Pic: The Irish Independent’s Wonderfully Poignant Tribute To Anthony Foley

Ireland and Munster legend Anthony Foley is dead at 42.

It’s still hard to believe. The Munster head coach was found dead in his hotel room yesterday ahead of Munster’s Champions Cup opener with Racing 92.

Upon releasing the news, Munster and the IRFU immediately announced that the game had been postponed as Foley’s friends and family along with the rugby world try to come to terms with this sudden loss.

Tributes have been pouring in from all over the world from players, professional bodies, former teammates and fans alike. The Irish Independent has released their tribute this morning with this wonderfully poignant image and caption.

The paper includes tributes from his former teammate Frankie Sheahan, along with further words from Tony Ward, Vincent Hogan, Billy Keane, and David Kelly. Vincent Hogan writes;

Munster prefers its heroes on the unpretentious side and few men have honoured that contract more naturally than Anthony Foley.

So word have seldom seemed as superflous as they do today, the shock of his passing at 42 all but paralysing a community for whom he has long held such emblematic status.

And no matter the sincerity so palpable in a great ocean of dry-throated tributes decanted by yesterday’s awful news from Paris, it was hard to process them sufficiently to hear anything more than air hissing from a valve.

Death is simply not meant to intrude into the world of a young family and, when it does, the only logical thing to do is flounder.