Leinster Rugby vs Benetton Rugby

Kenny was also the greatest practical
joker I have ever worked with.
He would often spend hours organising
and setting up a ‘sting’, as he called
them, on many unsuspecting victims.
Often I was the brunt of Kens multifaceted
organised plans.
One morning when Leinster were playing
Toulouse in France in 2002, Ken and I
were having our morning organisation
meeting over coffee in the foyer of the
hotel at 7am.
Our meeting was interrupted by a heavily
French accented voice calling out loudly,
“Urgent message for a Mr Ging.”
Ginger looked at me with a shocked
expression on his face.
“I am Mr Ging,” Kenny replied.
The hotel employee ran towards us, then
stopped in his tracks a few metres away,
with his mouth agape staring in awe at
Ginger.
With horrible over acting he cried out,
“Are you THE Mr Ging who played for
Munster when they beat the Wallabies
in 1967?”
Munster have lost a wonderful former
player. Leinster have lost a long serving
administrator whose wisdom guided
some of the club’s greatest ever players
in their developing days and helped lay
the foundations for Leinster in the world
of professional rugby.
The Leinster Rugby team from the early
2000s have lost not only a valued team
member but a wonderful and much
loved friend. The coaching staff from
those days have lost a comrade and
a great old mate.
All of that is nothing compared
to the loss being felt by Ken’s
cherished family. Many times
Ken told me of his deep
love for his two daughters,
Debbie and Kim, and his
beautiful grandchildren.
Today the planet is a
much lesser place with
Ken Ging no longer
in our midst to make
us smile and bring
us joy.
Kenny looked at me feigning shock.
“Why, yes,” he replied with innocence,
“however did you know that?”
All we could both do was laugh until the
tears fell from our eyes. As they have
done this week.
The losses have been great.
Rugby in Ireland has lost a soul mate.
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