From the Uachtarán (President)

Dia duit (Hello)

Sona Nua  Bliain (Happy New  Year)  to all Brisbane Irish Rugby Club players, supporters and families. The club is looking forward to another great year of rugby and most importantly spraoi (fun). An excellent night was had at Kitty O’Shea’s for Christmas drinks in December and it is hoped that everyone enjoyed the festive season and are ready for the 2009 season.

The playing fields at Hurdcotte Street, Enogerra are currently being refurbished and it looks as though they will not be in action for at least the pre season and possibly beyond. With this in mind, your committee has been seeking alternatives and is currently in negotiations to gain access to another field for training. We have sought from the BCC and have been granted the winter licence for a field at Laurel Avenue, Windsor as a playing venue should we need it. More information will be available shortly.

As most of you are unaware, the 2009 season looks like kicking off in early March this year which is considerably earlier than usual. With this in mind, the Annual Sign On will be held on the 17^th January, 2009 at Kitty O’Shea’s on Caxton Street. More specific details will be on the website. Our club membership goal for 2009 is to increase our playing roster to a full three sides with one playing Friday nights and the other two in the Pegg and Barber Cup competitions on Saturdays. I encourage all of our current members to come along to the sign on and bring a couple of new members with you. Hopefully, our social membership will also increase this year with some excellent events planned.

Our Director of Coaching, Angus and our coaching panel, Stuart and Grant are already planning for the pre season. They are looking forward to getting off to a good start and getting all three teams to achieve success to go beyond the wonderful achievements of 2008. At this stage we are looking for club members to assist with managing teams, acting as lines persons and being responsible for videoing the games on our new state of the art camera. Should you be interested, or know someone who would like to fulfill one of these roles, please contact Angus, James or myself.

Enough from me!! I personally am looking forward to the year ahead and hope to see all of you at Sign On and every game this season as our lads cement the Club's reputation on the rugby paddock.

Slán (goodbye)

Terry Donaghue