Thursday, March 13, 1997 An Irish rugby team traveled thousands of miles with a precious $ 2,000 hand-crafted crystal rose bowl for Mayor Giuliani but it was ruined when a player dropped it 30 feet short of its destination.
The good-will gift which survived a worldwide obstacle course of customs and airport security checkpoints, plus bumpy New York City streets fell to the floor as it was being placed into a City Hall metal detector.
Its base shattered into “10 million pieces,” one player said.
“I was tripped,” groused player Arthur Campbell, who was carrying the bowl. He fingered the culprit as the City Hall security officer who ordered him to put the box containing the gift through the detector.
The team with players from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland will play two games this weekend for charities and attend the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Mayoral spokeswoman Colleen Roche said Giuliani was unaware of the bowl debacle, even as he posed with Campbell who was holding what remained of the bowl for photographs.
But there were other gifts in the offing a plaque and letter from the lord mayor of Belfast, and a decanter of powerful Black Bush Irish Whiskey.
“It’s rocket fuel,” George Martin, another team member, told Giuliani of the whiskey. “I suggest one little thimble at a time, first thing in the morning when you get up.”
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