Clonakilty RFC in the community
Clonakilty Rugby Club is about more than just Rugby. While our primary mission at the club is to promote, foster and develop the game of rugby in Clonakilty and its surrounding areas, we want to do this while building on our core values of Respect, Integrity, Passion, Teamwork, Friendship, Solidarity, and above all else Inclusivity and Fun for all.
So, while we endeavour to provide “best in class” coaching in line with IRFU standards and continual improvement of our facilities, most importantly we want to also encourage participation in the game and our club from ALL of society. Clonakilty RFC believes ‘Community engagement’ is pivotal this and indeed to running an effective and sustainable club. It is important to take a step back from the day to day running of our club to think about the “bigger picture”, for us to take the time to understand, build and maintain effective relationships; recognise gaps in the community that we can fill; have flexibility to deal with challenges and be creative in finding solutions to community issues.
The club believes it has a responsibility to serve its community, but it also recognises the opportunity to engage further with the local community, expand player numbers and strengthen the club through diversity and new people and fresh ideas. In short, we believe diversity is strength.
Sinead Burton and Courtney Canning are our community engagement officers and put a huge amount of work in bringing our community into our club and our club into the community.
Why?
Through Community Engagement Clonakilty RFC hopes to achieve:
· Giving locals a voice
· Supporting marginalised groups
· Building respect and Tolerance
· Promoting pro social behaviour
· Developing Role models
· Encouraging active lifestyles
· Improving the wellbeing of all Clonakilty RFC participants
Mixed Ability Rugby
Clonakilty RFC is proudly one quarter of the West Cork Jesters. This is a Mixed Ability rugby team set up between Bantry, Dunmanway, Skibbereen and Clonakilty.
Last Season Clonakilty RFC hosted two events at the club which provided super opportunities for the West Cork Jesters players to have a fantastic series of games. It was also a great day for our Vets team who got involved, and for many of the club members who came out in support and enjoyed BBQ’s and prize giving’s afterwards.
The plan going forward to is further support this initiative and indeed three of our member have already signed up to play for the Jesters going forward.
Direct Provision
We are proud of our club and are particularly keen to give everyone a chance to avail of our club facilities. One of the main drawbacks for a lot of the parents at the lodge is that they struggle to get their kids to the club without transport. This will not stop us however and we are helping to arrange transportation to and from the lodge for the players that are interested.
Clonakilty RFC promotes health, fitness, inclusivity, teamwork, friendship and above all else, fun. We have such a lovely vibe with our mini’s on Saturday mornings, that we want to make sure all our local community can avail of it.
We got a great response from the kids and we are delighted to say we have at least half a dozen new girls and boys coming this weekend to give it a go.
LGBT
Clonakilty RFC prides itself on being an inclusive club for all. This year we are delighted to say we will be engaging in active programmes aimed at promoting the voice of all LBGTI members in the Clonakilty Community.
Autism Awareness
Clonakilty celebrated three years as an Autism friendly club in October 2021. We plan to further engage with tis Autism awareness drive in the coming months and years.
Tidy Towns
Our u16 boys and girls teams started their 2021/22 season by giving a helping hand to the Clonakilty Tidy Towns teams. We were delighted to help out with their incredibly important work and look forward to assisting other teams in surrounding areas soon