Showing some respect: Russell Rovers making a difference in victory
When future generations look back at the photo of Russell Rovers’ first-ever county champions, it’s not just the cup and happy faces that will stand out.
It may be in their Shanagarry clubhouse or in the dusty pages of a history book someday years from now, but they’ll see the messages that mattered to a generation of young men. Half celebration, half public service announcement.
First, there’s the banner held beside the cup — not Rovers colours, as you’d expect, but a blue ‘Respect the Water’ flag, part of the RNLI’s drowning prevention campaign.
Then there’s the jerseys they fundraised for among themselves. Black and amber stripes, with a Pieta House logo and helpline in the middle.
They’re aware they’re living in a black spot for suicide and along an often-treacherous coast but if one person is around to view that photo, one person who wouldn’t otherwise have been there, it’ll mean more than any cup.
They may never know, and happily so, but they’ll recognise they did their best to make a difference, to raise awareness, to lift a stigma, and their community will be a better place for that.
“If Barcelona can have Unicef on their jerseys, why can’t we do something similar?” they quipped at the time.
The jerseys were unveiled last year at a club fundraiser for local teenager Aaron McMahon. He travelled to America earlier this year for lifesaving surgery on a rare form of cancer but recently returned home and linked up with his St Colman’s teammates — an underage amalgamation between Rovers and parish neighbours Cloyne.
More than a club, an expansive force for good in the community.
“A club needs to be part of the community and have a community outlook,” says chairman Kieran Ivers, who still plays with their Junior C hurlers.
“Ballycotton, like many fishing villages, Shanagarry, Midleton, East Cork, mental health is a huge, huge issue.
“The players are the club and the club are the players, they fundraised for their own jerseys and one of them came to me and said ‘Would it be an idea to approach Pieta House?’
“Groups that would be associated are young single men so we asked for permission to do it.
“If it only helps one lad in the area by knowing that it’s okay and to get over the stigma of talking about mental health, then it’s a really good thing to do.”
“I was concerned at the start would the players be comfortable with it but they all bought into it and they’re the only jerseys they’ll wear now, which puts a lot of pressure on the washers!”
Ivers’ teammate Alan Cott is spearheading the RNLI’s Respect the Water campaign. He spoke to the Irish Examiner last June about losing his brother, Glynn, in a trawler tragedy off the south-east coast 12 years ago.
Again, it’s a danger young men, aged 16 to 35, are most at risk of.
“I wanted to join the RNLI because I felt if I could provide any help to prevent something like this happening, it would be worth it and even if I couldn’t help, I might be able to help bring a loved one home,” he said.
Run by “probably the youngest top-table in Ireland”, Ivers (36), player/secretary Paul Lane (27) and treasurer Jonathan Walsh (36), and backed by “some of the highest-brow sponsors of any club”, including main sponsor Ballymaloe Cookery School, the club is increasingly engaged in the daily rhythm of community life. They have a charity cliff walk at Christmas, table quizzes, nights at the dogs, and it’s all drawing new supporters to the small club.
Last year they didn’t have so much as a string of bunting to decorate the village for a final. This year they turned the Cork-Midleton dual-carriageway black and amber, with a search even undertaken for the owner of one large flag which blew off on the road.
As the seasonal seaside trade cools in these winter months, Russell Rovers have kept the summer of their lives roaring into November. Founded in 1930, their greatest success came in 1931 — an East Cork Junior A football title. It may have taken 87 years but they’ve had two trophies to trump that this year.
They became the 20th team to add their name to the East Cork Junior A hurling trophy in September, a moment which remains their greatest day despite adding another first, their only adult county title — a County Junior B inter-divisional football victory last Saturday.
After many years waiting the county has arrived in ballycotton!! Great times #roversabu #khl #JBChamps @Pier26_Bar pic.twitter.com/WOongUgVgr
— Russell Rovers GAA (@russellrovers) November 3, 2018
“With over 80 training sessions, you could count the amount of times on one hand that the big ball was used,” remarked the club notes.
“We’re likely to get more people to the first round of the junior A hurling than we would be to a county football final,” admits Ivers.
A typical East Cork club so.
The football, however, was a major bonus, coming as it did a week after losing the County Junior A hurling final to Cloughduv. Their most complete performance yet, an 11-point win over Castletownbere, stood as testament to their fitness, innate skill, the intangible power of momentum, and the benefits of a joint management structure, including manager Michael Mannion and former Cork and Waterford coach Frank Flannery.
Between both codes, they carried a 24-game winning streak into the hurling final, their only other defeats this year coming in their hurling and football league openers.
“Our 24-game streak was broken so we’re back up to one again,” jokes Ivers.
An East Cork Junior Hurling League final against St Ita’s today offers a chance at an utterly unprecedented fourth trophy of the year.
“We’ve been the club that’s the bridesmaid at all times so for the older lads, they’re certainly walking around with their heads up and their chests out in the last couple of weeks,” says Ivers.
“Seeing mothers and fathers coming onto the field and embracing their own sons and daughters after winning the Jamesey Kelleher Cup (East Cork JAHC), that night in Shanagarry, we opened up a big barbecue for anyone and everyone who wanted to celebrate, it brought back the importance of the club but the importance of families as well.
“Every father and mother of any fella who was involved, you could see the pride in their faces and that’s the absolute highlight.”
