Billy Rackard

Infobox GAA player
code= Hurling
sport = Hurling


name = Billy Rackard
irish = Liam Mac Riocaird
fullname = William Rackard
placeofbirth = Killanne
countryofbirth = County Wexford
byear=
height =
nickname = Billy
county = Wexford
province = Leinster
club = Rathnure
clposition = Half-back
clubs =
clyears =
clapps(points) =
clcounty =
clprovince=
clallireland =
counties = Wexford
icposition = Centre-back
icyears = 1950-1964
icapps(points) =
icprovince = 6
icallireland = 3
nhl = 2
allstars =
clupdate =
icupdate = Billy Rackard (born 1930) is a retired Irish sportsperson. He played hurling with his local club Rathnure and was a member of the Wexford senior inter-county team from 1950 until 1964.

Early life

Billy Rackard was born in Killanne, County Wexford in 1930. The youngest son in a family of five boys and four girls, he was born into a family that was mildly interest in sport. His granduncle had played with the famous Wexford football team that captured four All-Ireland titles in-a-row between 1915 and 1918. In spite of this, it was with the small ball that Rackard enjoyed major success, together with his brothers Nicky and Bobby.

Playing career

Club

Rackard played his club hurling with the famous Rathnure club and enjoyed much success. He won senior county titles with the club in 1948, 1950, 1955, 1961 and 1967. The victory in 1961 allowed Rackard to take over the captaincy of the Wexford senior hurling team for 1962.

Inter-county

Rackard first came to prominence in the late 1940s as a member of the Wexford minor hurling team. After little success at this grade he was introduced to the county senior team in National Hurling League games in 1949. The following year he made his Leinster Championship debut, however, Kilkenny were the victors in the provincial final. 1951 saw Rackard win his first Leinster title. Wexford later reached the All-Ireland final, however, the men from the Model County were defeated by Tipperary. It would be another three years before Rackard collected his second Leinster medal. Once again his team reached the All-Ireland final, however, he ended up on the losing side once again as victory went to Cork. The following year Wexford continued their provincial dominance with Rackard adding a third Leinster medal to his collection. Wexford went on to defeat Galway in the subsequent championship decider giving Wexford their first championship title since 1910. Rackard, in turn, collected his first All-Ireland medal.

At the start of 1956 Rackard added a National League medal to his collection. He subsequently won his fourth Leinster title and Wexford qualified to play in their third consecutive All-Ireland final. Just like 1956 Cork turned out to be the opposition and the game has gone down in hurling history as one of the all-time greats. Wexford won the day and Rackard collected his second consecutive All-Ireland medal, however, the game is mostly remembered for Art Foley’s great save from a Christy Ring shot. The save denied Cork a goal and Ring was denied an almost certain ninth All-Ireland medal. Two years later in 1958 Rackard won a second National League medal, however, it was 1960 before he won a fifth Leinster title. Tipperary were Wexford’s opponents in the subsequent championship decider, however, Rackard’s side had a ten-point victory over the Munster men. With it he collected his third All-Ireland medal. Two years later in 1962 Rackard was appointed captain of the Wexford senior hurlers. He subsequently guided his team to a Leinster title, Rackard’s sixth winners’ medal in all. Once again Tipperary were Wexford’s opponents in the All-Ireland final, however, Tipp won the game with two points to spare. Rackard retired from inter-county hurling at the age of 33 in 1964.

Inter-provincial

By the mid-1950s Rackard became a key feature on the Leinster team that participated in the annual Railway Cup inter-provincial series. Munster dominated the competition for much of this time; however, he captured a total of four Railway Cup titles in 1954, 1956, 1962 and 1964.

Post-playing career

In retirement Rackard, along with his brothers Nicky and Bobby, came to be regarded as one of the greatest hurling families of all-time. In 1992 both Billy and Bobby Rackard were presented with an All-Time All-Star Award.

Teams

References

* Brendan Fullam, "Captains of the Ash" (Wolfhound Press, 2004).
* Colm Keane, "Hurling's Top 20" (Mainstream Publishing, 2002).