Captain's Report
I wanted the club to continue to build on the foundations laid last year.
For the first time, we had continuity as regards a competent and committed
committee that was put in place at the end of last year. An extensive poster
campaign was run before "Clubs and Socs" day and recruitment on the day
was satisfactory with a marked increase on last years subscription figures.
For many potential players, however, the physical element of the sport
still proves daunting. Girls in secondary school seldom play Rugby and
this has both positive and negative repercussions for our club. Firstly,
it means that typical sports women tend to flock to the sports they played
in secondary school such as Gaelic games, hockey and basketball. On the
upside, our club offers a great opportunity to students who might not otherwise
become involved in the sporting life of the university. Because every few
of our players have previous experience of the game there are no feelings
of inadequacy which can deter people from getting involved in other sports
and the idea of learning together promotes team spirit. A main aim for
this year was to improve the atmosphere at training order to ensure that
players continued training. We also wanted to improve the social side of
the club, which was found lacking last year. As numbers have always been
a central problem for the club, these were important aims with regard to
the clubs success. I feel that these aims were most definitely achieved
and a full squad was available to play as matches arose.
Unfortunately, since our return in semester 2 our numbers have suffered
slightly. This has been caused by a wide variety of factors. Firstly, the
effect of having almost two months off with no training or games in the
interim does not help the life of the club. Influential players have also
been lost in other ways. INTRA, which commenced in second semester, meant
that we lost out on players. Furthermore, the club has been plagued with
injuries. Luckily, only one of our players has had to stop playing from
injuries suffered on the pitch, however, a number of off-the-pitch incidents
has meant that certain members are no longer able to play rugby. Thankfully
they are able to play other sports but due to the nature of rugby they
have been advised not to go back playing. The lack of numbers poses problems
for the club. Most players are free on Wednesday afternoon, so this is
an ideal day to have our matches, however a minority of players have "Labs"
on Wednesday afternoons, which they have great difficulty in getting changed.
I realise this situation will be changed for next year but for the moment
it is causing problems for our club with regard to organising fixtures
that can suit everybody.
Last semester we only played four 15-a-side matches. Because we are no
tin a league we have to rely on challenge matches. This involves arranging
matches, venues and referees ourselves. Also, because they are only challenge
matches there is no obligation on either side to play and such matches
are often cancelled without much prior warning. This semester, there seems
to be ample opportunity to play rugby. We are becoming better known as
a club and so several touring sides have contacted us requesting matches.
Unfortunately, the difficulty now lies in having a full squad on given
days. We have at least two 7-a-side tournaments to look forward to. The
first of these is our intervarsities, taking place in U.L. The second takes
place in Beauvais, Paris at the end of the semester. Fifteen of us are
now traveling to France and so we are entering two teams, this has been
discussed with the organisers of the competition and they have agreed to
this. I feel that it is vital that we take part in our intervarsities.
The trip to France is a huge incentive for the girls to continue to train
and work hard and it will also do much to improve the profile of
the club, which is essential if we are to attract new members and more
importantly players next year.
With the acquisition of much-needed equipment such as new balls, a tackle
bag and rucking pads our assets although still fairly modest have improved
greatly this year. Also, for the first time our players have jerseys with
the university crest and matching rugby shorts to wear on the pitch. We
intended to acquire leisure wear for the girls, such as training tops or
fleeces but as yet have not managed to do so. We are however actively seeking
sponsorship for these and have arranged a meeting with a representative
of the Bank of Ireland for this week. It is essential that we have proper
gear before we travel to our intervarsities and to France.
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