Rugby Club Issue 89 | Page 51

For more information visit www.leman.ie Leman Solicitors are the leading sports law firm in Ireland. We act for a wide variety of governing bodies, clubs, athletes Rugby Club Magazine A4 Advert.indd 1 and commercial stakeholders. Our legal experience acting for sports governing bodies is unparalleled in Ireland. We act for over 35 National Governing Bodies, including: the GAA, Swim, Cycling, Gymnastics, Athletics, Triathlon, Hockey, Ladies Gaelic Football, Sailing, Motorsport and Camogie. We also represent the Olympic Federation of Ireland and Paralympics Ireland, the national organisations for the Olympic and Paralympic games in Ireland. We are the official legal partner to the Federation of Irish Sport (FIS), a position we have held for over 13 years. Service Offerings include: - Clubs We represent many sports clubs. We understand the interrelationship with the governing body. We have developed online platforms or Clubhubs through Lextech to digitise education, payments, registrations, competition events, reports, results and communications to/from clubs. - Governance, Rules and Regulations We are the leading legal specialists in this area, having re- drafting constitutions and rules for 80% of the top 20 NGB’s for sport in Ireland in the last 10 years. We work closely with Leman Solicitors have a long-standing association with Wanderers FC with three of the partners Larry Fenelon, Ronan McGoldrick and Dominic Conlon either having played or with children at the club. Ronan McGoldrick told Rugby Club Magazine, “I am an ex player of Wanderers Rugby Club having been asked to play and started playing as an inside centre later moving to the crash ball and outside centre position. I began playing for the club’s U19 team in 1991. a very successful team coached by Andy Wheelan, Michael Leahy and Dermott McMorrough who went on to win the McCorry Cup in 1992 with the likes of prop Emmett Byrne who went on to play for Leinster and Ireland. As the 2nd oldest club in Ireland Wanderers have always been a significant part of the Dublin community. The recent 150 ball was quite an occasion and it was obvious that the organising committee had put a huge effort into making this great event as fantastic and enjoyable as it was. In recent years the teams have been revitalised playing with more of the old Wanderers flair! The club have an abundance of great people who have kept the club going over the 150 years and on a social level it is second to none. My son Johnny will soon be joining the club and rules taskforce committees in delivering amendments in a timely, coherent and legal manner. We advise on compliance with the Governance Code. - Hearings and Arbitration (incl. Anti-Doping matters) We advise on and represent clients at hearings, appeals and arbitration, be it disciplinary, selection or grievance processes. We do our own advocacy with an excellent success ratio, which limits cost exposure for clients. We have overseen 65 hearings and arbitration in the last 15 years. - Data Protection Our data lawyers have advised several NGB’s in respect of GDPR compliance, subject access requests from members, data breaches and DPC investigations. - Equality We draft equality policies (including transgender inclusions policies) for many organisations to promote an open sporting culture and avoid discrimination. We have represented sports bodies before the Equality Tribunal, typically for alleged breaches of Equality legislation based on age, gender and ethnicity Morgan Crowe is the Sports Law Associate at Leman Solicitors, visit www.leman.ie for more. continuing the tradition at Wanderers FC.” Larry Fenelon continued, “The club is very much the heartbeat of the local community and the community is everything with everyone on a friendly and first name basis. I played most of my rugby at Blackrock College and more recently became involved with The Wanderers through my two boys Leo and Louis. Leo is a recent club player at aged five and Louis, now seven, still loving to play having joined at 4 ½. I have great admiration for the club coaches and the emphasis on ball handling allowing everyone time on the ball, the whole experience is a very warm one. My daughter Lara who is 9 would make a great rugby player also and perhaps in time she may find her way into the club and my wife Lorraine thoroughly enjoys connecting with the other parents and their children. Forging good community links has to be an essential requirement for all rugby clubs and I’d like to see the Wanderers continue to develop in this important area. With its great facilities its certainly in a position where it could be utilised out with the usual events, match and training days. Young players coming through is their life blood even though the club is blessed with many great people who have invested decades in making the club what it is today. I have to say that Wanderers is a lovely club and Leman’s with three of our partners involved are delighted to be associated with Wanderers FC wishing everyone at the club the best of continued fun for the next 150 years!” Dominic Conlon finished off by saying, “I am originally from County Carlow where I played most of my rugby and after some knee operations in my early 20’s I travelled to college and continued playing socially with the Wanderers and Leinster development enjoying many games all over the country. At the Wanderers I was coached by a stockbroker and the hardest tacklers I ever had the pleasure of encountering. One of my greatest and most painful memories was during the 1991 Rugby World Cup when the Eventual winners Australia trained at the Wanderers and myself and some friends played and trained with them during this time; I can mainly recall being trampled underfoot for three days! The pleasure at the rugby club these days is the atmosphere and the vibe at The Wanderers is fabulous, I hope the team goes all the way and take the title in a very competitive league and I wish everyone at the club the very best of continued success!” www.rugbyclubmag.com 51