Garrett Fitzgerald (14 June 1954 – 14 February 2020) was an Irish

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 ...

player and coach, who was CEO of

Munster Rugby Munster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Mumhan) is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU's Munster B ...

between 1999 and 2019.

Life

Born in Knockraha,

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

, Fitzgerald attended

Christian Brothers College, Cork Christian Brothers College, Cork (CBC Cork, colloquially known as Christians) is a fee-paying school under the trusteeship of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust in Cork, Ireland. Their sister school in Dublin is CBC Monkstown. History In the mid ...

and won a

Munster Schools Rugby Senior Cup The Munster Schools Senior Cup or Munster Senior Cup is the under-age rugby union competition for schools affiliated to the Munster Branch of the IRFU. The inaugural Munster Schools Senior Cup took place in 1909 and, since then, Cork city's two ...

during the 1970s. During an 18-year playing career in rugby union, Fitzgerald played in the front-row for

University College Cork R.F.C. University College Cork Rugby Football Club currently plays in Division 1B of the All-Ireland League (rugby union), All-Ireland League. Founded in 1872, they originally played as ''Queen’s College Cork'', as UCC was then known. Recent success ...

and

Cork Constitution The Cork Constitution (CC) is a rugby union club based in Cork (city), Cork, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League (rugby union), All-Ireland League. It was founded by staff of the ''Cork Constitution (newspaper), Cork Constitution'' ...

. In a 19-year coaching career, Fitzgerald coached Christian Brothers College to five Munster Schools Senior Cups, as well as working with Irish Universities, Munster under-20s and UCC. Perhaps his most famous achievement as a coach came in 1992, when he coached

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

to a 22–19 victory against then- world champions

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in Musgrave Park. Fitzgerald became Munster's CEO in 1999 and was a driving force behind the province becoming a European powerhouse. He was at the helm for some of the greatest days in the province's history, including their coveted first Heineken Cup success in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, followed by a second triumph in 2008, as well as three league triumphs in 2002–03, 2008–09 and 2010–11. He also oversaw the redevelopment of both

Thomond Park Thomond Park is a stadium in Limerick in the Irish province of Munster. The stadium is owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union and has Munster Rugby, Shannon RFC and UL Bohemian RFC as tenants. Limerick FC played home games in Thomond Park fr ...

and Musgrave Park, and the consolidation of Munster's training bases in Cork and Limerick into one base at the

University of Limerick The University of Limerick (UL) ( ga, Ollscoil Luimnigh) is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it beca ...

. In June 2019, upon reaching retirement age, Fitzgerald duly retired from his role at Munster. He was, at the time, the longest serving provincial chief executive in Irish rugby. Post-retirement, Fitzgerald was honoured with the ''

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. He appeared on stage and in many films, notably as Corrado Zeller in Michelangelo Antonioni's '' Red Desert'', Frank Machin in '' This Sporting ...

Patron's Award'' at Munster's annual London dinner in September 2019. The award recognises an individual who encapsulates Munster's values, and Fitzgerald was similarly recognised by the ''Federation of Irish Sport'' for his contributions. In December 2019, the

awarded Fitzgerald an honorary doctorate. Following a battle with illness, Fitzgerald died on 14 February 2020 at Marymount University Hospital and Hospice, Cork. He is survived by his wife, Áine, and their children Megan, Jamie and Michael. Many ex-colleagues of Fitzgerald's, including former Munster coaches and players, were quick to pay tribute to him. Fitzgerald was posthumously inducted into the Munster Rugby Hall of Fame in November 2020, and, in 2021, the trophy awarded to the winners of the

was renamed the ''Garrett Fitzgerald Cup'' in tribute to him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Garrett 1954 births 2020 deaths People educated at Christian Brothers College, Cork Rugby union players from County Cork Irish rugby union coaches Irish rugby union players Munster Rugby non-playing staff University College Cork RFC players Cork Constitution players