ABOUT US
From humble beginnings, Fethard & District Rugby Club in Tipperary has come a long way since it was reformed after a lengthy absence in 2001. It now boasts over 200 players and a floodlit home pitch at the Community Sportsfield in Fethard. With sponsorship and support from Coolmore Stud, and various local businesses, the club continues to thrive, fielding teams from u.8 to u.20’s.
In the last century rugby was very strong in Fethard & District, with a particularly successful team in Fethard in the 1920’s. When members of this team retired, the club lapsed and it was many years before rugby was played in the district again. However, there was an amount of men from the area who played with other clubs down through the years, and a number even played with clubs in England and Australia.
In 2001, on discovering that rugby was included in the Community Games programme, one local woman, Peggy Colville brought it to the attention of Sean Devaney, who had previously played and coached rugby in Wolverhampton. Sean went onto became a member of the local community games committee, and a rugby team was entered in Community Games with Sean appointed as Coach.
In their first year of competition, the team reached a County Final, only to be defeated by Cashel. Following the success of this team interest in the sport of rugby grew in the area. Sean contacted the development office in the Munster branch and following a number of meetings with regional development officer John Lacey, the process to the revival of Rugby Club had begun.
Fethard & District Rugby Club was formed with three coaches involved; Sean Devaney, former Carlow player Paul Kavanagh and Valerie Colville, a member of Clonmel Ladies team. The club initially started with 2 teams - u.10 and u.12’s. However, over the past 7 years Fethard & District Rugby Club has developed with over 200 members and 16 club coaches/leaders involved.
The reputation of the club quickly spread to other areas and many players come from different local parishes including Killenaule, Moyglass, Ballingarry, Glengoole, Mullinahone, Drangan and Lisronagh. All teams from u.8 to u18 earned success over the past eight seasons, beating well-established teams in the East Munster Region. Presently, there are 8 different age categories u.8, u.10, u.12, u.13, u.14, u.16, u.18 and this year the club is catering for u20s for the first time.
In 2002, Fethard Rugby Club won their first silver wear with the u.13 and u.14 teams winning the East Munster Plate. Fethard u.13’s beat Waterpark and the u.14’s defeated Nenagh in their finals. This success has continued with the u.14’s winning the East Munster Cup in 2006 and last year the u.18’s reached the final of the East Munster Cup only to be narrowly defeated by Nenagh. Despite having achieved all of the above the club had no pitch to play on until six seasons ago.
Since the start of the 2003/2004 season the club has a permanent pitch with floodlights in the Community Sportsfield, which was leased to the Community by Mr. and Mrs. John Magnier. It is a huge boost for the club to have a place to call our own for training and for hosting home matches. The club in association with the Fethard Community Sports Field Committee is now embarking on the development of changing and showering facilities.
The growth and success of the club is mainly due to the support and hard work of the coaches/leaders, parents and club members. We would like to thank the Coaching and Development section of the IRFU Munster Branch especially Regional Development Officer John Lacey for all their assistance and support over the years. A special thank you also to Coolmore Stud for all their support and sponsorship since the start of the club.
Currently, training takes place on Friday night at 7pm for u.8 to u12 while the u.14 to u.20s train on Tuesday and Friday nights at 8pm. Matches are played on either Saturday or Sunday. If anyone is interested in joining Fethard & District Rugby Club, or if any club would like to arrange friendly fixtures with any of the teams, please contact the club on 087 7447691.
