Leinster vs Munster

“For example, I had a 10-year ticket to
Munster and I could pop in the car and
be in my seat in Thomond in 45 minutes
whereas it would take the guts of two
hours to make it to the RDS.”
It would lead an objective observer to
presume a siege mentality has set in
over the decades, a sort of outsiders’
perspective.
“No, I wouldn’t say that. It is quite a
trek for many of the provincial clubs, like
Longford, Wexford, Mullingar, to make it
to Dublin,” notes Terry.
“But, in recent years, the provincial
clubs are providing a much higher
representation to Leinster. For example,
Peter Dooley is from up the road in Birr.
His father Gerry would have been a mad
Munster supporter.”
The nearest Leinster club Birr has
amalgamated with Roscrea at the youth
level to play together as the Roscrea and
Birr Ravens, a union born out of necessity
for the boys and girls in the area.
“We don’t have the numbers we used to
have at underage from U-14 up. While
the bigger clubs prospering might be the
ones closer to Dublin, the provincially
peripheral clubs are finding it difficult.
“There are healthy numbers at minis.
But, there is a fall-off from U-14 upwards
with some of the boys going to school as
day-boarders at CCR (Cistercian College
Roscrea), a short walk from the club
grounds.
“Consequently, at U-14, U-15, U-16,
and U-18, we are joined up with Birr
for boys and girls, training and matches
alternating between the clubs.”
The rise in popularity of girls’ and
women’s rugby has injected a different
kind of excitement and given the club
another level of interest from the outside.
“The number of girls at the club is almost
as many as the boys. In the minis, we
could have 120 boys and 100 girls.
The importance of the girls cannot be
overestimated.”
There is also the view that the club has
to reach out as more than just a place to
play rugby given the competition from
various sports and organisations.
“We are trying to develop the club as
a community facility. My thoughts are:
‘If we don’t do that, we won’t survive’,”
warns Terry.
“We have to be more than a club
providing men’s rugby. We are
diversifying. That process has started
already.
“The girls were the start of it. We have
people with disabilities in the club as
associate members, coming from St
Anne’s, the special needs school here.
That is another step in the right direction.
We have to encourage everyone to
come in.
“At one stage, there were four senior
men’s teams at the club and no
underage. Now, it is an underage club
with one senior team.”
At present, Roscrea is in the middle of an
application for planning permission to
upgrade many of the facilities that have
aged since the 1970s.
Floodlights, changing facilities accounting
for the rise in the numbers of girls,
wheelchair access, and a walking track,
designed to encourage locals to come
into the club, are all part of the plan.
“From a personal point of view, the
challenge is to manage the interests of all
the people in the club from minis, girls,
adults, so that they all get a fair shake.”
It means a considerable amount of time
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