General News
General News
The Garda Rugby Football Club is based at Westmanstown in West Dublin, between the villages
of Clonsilla & Lucan. The club has a convenient location close to Dublin city, yet enjoys
easy access to Dublin airport and a number of national routes to the rest of the Ireland.
The club is one of a number of Garda clubs located at the Westmanstown Sports and Conference
Centre, set on a 127 acre site, which boasts an 18 hole golf course, a number of astro turf
pitches, tennis courts and the modern Crunch Fitness Gym. Crunch Fitness is an ultra modern
facility which includes a large Sports Hall, together with an Indoor Running Track, a 25
metre Swimming Pool, Spa Pool, Steam Room and Sauna and of course a state-of-the-art weights
room and gymnasium.
The Garda Rugby Football Club is very proud of its outdoor pitches, which are the envy of many
clubs across the country, following recent investment in pitch drainage, together with dugout
and dressing room facilties. These works have resulted in a match pitch which is playable in
almost all weather conditions and is often referred to as "the finest pitch in Leinster".
Garda RFC's training facilties have been used by a host of touring international sides &
Westmanstown has been most notably chosen as the base for the New Zealand All Blacks for their
build up to tests versus Ireland in the past. The Leinster Women's Team currently trains at
Garda RFC's grounds.
The Garda Rugby Football Club currently fields two adult men's teams, a women's team and a
number of underage teams. The underage teams, under the banner of Westmanstown Youths RFC,
include teams at Under-9, Under-11 and Under-13 level, together our budding stars of the
future academy players from 6 years upwards. The club has also recently established an
underage girls teams for secondary school girls of all ages.
WESTMANSTOWN TAGGERS SPECIAL NEEDS PROGRAMME
The Westmanstown Taggers Special Needs Programme is the coming together of The Garda Rugby Club and People with Special Needs.
There are 5,820 children aged 5 – 19 with mild or moderate intellectual disability in the Republic of Ireland 2,677 of these potential taggers live in Leinster.
The Principal Stakeholders are:
1. The Participants
2. Parents and families
3. Special needs assistants,
4. Coaching team,
5. Sponsors.
Tag Rugby presents a fantastic opportunity for participants to interact with new friends in a team sport environment, helping to build social skills and boost confidence.
A similar project was founded in 2006 in Northern Ireland with the Police Service of Northern Ireland and Special Needs. They are based at the PSNI sports complex at Newforge , Belfast. An International Festival of Tag Rugby took place in Newforge in June 2011 with teams from all over UK and 2 teams from Dublin participating.
At the moment Special Needs have no facilities to train or play tag rugby so The Garda Rugby Club with the help of Garda GAA has now provided the use of pitches. The Garda Rugby Club sees this programme as a way of giving back something to the local community.
The programme will be launched on the 2nd September in Westmanstown Sports Complex as part of Westmanstown Rugby Open Day.
President's Welcome Message
General News
I AM HONOURED TO HAVE BEEN NOMINATED AS PRESIDENT OF THIS GREAT CLUB. I FOLLOW A LINE OF GREAT MEN WHO HAVE HELD THIS HIGH OFFICE. MEMBERS OF ALL RANKS, BUT I AM THE FIRST MEMBER OF UNIFORM GARDA RANK TO HOLD THIS OFFICE.
HAVING FINISHED PLAYING WITH CO CAVAN RFC, I JOINED THE GARDA CLUB IN 1984 WHERE I PLAYED WITH GREAT TEAMS WHO HAD GREAT PLAYERS, HAD TOP COACHES, WON LEAGUES AND TROPHIES AND WENT ON SOME GREAT TOURS. I HAVE TAKEN GREAT ENJOYMENT FROM MY PLAYING DAYS AND MADE GREAT FRIENDS.
I HAVE REPRESENTED THE CLUB AS A REFEREE SINCE 1995 TO THE PRESENT DATE. I WAS THE HONORARY SECRETARY OF THE ASSOCIATION OF REFEREES LEINSTER BRANCH FOR 5 YEARS AND CURRENTLY THE REFEREE’S REPRESENATIVE ON THE LEINSTER BRANCH.
THERE ARE TWO PEOPLE I WOULD TO THANK FOR MY INVOLEMENT IN THE GARDA CLUB: ONE PERSON SADLY NO LONGER WITH US AND THAT’S GEORGE TRENIER; AND THE OTHER I AM GLAD TO SAY STILL VERY MUCH WITH US AND VERY ACTIVE IN LEINSTER RUGBY, RAY CAMPION.
WHAT ARE MY GOALS FOR MY SEASON:
o THAT OUR MENS TEAMS HAVE A STRONG SEASON IN DIV 1A
o PROMOTION FOR OUR WOMENS TEAM TO DIV 1 AIL
o THE EXPANSION OF THE MINI AND YOUTH SECTIONS OF THE CLUB
o GET MORE VOLUNTEERS WITHIN THE CLUB
o RESTRUCTURE OF COMMITTEE AND RULES OF GOVERNANCE WITH THE SETTING UP OF NEW SUB COMMITTEES
o TO PREPARE AND PRESENT A 5 YEAR DEVELOPMENT PLAN
THIS SEASON I LOOK FORWARD TO WELCOMING ALL TEAMS TO WESTMANSTOWN, RENEWING OLD ACQUAINTANCES AND MAKING NEW FRIENDS.
FINALLY TO CLUB CAPTAIN, DECLAN, AND ALL TEAM CAPTAINS I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST THIS SEASON.
ALFIE ACHESON
PRESIDENT, GARDA RUGBY FOOTBALL CLUB
