Galway Bay Rugby Club a victim of its own success

When coaches in a rugby club have to check that the tide is out before deciding whether training can go ahead, you know something isn’t quite right!

It’s a rare occurrence – it’s happened maybe five Saturdays and not in the past two seasons – but having to train at Silver Strand beach sums up the predicament of Galway Bay Rugby Club.

“If pitches are closed because of mud, and it’s a bright morning and the tide is out, rather than doing nothing, in the past we’ve put teams down there,” explained Brian Harte, club secretary.

They’ve been fun, and dog-walkers and beachgoers have looked on bemused but ultimately beach training is not practical. “Absolutely not,” said Harte.

Galway Bay Rugby Club is a victim of its own success – it relies on other organisations for access to pitches, and it needs more pitches because of its rapid expansion.

The club has experienced an explosion of growth in playing numbers since it was established as Barna/Knocknacarra Rugby Club or Na Bairneachaí in 2007, catering for boys from U-6 to U-12. As a mini club, the rugby is non-competitive and they don’t use full pitches.

Re-launched in 2017, and renamed so as not to alienate its Salthill membership, the club adopted a new formal structure, and a new motto: Láidir le Chéile (‘stronger together’).

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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