For 12 years, one piece of the pathway for women and girls at Dungarvan RFC had been missing. On Sunday, 27 September, it finally returned.
A standalone senior women’s team took to the pitch for Dungarvan for the first time in 12 years, marking not simply the return of a team, but the beginning of a new chapter for women’s rugby at the club.
For senior women’s coach Warren Hogan and captain Susie Hogan, the occasion represented weeks of work, uncertainty and anticipation finally becoming a reality.
For Warren, one of the most striking aspects of the new team has been the variety of experience within the group. Twelve members of the squad had never played a rugby match before, while others were returning to a game they had played years previously. Yet in a relatively short period of time, he had watched them develop into a team.
Speaking about his team Hogan said:
“Twelve of the squad had never played a game before, but to watch them today you would call us liars.
"They outperformed their own expectations, nerves and anxiety. They played for each other and showed a solidarity that has been built over the last several weeks.”
That mixture of first time and returning players was not unique to Dungarvan. Warren also highlighted the Old Crescent side, which included newcomers alongside experienced players, some returning after more than 10 years away.
For him, seeing women come to the game from such different backgrounds and at different stages of life demonstrated the longevity of rugby and its ability to be a sport for all.
For Susie, the return carried an additional personal significance. Having spent recent years playing for other clubs because there was no senior women’s team in Dungarvan, she finally had the opportunity to return and represent her home club. Her fellow players then selected her to captain the newly formed team and lead Dungarvan onto the pitch for their long awaited return.
Speaking about what this momentous occasion meant to her Susie said:
“Having had to play for other clubs over the last number of years, being able to return and play for my home club was truly exciting. However, being selected by the players to lead the team has been my proudest moment in rugby to date.”
The weeks before that first fixture had brought plenty of unknowns, particularly with so many women completely new to the sport.
Susie continues by saying how the experience of the established players became an important part of bringing the group together.
“Come game day, with the help and experience of the more established players, the new players exceeded everyone’s expectations and produced a great team performance.”
For Warren, however, the performance was only part of what made the occasion significant. After 12 years without a standalone senior women’s team, simply seeing Dungarvan women back on the pitch together represented an important day for both women’s rugby and the club.
The friendships and solidarity built within the group over the preceding weeks were, in many ways, as important as anything that happened during the game.
One of the most special stories from the day belonged to Jillian Hayes and her daughter Holly Hayes, who lined out alongside one another. Jillian has been involved with Dungarvan RFC as both a player and coach for many years, and it is believed that she and Holly are the first mother and daughter to line out together for the club’s senior women’s team. Warren described seeing the pair together on the field as “something special” and another example of the longevity that rugby can offer.
Their story captured much of what the return represents: women coming back to rugby after years away, others discovering the game for the first time and another generation beginning its own journey in the senior jersey.
The importance of having a senior women’s team back in Dungarvan also extends well beyond the current squad. Susie explained that previous women’s teams at the club had enjoyed success, but without an underage structure feeding players into senior rugby, maintaining a team proved difficult.
In recent years, Dungarvan has developed a strong underage girls’ structure, but the missing piece was now at the other end of the pathway. There was no senior team for those girls to progress into.
That has now changed.
“Now, for the first time, that pathway is complete,” Susie said.
“We have both an underage and senior women’s team, which is hugely important for the future of women’s rugby within our club.
"It gives young players something to aspire to and, hopefully, allows us to build a strong and successful women’s section for many years to come. I’m so grateful to be part of it.”
Warren also acknowledged the support behind the returning team, thanking sponsors Cartridge Green and Anthony Duggan Car Sales, along with main sponsor The Hat Maker, who recently received recognition within their industry.
Twelve years after Dungarvan last had a standalone senior women’s team, the missing link between girls’ and women’s rugby has finally been restored.
For Warren, Susie and everyone involved in rebuilding the senior team, it has been a long awaited return. For the girls following behind them, it means something equally important: they can now see a future for themselves in senior rugby at their own club.