Irvine and a consortium of businessmen came to the rescue of the club in October 1999, when, after a tumultuous six months under the ownership of Jefferson Lloyd International, its very existence had come under threat.
With Irvine at the helm, Bedford became a model of sustainability off the pitch and an attractive proposition on it, with the Blues playing an exciting brand of rugby under his longtime ally Mike Rayer, still DoR after all these years.
New Zealander Colin Jackson and South African Rudi Straeuli were in charge before Rayer came on the scene in 2005, and both say their time at the Blues has had a lasting impression on them.
Former Springbok head coach Straeuli experienced the unique atmosphere of Goldington Road as a player and then a coach, once Jackson left in 2004 and he needed a new challenge away from South Africa.
“It was very straightforward,” says Straeuli, from his now chief executive officer of the Golden Lions in Johannesburg. “It was post the 2003 World Cup, and all of the fallout I was experiencing.
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