Clubhouse Development and the Tyrone factor!!

It was always going to be a matter of when, rather than if, the Clubhouse renovations would take place, and certainly as I remember it, the mood in the Club back around 2004/05 season was such that the time seemed just about right to give the idea some serious consideration. The previous season we had suffered demotion from Div.1 when we failed to secure our ‘quota’ of match wins in the post-Christmas period, and everyone was of the same voice - unless we bounced back rather quickly, we could be left to ‘linger’ at Div.2 for some time.

Looking back, the demotion was probably inevitable given we were usually a little slow off the mark capturing a few wins in the early part of the season. Then, perhaps the early season training sessions weren’t always that well attended – that’s not to say the players lacked commitment on the pitch – indeed far from it, if anything they gave so much there were usually shattered when they hit the showers. No, to be honest, back then, the same routine followed a well-worn path each year and we inevitably ended up trying to scrape a few wins towards the end of the season to hold our place, and for the most part it worked – just about - but we were living close to the ‘edge’.

Mind you, some of those end -of-season matches were highly entertaining and commanded the biggest audiences of the year, and the enthusiasm and commitment of the home side in search of a win was always a joy to behold, and be part of – with a win almost akin to success in Lansdowne Road at a Rugby International – and celebrated accordingly later in the Bar. But living that close to the edge most the time, well something had to give, and that happened in the tail-end of the 2002/2003 season, -  we fought the good fight but didn’t make the cut this time,  and heads were bowed, but nonetheless all were accepting of their fate.

Then something happened that summer of 2003 that was to have a dramatic effect on Skibbereen rugby over the following three years, and that was the arrival to the Club of a southern hemisphere player by the name of Tyrone Taiepa.    I won’t go into too much detail of who was behind ‘bringing’ Tyrone into the country, but to say it was a ‘one-man show’ wouldn’t be stretching the truth too far. Suffice to say it was a master stroke, and happened at a critical time for the Club, and given the rugby ‘credentials’ of the man himself, the wonder was, how ‘we’ managed to capture such a talent and get him graded Junior!!   That said, we were not complaining at all, far from it - and so Tyrone Taiepa took up residence in ‘dear old Skibbereen ‘in the summer of 2003 and very soon his presence would be felt.

Well, such was the impact Tyrone had with his team-mates, that from the start, the new season was destined to be a success, and so it turned out. That said there was still a lot of groundwork and legwork on the part of then Chairman Alan Holmes and Forwards Coach Sean O’Neill and Captain Barry Dodd, and also Team Coach Ivan Coombes to recruit and firm-up the commitment of players who had begun to drift away – but their perseverance paid off and slowly but surely the new team began to reform and reflect a more finished unit.  Quite apart from Tyrone’s obvious rugby talent he was an incredibly popular and personable young man and won the friendship of everyone in the Club – and yes, he did have charisma to burn, and more to the point he was able to back everything up on the field of play. In a short while the entire team rowed in behind, the by then, primary objective of regaining our Div.1 status , and so after an exciting Div.2 League and many closely fought encounters, we did eventually reach the end of season and secured our place in what was effectively a three-way final – two teams to qualify - to decide if we were to resume our Div.1 status.

Pre-match write up by the Munster Branch had this to say:

It is also very tight at the top of Division Two with three sides in contention for the two promotion places. Leaders Tralee play second placed Skibbereen in their final game. The Kerry side currently have a three-point advantage over the West Cork side and are four ahead of Cashel. Both these sides have been putting up big scores in recent weeks, but it is likely that this could be a very close contest with penalty kicks likely to be deciding factor.

Sunday the 14^th March  2004 was the day of the ‘final’ and it was a home game for the opposing side - Tralee RFC, so every Skibbereen rugby enthusiast headed north to Tralee to cheer on the lads. The weather was as perfect as it could be, and to say it was exciting would be a huge understatement, it was nail-biting stuff from start to finish, and so closely fought that in the end there was nothing but a single point separating both teams – and that is a fair appraisal of the quality of the teams on the field that day – but importantly, things went our way and Skibbereen emerged the victors, and that singular objective set at the beginning of the season was achieved. My abiding memory of that match was of a 5 metre line out to Tralee in the dying seconds of the game, and even though we were just in front 13-12 , the situation was ominous  for Skibbereen. The Tralee hooker started his routine and delivered the ball down the line, and then a little bit of magic, from second-row Leo O’Donovan, jumping higher than everyone else, managed to steal the ball and totally rob Tralee their chance of victory.  It was a brilliant stroke at a critical time and Tralee knew the game was up at that moment. Skibbereen retained possession long enough to reach the 80minute mark and hear the final whistle sound – and yes victory was sweet. What a day, what a match, what excitement. Tralee were a great side on the day, worthy opponents and were very gracious in defeat, and given they were clear League leaders in the run-up to this fixture, with two promotional places up for grabs –  and they were still to lose out – it was a tough one.

Later the Munster Branch wrote: “The big drama was in the Second Division with Cashel, Skibbereen and Tralee all finishing on 42 points and with nine wins each. Skibbereen were declared champions because they had beaten both the other sides, and Cashel’s win over Tralee earlier in the season meant that they could claim the second promotion spot. Skibbereen travelled to Tralee and won a titanic struggle 13-12.

The journey back to West Cork that night took a long time and there were a few stops along the way, and as for the celebrations that night back at the Clubhouse, well that’s another story.

And so, the mood was high in the summer of 2004 and with Tyrone signing up for another season there was a lot of optimism about, and as I mentioned at the outset, all of this positivity contributing strongly to the business of focussing on that long overdue renovation of the Clubhouse and changing rooms. It didn’t happen immediately of course and it would be well into the following season before anything concrete happened.

It was clear from all the suggestions and the feedback that the scope of the renovations needed, if implemented, would be expensive, but undeterred, the discussions, research and planning went ahead. Then in 2005 a local Consulting Engineer Sharon Walsh was brought on board to properly draft all the various views and ideas to paper, and begin the process of putting the final plan together. By December 2005 everything was more or less in place and it was a foregone conclusion we would seek Lottery funding – the burning question as always – was how to raise the balance, if we were lucky enough to get a Grant in the first place.

So fast forward to 27^th June 2006 and when Lottery details were announced we were really delighted with the Grant of €200K and it meant we could proceed to seek quotations in earnest and be in a position to identify the shortfall.  And so, the fundraising began in earnest and a financial Committee appointed to identify and monitor all things financial. Everyone was asked to contribute something – and as always, some members were great, some unbelievably generous –  the net was spread wide and the response was uplifting, and somehow with the begging and the borrowing, the scrimping and saving, we did eventually get there in the end.

It was local builder Darren Hourihane who eventually came through as the preferred choice for the project and the ‘first sod’ was turned in June 2007 and the completely renovated Clubhouse was finished on schedule and open for business by the end of November. The official opening would take place on the 29^th December 2007 by our esteemed Club Patron at that time, Sir A.J.F. O’Reilly.                                         Read about the  Official Opening HERE

As it turned out Tyrone Taiepa was not around to enjoy or appreciate the facilities of the renovated Clubhouse as he finished his ‘contract’ with Skibbereen RFC in the summer of 2006, and both he and fellow team-mate Will Stutchbury departed to further their careers. Presentations were made to Tyrone and Will at the end of year Dinner Dance held in the West Cork Hotel on the 27th May, and it was a marvellous and a memorable night, enjoyed by all.

Have a look at the array of silverware on display after yet another very successful season. Club Captain Ivan Jennings spoke for everyone in thanking Tyrone and Will for the major contribution they made to the Club and to the team during their time with us, and how sorry everyone was to see them leave. The two lads gave very emotional responses in thanking everyone for making their Skibbereen experiences very special and wished the Club every success in the future.

See report and photos HERE

I began this little story by ‘crediting’ the arrival of Tyrone to the Club with the major boost to our fortunes on the rugby pitch, and to the general ‘feel good’ factor at the time.  Quite obviously he did not do all of this on his own, but he was certainly a prime mover, and he had that unique ability to motivate players and raise the standard of rugby in the team during his time here. He also had the respect of his peers – they looked up to him, and they admired him, so, yes, I believe he does deserve credit.

I’m sure the re-development would have taken place anyway – but maybe not at the time that it did. The years 2003-2006 were defining times in the annals of Skibbereen Rugby both on the pitch and in the Club, and I think, all the positivity about contributed to the general feel ‘good factor’ at the time, and helped make our mind up to ‘grasp-the-nettle- and tackle the Clubhouse renovation.

So here I’m attaching a series of photographs charting before and after, and in-between shots, of the initial building process back in 2007 that helped bring us the wonderful Clubhouse we have today. That has been added to in 2019 with the addition of Ladies Changing rooms and Showers – and I will include details of that development in the next ‘episode’ .

 

Ladies Dressing Rooms and Showers 2019

In August 2018 it was becoming clear that with the exceptional growth of new underage members in recent times we needed to look at the provision of additional changing room facilities to cater for the bigger numbers. So, a small project committee took the matter in hand and settled on the idea of 2 additional dressing rooms with 2 banks of showers and separate toilet cubicle facilities. With that focus in mind various suggestion were discussed. The location more or less decided itself from the start, and very quickly it became apparent that with a bit of thought a viewing balcony could be incorporated over the dressing rooms, which we felt  would in time be a very useful addition facility in time to come. Local architects were then brought on board and a series of options were eventually presented to a full Committee meeting for discussion, and after due deliberations a decision was made to proceed with an agreed option. Barry Dempsey put together the application for Sports funding and when word came through of allocations, we were delighted to have secured a grant of €59,500, which was a great start towards this much needed project.

Getting in the builders quotations for the proposed project the cost was coming in much higher than originally anticipated, so with a few adjustments here and there and some general pruning, we eventually settled on a price and a builder. That said it meant the Club needed to raise almost as much as the original grant if we were to realise our ambition. And so back to the grindstone and the nitty gritty business of identifying ways and means of raising the additional cash, and once again credit to the finance committee and the generosity of many members – past and present – the shortfall was eventually realised and the Project was completed.

Work began in July 2019 and the building firm of Concept Design and Build Ltd did a marvellous job on all fronts and the project was complete about the middle of November, but for the Galvanised railing by Ian Hurley, which was added in early 2020.

It was also a requirement under the  Health & Safety directive that the new balcony would require a exit safety point and this was incorporated into the existing building structure - which then in turn necessitated the closing of the old entrance and opening of a new entrance to the Bar/Lounge area on the same first- floor level.

 

This is a view of the Clubhouse before the Ladies Dressing Room Project got underway.

And the following photographs tracks the building photographically from the early stage to completion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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