THE BOOK
I was in my 3rd year of school, and I had to do an internship for half a year to pass on to the fourth and final year. I was always very passionate and good in illustrating and I wanted to learn more about illustrating during that internship. So my school got me in contact with Jan Vriends, who has a creative studio called Vrijwerkers in Helmond, near my hometown of Eindhoven.
When I came to Vrijwerkers for my interview Jan looked at my work and said that I was allowed to do my internship at Vrijwerkers. During my internship I had to work on a thesis. Because I was always drawing rugby players Jan suggested that I should make an illustrated rugby book. I always loved Irish rugby, particularly Munster Rugby, so I was very excited to work on this project.
All the illustrations are handmade, all the text was written by myself (with my good Irish friends Ben and John helping me with the spelling) and edited by myself with help of Jan. I called my book 'An unofficial illustrated fanguide to Munster Rugby' because it is myschool project with no commerical purposes. Hopefully the unofficial fanguide can become official some day!
This was a very special project for me to work on, as I could express my love for Ireland, Rugby and Munster Rugby. I wrote, illustrated and edited this book in 5 incredible months with all Jan's help, and the hard work definitely payed off. I'm invited by Munster Rugby to come over to Limerick to officially present my book at Munster, a dream coming true. I'm looking to visit Munster with Jan in December.
Here are some of the illustrations from the book, the promotional video and Munster's reaction.
Here are some of the illustrations from the book, the promotional video and Munster's reaction.
Map of the four provinces of Ireland. Leinster (blue), Munster (red), Connacht (green) and Ulster in white. All these four provinces have their representitive rugby teams, The first chapter of the book goes about the provinces of Ireland and the counties of Munster, with their respective characteristics and history.
An uilleann pipe player in County Clare. County Clare is famed for being the home of irish traditional music. In the 1st chapter of the book I show 2 characteristics of every county in Munster, so with County Clare I illustrated the traditional music and the cliffs of Moher.
The Munster logo. Chapter 2 tells about the club history and traditions.
The 1978 Munster team. 1978 was the most important year for Munster Rugby, as they became the first and only Irish side ever to beat the mighty New Zealand rugby team, the All Blacks.
The legendary Thomond Park stadium, home of Munster Rugby. I really enjoyed drawing this illustration, it's all about the details.
Portrait of current Munster captain Peter O'Mahony, that got the honour of being on the cover of the book. Great player with a great future ahead of him.
Portraits of former Munster players John Hayes and Rua Tipoki. Both players played big parts in Munster's Heineken Cup successes of 2006 and 2008. Chapter 3 contains a Munster greatest Heinken Cup XV, from number 1 to number 15.
The promotional video
The day after we posted the video on Youtube, the official twitter acount of Munster posted it on twitter saying '' Our fans never cease to amaze us! Check out Dutchman Maarten Kleppe's illustrated fan-guide to Munster #SuperFan''. A very special moment.
THE VISIT
On December 27th 2015, I went over to Ireland with my mentor Jan Vriends to present my book at Munster Rugby. I was invited to watch the game against rivals Leinster at Thomond Park in Limerick and to meet some of the players aftwerwards. So we flew to Dublin in the morning, where we got picked up by two good friends of mine, Ben and Michelle. They drove us down to Limerick, where we would stay for 2 days.
After we arrived, we checked in at our hotels and walked from the city centre towards the stadium. We arrived, met up with my other friend John, had a few beers, enjoyed the atmosphere and had the craic. Jan and I went to the receptioption to ask for Enda, the head of marketing who invited me to come over. We met Enda and we were brought to the East stand where we would watch the game against Leinster. Munster lost the game against their rivals 7-24 (yes that's quite a lot), unfortunately we couldn't get the result but it was still a great experience and a good first time to Thomond Park.
After the game we met with Enda again, and he brought us to the presidential room, the place where the players gather after the game to have a drink and share their stories. I brought a few copies of my book with me and I first showed one to Enda, who was really impressed with it. He took three copies with him, one went to the management team, one to the supporters club bar in Thomond Park, one to Cork and one the communications team.
After that I got to meet some of the players, first Munster captain Peter O'Mahony. I give him a book and told him he is on the cover. I think he liked it and it was nice to meet someone I normally only see on the television during rugby games. The second player I met was CJ Stander, a South-African player who now is qualified to play for Ireland. As a Dutchman, I speak a bit of Afrikaans so when I saw CJ I asked ''Hoe gaan dit?" (how is it going?). He was quite suprised hearing someone speaking his native language so we had a bit of a chat and I give him one book as well. He loved it and it was very nice to see someone being really happy with a gift from a fan. He was a very nice guy anyway. I met Doug Howlett as well, a former Munster player and by many considered to be the best imported player Munster ever had. I give him a book and he really liked the cartoon I made of him in the Best Munster XV Heineken Cup era.
After meeting the players we met again with our friends in the Dug-out Bar in the stadium where we had a few pints and dicussed the match. We went back to the hotel, dropped our bags and went into town for a night out. Happy days!
The next day (Monday) we got rid of the hangover, went into Limerick and did some sightseeing. We went to King John's castle, which was very nice. It was a bit of a grey, rainy day but it was still nice to see some more of the city and seeing new places. We went to the Hunt museum as well, which has a big collection in modern and acient art. Normally artmuseums aren't really my kind of thing, but it was good to see some different things and staying out of the rain for a while. That night we had a few pints, my friend John showed us some really nice pubs in Limerick with Dolan's being my favourite. Great Craic.
The next day Jan and I got the bus from Limerick to Dublin airport early in the morning and we arrived back home around 17.00. It was a very special weekend I look back on every day. Thanks to
Ben, Michelle and John for giving Jan and I such a good time in Ireland. I also want to thank everyone who supported me during this amazing project.
Here are a few pictures of our visit to Limerick.
View over Dublin from out of the airplane.
The green fields of Ireland
Road in Limerick, near to Thomond Park Stadium.
Enjoying the black stuff before the game.
Excellent view from our seats in the East stand.
With Enda, head of marketing.
With Munster Captain Peter O'Mahony.
With Munster player CJ Stander.
Former player Doug Howlett certainly liked his cartoon in the book.
The famous treaty stone in Limerick.
King John's castle, on the banks of river Shannon, the longest river in the British isles.
View from King John's castle, with Thomond Park dominating the skyline in the background.
Small graveyard with the notorious Island fields in the background.
Jerry Flanerry's Pub, Limerick. Owned by former Munster player Jerry Flannery.
Enjoying some pints with John in Dolan's Pub.
Morning view from the bus on the way to Dublin Airport.
Traditional breakfast at Dublin Airport.
Going back home to Eindhoven.
Here is the aftermovie of my visit to Limerick and Munster Rugby. Thank you Jan for Editing.
Enjoy and thank you for reading!
