Andrew Armstrong Mulligan (4 February 1936 – 24 February 2001) was a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

international who captained

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and the

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

, playing at scrum-half.

Rugby football career

Educated at

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent Day school, day and boarding school) in Holt, Norfolk, Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Bac ...

, Holt from 1945 to 1954,"Andy Mulligan" (obituary) in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' dated 28 February 2001, p. 23, from The Times Digital Archive, accessed 16 September 2013 he captained the School's First XV in 1953-1954. He played 22 internationals for

. His first was against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

on 28 January

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

, and his last against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

. Mulligan was three times captain of

, and he also captained the

against Manawatu on the

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

tour. He also played

varsity rugby Varsity Cup is the collective name for four South African rugby union competitions involving the top rugby playing universities in the country. It was launched in 2008, with eight teams participating in the Varsity Cup competition and each univers ...

for

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

and was captain of

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

. In 1964 he wrote the book ''All Blacks Tour 1963-4'', a complete record of the New Zealand tour to Britain, Ireland, and France.

Later career

When he retired from international rugby, he moved to France where he began a career in journalism. He initially wrote sport-focused articles for the

Observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in co ...

, then moved to news reporting for that newspaper and the

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

from Paris, later becoming bureau chief for The Observer in Paris. He also worked in television, including for ITN's News At Ten and

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...

. When Ireland joined the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

in January 1973, Andy Mulligan first became head of the division responsible for general reports, but his journalism experience led to the role of director of press and information at the EEC delegation in Washington in 1974. For the next seven years he worked with the aim of informing the American public, and especially centres of power and learning, about the EEC. One of his achievements was the setting up of a professionally produced and written magazine, Europe, to replace the free publication which had been mainly distributed on campuses. Andy Mulligan also organised valuable transatlantic seminars, bringing together media, diplomats and experts. One of the most notable was at Waterville, Co Kerry, in 1979, during the Irish European Commission Presidency, which was attended by the then

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

, Jack Lynch. After leaving the Commission in 1983, Mulligan and his family remained in the US, where he set up Mulligan Communications and European Media with the ambition of bridging the media gap between the US and Europe.

Personal life

Andy Mulligan married Pia Ursula Schioler in 1964. They had two sons, Finn and Joachim and two daughters, Maia and Katrina.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulligan, Andy 1936 births 2001 deaths People educated at Gresham's School Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland London Irish players Wanderers F.C. (rugby union) players Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players Rugby union scrum-halves