (for Ards 5th XV) in January 1986 ahead of an international return v Wales on 15 Feb 1986. Despite his country's 5 Nations Championship defeats, Carr was the clear choice for the 1986 Lions as openside flanker, even though the English and Scottish contenders ( Winterbottom and Calder) are by expert opinion and popular choice, those countries greatest ever in that position and the Welsh challenger, who captained his country ( Pickering) judged one of their greatest. Although Carr never toured with the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the tip of its tail. It is se ...

, he was considered the pick of the Lions pack when playing for them against a powerful

Rest of the World Within sports and games played at the international competitive level, the Rest of the World refers to a team of players from many countries of origin that compete against a single individual or a team from a single group, such as a club or coun ...

team (which included 6 World Rugby Hall of Fame opponents) in a one-off

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match in Cardiff (16 April 1986). He won his 12th and final cap in 1987 against Wales at

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park (), also known as The Arms Park, is primarily a rugby union stadium, and also has a bowling green. It is situated in Cardiff, Wales, next to the Millennium Stadium. The Arms Park was host to the 1958 British Empire and Common ...

. Carr, the Rugby World & Post Feb 1987's No.1 openside flanker, missed out on the inaugural

1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two semi-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 mat ...

because he was forced to prematurely end his career through injuries due to an IRA car-bomb. On 25 April 1987, Carr, David Irwin and Philip Rainey had set off for a training session in Dublin before the World Cup. On that day the IRA had targeted Lord Justice Sir Maurice Gibson - Northern Ireland's second most senior judge - who was travelling back from holiday with his wife, Lady Cecily Gibson, when a 500 lb land mine was detonated at Killean, on the border, killing them both. The three Ireland internationals were on the same stretch of road when the bomb exploded and although miraculously, they all escaped serious injury, the explosion ended Carr's rugby career at just 27. This incident is widely accepted (even beyond Ireland]) as the critical impetus to the creation of “

Ireland's Call "Ireland's Call" is a song by Phil Coulter used as a national anthem by some sports competitors representing the island of Ireland, originally the Ireland men's rugby union team. It was commissioned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) fo ...

” as a new and additional/alternative sporting anthem, subsequently adopted beyond rugby by other sports. Carr has been described as one of the best players to have pulled on the Irish jersey, also playing for the

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

. Willie Anderson explained this as "Nigel Carr was a professional player in an amateur era. His dedication to ensuring he was in peak condition to play rugby football was second to none". Anderson added "not only had he tremendous speed, but he had anticipated where it (the ball) would be long before others realised it was there. I know the guys in the professional games these days are super-fit. But I can tell you Nigel was fitter than any of them." Carr was selected on the Greatest Ever Ulster Team and was the openside flanker choice of such rugby authorities as Jack Kyle and

Syd Millar Sydney Millar (23 May 1934 – 10 December 2023) was a Northern Irish rugby union prop who played for Ballymena RFC and Ulster and international rugby for Ireland and the British Lions. After retiring from playing rugby he became a rugby coa ...

(the former named the Greatest Ever Irish Rugby Player, the latter cited as Greatest Coach, by the

Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) () is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium, where a ...

in 2002). Despite Carr's achievements and associated accolades, his unfulfilled potential is almost as striking. Lions captain,

Colin Deans Colin Thomas Deans MBE (born 3 May 1955) is a former Scotland international rugby union player. A hooker, he played for Hawick and won 52 caps for Scotland, a record at the time. In 1986 he captained the British Lions against 'The Rest'. Care ...

believed that "Carr's pace and athleticism would have been a handful in South Africa" had the 1986 Lions tour not been abandoned due to Apartheid. Likewise, his world ranking as the No.1 openside flanker leading up to the inaugural

, could have assured Ireland at least a semi-final berth, were it not for his injury in a fatal explosion with the consequential "massive detrimental effect on the whole team"Declan Bogue
"'We were left to our own devices coming into the first game - it was a bit like Delaney's Donkey'"
The 42.ie, 9 September 2023 — an achievement that eluded the team both then and for over three decades since.

Career and personal life

Dr Nigel Carr previously managed innovation, research & technology support from Invest NI in Belfast and also produced and presented a UTV sports programme, ''Sport on Sunday''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carr, Nigel 1959 births Living people Rugby union players from Belfast Irish rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland Rugby union flankers Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Ireland international rugby union players Car bomb victims People educated at Regent House Grammar School Ulster Rugby players Queen's University RFC players Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire