The first thing you notice about Inishowen’s playing field is that it is exactly that, a field. Access is through a hole in the hedge from Moss Road down which the teams walk from changing facilities at the nearby school.
The field itself is already sodden and boggy so early in the season and as head coach Brian Harkin described, it must be, “One of the worst sports fields in Ireland, for any sport!”
While the field may leave something to desire there can be no denying that it plays a huge part in the local community in this most northerly outreach of rugby in Ulster. On the drive out the Inishowen Peninsula towards Carndonagh you can witness that support on the roadside, in shop windows, at main junctions, – Vote for Inishowen RFC in Kelloggs Field of Dreams. The banners and posters are everywhere and it’s clear to see that the campaign means a lot to folks round these parts.
Eight years ago the club could barely find fifteen players to put one team out but now, thanks to the Donegal Community Rugby Project and the Ulster Branch, the club now fields two senior sides and has a thriving junior section with U17, U15 and U13 sides as well as a mini rugby section and mixed tag during the summer.
In fact it has been the growth in the sport in the community that is the main reason behind Inishowen entering the Kelloggs Field of Dreams Competition, as coach Brian Harkin explains:
We have such a robust youth programme at the minute, with help from the Donegal Community Rugby Project, that the interest in rugby has exploded. To be shackled by one very swampy pitch would put a stranglehold on that development.
With the economic background here it would be maybe 20 years before we could raise that kind of money to do the improvements ourselves and goodness knows what sort of damage could be done to our development programme in that time.
Winning the competition would give Inishowen the highest standard of pitch possible, the work is overseen by the Irish Sports Turf Institute (the company responsible for the Aviva pitch). However on speaking to coach Harkin it’s plain to see that there is more than just a playing field at stake in this competition.
Winning the Field of Dreams is not just about the money but also the profile it would give the sport in this area, the additional benefits you would get from it. It opens the door to so much more in terms of development, marketing, community relations, a possible grant for floodlights etc. giving us a facility that could be used by the whole community.
It’s almost hard to put a figure on what you would get out of it. The provision of a good pitch is really a springboard for all the other improvements.
Voting in the competition took a swing for the worse a few weeks back with Inishowen dropping from first to third but with Inishowen still to submit their bonus votes from the Kelloggs cereal packets coach Harkin is confident that there is still everything to play for.
We were leading for a couple of weeks and going from first to third over a weekend indicates that there is perhaps not a lot in it. All it takes is one mighty big push over these last few days and I’m absolutely convinced that if we get this mighty push that we will win.
Inishowen are grateful for the support they have received from the Ulster public,the Ulster Branch and from clubs around the world.
It’s been fantastic. The Ulster Branch and Ulster Rugby have supported us all through the campaign and I think that it’s indicative of the place that sport holds in Ulster that the highest Professional Team, of any sport in Ulster, is supporting the minnows in this competition.
They have allowed us access up to Ravenhill on Magners League nights and Heineken Cup nights to promote the competition at half time. It would be hard to find any chink in the armour. There has definitely been no lack of support from Ulster and it’s been great the support we have received from other Clubs and websites.
The amount of publicity it has generated across the North west has been unbelievable and we’ve had messages of support from all over the rugby world. Through our Facebook campaign we’ve had support from clubs in South Africa, New Zealand the Dominican Republic and it indicates the strong role rugby plays in any community.
Voting for the competition ends at midnight on Thursday 28th October with the results to be announced on Friday night on the Late Late show on RTE.
If you haven’t voted yet please vote every day this week – it could make the difference. Please show your support for this deserving club.
Voting Options
Vote by Text.
Text the words KELLOGGS ULSTER to 86122 (UK) or 53799 (ROI), Each vote costs £0.25 or 0.20 euro.
Vote Online.
Click here then click on Vote Now and vote for Ulster. Once you register your vote you will receive a confirmation email and link that you must click to validate your email. Once this is validated you are free to vote once every 24 hours for Ulster.
Bonus Voting.
Use the form on the side of Corn Flakes and Crunch Nut packs to send in your votes and get 5 bonus votes for Inishowen. Everyone who votes using the packs will be entered into a draw to win a dream sporting holiday for your family worth 5,000 euro. Each form you submit will count as an entry and add 5 bonus points towards your finalist.
Corrections, comments or questions?