BOB CASEY DIARY:The value of club rugby in Ireland is huge, all the way down the levels, and it has an important part to play in the development of the game in the country

THE OPENING throes of the elite section of the Leinster Schools’ Senior Cup yesterday got me thinking about my own experiences but, more pointedly, about the declining numbers that go on to enjoy social rugby at club level.

There has always been a vortex that swallowed up vast swathes of those who played rugby in school but who never made it to club level for a variety of reasons. That black hole was there in my day but on the evidence of current numbers it has grown appreciably. There are fewer teams being fielded at club level in terms of adult rugby.

Where once a club might have reached double figures in the number of teams it fielded, it now rarely goes past J3 or J4. I think society has changed and, from experiences in terms of friends, people are a little more selfish with their spare time. There is a group of my friends that like to go cycling and compete in triathlons. They would prefer to go to the gym than join a rugby club, even though they all played at school.

It takes a great deal of selfless commitment to go straight from work on horrible wet, cold nights and train in some muddy morass twice a week with team-mates of hugely differing ability, especially for someone who has been successful at schools level.

My days of schools rugby with Blackrock College were among the best of my playing career in terms of achievement. I’m not like some of the Leinster and Munster guys who won Heineken Cups or came together under the Ireland umbrella to win a Triple Crown or a Grand Slam. I won a Magners League with Leinster and that’s it to date.

We were incredibly well looked after at school and rugby was a predominant feature of our lives. We trained at lunchtime, after school, coming in on mid-term breaks and returning early from the summer holidays.

We had access to medical treatment in the Blackrock Clinic, strength and conditioning coaches and there was a definite cachet attached to being on the SCT from the way you were regarded within school to girlfriends, especially for those pretty boy backs.

We were a tight, close-knit group and while that may last in an abridged version when you play under-19 or under-20 club rugby, it completely changes when you embrace junior rugby. You are no longer playing with a core group of friends.

This is by no means a criticism. I was very fortunate to go on and have a professional career, paid to play a sport I love. For those who go on to play the club game, their love is in some respects even purer.

The acclaim they might once have enjoyed is gone yet the sacrifices of trying to marry a career and rugby remain. They are no longer part of that tight brotherhood. They don’t have coaches who know them inside out, what makes them tick and how to get the best out of them. They are more likely to be playing with acquaintances than friends.

My own SCT experiences were freakish in terms of the numbers that went on to try and forge a career in the sport: we have seven players who went on to play professional rugby from the one team. My contemporaries in Pres Cork were the likes of Peter Stringer, Ronan O’Gara and Mick O’Driscoll. Not everyone who was earmarked to be a high achiever in the game managed to do so.

We went on an unbeaten tour to Australia and one of the best players in that squad was centre Eamon Travers. He would have been singled out as an outstanding prospect. Another Terenure boy, Joey Muldowney, was rated as the best schools outhalf John McClean every coached. Injuries denied Barry Gibney and Ciarán Scally the stellar careers they might have enjoyed and cut short those of Peter Smyth, David Quinlan and Tom Keating, to name but three.

I respect those that play junior rugby because I am paid to get up in the morning and do the attendant work that is required of a professional rugby player. I have excellent facilities on and off the pitch and operate in a rarefied sporting environment where I very well looked after.

I don’t have to work all day, grab a sandwich and then make a mad dash to a training session conducted in the dark, muddy backwaters of a club, who have to protect the main pitches for matches. I don’t then have to turn around and go home tired and sore.

I was talking to David Paice (London Irish hooker) and he was telling me about the club scene in Australia, which is much more conducive to players not disappearing in the chasm from schools to club level.

Matches at club level begin at 11am and they play about four matches prior to the first grade game. The barbecue is running and it is a Saturday afternoon focal point for the local community.

Even if you are not playing on a team with friends, you’ll be playing on the same day. That keeps that togetherness going.

I spoke to Clarke Dermody about it and he would point to the same thing. Many of his mates, players who he grew up with, are still togging out. There is also a clearout in the game when some players who don’t make academies decide to take a break from the sport; invariably they don’t go back. The attractions of J1 visas and life experiences outweigh a desire to head for junior rugby.

I was fortunate that I could combine the two, playing with some older players in the club at the start of my career and also picking up some tips about life. I remember those train journeys home from playing Shannon and the card schools and craic; they contain some of my best memories from the game.

I also believe clubs put more of an emphasis on their All-Ireland League teams and with declining numbers at junior level that puts more of a strain on the teams further down the pecking order.

However, we have a proud heritage in the club game and I would love to see that continue. The value of club rugby in Ireland is huge, all the way down the levels, and it has an important part to play in the short, medium and long term development of the game in the country.