Brian O'Driscoll made his debut for Ireland against Australia on June 12, 1999. The past, as the cliche-merchants say, is a different country, and while it might seem like no time at all has elapsed since the dawn of the millennium, Ireland was a very different place back then.
The Celtic Tiger was roaring away, the internet got in the way of calling friends' house phones, smoke-filled nightclubs had to serve you a hot dog or a curry chip at chucking out time, and you could get through airport security without having to hold your poxy trousers up.
To highlight the vast social and technological gulf between then and now, we've joined in O2's #thirteen campaign as we take a look at 13 things that were all the rage when BOD took his first steps into the international arena.
You can get involved by posting a "thirteen" themed picture with #thirteen to Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Each submission will raise €1 for Brian’s chosen charities – Temple Street and the ISPCC (up to €10,000).
1. Unnecessary Denim
Infamously displayed by these fine ladies:
2. Buying Eircom Shares
A real Celtic Tiger one, this. Let's just say it didn't work out as everyone had hoped.
3. Y2K Bug Scaremongering
It's almost quaint in hindsight, but people were properly shitting it that planes would fall out of the sky and their digital watches wouldn't work any more, not to mention the complete collapse of the world's electronic systems.
4. The Red Hot Chili Peppers
BOD receieved his first cap just four days after the release of Californication.
5. Ireland
We thought we were bloody brilliant, filthy rich and fucking unstoppable...
6. Bertie Ahern
...as did did this fella. Well, at least enough people thought he was cool to keep him at the top of the political tree, and in properly-fitting teflon, for the entire spend-happy era.
7. Slinkys
All we needed was a set of stairs and gravity... for about ten minutes before we got pissed off and went back to watching Hey Arnold.
8. The Euro
In 1999 the voters of Ireland overwhelmingly decided to adopt the single currency from 2002. You can debate the merits of that decision among yourselves, but while we were busy adopting one Euro we were doing our best to exclude ourselves from another. Ireland conceded late goals against Croatia and Macedonia and ended up going out to Turkey in the play-offs for Euro 2000.
9. Crash Bandicoot
He made his debut a couple of years earlier, but maddening marsupial was still a big deal as the century drew to a close.
10. David Beckham
Marriage to one of the most famous crap singers in an already cacophonous musical era cemented Beckham's position as the global football icon of the decade. His post-France '98 redemption was secured by helping Manchester United to the treble that same year.
11. Keith Wood
The 1990s were arguably the most uncool decade in the history of Irish rugby, not that it was ever a touchstone of chic to begin with. Before BOD himself helped blow 125 years of cobwebs off the game to make it the mainstream interest it is today, there was only one Irish international at the time who could really claim to be a popular hero. Fester had it all: like Drico, it seemed like he played in about four positions per game - often because he had no other choice.
12. Alcopops
Even though Ireland was thoroughly modernised by 1999, and in step with Western cultural norms (well, most of them), just a few years earlier there was a depressingly limited choice of drinks for the 18-30 soak. A combination of British-style "lad culture", more relaxed licensing hours (closing-time grub notwithstanding) and aggressive advertising gave us these awful things.
13. Sunny Delight
For the kids, our insides were probably just as jeopardised by a viscous, sugary gloop of our own. Not 1999-specific, but a big seller that year nonetheless.
You can skip to 1:38 for the Sunny D ad, but you should probably watch the whole thing.
