Balbriggan Rugby Club are hoping that with the good performances of the Provincial Teams in the Celtic League and the European Competitions and from the national team recently that the interest levels in Rugby will increase and made marketing the game a little easier. The opportunity is now here for Clubs such as Balbriggan to allow people to play the game. Our contribution to that is to put in place the proper structures to foster young talent and then to develop it up where the player gets an opportunity at representative honours. The structure of the game means that someone in Balbriggan can be recognised at Youths or Junior level and that an open the way to higher things.

The Club was originally formed in Balbriggan in 1925. In its third year the Club won The Provincial Towns Cup, the premier competition in Leinster for Provincial clubs. A further Towns Cup appearance was in sight in one of the following years when the Club had won a semi final match against Carlow but an objection was made by our Skerries neighbours that we had played a person who lived in the Metropolitan area and we were out. The player concerned was Tommy Larkin, a member of the well known Balbriggan family and Uncle of present secretary Tom Poynton, whose job meant that he stayed in the city every now and again. The Club in that era played at the Rope Walk which is now the Community College. Unfortunately Rugby in the town died out during the Thirties. In the mid Fifties Delvin Rugby Club was formed and for many years had a Balbriggan base. Delvin has since relocated to Drogheda where it merged with Drogheda RFC to form Boyne RFC.

In 1969 the late Tom Kettle and Brendan Griffin started youths Rugby in the Town. In the spring of 1969 a seven aside competition was run at Glebe North for rugby with the town split into different areas. Seapoint/Fancourt won the U12 defeating Craoibhin/Derham while Craoibhin/Derham won the U14. The first official match the Club played was an U14 match against Mountjoy school in the Autumn of 1969, current Club President, Robert Cashell, was a member of that Balbriggan team. Youths Rugby was in its infancy in the Province and Balbriggan was very much at the forefront of its development in Leinster. This is evident in that three of the five under age Provincial Cups, the Kettle, McGowan and McAuley Cups, competed for each year were presented by the Club or its members. Balbriggan has won most of these competitions including the prestigious Culleton Cup in 1977. Balbriggan contested the first two Culleton finals losing out each time to Roscrea. The Culleton Cup was played at Lansdowne road before the Senior Cup Final. To play in Lansdowne was an honour for the Youths players. In 1977 the Roscrea team were beyond their best and Naas were the challenge. The Balbriggan team had also undergone significant change since the first final but the core of the team were still there. In particular at half backs, Seamus O’Byrne and Colm Lawless had struck up a partnership that would have been the envy of many Clubs and the Club was also lucky that they continued on to play adult Rugby when they could have joined other Clubs and went on to bigger and better things. Colm Lawless never lost a Cup match for Balbriggan in which he scored. Cyril Sheridan was a hero of the final converting a penalty from the half way line at Lansdowne road, a feat many older than the youth he was at the time would have been proud. Cyril continued on to win Anderson Cup medals with the Club and still has an active interest as a Youth’s Coach. A try by John Conway sealed the match for Balbriggan

Adult Rugby commenced in 1975, after losing the first of the Culleton finals, and the core of those early youths teams were the basis of the adult teams until very recently. Felim White was the first Captain of the Club and the players in those first few seasons were a mix from the youths, those who had played Rugby elsewhere or those new to the game. The first game played was against Barnhall who just this season have been promoted to the All Ireland League. The Club can look back at a reasonable level of success over that period. The Area Leagues have been won on numerous occasions and we have won our Provincial Cup, the Anderson Cup in1980, 1993 and 2000.

The Club now play in Div III of the Leinster League. This gives the Club the opportunity to determine their own destiny as the whole league structure will now be integrated up to the top level.

Until now we have not been able to sustain youths through all the ages and some have gone on to play with Boyne (Drogheda). Shane McAleer went onto gain Leinster honours and an Irish trial while Declan Quinn, son of club stalwart Mick Quinn, went on to gain Irish youths honours for two seasons competing on a Youth’s team that won all their games. Declan now features in the back row for Clontarf who are doing well in Div I of the AIL. The major objective for the Club is to re-establish Rugby in the local National schools and the Community college and to be able to participate at all levels of the youths game. John O’Byrne who played on the initial youth teams initially took on the co-ordination of this role. O’Byrne stated that the first step was to put together a committee and come up with a plan. The initial thrust was to start the youths at the U8-12 group and depending on the response look to the older age groups. The Community College is an area where the Club are looking to establish themselves in due course and they hope to get assistance from the IRFU for coaching at that level. One of the first steps was to appoint a Youth’s Co-ordinator, New Zealander Greg Thurlow was the first in this role followed by David O’Sullivan the then Senior team Coach.

In 2002 another Club stalwart Mal Malone took on the role of Youth’s Director. He brought in Dale McAuley as Youth’s co-ordinator. Dale had fulfilled a similar role in his native Australia. Under Dale’s guidance management structures have been put in place for each of the Youth’s teams and we now field Youth’s teams from U8 – U18, a total of 6 teams. A number of players have gone on to get area honours in only their second year playing.

The adult team is playing well and the players are putting in the effort. At present we are fielding just one team and just have enough for a second side so if there is anyone out there who has played before and is new to the town they would e most welcome, even if you have never played and would like to learn just come along and join in with the lads. At present training takes place in Ring Commons at 8pm on Tuesday and Thursday nights.