Ballymena RFC's first Test brings a gathering of members and fans despite initial concerns about attendance. As people arrive, they share their Lions jersey stories spanning several decades, showcasing the generational connection to the Lions team. This connection traces back to club legends Willie John McBride and Syd Millar, who significantly contributed to the team's history. Their achievements include coaching and leading tours, notably the unbeaten 1974 South Africa tour, while memorabilia honoring their legacy fills the club's clubhouse.
The Lions is an idea that gets passed on from one generation to the next, follow it back long enough and you'll end up at two men who were born and bred in this very club, Willie John McBride and Syd Millar, who did as much as anyone to make the team into what they are today.
They played, coached, managed, and chaired nine Lions tours between them, and led the legendary 1974 tour, when Millar was coach and McBride captain of the team that went unbeaten in South Africa.
Just about the time I was beginning to think that all of Ballymena's thousand-or-so members must have been among the tens of thousands going the other way into Portrush for the Open, they began to trickle in, one, two, three, four dozen, and more.
Soon enough everyone's comparing the vintages of their Lions jerseys. There's one from '01, another from '05, a few from 2013, and a couple of little kids, more interested in playing their own game than following the one on the TV, have the 2025 edition.
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