Johnny Watterson on a school ready to stand up and be counted
In 1979, when Newpark first started looking at rugby as a serious sport, pupils used to cross the road at Newtownpark Avenue, scramble through a hole in a wall beside the church, and jog past the briars on the waste ground to get to the pitch.
Today, the route remains similar, but the surface and facilities, like the game in the school, have come on immensely, with Newpark robustly competing in Section A of the Senior Cup and eager for scalps in the Vinnie Murray Cup C section.
From there, four qualifiers will progress to Section B where the likes of St Michaels, St Mary's, Clongowes, Blackrock's, Old Belvederes and Terenures play their trade.
While the story of the game in the school is overwhelmingly positive, Newpark are enthusiastic Section A competitors and hopeful when the main thrust of competition comes around after Christmas each year.
The leap needed to get into and compete against the top sides, however, is more than just a leap of faith. Getting past CBC Monkstown is this year's first hurdle.
Two former pupils and players, Morgan Lennon and Andrew Adams, coach the senior team.
Adams played rugby league as well as union and while at university at Liverpool competeted with the British Universities side.
He later went on to coach the Irish University league side for a Student World Cup tournament in Warrington, while Lennon maintains a strong connection with Seapoint RC.
"The problem we have comparing ourselves to the bigger rugby playing schools is the numbers playing," says Adams.
"It's not only ourselves that are struggling at the moment, but with other schools like St Andrew's and DLS Churchtown it's the same.
"Their numbers are going down. Even teams like the CUS senior side have only got between 18 and 20 players, normally they'd have two or three teams."
According to Adams, a number of things have brought numbers down - a more sedentary lifestyle is the norm now andteenage attitudes are shifting too.
"The biggest hurdle for us is the number of players we have at senior level," he says.
"The numbers after transition year (fourth year) tend to drop and to get them back playing after that in fifth and sixth year is quite difficult.
"This year, we've a small pool of players. With injuries and the like we can struggle.
"We've three players, our captain and centre Jason Lowe, another promising centre David O'Rourke and back row Stephen O'Hara, that represented the Leinster Section A this year.
"But, when those players were away playing interprovincial matches, we couldn't field a side because we were three key players down."
Blackrock currently have 26 teams in the school to Newpark's four, an intimidating prospect for any side to try to compete against.
But Newpark see themselves as progressing incrementally. Not surprisingly, they normally lose out when the numbers are crunched.
"Okay, we might be fielding one team and De La Salle or CUS may have had two before, but the big schools of this world in a lean year might field four senior teams instead of five. It doesn't really affect them.
"They still get the cream rising to the top and they can work with that large pool of talent.
"The reality is that if you have small pools of players you will have small pools of talent. That's how it has always worked."
With Lennon as a player, they won their first Section A Cup in the 1992-93 season and were recognised by the IRFU with an award that year.
So far, no less than 56 names adorn the school honours list as having represented the Leinster
A side with seven players
making the team in the 1995-96 season.
In that section, the team is impressively punching its weight.
This year's first-round opponents will be the 1976 winners and 1984 finalists, CBC Monkstown, with the winners facing either St Paul's, Raheny or first timers, Gorey Community School.
"For a lot of the players, they know the cup is the biggest competition and the highlight of the season and for the sixth years, it could be the last cup competition they ever play," says Adams.
