North Meath RFC looking forward with confidence

Established in 2007, North Meath RFC is one of the youngest clubs in the north east and one of the fastest-growing across all grades and ages.

Since it was set up, the club has developed from fielding one adult male team that trained in the local park in Kells to a fully-formed club based at Park Ri Grange.

The venue is fully equipped with two pitches, a training area and dressing rooms, with the addition of floodlights a month ago.

The club also has one of the largest catchment areas in Meath and encompasses an area from Oldcastle to Kilmainhamwood, Moynalty to Nobber.

The club's membership has grown especially in the last five years to more than 350 with teams ranging from under-6 to the over 35s.

The senior men’s team has enjoyed success with a trophy haul that includes Jenkinson Cup wins and Leinster League titles while the senior women’s team, set up in 2018, continues to make great strides and aims to attract new players.

"The majority of North Meath RFC members are in the youth and mini teams which is a very important aspect for the future well-being of the club," according to club secretary and PRO Nik Pratt.

"We take boys and girls from the age of six to 12 and our emphasis is on playing the game safely and with a smile on our face.

"We teach the fundamentals of the game - passing, running and tackling, everybody plays and the priority is to have fun, form friendships and create long-lasting memories.

"However, we have had to make some adjustments as a result of Covid-19 restrictions and training times are staggered from 9am to 10am for the u-6, u-7, u-8 and u-9 players and then from 10.30am to 11.30am for the u-10, u-11 and u-12 players.

"This year we also introduced our first training session exclusively for girls from u-6 to u-14 from 12pm to 1pm on a Sunday which has proved a great success.

"We hope that it will boost female participation in the sport as well as the club.

"We also have a number of under-age teams – u-13, u-15 and u-18 for boys and u-14 and u-16 teams for girls.

"Training times vary at present with the u-13s training on Friday evenings while the u-15s and u-18s both train at 12pm on Sunday and the girls are out training on Thursday evenings.

"Unfortunately, the restrictions mean we have been unable to play games or host blitz competitions for any of our under-age teams," he added.

The Covid-19 regulations that were introduced last week have added to the demands placed on club officials.

One aspect of the restrictions is the fact that it's not possible to take some of the under-age teams to the provincial games at the Aviva Stadium at the moment due to restrictions.

"We have been unable to organise any of the club social events that we hold each year – the most popular is a trip to the Aviva with the minis to watch a Leinster game or even to play in half-time exhibition game," explained the club secretary.

"We recognise that all sport is incredibly beneficial to children’s physical and mental health and that being part of a team helps form long-lasting memories.

"In these uncertain times we are all looking forward to a return to the simple things that make rugby so rewarding, from the smile on the face of a player scoring that first try to that of a parent’s joy at having to wash mud-caked kits that go straight from the car boot to the washing machine," he concluded.

CONTACT

If you are interested in playing with North Meath RFC, please visit the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/northmeathrfc or contact Nik Pratt at (087) 9350494 for more information.