MY CLUB: OLD CRESCENT RFC
Old Crescent RFC,
Rosbrien,
Limerick,
Ireland.
By DAIRE WALSH
AS we move into the closing months of the 2015/16 Ulster Bank League season, Old Crescent RFC – from Rosbrien in Limerick – are the current pacesetters in Division 2C.
Having missed out on a place in the newly-restructured Division 2B, Old Crescent RFC President Ger McNamara feels that they are in a promising position at the moment, and can see the benefit of the home and away fixtures in the league.
“The season is going well for the moment anyway. The first team are top of the division at the moment. Seconds are ding-dong. U20, we won the North Munster U20s League. We’re tipping away. A glass half full is my mantra so far for the year, so that’s the way we’re going,” he said.
“It’s interesting really (the home and away set-up), because (in the past) you never met them for a year. We played Dundalk and Sligo in December, we’ve now played them in January. It’s more interesting, the back-to-back stuff.”
A member of the club for several decades, McNamara assumed the position of President at the start of the current campaign, and believes that one year is a suitable length of time for the role in Old Crescent.
“It’s my first year. We only do one year. I’m not saying it’s enough or too much, but it is enough really. Especially if you do junior vice, senior vice and then President. Now, I didn’t do junior vice, because there was a gap of a year. Myself and another decided we’d come in together.
“Unfortunately, he subsequently died in the year, but we’d agreed I’d go ahead of him anyway. If I had three years… it’s a long run in really, without making two years at the top.”
Land
Away from competitive action, Old Crescent recently purchased an 11 acre piece of land adjoining its club grounds in Rosbrien. This help the club grounds to double in size, and considering they already have a strong presence in the area, McNamara agrees that this is essential for the future generations in the club.
“We bought 11 acres. It’s been ongoing for a while really. It came up 15 or 20 years ago, and for a number of reasons it didn’t happen. Whereas this time it was kind of a no-brainer in that it was only of value to us.
“I said, if someone bought it and built on it, we might have been looking at a ten foot wall running down the side of our pitches. Now we’re looking at our own thirds pitch. We’ll try and develop a fourth pitch in the short term, and the next generation can decide what to do with the rest of it.
“We got IRFU support for it, we also got the tax designation from the Department of Sport to get tax relief on donations for the purchase of land,” McNamara added.