Tom Irwin (dual player)

Thomas Irwin, nicknamed Big Tom, was an Irish sportsman of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who played hurling, Gaelic football, rugby and cricket. Born on 1 July 1873 in the Victoria Cross area of Cork, he played hurling with Redmonds and football with Nil Desperandum, and represented Cork at inter-county level in both codes, which made him a dual player. He won an All-Ireland senior hurling medal with Cork in 1892, captained the Cork hurlers in 1900, and collected Munster championship medals in both hurling and football. In 1896 the Cork County Board expelled him from the Gaelic Athletic Association for playing rugby. After his playing days he served as secretary of the Cork County Board from 1901 to 1920 and refereed at club and inter-county level, and he is the only person to have both played in and refereed All-Ireland senior finals in the two codes. He left Ireland for South Africa in 1920 and died in 1956 aged 82.