Club Captains:

Christopher Holloway       Seasons 2003 - 2005
Paul Fleming                     Seasons 2005 - 2006
Christopher Holloway       Seasons 2006 - 2009

Captains:

Stephen Newsome             Season   1997 - 1998
Aiden Mc Coy                    Seasons 1998 - 2000
Ben May                            Season  2000 - 2001
John Kenneth Wilson         Season 2001 - 2002
Carl Dobson                      Seasons 2003 - 2004
Paul Fleming                     Season 2004 - 2005
Michael Dwyer                  Seasons 2005 - 2007
Tim Price                          Seasons 2007 - 2009
Paul Devlin                       Seasons 2009 - 2018
Olivier Pla                         Seasons 2018 - to this day
 
A few anecdotes from our Captains
 
John Wilson was team Captain during season 2001-2002.  Probably the youngest man to lead the Lions, John was an English scrawny back row with a knack for coming up with the ball.  Rarely leaving the pitch without bleeding, John then delighted the pub with verses from the Sloop John B, a curious condition of holding the Lions Captaincy that you have to love singing (you don’t need to be good at it, but you need to love it!).  As good as he was on the pitch, John was a real disappointment off it.  Drunk after half a shandy (no exaggeration), he once went up to Javier Bardem and a friend who were sitting at a table in Finnegans and asked for an autograph.  The actor, an ex-rugby player himself,  started to take out a pen when John shot him a look and said – not you mate and gesturing to his drinking buddy, said – this guy’s the captain of the Spanish rugby team.  Javier Bardem was dumbfounded and we never found out if John really knew who Javier Bardem was or not.

Another ex-Captain and great friend, Paul Fleming looked the consummate 2nd row all the way.  Tall, bald, cauliflower ears and a look which could wither flowers, he could win the ball from any lineout with his magnetic hands and then he would turn his back to the opposition, plant his feet, hold the ball out towards his forwards and expect us to do all the work from there on!  But that was if he got going.  During warmups and sometimes during the match, he’d come up to other players and demand that they punch him or slap him in the face to get his adrenalin flowing.  After the match, he liked a drop of cider and a sing song, we compete for Alouette but he’d come out with The Warriors and wed all try and catch all 6ft4 of him as he launched off a table.

The longest running Captain for 9 years in a row is Paul Devlin, a true Dubliner that lost his title after fleeing Down Under for a brief try at monogamy!  Luckily he came to his senses and returned to The Lions pack 3 months later.  A formidable 2nd row standing at 6ft 8in and 18 stone he continues to play with us today, son of a pioneering Irish Celtic Rock band frontman and co-author of our Lions Anthem together with Chris Holloway, it is definetly in his blood to carry us on song after song!

Currently we follow a Frenchman, (no comment), Monsieur Olivier Pla.
A superb full back holding the club's try record every season for the last 10 years and known amongst his enemies for a deadly sidestep in spite of his wobbly reconstructed knees!