Irish rugby star Robbie Henshaw hails brilliant facilities at Longford RFC's Precision Health Park
A large group of club members gathered with past presidents, officials and past players all in attendance
Longford Rugby Club marked the official launch of the club’s partnership and renaming of their ground to Precision Health Park last Wednesday, May 7 with Leinster and Ireland player Robbie Henshaw the special guest speaker.
A large group of club members gathered with past presidents, officials and past players all in attendance for the special occasion and event.
The monetary value of the five year sponsorship deal has not been disclosed, however, it has been described as a 'substantial amount'.
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The launch on Wednesday last week came just hours after Longford RFC was named the best junior club in the province at the Leinster Rugby awards ball at O'Reilly Hall in UCD.
Club chair Mike Magan and Longford RFC President Karen Lennon both warmly thanked Stephen Kelly of Precision Health for their partnership and support.
They also gave a warm welcome to guest speaker Robbie Henshaw, past presidents, coaches and club members, including Pat Fitzgerald, the former President of the Irish Rugby Football Union.
Mike described how it is difficult to run a club and keep the cost down for the parents of the participating children.
"It's days like this and wonderful sponsors like Stephen that allow us to do what we do such as provide transport and provide facilities and clothing and so on for kids."
Mike said the sponsorship would be vitally important for the continued development of their underage teams from under-6's boys and girls right up to under-18's.
"If we can provide the wherewithal for a child to come in here and grow in self confidence, learn how to work with teammates and actually stay playing sport for a little bit longer than they otherwise would have.
"Some of them may go on to be Robbie Henshaw's, some may never ever achieve what we would call success.
"But to me success is attitude and providing them with a safe environment in which to grow and develop," he added.
Karen said the club is thriving and she praised the dedication and hard work of the club's coaches, volunteers, the parents of the children and the players.
"We have male and female representation not just in the Midlands squad but they are also making their mark with Leinster and at international level as well."
Robbie Henshaw described how he had several links to Longford RFC and he said he was delighted to be invited to speak.
"It's brilliant, I have good connections to Longford Rugby Club, my dad Tony would have played here when I was younger and I think I played a few underage blitzes here when I was younger and I played Gaelic football for Westmeath a couple of times against Longford.
"So, yeah, there's good roots here and good connections to the club in terms of family, friends and stuff like that."
Robbie said his dad Tony is good friends with Pat Fitzgerald and Derick Turner and they played with and against each other.
"Dad worked here as well in Wessel cable and wire for a long time so there are good roots here and we have lots of family and friends here and it's great to be back for the launch of Precision Health Park."
Robbie agreed that having good sponsorship is important in terms of maintaining and developing high quality facilities and fostering excellent talent.
"Yes, absolutely even seeing how this club has grown with the club house, the 4G pitch, the facilities here are brilliant and I think it's very attractive for younger players to come in and play in a great set-up and hopefully there will be future Leinster stars and Ireland stars," he added.
Robbie said it was a wonderful achievement for Longford RFC to win the award for best Leinster club.
"It's brilliant, I was at the awards last night Tueday May 6) and there was a great cheer when they were announced as club of the year.
"It's a very competitive category, there are a lot of good clubs around the province.
It's great to see the work being put in, you recognise by Leinster and I think it's the foundation for building a good club and good teams from underage right up to the senior level men and women," he added.
Robbie said it is great to see a local club such as Longford RFC progressing well and he agreed it is important for youngsters to see players from the Midlands who have represented their country and Leinster visiting the club.
"Yes, 100% Athlone is only 30-40 minutes from here so it's not far from here and I'm very proud to be from the Midlands and to have made it up to the Irish international stage.
"I definitely hope it gives younger players growing up the confidence to back themselves and believe that they can get to the international stage and even through the provincial stage as well so keep chasing your dreams."