Huge boost for women's rugby in Fethard after club awarded €11,000 in funding

Fethard & District Rugby Football Club (RFC) has been selected as the Irish winner of Royal London’s Championing Women’s and Girls’ Rugby Award, in partnership with The British & Irish Lions.

This €11,689 funding will enable the club to develop its first-ever women’s team and build an enduring pathway that will allow girls to continue their rugby journey in the region as senior women’s players.

To mark their award, Brendan Cummins, Senior Broker Consultant at Royal London Ireland, formerly a GAA All Star hurler, presented the club with a trophy earlier this month.

Having grown from 20 to over 120 players since the club’s first girls’ team was formed in 2011, Fethard & District RFC has built a strong girls rugby pathway. To support further expansion the club’s focus is to establish a clear transition from youth to adult rugby through the development of the club’s first-ever women’s team.

This award will support this ambition by helping to strengthen player retention beyond U18 level, developing young female leaders through coaching and refereeing, supporting player welfare and athlete development, and creating stronger links between the youth section and adult women's rugby.

The philosophy at Fethard & District RFC means that every girl is welcome, every girl matters and every girl should have the opportunity to progress in whatever way is right for her. With around 85-90% of the club’s current female players coming from families with no previous rugby background, this demonstrates the club’s success in making rugby accessible to new communities and creating new rugby families.

Women play a central role in the leadership, governance and future direction of Fethard & District RFC and female leadership is embedded throughout the club, ensuring girls have visible role models on and off the pitch and demonstrating that rugby offers opportunities far beyond playing. This focus on increasing the number of women in roles across the club will also be key in supporting the club’s ambition to develop its first women’s team.

Mary Gorey, Club Registrar at Fethard & District RFC, said: “This funding gives us the opportunity to build something much bigger than a programme for one team or one season. Our aim is to create a clear pathway for girls within Fethard & District RFC, from their first experience of rugby right through the youth age grades and ultimately into a sustainable senior women’s team. We want our girls to see that there is a place for them in our club not just now, but for years to come.

“For us, the grant is about building the bridge between a thriving girls’ section and senior women’s rugby. It will allow us to actively recruit and introduce new and returning women to rugby, provide dedicated coaching and training opportunities, and support our older youth players as they progress towards adult rugby. Most importantly, it gives us the resources to start building that senior environment now so that when our girls finish youth rugby, their journey with Fethard doesn’t have to finish. Our ambition is that the girls coming through the club today will become the foundation of Fethard’s first sustainable senior women’s team.”

Brendan Cummins said “The development by Fethard & District Rugby Football Club of its first-ever women’s rugby team will encourage more young Irish women into the sport and in turn see more women enjoy the lifelong benefits that come with playing as part of a team - including greater confidence, resilience, improved social skills, and improved physical and mental health. It will also inspire younger players to take up the sport. Seeing is believing when it comes to sport, particularly for Irish women, where there have been great strides in a variety of sports in recent years – including in rugby. Through this award, Royal London Ireland is delighted to support Fethard & District Rugby Football Club in its transition from youth to adult rugby. As well as supporting player welfare and athlete development, we believe this award will help the club strengthen player retention beyond U18 level and develop young female leaders through coaching and refereeing.”

Aoibheann Reilly, Rugby Ambassador for Royal London and award judge, comments: “It’s amazing to see the incredible work Fethard & District RFC is doing to open the door to a new generation of women and girls in rugby. This grant will support their ambition to build a strong women’s pathway and create even more opportunities to play, lead and thrive in the sport, building on the fantastic work already happening at the club.”

The Championing Women & Girls’ Rugby Award is a flagship element of Royal London’s sponsorship as Founding Partner of the first ever British & Irish Lions Women’s Team. One winning club in each home union receives a trophy and €11,689 to invest in their women’s and girls’ rugby programmes. Royal London is also investing £3 million into elite women's rugby across the four home unions through the ‘Levelling the Playing Field Grant’ to drive positive, long-term change for women’s rugby through development that supports women’s player and coach pathways.