It is my absolute honour as President to welcome everyone who passes through our gates this season to MU Barnhall RFC. I would like to welcome members, players, coaches, supporters and referee’s from all clubs. As a community club we pride ourselves on giving everyone a warm welcome and after a hard match enjoying a coffee or a beer together in the clubhouse.
For me it is a huge honour to be the President for the 2019-2020 season as we begin the journey into our 51st year. Having celebrated hard last season, both with on field success and to mark our 50th celebrations, we now need to focus on a tough season ahead and to continue to build on the foundation we have built. We were delighted to win a total of 8 trophies last season and plan to continue to build on that achievement in the season ahead. On a personal note it is with great pride I take up this position having experienced at first hand the club progress through buying the grounds, building the clubhouse and more recently forging our amazing partnership with Maynooth University. When I came into the club over 35 years ago for my 1st training session I never could have imagined the journey we would go on as a club, to bring us to where we are today.
None of this happens by chance so I would like to acknowledge the work that goes on all year behind the scenes. On any winter’s night you will see the pitches full of players and coaches putting in the hard graft to represent the club. And on any Saturday morning you will see the pitches full with our minis and their many dedicated coaches working on the skills that may someday earn them the chance to play for Leinster and Ireland.
The grounds are kept in amazing shape despite endless traffic and every weekend the number of games increase as the club continues to grow. AIL games are always the highlight of the calendar and I would like to wish the very best of luck to our club captain, Tom McKeown and his team in division 2A this season following on from the fantastic 18 wins from 18 last season. Our Ladies also gained promotion and with the excitement generated from that last season I know they will continue the amazing run of success into this season also. Our Butchers, U23’s and U20s all add so much to the fabric of our club from “Friday night Lights” in the college to hosting touring teams both on the pitch and in the bar! Our youths, both boys and girls, are doing amazing work and the results can be seen with so many players being selected to represent Leinster. I had the honour of going to Rome earlier this year with the Buffaloes and it is always great to see them in and around the club either playing or helping out.
MU Barnhall are also blessed to have tremendous committees working tirelessly in all areas of the club. We believe that we may have more players than any other club in Ireland with over 900 playing members. This does not happen without an army keeping the wheels turning so we can successfully field a record number of teams.
Of course, none of this would be possible without the generous support of our sponsors. Their generous support is unerring so at every opportunity we should return the favour by choosing to support them when you are spending your hard earned cash.
Our relationship with Maynooth University has been a fantastic success and the benefits of that can be seen in the huge numbers we now have playing in the club as well as the haul of trophies from last season. Working with the University during my presidency is something I really look forward to and especially the intervarsity game to be held in the college this season. I would like to extend a warm welcome to the new undergraduate students and trust they will love the club as much as we do.
I would like to finish by asking everyone to enjoy their rugby, be respectful to opposition and officials and thank you in advance for your support during the season.
The Pride The Passion The Blue
Declan
