Fethard & District’s Polly Named First Volunteer Of The Month

26th November 2018 By The Editor

Fethard's Polly Murphy was October's Volunteer of the Month Award winner.

The first Munster Rugby Volunteer Recognition Programme Award for season 2018/19 was presented to Polly Murphy of Fethard and District RFC for her continued dedication towards the development of women’s and girls’ rugby, and hard work across a number of roles within the club.

Polly first joined Fethard and District 14 years ago when her son, Tommy, expressed an interest in playing rugby.

It wasn’t long before Polly began spending more time at Fethard and District, after being asked to coach the minis section by the end of her first season.

Polly soon became involved with other aspects of volunteer work at the club, fulfilling roles which included Club Secretary, PRO Officer, Child Welfare Officer, as well as several positions on the Committee.

Fethard’s girls’ section started to grow and it was from there that Polly began working with the U18 girls’ team with her daughter, Lucy, involved from a young age.

Polly said: “I was working with the U18 girls’ team and someone said, well in six years’ time, this will be your daughter’s group, and that’s how my involvement with the girls’ section grew.

“I found coaching the young girls very rewarding, when you see a young girl or boy come in with very little confidence and through rugby their confidence grows.

“They make new friends, friends for life and in rugby there’s a position for everyone no matter what your size is, which is great.”

There are girls’ teams regularly training and playing matches at Fethard and through her current role as Head of Women’s Rugby, Polly is often involved across the age-groups.

“I make sure that every team always has a coach, even though we have people coaching at every age-group, I’m the one making sure that we are covered if someone isn’t there.

“I’ll organise the logistics, the match fixtures, and often the communication through our newsletters.”

There has been recent success through the progression of the club’s very own Dorothy Wall into the Munster U18 Girls’, Ireland U18 Girls’ and Ireland Women’s Sevens squads earlier this season.

“We are really fortunate to have Dorothy representing our club, she has been a real credit to us and just knowing that for girls whenever they are in the world they can play rugby.

“If we can give them a start at whatever age, whether its minis, youth or ladies, we can provide them with the facilities and resources to go forward,” Polly continued.

Martin Murphy, Fethard and District Chairman, said: “Polly is one of the most positive people you will ever meet and the amount of young girls she’s got playing rugby at a small club like Fethard is amazing.

“The girls in our club are playing rugby because of Polly, she makes the training sessions really enjoyable and creates a friendly environment for everyone involved.

“She is probably one of the best mini coaches we have ever had and she has held just about every position going at the club.”