October 24, 1980

 

The Other Press

page nine

Bright “Omen” for future

by Greg Heakes

If Damian Tyrrell were
playing football one would
probably compare him to a
lineman.

But the fact is that Tyrrell
is one of Douglas’s top
rugby players and the com-
parison ends with his size.

Standing 6 ft. tall and
weighing 210 lbs. the round
faced dark haired 20 year
old is trying to end the all
brawn no brain image that
has been tagged on front
line players.

“It’s definitely not a gla-
mour position, everyone fig-
ures us to be big dumb
forwards but it takes a lot of
brains to play the front
line,’’ he said.

Tyrrell, who graduates in
the spring, hopes to transfer
his studies to U.B.C. and
pursue a career in acc-
ounting. He is presently on
a two year business finance
program at Douglas.

Tyrrell spent the last year
alternating between the
colleges’ basketball and
rugby teams. He finished
the year as a member of the
first division rugby team
that became the _ Fraser
Valley Champs.

 

“T’ve always been int-
erested in rugby and at first
1 didn’t think I’d do that
well but then they asked me
to come back and things
have turned out well,’’ said
Tyrrell who got his first
taste of rugby in grade
eleven at a Victoria high
school.

From there Tyrrell went
on to star at North Delta
senior secondary in basket-
ball and volleyball. In his
graduating year the basket-
ball team finished seventh
in the province at the 1978
B.C. championships.

““Omen’’ (his teammates
named him after the char-

acter in the movie) was born
in Dublin, Ireland and his
family emigrated to Canada
when he was eleven.

In his short stint with the
Douglas Rugby Club, Tyrrell
has attracted the eye of fans
and coach Gert van Niekerk.

Neikerk thinks that one of
Tyrrells biggest assets is his
age. Being so young he
says that Damian has four or
five years left to develop his
talents while most of the
other lineman have already
gone through their peak
vears.

“Il feel Damian is good
enough to play for our
Canadian team. He’s got
good hands, deceptive
moves, and can hold his own
with anyone out there,’’
stated Neikerk.

Tyrrell feels that even
though his position is
somewhat overlooked, he
has that extra bit of mobility
to get noticed.

‘As a forward I’m a lot
quicker than most. My
biggest weakness would be
that I don’t have the exp-
erience and I’m _ not as
strong as some,’’ he said.

Tyrrell also mentioned in-
juries as part of the problem
of Douglas’ front line, inc-
Juding the devastating loss
of teammate John Tyrecki
that shook up the team two
weeks ago.

‘We've really started to
pull together since John got
hurt.The team really
showed their pride this week
by winning big over Maple
Ridge.”’

‘I’m a new club member
so I didn’t know John that
well but I never had any
second thoughts about play-
ing again. It was just one of
those things that
happened,”’ he added.

For a player that seems to
have such a bright future in
an often brutal game, his
post game philosophy is not
one we would all want to
adhere to

“When you wake up
Monday morning and your
neck is sore and your bones
are aching then you know
(win. or lose) that you’ve
been in a tough game.’’

South-Burnaby Radio, |
Stereo & T. V. Service

ee.

in cars, boats, mobile homes etc.
(guaranteed for 1 yr:
fepairs of all kinds -

> Tv. Stereo Equip., Air Conditioners,
. Alarm Systems

ELECTRONICS

TV SALES & SERVICE

317 E. Columbia St.

 

625-0238

 

 

Damien Tyrrell, far left, races to the aid of his teammates during a
game last weekend against Maple Ridge. Douglas won 37-7.

Photo by Greg Heakes