“It’s been tough, but somebody has to do it!

We again proved successful in the 2006 Sports Capital Programme and received another €80,000 towards floodlighting. We had now been successful in three out of five applications and had received €240,000 in total. It must be said that our local T.D., Noel Davern, had been very helpful and supportive during all this process. The initial discussions on floodlighting centred around replacing the lighting on Pitch 2 but this soon turned to considering lighting our first pitch, Pitch 1, as well. It became clear after a few meetings that we had no idea about the technicalities of floodlighting. Time to call in the experts – Jimmy Dunne, a consultant engineer in this area, had installed a lighting system in his local club, Moyle Rovers. With Jimmy’s expert advice we came up with a plan and awarded to contract to Philly Ryan Electrical. This proved to be quite a job of construction but by October 2006 we had floodlighting which would accommodate the playing of matches on both Pitches 1 and 2.

At this time we also decided to enhance the floodlighting on the training pitch and did that during 2007. Early in 2007 Lonergan’s pub, long-time supporters of the club, stepped forward and volunteered to sponsor an electronic scoreboard – an item which had been discussed on and off for some time. We reacted and ordered the scoreboard from N. Ireland – Currans Signs and Roadmarkings then completed the job of erecting it. It is now a valuable asset on match days and certainly enhances the facilities. The period of our Development Plan 2003-2007 had now ended. Had we completed what we set out to do? A look back proved that we had accomplished a lot. In summary, we had:

• purchased 3 acres of adjoining land and built a third pitch
• removed the septic tank, placed all services underground and constructed a new car-park to accommodate 100 cars
• built two new all-weather pitches for 5-a-side soccer
• acquired the land from Guidant Corporation to build the Training Pitch
• built a new block of dressing-rooms to incorporate a gym
• extended the clubhouse to house a club office
• built a new equipment shed beside the Training Pitch
• erected new floodlighting to match standard on Pitches 1 and 2
• erected additional floodlighting on the Training Pitch
• erection of ball-stop netting on a section of the Third Pitch
• installed a new electronic scoreboard
• construction of a cold-room to service the club bar
• erection of directional signs at critical junctions around Clonmel
• installation of an external public address system
• set up a very comprehensive club website at www.clonmelrfc.com

Page: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Download the Development Plan 1995 - 2005

Download the Development Plan 2008 - 2012