Rugby News

Mayo rugby club with first female president

December 5, 2024

Deirdre Burke is in a historic position: she is the first female president of Ballinrobe Rugby Football Club. Elected only a few weeks ago, her inauguration coincided with the club fielding their first ladies’ team in 25 years.

“The ladies played Galwegians and they won. It was a phenomenal day out,” Burke tells The Mayo News. “They were nervous, but they settled into it really well and played good rugby. The coach was delighted.” It was a landmark moment and a long-held ambition for Ballinrobe to get their ladies’ team back on track.

“To have a group involved to go out and play. It was massive for us as a club. We really want to do a lot of promoting of the ladies game, in particular for home games,” says Burke. “At the end of the day you want the support because they deserve it.”

Together with the coaches and committee, Burke made growing the women’s side of the club a priority for her two-year term.

While the number of female players and coaches has increased since 2020, the only recent resuscitation of the adult team and the ongoing gap between the ages of nine and fourteen show there is still room for improvement. The next step will be the addition of a girls U-12 section to complete the youth academy. A women’s U-20 team will then ensure a smooth transition to adult rugby.

“Getting more players involved will be key. In a town like Ballinrobe with so many sports clubs, it’s not always easy,” says Burke. “But what helps for rugby is the fact that we can draw from a wider area. We have players from Neale, Partry or Tourmakeady for example. We are lucky in that sense in our sport, unlike GAA, we are not confined to parish boundaries.”

And the perception of women’s rugby has changed for the better. In the last number of years. A few years back, Connacht Rugby appointed a female club rugby development officer who has been working with Ballinrobe RFC ever since, organising blitzes in primary schools.

“This has increased the girls’ interest in the sport, which, of course, helped swell numbers for the club,” explains Burke. “It has also helped to have a female rugby team in the local community school. And last year this team made it to the Connacht Schools League semi-final.”

TIME FOR A CHANGE
Before becoming president, Burke previously volunteered as the club’s secretary for eleven years. But after eleven years tied up with daily affairs and basically organising everything, she decided it was time for a change.

“I wanted a change in my role. As president, there is less administrative work for myself. And I saw we never had a female president, so I thought it might be a good idea. I got positive feedback from members that I should go for it. I put my hand up and was lucky enough the whole committee was supporting me,” she says.
Interestingly, Burke never played rugby herself. But her brother Damien played for Ballinrobe for many years and it was he who asked her to get involved as a volunteer.

She got into rugby ‘by accident’, as she said herself, but ‘once you’re in, you’re in’, she laughs. Since then, the sport has absolutely grown on her. “I like the camaraderie. It can be very exciting to watch, getting sucked into it. And there is a huge amount of respect towards referees. Players don’t open their mouths to them. One of the key things starting from the Minis [is that] you respect the referee.”

Not only are Deirdre and her brother Damien involved – he is currently the men’s head coach – Ballinrobe RFC has two other Burkes under its wings: Deirdre’s sister Colette, who started with her as a volunteer, and the president’s daughter Paula, who is the club’s public relations officer.

The rugby community in Ballinrobe is tight-knit, but also very ambitious. Burke says: “It would be great seeing a player from Ballinrobe wearing the green jersey of Ireland soon.”

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