The British & Irish Lions Pick of the Pride programme will this summer give four lucky youths, one each from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, the opportunity to join the Lions on their summer trip to New Zealand as ambassadors for the rugby team. Open to anyone between the ages of 18 and 21, the programme’s stated aim is to “grow the numbers of young players, coaches, officials and volunteers at home and across the world”.
For first-year BESS student Billy O’Hora, the decision to apply for the role was a “no brainer”. “I’ve grown up as a huge fan of the Lions so to be in with a chance of being involved is amazing”, he tells The University Times by email.
O’Hora describes seeing the competition on Facebook and Twitter and deciding “immediately that this is something I would love to do”. The first step of a journey he hopes will take him all the way to New Zealand began with a video. As part of their entry, applicants are required to make a two-minute visual presentation, the remit of which is to convince the adjudicating panel of the entrant’s suitability for the role. O’Hora took a slightly different approach. “I thought it was best to try and make the video somewhat entertaining and funny”, he reveals. His video currently has over 5,000 views on YouTube and 116 shares on Facebook, suggesting that O’Hora has not struggled in this respect. He points to the creative contributions of his friend Jamie Lane: “He was unreal, he really made it all come together.”
O’Hora was thrilled to discover that he had been shortlisted for the role, one of only five Irish entrants chosen to travel to London this Saturday. Overall, there are 20 competitors left in the competition, five from each of the home nations. On Saturday, O’Hora will participate in ice-breakers, in addition to an individual interview, in the hope of making the final cut. “It’s an exciting prospect but the competition is strong”, he concedes. “I’m just delighted to make it this far and who knows what will happen?”, O’Hora, whose application has been endorsed by the likes of Alan Quinlan, JJ Hanrahan and Dave Kilcoyne, singles out for recognition Trinity’s Director of Rugby, Tony Smeeth, placing on record his appreciation “for all the support throughout the year and in the application process”.
Signing off his email to The University Times, O’Hora cheekily expresses his goal of making it “over the ‘LION’” and becoming the team’s ambassador for the summer. It is a campaign slogan which would be fortunate to survive a campaign meeting of any description, but one which captures the tongue-in-cheek nature of his application. O’Hora proclaimed proudly in his campaign video that “I would rather be a lion for one day than a sheep all my life.” He will hope to bring to bear the indomitable spirit of the former on Saturday as he attempts to make it to New Zealand – where sheep outnumber humans by five to one. It will not be easy.
