Paddy Mullen Wins Volunteer Recognition Award

Paddy Mullen of Carrigaline RFC is the winner of the Munster Rugby Volunteer Recognition Award for January.

Paddy has been involved in rugby all of his life and is one of the driving forces behind the thriving age-grade system at Carrigaline RFC. Originally from Clonakilty, he moved to Carrigaline almost 20 years ago with his wife Anita and they now live there with their children Kerry and Jack.

Paddy was one of three people to restart the underage section of Carrigaline RFC in 2007, and the club now has over 180 mini and age-grade members.

In the early years, Paddy served as Chairman of the underage committee and was key to the recruitment of coaches in the start-up phase. Paddy was central to the development of the club and has served on the committee since 2007 and spent four years as Director of Rugby. In addition to all of his duties off the pitch, Paddy has also actively coached every year since 2007. He is currently coaching the Carrigaline U-13 team, where his son Jack plays in the second row.

On receiving the award, Paddy said: “It’s a huge honour – I’m delighted and it’s something I really didn’t expect. When we do this stuff we don’t think of awards but it’s always nice to be recognised and appreciated and well done to Munster Rugby for this great initiative.

“When I first joined the club, it took a good while to get the underage system off the ground – about five years. But we persisted with it and we’ve huge numbers at underage and it’s a big improvement from where it was,” Paddy added.

He has also been actively involved with the Munster Cadet programme for eight years as manager of the east Cork region. This role has seen him co-ordinate the summer and winter programmes with the development staff of Munster Rugby.

“That’s a great programme,” said Paddy. “It’s probably one of my favourite initiatives. We go out and look for the best 14 and 15 year-old players and get them all together. We then train them and pick a group to train during the summer. To see lads develop and to be working with guys who want to get on is always good too so I really enjoy it.”

Paddy has also been very involved with fundraising for Carrigaline RFC. He is an active supporter of all club events and is on the organising committee of De Carrig Tour cycle sportive. The event is a joint venture between the rugby club and Carrigdhoun Cycling Club and this year’s event takes place on Saturday, June 13. The event is the largest cycle in south Cork, attracting 500 cyclists and raises funds for the club and local charities.

In his playing days, Paddy spent many years with Clonakilty RFC where he first played as a juvenile but took a small break to chase the cycling bug. Rugby won out however and he returned to captain Clon’s J2 team to a league title. He also helped the club win their first O’Neill Cup as a dashing first centre.

Munster Rugby is proud to acknowledge Paddy Mullen as an outstanding servant to rugby in the province.

The Munster Rugby Volunteer Recognition Programme was launched to give clubs and schools the opportunity to acknowledge the significant contribution made to rugby by volunteers throughout the province.

The Programme is open to any person currently associated with domestic rugby in Munster, in a non-paid capacity at a club, school, college, university or associated affiliate of the Munster Branch IRFU.

Successful nominees who meet the set criteria will be recognised for their efforts by receiving a prize package including tickets and full pre-match hospitality for two to a Munster match.

For full details of the nomination process, please email damonurlich@munsterrugby.ie.