It is almost three-and-a-half years since Anthony Foley tragically passed away at the age of 42. The Munster and Ireland legend died peacefully in a Paris hotel room, with his death sending shockwaves around the world of sport.
'Axel' was coach of Munster at the time and was in the French city for the province's Champions Cup fixture against Racing Metro. Tributes would pour in over the following days and weeks, with the way his wife Olive spoke so poignantly at his funeral the lasting memory from this period.
A father to two young children, Anthony Foley was so much more than just a sporting personality. That was emphasised by the loss felt by those who were close to him, both inside and outside of rugby.
Olive made an appearance on the Late Late Show last night, recalling what the family went through in the aftermath of his passing. Having lived life in the public eye, one thing that emanated from this part of his persona acted as comfort to children Tony and Dan.
His autobiography, Axel, brought some comfort to his family in the months that followed his funeral.
I suppose the nights were long after Anthony died. He died in October, we had a long winter and you know myself and the kids we'd just go to bed early.
And I found that they really enjoyed it when I took out the book. Just out of curiosity, they would never have dreamed about reading that book before.
It would've bored them to tears you know! But I just read the first few pages and they really enjoyed it.
So when we went to bed we read it and they were always curious to know about him.
And they learned an awful lot because the book was written before they, well Tony was a small baby, so this book has nothing to do with them.
It's all about Anthony before they were born.
And it was stuff we'd never have shared with them or stuff about Anthony as a child or growing up with his sisters and his parents."
It opened up all this new life about their father, so they were intrigued by it.
A touching story, and a way for his children to remember their father through his own words.
