A NOBLE club is Sunday's Well. But in the way of all things on the rugby front these days, the professional era has arrived there, too. Away the Well," is the popular cheer when the pack is on the move or the threequarter line is, on song.
Founded in 1906 to give the altar boys of St Vincent's Church in the Sunday's Well area of Cork a sporting outlet, the club has its own proud tradition, even if at times it seems to have lost out in the publicity stakes to other clubs, like Cork Constitution.
Traditionally, the Prior of the Vincentians in Cork has been an honorary member and a senior vice president.
The "glamour" clubs have had it their own way for a long time, but the time for the Well is at hand.
Last year, when the club had no professional players, its running costs were £125,000, a huge amount of money for an organisation with a membership of no more than 300 people. Next season, Sunday's Well will have a panel of 30 players who will receive payment for their services.
That's how the game is going. The club must join the ranks like everyone else but it is doing so with a certain amount of vision. Next year it will cost Sunday's Well £240,000 to run the club and pay its semi professional players.
The Well has a plan. There will be new developments at Musgrave Park, the home of rugby in Cork and one of the best known grounds in Munster. The club shares Musgrave Park with the Dolphin Rugby Club.
The Well's pavilion will have a second floor; a new gym; a sports shop; and a new company. The gym has been nominated by the Irish Rugby Football Union as the official indoor training centre in Cork for contracted players in the city.
When all of this is finished, Sunday's Well will have made an investment of £400,000 through a combination of grants, fund raising and other schemes.
The business of rugby, though, is where the heart of the club lies. And rugby has become a business. That's why Sunday's Well Marketing and Development, a limited company, has been formed to operate on a commercial basis while the club proper concentrates on the AllIreland League.
The limited company, whose effective chief executive will be Mr Michael O'Rourke, the former regional manager of National Irish Bank in Munster, will spearhead a drive by the club to open up new opportunities, while the stalwarts get on with it on the field.
The company will seek to ensure that the Well is securely established on the commercial front so that a famous Munster rugby club continues to thrive.