President's Message 4.11.25

It was a difficult week for our Club with the sad funerals of John Rogan last Friday in Churchtown and John Kirby in Donnybrook today. I was extremely proud as President of Blackrock College RFC to see the members and players who turned out in such huge numbers to both pay respect to and honour these two wonderful men. The guard of honour formed by the players, in their distinctive Club hoodies, outside Donnybrook Church at Kirby’s funeral, was particularly moving. I know both the Rogan and Kirby families took comfort from the fantastic show of support at both funerals. It’s on these occasions we realise the importance of Clubs in our lives and Community… well done.

Super Saturday in Stradbrook certainly lived up to it’s billing! We had an excellent turnout at the pre match lunch and our new caterer, Hastie Dublin, laid on first class food which was very favourably commented on. City of Armagh RFC are celebrating their 150^th anniversary this year and their President, Jim Crummie, and guests received a very warm welcome.

What a fantastic performance on the pitch against a very physical and formidable Armagh team who have just come down from Div 1A and were lying second in the 1B table before our game. Our forwards fronted up against a bigger Armagh pack, we were fearless in defence and some of our attacking play was brilliant. We have been building nicely in recent games and all the hard work paid off with a 5 point win on Saturday. Well done to the management, coaches and squad. There is no AIL Men's game this weekend and a well earned rest is deserved for all the players, especially those injured players who are making good progress. We hope to see a number of them back in the Rock jersey very soon.

I’d like to thank everyone who came down to support the team and join us in the bar afterwards. You helped to create a super buzz around the Club. This was very favourably commented on by our friends from Armagh. Tell your friends about the great entertainment and craic in Stradbrook… no better way to spend an afternoon! Our next Pre-match lunch takes place on the 29th of November and there is still time to book a spot at the appropriately named "Hasbeens" lunch...

Sunday saw narrow defeats away for our J1s and u20s. The J1s were extremely unlucky vs Barnhall down in Maynooth University, losing 26 - 28, but picked up two bonus points. We play Lansdowne in Stradbrook this coming Friday night- the bar will be open and the popular High Noon drink specials continue. Our Under 20s lost 17 - 27 to Corinthians in extremely testing conditions in Galway, and next face Clontarf away at Castle Ave on Sunday afternoon.

Other fixtures this weekend include our Castle XV, 3^rd team who return to the pitch on Saturday with a home game versus Guinness. After a rest weekend, Rock's Women’s AIL team are away to Wicklow this Saturday at 5pm with the J1s playing Clontarf in the Metro Cup next week. Details to follow.

Best of luck to all our teams playing this weekend.

A reminder for this Sunday. Fr Tom Nash has organised the annual Mass for the Deceased members of the rugby, soccer and bridge clubs. It will take place at the College on Sunday 9^th at 11am and all members are welcome to attend.

The IRFU's Your Club Your Country Grand Draw 2025 is a hugely important fundraiser for all Clubs across the country. There are 10 incredible prizes available and all monies raised in Blackrock goes directly to our Club. The closing date for ticket sales is Monday 24^th November at 11am, and I am putting a challenge out there... why can’t each player, member, parent, supporter of our Club sell 10 tickets at €10 each? We have 239 members of the Supporters WhatsApp Group, we have over 500 minis/youth members, we have over 200 adult playing members (Men and Women). Let us all help out here. Our Hon Treasurer, Tom Taaffe, will be liaising with each squad, each age group to coordinate and help with this important fundraiser. We all share good fun and a lot of enjoyment out of this Club…let’s give this a big push over the next two weeks. Tickets can be bought online on the GalaBid site, as detailed on our website and in this newsletter… so there are no excuses! Thank you in advance.

Only two weeks to go to our Gala dinner on Wednesday 19^th in the Shelbourne. I am looking forward to seeing many of you there for what promises to be a most enjoyable night.

There is lots going on in the Club, and as always, I thank you for your ongoing support.

All the best,

Mick

Mick Dwan

President 2025/ 2026

Blackrock College RFC