MY CLUB: Galwegians RFC
Crowley Park,
Dublin Rd,
Galway,
Co. Galway
Ph: 087 961 4079
www.galwegians.ie
By DAIRE WALSH
FOLLOWING their 13th consecutive league victory against Bective Rangers on March 23, Galwegians RFC secured the Ulster Bank League Division 2A title and ensured their return to the second-tier after a two-year absence.
Club President John Gaffney, whose son Ciaran is a member of the first team, is aware of the significance of this success. He is fulsome in his praise of the squad and the coaching staff for their endeavours throughout the campaign.
“This is our second year (in Division 2A), and that was the first year in a number years that we’d dropped out of Division 1. It was a challenge for us to regroup ourselves and try to re-organise ourselves a little bit,” stated Gaffney. “This year has been extremely successful. We got new coaches in. Corey Brown, who would be involved in the Connacht Academy set-up, and John Muldoon who of course is the Connacht captain at the moment.
“John has been brought in as a forwards coach and Corey is the overall coach. They’ve helped to reinvigorate the club, and they’ve really made a difference.”
A former member of the Wanderers club in Dublin, Gaffney first moved to Galway 27 years ago, and was involved in the club at a number of different levels before assuming his current position.
“I moved down to Galway in about ’87 or so, and I played for ‘Wegians for about five or six years. So, that got me involved in the club. I finished up my rugby playing career, moved back to Dublin a little bit in the meantime, but eventually got back involved with the youths and the minis.
“After I came back getting involved with the minis, I would have coached at a number of levels. I became Director of Youth Rugby for about five years, from 2001-2006/07. My job was mainly to organise them (volunteers), and we moved what was then the mini rugby structure on to Youth Academy. We had players coming through most age groups and feeding into senior teams.”
Like many clubs across the country, Galwegians (who field just under 20 competitive teams) have been affected by emigration in recent years. However, while this has clearly been an issue for the westerners in recent years, Gaffney is aware that the location of the club is also of benefit to them at certain times.
“I suppose we’re a double-edged sword in many ways. People who have come through the ranks have moved on and have moved out of Galway.
“We would have been directly affected by emigration, people moving abroad. There are teams of Galwegian players in Australia and Canada. On the other hand, we do benefit from the fact that we are in a city, and we are a university city. There is always a new turn of players coming in, both in terms of the university and in terms of local industry,” he added.