Ryan follows in father's footsteps
December 05, 2008
Dublin football star Shane Ryan has followed in his father Jack's footsteps by travelling to San Francisco as part of the All-Stars tour.
Jack Ryan, who is also in San Francisco, was part of the Tipperary hurling team that took part in the first ever All-Stars tour to the US's west coast in 1972. Amazingly, Shane's two grandfathers were also on the maiden All-Stars trip.
Former GAA president Seamus O Riain, who was Jack's father, was Tipperary chairman at the time and travelled with the touring party, as did the then GAA Ard Stiurthoir Sean O Siochain, who is Shane's other grandfather.
The All-Star midfielder said: "When the tour was first announced, my father told me that he was on the very first tour in 1972, so he thought it would be a great idea to come back, he loved it so much.
"Because it was the first tour, the way they used to organise it was they stayed in people's houses from the local GAA community. Everybody was kind of split up into different groups but they still got to see a good bit of the city and they were here for a week and a half. He had a great time.
"As kids, we knew he had been to San Francisco but he only mentioned it as a holiday he had been on. It wasn't until this year, we hadn't heard it for years, but he was talking about it again when the tour was announced."
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