Nenagh Star Brings Rugby to Palestine

Nenagh rugby star Trevor Hogan plans to bring the sport he loves to Palestine.

Hogan (31), who played over 100 games for both Leinster and Munster, will next month be one of 30 Irish people on a major flotilla hoping to break through an Israeli sea blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The Nenagh man said the Irish vessel Saoirse will be one of 11 ships hoping to provide much needed humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
The flotilla departs for Gaza just over a year after an Israeli raid on the first Freedom Flotilla resulted in the deaths of nine passengers.
“The scenes in Cardiff and Thomond Park over the past two weeks are a reminder of the uplifting nature of sport. Sport can raise the mood of a people, bring communities together, and provide a diversion from harsh realities of life,” Trevor says.

“In Thomond last weekend the sights at the final whistle were moving. There was genuine warmth and total respect between two teams who had who clattered each other for the previous 80 minutes, demonstrating the real power of sport.

“I have been lucky enough to experience this first hand during my time playing for both Munster and Leinster. I think of the friendships made that last long beyond the training and playing pitch.

“The strength of character you develop from tough experiences and the strong team spirit that evolves. You learn about discipline and honesty, respect for your opponent – values essential to the game,” he said.

Hogan, who played four times for Ireland, was forced to retire from professional rugby because of a knee injury last January. While playing for Leinster, he studied Arab-Israeli conflicts in UCD with his former coach — Michael Cheika.

“The injustices there are something I slowly became aware of. I can see the parallels with Palestinian history and Irish history,” Trevor explained.
“What has happened to the Palestinian people is unjust and we are hoping to provide humanitarian aid as part of a peaceful mission,” he said.

“I believe these are traits of a sport that could translate well in a place in search of hope and positivity. I am currently in contact with a number of groups in Gaza to help co-ordinate the introduction of the sport there.

For more on the full story and if you wish to help - link is here - http://midlandrecord.ie/news/?p=1012

A noble cause and a very interesting piece on taking rugby to the Middle East. Lets hope his journey goes well and all return safely.

Jamie Heaslip is from Israel. Damn residency

Fair play to Hogan, lot of respect for that.

Respect. Israel has behaved disgustingly towards the Palestinians. Good luck to him.

Fair play to the man. A few months ago that ship was boarded by the Israeli defense forces and the occupants were sent back without delivering their payload, humanitarian aid.

Thanks for the retweet HOBO
was about to set this up on here

Good luck to him and the fleet

D24tress wrote:Thanks for the retweet HOBO
was about to set this up on here

No worries - I can now put a name to the face!

Hobo wrote:

D24tress wrote:Thanks for the retweet HOBO
was about to set this up on here

No worries - I can now put a name to the face!

cant get lippy now

You should try felix jones for a Q and A young future ireland and munster full back

would be good to get a young players insight he's @felixjones15

Nenagh sure have produced some great people

Fairplay to Cheika for finding the time to do the course in UCD (I think his family originally came from the Lebanon).

Best of luck to the guy. Hope he returns home safely.

lads not sure if any of you have seen this but regarding the above

the ship was boarded in international waters and trevor and several others were captured by the israeli army

http://www.thejournal.ie/calls-for-immediate-release-of-detained-gaza-activists-272802-Nov2011/

Jeysus!

Hope they're alright and they get released soon.

I'm sure they will be grand mick, the boat nearly sank when they were "illegally" boarded.

lot of international pressure on the israelis so i would say they will deport them back to ireland quick enough