Women of Leinster Rugby: Clare O’Brien

As the Vodafone Women’s Interpro Series concluded last month, Leinster Rugby is continuing focusing on some of the unsung heroes making the girls and the women’s game tick across the 12 counties of Leinster.

These are their stories and their work. These are, The Women of Leinster Rugby.

CLARE O’BRIEN – THE CLUB COMMUNITY RUGBY OFFICER

“Clare O’Brien bestrode her field like Maximus in the German forest at the start of Gladiator.”

“Like a Spitfire in the Kent skies from the summer of 1940, every time she (Clare) went airborne in the face of overwhelming odds, she still claimed aerial supremacy.”

                                                                                                                       – Finian Coghlan, Westmeath Examiner.  

These are just two of the poetic compliments paid to Clare O’Brien as one who came too late to the game.

“I didn’t have the opportunities girls have these days and it really annoys me,” she shares. 

“I would love to step into a time machine that would transit me back in time. When you read the papers, you realise you were good at the lineout. 

“I would have loved to have the chance to start playing earlier. Unfortunately, it wasn’t there for us. But, it is for the girls today.”

In fact, in a familiar story, she found rugby as an adult when in search of a way to get fit and meet other people.  

“I started playing Tag Rugby in the summer of 2010. I had never played any type of rugby before,” she states. 

Around this time, Leinster Rugby staged one of their provincial pre-season camps in Mullingar, generating a lot of interest in the town.

“At the time, there was a big drive to form a Women’s team and we were all on the pitch that day with the Leinster boys in the background. 

“It made an impression on me. Maybe, it was all the hype with all the lads there. It was just cool and there was a great buzz around the club.     

“It was our introduction to rugby. And, then, we started training.” 

Mullingar made significant progress, winning the Leinster League Division 1 title and the Paul Flood Cup in 2015.  

By that time, Clare had moved into the back row where her need to compete was best served. 

“Originally, I played as a winger. When we were playing Division 4 rugby, the ball never actually made it out to me. 

“You spent most of your time with your hands in your pockets and jumping up and down because you were so cold.    

“I guess it annoyed me. Wingers were ten-a-penny because whenever someone new came into the team they started out on the wing to ease them into the game.   

“In the end, I kicked up a ruckus to move into the forwards. It suited me better. Having the kids at home, it provided a good place to release my energy.   

“I enjoyed tackling and I really enjoyed rucking over bodies and the physicality of trying to win the ball. That was my favourite part of the game.”  

In 2014, when Clare’s sons Jake was six and Zach was four, Clare brought the boys down to minis in Mullingar and, soon enough, she was hopping in to help out Mark Brennan for a year.

Leinster Coach Development Officer Derek Maybury, from nearby Castlepollard, popped into Mullingar every now and then.     

In the summer of 2016, he called Clare and asked her if she would be interested in taking on the role of the Club Community Officer.

“I misunderstood him. I thought he was asking me if I knew of anyone that would be interested in the CCRO job. 

“I spent the whole night thinking of someone suitable and, the next day, when he rang, I told him I didn’t know anyone fit for the role.

“He asked: ‘would you not do it?’ I didn’t actually think I had enough knowledge at the time because I was only coaching small kids. Even though I had played, I had an awful lot to learn.”

Whether it was a case of fate or simply good timing, it came about mere months after the manufacturing company in which Clare worked as a German translator in customer services closed down. 

In October 2016, Clare began her current role, discovering a deep level of job satisfaction.

“In my role in Leinster Rugby, I am allotted to Mullingar Rugby Club,” she states.

“I have to go out into the primary and secondary schools to impart some rugby knowledge to the children in the hope they might be enticed down to the club 

“Really, you are giving the schools in the Westmeath area a taste of the game. In general, it is through Tag Rugby in primary school, moving on to contact in secondary schools.”

Clare spends time in 18-22 primary schools and four secondary schools in Mullingar CBS, St Finian’s College, Mullingar Community College and Wilson’s Hospital.

“I love that every day is a new and different day,” she says.

“Even as we speak, today, I was out in sixth class in the Presentation Convent in Mullingar.       

“At break-time, all the girls from third class come up and give you a big squeeze. The kids make it for me. You meet so many different characters and personalities.

“If you go in with a sad face on you, you end up smiling by the end of the day. It is just lovely, the hugs and the big hellos. They ask you what you’re doing. It is just nice.”  

Rugby can also provide a place for teenagers to exhale, to escape from their daily challenges 

“As a coach, you have to invest a lot of time in kids. You ask them how their day is going, what they are doing at the weekend. If you show interest in them, it can keep them interested.

“They can have their own problems and strife as they grow up and you can provide an hour or 90 minutes where they can get away from whatever is worrying them.”  

At the other end of Clare’s spectrum, there is the satisfaction of working with boys and girls, who make their way into the blue shirt of Leinster, into her third year as the Midlands U18s boys coach.

“For example, I would have watched Conor Moore from U14 here in Mullingar and he would have trained up a year with me, training Monday and Wednesday with his own team and with me on a Tuesday and Thursday. 

“He was training four times a week because he wanted to learn and improve. When you see kids put in that sort of effort, dedicating themselves.

“You put work into training someone like Conor, trying to pass on new ideas or giving advice around how to play. You see him take that and use it to put himself forward for trials and do really well.    

“For me to see Conor evolve and hit the Interpros, the satisfaction and joy you feel is difficult to describe. 

“It is almost that of a ‘proud mammy’ moment.”