Much has been said and written about Ireland’s and Munster’s achievements at international rugby in recent years. Widely unheralded has been the part played by a Youghal man amidst the good, the bad and the glory of both sides. David Revins has been physical therapist to Munster and Ireland for the past six years. It’s a role that has brought the boy who first learned to catch a ball on Youghal waste ground on a proud and fulfilling journey to the world’s finest sporting arenas. En route he has rubbed shoulders with and of, Irish rugby’s most legendary names. By Christy Parker-Picture courtesy www.irishrugby.ie

At 52, David is the eldest of three boys and three girls born to the late Sammy and Philomena (Meena) Revins of Cork Hill. The family moved to Raheen Park when he was 17. Meanwhile David had attended Youghal CBS before enrolling at the old VEC technical school. Subsequent employment brought him brief stints at Murray Kitchens, Blackwater Cottons and Seafield Fabrics, followed by a short but enjoyable apprenticeship as a fitters mate to his father during periods when Sammy was not abroad on oil rigs.

In 1977 David downed tools for employment as a care assistant at Cork’s Sarfield’s Court Psychiatric Centre. ‘In those days getting a good job could depend on whom you knew,’ he smiles. He remained in the psychiatric care profession until his parallel career in physical care surpassed his expectations in recent years.

Having approached through the pathway of sport, he was to pedal his way into physical therapy through an unexpected gateway. As a teenager he had starred as a goalkeeper and corner back for Youghal GAA football and hurling teams respectively. He collected East Cork and County medals up to Under-21 level and also net-minded for the local soccer side. Rugby, he recalls, was limited to a short dalliance as a child before the GAA clutched him to its proud bosom. Then, for some reason, Revins the adolescent got on his bike. He raced for the Youghal Cycling Club. ‘We had great cyclists like Tom Fitzgerald, Pierce Hennessy Snr. and Dennis McCarthy,’ he muses nostalgically.

One day, the club wanted someone to attend a masseur course in Cork that was being orchestrated by two of the country’s top exponents. Amidst a general reluctance, David entered the breach. ‘I loved it. I was hooked,’ he says. He subsequently progressed onto massage, reflexology and sports injuries studies, before culminating in a Physical Therapist qualification at the Natural Healing Centre in Cork.

In cycling parlance he has been freewheeling since. As he hones his skills on family and friends, he got better -as indeed did they! He converted his home garage in Glanmire to ‘The Natural Therapy Clinic’ and built up a vibrant practice. He recalls an elderly woman whom he treated informing him that, ‘God has given you gifted hands.’ He concurs somewhat, believing this was a calling in waiting throughout his life. ‘I do think I am doing what I was meant to be doing,’ he affirms.

Youghal GAA would recall him and he spent the early years of this decade providing therapy service to the club. In 2003 Irish international sailor Maria Coleman recruited him to Sardinia where he assisted her participation in the World Championships and her preparations for the Olympics.

Then one day another girl arrived for treatment at his clinic. She was a friend of the Munster rugby team’s physiotherapist. Under Alan Gaffney, ‘they were looking for masseurs and physical therapists and she recommended me,’ David recalls. He went on trial with six others. The likes of Ronan O’Gara went from appearing on his television to knocking on his door. Suffice to say David Revins subsequently became official Physical Therapist to the Munster rugby team. His life was about to change be enhanced dramatically.

Suddenly the Youghal man’s fear of flying had to take a back seat as journeys to Britain and mainland Europe formed part of his working schedule. ‘That’s not to say Peter Stringer doesn’t still scare the sh** out of me by shaking the daylights out of my seat on take-offs!’ he laughs.

His duties with the players include their regular visits to his clinic amidst the high-octave sojourns abroad. Its not, he insists, all fun. ‘Far from it. You arrive at a hotel and, because the players may be stiff and sore from travelling, you start treating them before you even get to throw your bags into your room. Afterwards, it’s home and up early next morning to treat the injuries picked up during the game. ‘Generally speaking I usually work from the 10 in the morning to 7 at night,’ he elaborates. A non-drinker or smoker, he enjoys mild social interaction with the players while reflecting that, ‘the entire camp is like one big family. Everyone made is made feel an equal part of it..’

In 2005, on the recommendation of senior players, he was appointed equivalently to the national team. Suddenly Youghal had two men in the line out! ‘I remember Eddie O’Sullivan coming up to me at a meeting and not recognising me at first,’ says the shaven-headed physio, ‘although we had known each other well growing up in Youghal.’

Ireland’s calling comes at a different pitch to that of Munster’s. ‘I can be away for up to two months at a time,’ he says, ‘plus a lot of brief training camps and so on.’ Amongst his initial experiences with Ireland was the ill-fated World Cup campaign in France in 2006. He recalls a ‘fairly gloomy’ atmosphere as disaster unfolded and attributes much of the failure to inadequate pre-tournament preparation and ‘being located in a Bordeaux industrial estate for four weeks.’ On a lighter note, he had the rare experience of being mistaken for Peter Stringer by an Irish woman seeking his autograph at a French airport!

Since the World Cup plummet, he has been carried exultantly on the wings of Ireland’s revitalisation. Unsurprisingly, he cites last seasons Grand Slam as the pinnacle of fulfilment in that camp. Alongside that, there is his obvious excitement at having ‘travelled the world’ with the team. With almost boyish joy, he reels off the destinations, ‘Australia, New Zealand, France, Portugal, Argentina…..’ Yeah and Wales too!

For all that, one senses a slightly softer touch for Munster. ‘Maybe. I’ve been with them longer and they are probably a little more of a tight unit,’ he concedes. Nothing bonds like success and he places the 2006 and 2008 Heineken Cup winds as copper-fastening team identity and pinnacles of his life.

It is tempting to argue that viewed from beyond that life, the career of a professional sports player is one of over-pampered indulgence. ‘Not in rugby anyway,’ he counters. ‘It is a very tough and demanding sport. The players have to be constantly high-tuned because there is always someone waiting in the wings to take tour place.  They are treated as is necessary.’

Neither, by his testimony, do the top players exude grandeur. ‘Not at all. At another level they have to operate as human being like the rest of us. They pay bills, keep appointments and so on. They are all basically well-grounded, ordinary people off the field. I certainly treat them as such, in every regard. They also tend to be conscious of their roots and they often give time to their home towns.’

Off the field, David Revins has many other ordinary people to treat in his life. A thoughtful, intelligent individual who is reluctant at self-promotion, he reveals an insight into health care that only experience can garner. ‘A lot of non-sports people especially, who come to me, want to talk. They have problems in their lives that have become manifest physically. So many start to feel better simply after having someone listen to them.’ He proceeds, ‘I was always worried about my health, where aches were coming from and so on. I’d attend doctors but eventually through self-help books I learned that so much of it was about understanding myself.’

As a listener, David reflects on a time in his life when there were very few ears to hear his own cries and the memories have been signposts on his road to success. He explains, with an admirable dearth of rancour: ‘When I was at school, I was unaware I was dyslexic. So were the teachers. I would cry into my books at night and get leathered in school for being a failure. I was told I would be useless and never succeed in life. It makes me feel very fulfilled today to have proved people wrong and it makes me realise how important it is to listen.’ As a young adult, and officially diagnosed as dyslexic, he returned to education and acquire the basic qualifications denied him. He remains, he adds, ‘somewhat dyslexic.’

Though admirably self-achieving, he repeatedly pays tribute to the roles of his wife and family in his success. He met wife Catherine, from Watergrashill, in the Hilltop Hotel in Youghal, through her friendship with Marion Doyle (nee O’Connell) of Colin and JD’s. It was a long time ago. Married 29 years this August, they have three children ‘Ciara 24, Ian 21 and Aoife 16.  ‘I am absolutely blessed with them,’ he states.

It was the solidity of his wife and family that saw him turn personal uncertainties that could have sabotaged his life, into positive outcomes. ‘I was unsure of lots of things in my life, including establishing my clinic. But I could not have had better support or encouragement than they gave me,’ he stresses. ‘I owe my family so much.’

The other great love in his life is Youghal. ‘I’ve lived in Cork for over 30 years but I always say I’m from Youghal,’ he vows. ‘I come down here most weekends and I just love the beach. It will always be home and I’m presently contemplating getting a small holding here.’

The shortest paragraph in the David Revins story centres on ‘bad memories as a rugby physical therapist’. ‘None’, he says pointedly. Inquiries as to the future elicit a slightly longer retort: ‘Just to keep doing this as long as I can.’ Munster and Ireland rugby fans will hope for a lengthy period of extra time.

David Revins, The Natural Therapy Clinic Glanmire is on (021) 4822258; 087-2835322