Leinster vs Edinburgh

After COVID restrictions eased, the club
was delighted to be invited to play an
exhibition game for older residents in
the Silver Stream Nursing Home. As a
family club, regular trips to the RDS and
Aviva Stadium for parents and players
are organised throughout the season to
watch their heroes and socialise together.
The club’s challenge now is to provide
its young people with the facilities they
deserve. The club has embarked on
an ambitious project over recent years,
acquiring land and constructing a fine
new pitch. Now, the focus is on building
a clubhouse to replace dilapidated
portacabins which have been vandalised
and are no longer fit-for-purpose.
“It’s been a long road to here. We had
several fundraisers interrupted because of
COVID, as indeed were our construction
plans,” says club chairman Conor Kiely.
“Our new pitch was a real step forward,
and the focus now is to complete our
clubhouse build. We finally turned the
sod and laid foundations in the summer
of 2021 and we have been actively
fundraising, selling sponsorship, running
raffles, golf outings and the like.
“People have been extraordinarily
generous. Our local community
businesses have really gotten behind us,
some very generous supporters in the
construction sector have helped turn the
dream of a new clubhouse into a reality,
and the club network of parents and
friends worked hard to sell 1,000 tickets
for our recent Car Draw.
“We hope our new facilities will develop
into a real focal point for our club and
our community in the years to come.”
The club is powering towards a bright
future and hopes to eventually have a
player or two on the Leinster squad who
will have fond memories of their time in
Ratoath Rugby Club, where it all started
for them!
www.leinsterrugby.ie | 45