Past and present players and coaches came together last Saturday in Number 6 at Blakes of the Hollow for a evening celebrating over 10 years of ladies rugby at Enniskillen RFC.

A six week trial programme of ladies tag rugby during the summer of 2002 organised by Willie Balfour, the clubs function secretary at that time and arguably the best outhalf the club has ever had (so he keeps telling us anyway), sowed the seeds for what is now a vibrant and well established ladies section.

Speaking during the evening, Willie recalled the enthusiasm of his coaching panel and new recruits to get stuck into full contact rugby as fast as possible and by the following summer a fledgling ladies team emerged. Ball skills were honed during tag friendlies with established rugby sides including Lisburn and a touring Montreal Irish team in time for their first full contact game against Carrickfergus.

By the end of May the club was ready to open their new floodlit pitch at their grounds in Mullaghmeen with an Ulster v Ireland U21 spectacle organised as the main event.

The ladies were given the honour of entertaining the arriving spectators and guests with a friendly against the Ulster U19 squad, a match that proved to be a tight encounter with the home team eventually coming out 5-0 worthy winners.

The team joined the IWRFU for the up coming 2003/04 season and entered the All Ireland Division III league. They travelled to Castlebar for their first competitive game and returned with a 66-0 victory. Winning the league in the first year propelled the team into Division II, where they would face more established, experienced clubs such as Old Belvedere, St. Mary’s and Navan.

The ladies more than held their own however and have recorded major victories not only in this league but in the Ulster and AIL Cup Competitions over the years.

“In order to sustain a panel of players at this level it was necessary to put in place more permanent coaching structures within Fermanagh,” explained Corinna Power, a past player/manager and current Finance and Development Officer with the Club. “We successfully applied for a grant from Peace II and from that employed Rob Watson for two years to introduce and coach basic rugby skills at all of the secondary schools in Fermanagh. We brought girls teams to the tag rugby youth games in Belfast, put senior players through coaching courses and bought much needed equipment. Some of the girls involved at that time are sitting in this room tonight as senior players which clearly proves our programme worked. The Collegiate winning the Schools Cup five out of the last six years and Mount Lourdes also recording success in this competition is another measure of success which can be traced back to this programme.” During the evening, Clare Brogan, who has played for the club since the very beginning and Rob Watson, current ladies senior team coach, along with sponsors Pat and Bernie Blake presented the annual ladies awards with trophies going to Leona Hallet for Player of the Season, Noreen Nethercott scooped two awards for top try scorer and Players Player of the Season and the Most Improved went to Clare McMorrow and Aine Stennet.

Our successful 2014 Ulster Cup winning youth team were also presented with their team award.

Kathryn Dane picked up the trophy for the Youth Player of the Year and the Most Improved in this section went to Clare Boles.

Both these players have also been involved in the Ireland U18 Sevens Trials and have so far made it through to the last 40 out of a panel of 500 players.

Involvement at provincial level has always been a major feature down the years with many past players pulling on the white jersey for Ulster, This has continued with 10 girls involved in the Youth Regional Development Squad this season along with eight senior players in the south west RDS squad. Training will continue over the summer culminating in the annual Interprovincial series in the autumn.

Bringing the evening to a close, Rob Watson extended thanks to the many coaches who developed and played an important part in the success of ladies rugby in Fermanagh over the past ten years, to all the volunteers who continue vital work in the primary and secondary schools and at the club during mini and youth training nights and to all the past and current players who have played a vital role from the beginning in helping to cement the future of Enniskillen Ladies Rugby.