The First Lady: Karen Lennon's appointment as first female President a milestone for Longford rugby club

It has been an auspicious week for Karen Lennon. Her election as President of Longford Rugby Club was no surprise, she held the post of Vice President to Donagh McDonald for the last year, but it's a significant achievement.

Longford FRC has a claim on the title of “oldest rugby clubs in Ireland”. The county's two army garrisons engaged in the sport in the 1890s, but in 1921 the first club was formally established.

After a stop-start existence the local RFC reformed into its present incarnation in1969, with the purchase of land for the pitch and the Tennis Club from the estate of Lord Longford. In this, the re-established club's 55 year, another monumental milestone has been passed.

The appointment of a female president is a natural evolution, but one that's still remarkable. Originally from County Westmeath Karen moved to Longford in 2003 to take up a teaching post: “I was looking for a social outlet. I played school football growing up, but I wanted to give rugby a try. I regretted not playing rugby in college and when Longford's ladies rugby team started in 2005 I thought “this is for me”.

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“I was never a skilful Gaelic footballer, but I did enjoy it. Jenny Butler was one of the drivers who started the local women’s team. I joined and got quite involved. That was where my association with Longford Rugby Club began.”

The appeal of on pitch action is one aspect of her club involvement, but Karen enjoyed the community of Longford RFC right from the beginning: “It's a bit of a family up there, everybody looks after each other and everybody helps out. It's a great way to be involved in the town.

“Rugby is a very inclusive sport and it gets people engaged in sport that otherwise may not necessarily be involved.”

Karen played with Longford RFC ladies up until 2013. In her time playing she earned a cap playing with Connacht. However it was an on field incident that brought that to an end: “I injured my knee playing Gaelic. I didn't want to walk away from rugby, so I coached for a year. The late Hugh Connolly figured I'd be a good choice to do a job for him. He roped me in as youth coordinator, working with Hilary Davis who was the minies coordinator at the time.”

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In conjunction with her administrative role Karen has coached senior and under-age teams, and currently coaches the minis and the under 18 girls team.

Her role as an administrator was the first step: “Hugh was taking a step back. I was his apprentice. I acted as youth coordinator and ladies coordinator. Then Matt Hanley put me forward as the senior manager. I was the senior manager for six years and then the call came from Donagh to take the post of his VP.”

Transitioning from her role as Vice President to her appointment as President is an acknowledgement of the work she has done for the club. Karen's photograph will be the first female face to take its place on the wall of Longford RFC where the President portraits hang.

“It's a huge honour to stand as the first lady president,” Karen said of the appointment, “Longford has had a women's team since 2005. We're nearly 20 years in existence. There was a slight blip there where we had to amalgamate with Carrick.

“Even before the ladies team there had always been women in the club. It's great to see the women's game being developed. The youth section is now beginning to bloom. It's nice to stand as the club President and be a role model for those young female players, showing them that anything is possible.”

Karen is at the helm of a very forward looking RFC: “We consider ourselves a very progressive club. Look at our facilities, they're some of the finest in the country, not just in Leinster. The push is on to get more women involved in the game, and in sport in general.”

She says her appointment is an indication of that progressiveness: “Women are essential to everything. They're great organisers. They think differently than men, and they see things in a different perspective. It's great to have as many women as possible involved in the sport.”

Karen says the sport's reputation as a rough pastime is not reflective of the experience of players: “For the young girls that we have in the club, once they get in and they go through the first training session, get over the first hitting of a tackle bag or tackling another girl, that's it. They're stuck. It's an addictive sport. It is rough and tumble, but we train them to deal with it.

“They're very well trained to tackle, and how to tackle safely. We take all the safety precautions that we can to ensure that they are as safe as possible in the sport. So there's no need to be worried about it.”

She says the “all inclusive” ethos of rugby is one of the reasons it's so beloved: “It's a great sport for every size, no matter how tall you are, how short you are. It doesn't make a difference. There's a position on the field for every kind of person.”

Accepting the post of President of Longford RFC was not something a young Karen envisioned growing up: “My dad is a GAA man. I played GAA and basketball in school, but I never played rugby. I was very late to the game. I was 25 or 26 when I started playing rugby. So it's never too late to get involved.”

Karen said her brief for the coming year is simple: “We will continue to grow and develop, both the women's and men's side of the club” she concluded.

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