Portarlington Rugby Club will launch their official history book this Sunday evening, August 25, in the Heritage in Killenard from 5-7pm.
This special publication coincides with the 50th anniversary of the club and has been put together by club stalwarts Joe O’Dwyer, Anne Mannion, Martin Murphy and Robbie Sweeney.
Joe O’Dwyer was on the first Portarlington rugby team to play in 1974 and is a real bone-fide sports historian as this is the third local publication for him to be involved in.
He penned a broad history of sport in Portarlington Sport in Port in 2001 and later published the definitive history of Portarlington GAA club in 2013.
Only 300 copies of this book are being published, making it a real keeper’s item and club officials are expecting it to sell out quickly.
“It’s produced as a hard cover book, professionally bound in full colour on the highest quality paper, consisting of 300 pages and over 1,000 photos, clippings, stories and memories from the past five decades,” say the organisers of the launch. “The book is an absolute gem.”
The book is packed with wonderful anecdotes and is a detailed record of club activity over the last 50 years.
Their early home games were played at The Thatch in Killenard, with the pub essentially doubling up as their clubhouse.
Among those to play in the first game at The Thatch were O’Dwyer, Philip Odlum, Joey Sweeney, Ray Cribbin, Millie Mannion and John Horgan, father of Irish international Shane who was based locally at the time.
Portarlington Rugby Club celebrated their 50th anniversary with a special function earlier this year and also had a proud moment this summer when one of their club members, Alanna Fitzpatrick, was on the Irish womens 7s team in the Olympics in Paris.
