In Cork, we love our sport. Having produced players and teams that deliver time and again at national and international level across a multitude of codes, that’s not surprising. Roy Keane, Sonia O’Sullivan, and Ronan O’Gara are among the best to ever represent Cork on the world stage.

The Echo is hugely committed to sport, and the Echo Rebel Legends competition was the ideal way to tap into the county’s passion and engage the readership online and in print. It was particularly timely in a period in early 2021 when sport was impacted by COVID-19 restrictions.

Creating the competition

A shortlist of 32 Leeside sporting icons from the last 50 years was drawn up, and they went head-to-head for six weeks before a winner was selected. Almost 20,000 votes were cast on EchoLive.ie until Sandie Fitzgibbon, a talented Irish basketballer and All-Ireland-winning camogie forward, was the last woman standing.

Local clubs, as well as a host of sports-obsessed Cork people, got behind their favourites, and there were some big upsets, not the least of which was the victory for Fitzgibbon over the peerless Roy Keane in the semi-final. The Glen Rovers club stalwart then edged out the amazing Rena Buckley, the football and camogie multi-All-Ireland winner, in the final.

Our nominees didn’t have to be the most famous, but they had to be respected and loved enough to be able to attract readers to click and vote for them. That’s how Rebel heroes like Denis Irwin, Billy Morgan, Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Derval O’Rourke, and Rob Heffernan were beaten across the course of the series of fun matchups that pulled many disciplines together.

Celebrating women                 

It was no surprise to Echo and EchoLive.ie readers that women’s sport surged to the fore in our competition. We have been banging that drum for many years.

Our Women in Sport Awards is a highlight of the Cork sport scene, now in its 16th year. We like to think that the awards, the Women’s Mini Marathon, and the dozens of pages of women’s sport we have been featuring every week over the past decade and more have contributed to the growing prominence of women’s sport and the superstars it produces.

Fitzgibbon was a natural on the basketball court and camogie pitch but also incredibly dedicated at a time when women’s sport didn’t have the prominence or support it needed.

Take a week of her career in October 1990 as a snapshot: On a Sunday she played an All-Ireland club camogie semi-final with Glen Rovers in Derry and immediately after the game travelled to Boston for three senior international basketball matches with Ireland. The following Sunday she was back with the Glen to win the All-Ireland!

That passion was rewarded in the Echo Rebel Legends poll.

Creating criteria

Our team of contributors used a few criteria to nominate the contenders:

The likes of Larry Tompkins and John Caulfield didn’t spend their formative years in Cork, so they weren’t considered for this exercise. However, Seán Óg Ó hAilpín, who moved to Cork at the age of 10, was included, along with O’Gara, who was born in the United States.

We looked at former players or athletes, in terms of being retired from the elite level of their chosen sport, which meant Rena Buckley and Briege Corkery were in, but Simon Zebo, Denise O’Sullivan, Patrick Horgan, Davy Russell, and Peter O’Mahony weren’t. Even producing the initial shortlist led to debate among the readership.

Every one of the 32 sportspeople featured was a favourite with Leesiders and reminding readers of their exploits with our series of Echo Rebel Legends features as the competition unfolded provided top-class content.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .