Malone RFC players run in memory of Chippy.

We are currently carrying out a necessary behind-the-scenes upgrade to how images are stored and delivered on The Front Row Union Sports. With over 770,000 images on the site, we are moving our entire image library to a dedicated cloud storage service. This means images will load faster for you, regardless of where you are in the world, and the site will be more reliable overall.

As we are working on three separate versions of images during the offload process, the site cache sometimes struggles to keep up with which version to display and occasionally post grid images or complete galleries may fail to appear. This is a temporary side effect of the migration process — the image exists and is safe, it is simply in the process of being moved to its new home and identified as being there. A refresh of the page will usually bring them back, however, if it does not please contact john@thefrontrowunion.com stating clearly the post address and we will restore it as soon as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes and appreciate your patience.

We expect the bulk of the image migration to be completed by the end of June 2026, with a fully upgraded version of the site ready to launch in August 2026. Once that work is done, the site will be noticeably faster, images will load more reliably, and you will not see any further disruption of this kind. Thank you for your continued support of The Front Row Union Sports.

On Sunday 2nd May, members of Malone RFC senior men and women’s’ teams completed a half marathon in memory of former club president and chairman, Patrick ‘Chippy’ Baird who passed away suddenly in early December 2020 due to a hidden heart condition.

Patrick ‘Chippy’ Baird

Chippy was involved with Malone for over 35 years as a player, president and executive chairman and dedicated much of his life to making the club the progressive and inclusive place it is today.

Over 30 members from both the senior men’s’ and ladies’ teams ran 13.1 miles with other members of the club encouraged to participate in a 5km run or walk to make this a truly ‘Malone’ event.

This is one of many events which will be organised to celebrate Chippy’s life and all money raised in this instance, will go directly to Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke, a fantastic charity which continually funds research into heart disease.

All donations are greatly appreciated and the fundraising link is below.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

* It is important to note that local government legislation on exercise during COVID-19 was strictly adhered to, including social distancing.

Gallery Below

Images courtesy of Bob Given Photography

Corrections

Drop us a note below if there are any corrections required in this article.

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨