Rugby gets huge boost with €3.5m grant from Council

IRISH rugby, and sport in general, has received a huge boost with the announcement of a €3.5 million Irish Sports Council grant to the Irish Rugby Football Union.

The grant is based on a promise that over 45,000 more children are expected to be introduced to the sport by IRFU development officers before the end of this year.

Sports Minister John O’Donoghue, at the launch of the promotion in Dublin yesterday, praised the IRFU for their track record in providing opportunities for young people and made particular mention of what he described as an outstanding initiative in the Tallaght Project in Dublin.

At a time when the game of rugby in Ireland is highly competitive and is enjoying its highest profile ever, the ISC is intent on rowing in with that success.

The grant announced yesterday is in addition to a previous contribution of 4.4 million and is a measure of the encouragement of greater under-age participation to the three major field sport bodies in the country.

The IRFU programme, as with the GAA and the FAI, is in line with the Irish Sports Council’s strategic objectives of increasing sporting opportunities for all and particularly for school aged children and disadvantaged groups. The Council has allocated a total of €6.2 million to the three big sports bodies in 2003 to implement these programmes.

Minister O’Donoghue made the announcement at Lansdowne Road yesterday and was accompanied by a group of young people from Tallaght who have benefited from the IRFU “Tallaght Project” - an initiative aimed at establishing a self-sustaining community-based rugby club in the area.

That project has had considerable success, with 3,000 children receiving coaching every week.

The scheme is in its fifth year and is run by Philip Lawlor and his team of youth development officers.

Irish Sports Council chairman Pat O’Neill said: “Our strategy, ‘Sport for life’ underlines that our priority is to create sporting opportunities for young people. The Sports Council will continue to work with the IRFU for the benefit of young people in Ireland and for the good of Irish sport.”

The Irish Sports Council has a detailed programme of specific projects for 2003 with the IRFU, including the Development Officer Programme that provide the human resources required to implement the various schemes, the Clubs of Ireland Programme, the Tallaght Project, Tag Rugby, the Academy Development and programmes aimed at improving our performances in the international arena from U-18, Schools and Women’s rugby.

Former World Champion athlete John Treacy, chief executive of the Irish Sports Council, praised the IRFU also, saying: “In particular I endorse their work with young people having their first experience of sport with a strong focus on enjoyment and fair play.”

IRFU president John Quilligan speaking at the launch said: “The close relationship between the IRFU and the Irish Sports Council is beginning to generate fantastic results at grassroots level. These programmes will shape the future of Irish rugby and we are specifically aiming to implement programmes that will increase participation amongst young people.”

The Clubs of Ireland programme will receive €800,000 of Irish Sports Council funding and access to this funding is based strictly on clubs performing against agreed criteria of development and participation.

Clubs must encourage participation amongst women and youth and provide training to the referees and coaches who are essential to the further development of rugby.