It will be the first time that the Lions have played on Irish soil in their 137-year history. Ulster have provided the British and Irish Lions with some of the tourists’ most famous and revered players. Famous names like Blair Mayne, Jack Kyle, Syd Millar, Mike Gibson and Willie John McBride - to name a few among many - are still celebrated in the four Home Nations and admired by the countries they faced in the heat of battle - Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Unfortunately, for the first time in 20 years, there will be no Ulster player donning the famous red shirt (blue before 1950) on this year’s upcoming Lions tour to Australia. It’s a far cry from the third test in 1938 when five Ulster men - Mayne, Robert Alexander, George Cromey, Harry McKibbin and captain Sammy Walker - all started in the victory over South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town. The Springboks had led 13-3 at half-time but the Lions fought back to claim a remarkable 21-16 win. It was only the third time in 47 years the Boks had lost at Newlands and it was the first time since 1910 the Lions had won a test match on South African soil. Coincidentally, in the victory 28 years earlier, the Lions were captained by another Belfast man, Tommy Smyth. Like McBride – the captain of the 1974 Invincibles – Smyth was educated at Ballymena Academy before crossing the Irish Sea to study at Edinburgh University. After graduating as a doctor, the prop forward left the Scottish capital to take up a post at the Royal Gwent Hospital. Smyth played his club rugby for Newport and six of his fellow club players were selected for the 1910 tour. The inclusion of seven Newport players was a record for any one club for a Lions tour and stood until 2005 when eight Leicester Tigers boarded the plane for New Zealand. Smyth spent two years at Newport before returning to his native Belfast and playing his club rugby at Malone. Smyth won the first of his 14 Ireland caps against England in 1908, he scored two tries for his country. The 1910 Lions tour was the first sanctioned by all four Home Nations with 26 players being selected and it would be the last for 14 years due to the Great War. As well as Smyth there were three other Ulster men on the tour – Queen's duo Alec Foster and Sir William Tyrrell, plus Arthur McClinton from North. Smyth, the first ever Irish captain of the Lions, got his tour off to a perfect start by scoring two tries in the opening game in a 14-4 win over South Western Districts. Smyth and the inspirational English international Charles Pillman missed the first test against the Springboks due to injury as the hosts won 14-10 in Johannesburg. Normally a forward by trade and having missed seven games, Pillman was drafted into the backline for the second test at the Wanderers Ground in Port Elizabeth. Smyth also returned to lead the side, but the series looked lost as South Africa led 3-0 at the break. However, Pillman dominated the second-half and set up two tries for the Lions as they scored eight unanswered points to send the series to a third game decider. Newlands in Cape Town hosted the third test, it was the 23rd game of the tour for the Lions and it proved a step too far. Lions full back Stanley Williams was injured after 10 minutes and with no replacements back in 1910, the visitors had to play the rest of the game with 14 men. The Springboks ran out 21-5 winners. Smyth played 18 times for the Lions, scoring five tries and a conversion. Alexander Roulston Foster holds a unique record in Ulster rugby history as he is the only British Lion to have coached a School’s Cup winning team, a feat he achieved with his old alma mater Foyle College in 1915. Foster helped Queen’s win the Ulster Senior Cup in 1909 and won his first Ireland cap a year later in the first ever international played at Twickenham - but the game against England disappointingly ended in a 0-0 draw. Despite losing two of his first three international games, Foster was selected for the Lions tour of South Africa. Like his captain Smyth, Foster scored two tries on his Lions debut, the brace coming on the second game of the tour in a 11-3 over Western Province. Foster started the first test becoming the third youngest Ireland player to represent the Lions (at the time) and the seventh youngest of all time aged 20 years and four days. Foster’s first-half try meant the sides went into the interval tied at 3-3. The centre kept his place for the second test but missed the decider. Foster played in 17 of the Lions 24 games, scoring nine tries for a points tally of 27. Foyle defeated Royal School Armagh in the 1915 Schools’ Cup final and haven’t lifted the trophy in the 110 years since. Foster is credited with influencing Jack Kyle to choose rugby over cricket during his school days. Sir William Tyrrell was a tough back row, small in stature but he literally punched above his weight. He was deemed too small to play against the big physical Springboks in the test matches, but he made 10 appearances for the Lions, scoring one try against Southern Rhodesia. Tyrell is best remembered for his part in what has gone down infamously as 'the Battle of Balmoral'. The game against Wales in Belfast was Ireland’s last before the First World War. The Reverend Alban Davis was captain of Wales, the Friday night before the game in Belfast he decided to take the team including all the ‘Terrible Eight’ to a theatre to relax. Tipped off about the Welsh team’s movements, Tyrrell rounded up as many the Irish players as he could, they stormed the theatre. There were claims that both sets of players tore into each other in the middle of the theatre and the police had to be called to break the brawl up. The fighting continued during the match the next day Tyrrell landed the first blow catching Jones with a punch, the Welshman retaliated, their battle continued on and off the ball, soon all the players were getting involved in the unsavoury stuff. In today’s game the match probably would have been abandoned with many players deserving to be sent off, but Scottish referee Mr Tulloch let them get on with it without taking any action. The madness ended at the final whistle, Tyrrell signalled out Jones again but this time the two warriors acknowledged each other.