CITY OF DERRY
CITY OF DERRY
Based on Judges Road in Londonderry, City of Derry RFC currently competes in Division 2A of
the All Ireland League. They are led by the team of President Susan Spence and Chairman Niall
Birthistle and the club is looking to progress under their guidance.
The club was first established formally in
1881 although there is evidence to suggest
that rugby football was played in the city
before then. Since being formed they have
built a history of which they have every right
to be proud.
Their first trophy was the Irish Provincial
Town’s Cup which they won in the 1882/83
season. They quickly built a close affinity with
this competition as they won it 7 times more
by 1900. After 120 years in existence they
pride themselves on their progressive spirit
and are looking forward to future challenges.
It would be fair to say that their first team
has not got off to the start that they would
have liked this time around, having lost their
opening 3 fixtures. This has left them sitting
near the bottom of the table with 4 points on
the board.
The side will be keen to get their first win
as soon as possible in order to build some
momentum and confidence. As long as they
are able to do this they
can still have a successful
campaign and will have a
good chance of climbing
the league.
City of Derry is a club
that is committed to
playing a vital role in
their local community
and this is reflected by
the fact that they have
a thriving youth section.
This part of the club looks
to provide young players
from the local area with
an opportunity to play
the game in a safe and
enjoyable environment
whilst helping them to
reach their full potential.
It is important for any club
to be able to produce
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their own talent, particularly in the current financial
climate and this is an area that they appear to have
covered. It will certainly be exciting to see how
their juniors can develop over the coming years.
In order to help them to make the sometimes
difficult transition into senior level rugby they also
have a number of additional sides running. This
allows them to give players experience of the adult
game even if they are not yet considered ready for
1st team action which can be an important step in
the development process.
Another benefit of having so many sides is that
it allows the first XV to benefit from far greater
strength in depth. If they are ever left short on
numbers through injury or work commitments they
have the option of calling players up with a limited
amount of disruption.
There is much to admire about the set up that City
of Derry currently has in place. Hopefully they will
be able to keep up the good work for many years
to come and everyone at Sport in Profile Magazine
would like to wish them the best of luck.