'Our core value is everyone leaves with a smile on their face'

Irish rugby is riding the crest of a wave at the minute thanks to the exploits of the international rugby team and Leinster, and so is Mullingar Rugby Club.

If you want a proper insight into the club's current rude health, all you have to do is go out to Cullion any Saturday morning and watch the hundreds of youngsters having fun while learning the basics of the game.

Mullingar has the largest Minis membership of any club in Leinster, with over 450 boys and girls between the ages of 3 and 12 training each week.

Club Vice-President Denis McDermott is the Minis and Youth Coordinator and the man tasked with ensuring that things run smoothly.

Aside from the scores of coaches that give freely of their time, Denis says that the only reason the club is able to accommodate such a large number of young players is thanks to the investment in infrastructure in recent years, primarily the 4G pitches, which are the envy of clubs across the midlands.

“There was a thing called the Cabbage Patch there where the 4G pitch stands now, and it was mainly muck. We all trained under one light. You couldn't really put a seven-year-old out there or an eight-year-old in December. They'd come back with hypothermia, and they'd never see a rugby ball again. So the facilities were really important to kick-start our youth and mini drive.

“The point for us now is to grow our youths and minis so we will feed senior teams and have long-term engagement with the club, not just a few years at youth or mini level.

“We are now the biggest junior team in Leinster. We have 440 minis, that's kids between the ages of 3 and 12 playing in Mullingar.

“We have around 390 youths, aged between 12 and 18, playing in Mullingar. We have more girls playing rugby in Mullingar than anywhere else in Leinster.”

The club is lucky that it can depend on a team of around 80 underage coaches.

“They are all parents or past players who have come back. We try and have six coaches with each group. It needs to be a good experience for the coaches as well; they have to enjoy their hour out with the kids the same way the kids have to enjoy the hour out with the coaches.

“I've heard from other clubs that the hard part is getting the coaches, not getting kids, as rugby's on a good vibe at the minute with Ireland. In Mullingar, in general, it's not [hard to get coaches]. I won't say it's easy, but they're putting their hands up, and we cannot do it without them.

“There's a cohort there that go out every Saturday morning, there's another one that go out and play rugby every Saturday noon and probably do two hours on a Tuesday and a Thursday in the cold and the dark.

“I think, to be honest, the coaches get a lot out of it, and obviously, the benefit to their community and their own kids is unbelievable.”

Club PRO John Keane says that the core values of the club, such as integrity, respect, resilience, and hard work, are values that will stand to today's stars of the future as they make their way through life. The most important thing when it comes to the club's players, young and old, is that everyone has fun, he says.

“Our north star as a club is: Do they leave with a smile on their face? Because that's all that matters. And that's very much part of our club culture now.

“It's nearly the answer to every question. It is really simple, but when you go back to our purpose and our mission, our core value is everyone leaves with a smile on their face. It's so simple and it's so true.”