Welcome to the new 2017-2018 season

A very warm welcome to you all from Three Rock Rovers Club President!
Whether you are returning for another successful campaign, or joining the club for the first time: player, pavilion member, coach, manager, supporter, you are invited to join us in a significant year in our Clubs illustrious history!

• We will be 125 years old in 2018, and celebrations are being organised to mark this event
• Our men’s 1XI will participate in two European competitions, indoor and outdoor, having won the relevant national titles in Jan & May 2017 respectively.

• The indoor European championship is being held in Georgia in February 2018.
• The EHL tournament commences in October 2017 but Three Rocks involvement, as

winner of the EYHL Finals, is scheduled for Rotterdam in April 2018.

• We have an ambitious programme to replace the back pitch in the Summer of 2018
• Our membership is growing by leaps and bounds, including our Three Rock Rockets who proudly represented Ireland in August 2017 during the European Championships at which three other members of Three Rock Rovers partook, two as players with the men’s senior squad and one as an umpire in the women’s competition.
We also had members playing for Ireland at Under-16,18,21 and Masters!

We look forward to a very busy year, an enormous fundraising campaign – about which you will be hearing lots more! With this in mind, I appeal to every single member to join us to ensure that this ambitious programme is successful. Why do we need volunteers to help out at events? Because all these programmes cost money – money which we need to raise above the income from the members subscriptions.
Our aim is to continue to develop Grange Road as a first-class facility with excellent playing surfaces, changing facilities and a warm and welcoming clubhouse.
We put ourselves forward to host provincial and national tournaments to that end, so that we can make a profit from entry fees, or from catering and bar facilities. We can’t do this unless we have sufficient volunteers to be stewards, help behind the bar, with the catering, etc.
Another approach is to suggest to you all, if you are planning a family celebration – why not hold it in the TRR clubhouse?
You will hear lots more about our plans as the season kicks off – so enjoy the hockey, AND the opportunity to help bring this club forward to the next level!

Check out the online TRR newsletter – if you are not in receipt of it, let the Club Secretary know and you will be added to the list.

Looking forward to meeting you during the year!

Pauline Corrigan, Club President.
September 2017

Pre-Season!! (We know you like it really)

Mens
The mens 1st/2nds are back as of this week, the 7th of August, at their usual training times of Tuesday and Thursday 7.30-9.30pm.
The mens 3-5ths are also back for anyone around at Tuesday 7-8.30pm on the front. This year they will be coached by South African Richard Pautz who arrives in early September.

Ladies
The ladies 1/2s start back on Monday the 14th of August with their new coaches Colin Ackrell and assistant coach Rob Abbott.
The 2s also resume their usual training times Monday 8.30-10 and Wednesday 7-8.30pm, coached by Nick Dee for the second year in a row.
Any 3s that wish to join in are more than welcome. Their coach is TBC.

Subs for the season
Subs for the coming season are now due! We again are using MyClub Finance, the link on the homepage has been updated. Without subs being paid you can’t play, it is also important to get it in ASAP as the Club doesn’t run on air or volunteers alone!

Dates for the diary
The 1st EHL game is September 16th, the Leinster leagues tip off in the last week of September. With the mens seconds away to Corinthians and the 3s, 4s and 5s all at home to Mullingar, Weston 2s and Weston 3s respectively. (Shin pads most definitely required gentlemen!)
Ladies leagues still under construction on Leinster hockey, so no details to hand yet.

October 14th is a provisional cocktail party date, while the dinner is currently planned for late March or mid-April. The EHL will be Easter weekend (April 1st). These dates will be confirmed as the season goes on.

International Honours

Huge congrats to Jamie Carr on helping the Irish men’s team secure their first World Cup spot since 1990 with a 5th place finish in World League. After a momentous season between the sticks for the firsts, it’s just deserts.

Congrats to all our underage players who have been playing in six nations tournaments this summer, representing the club so well abroad!!
Matthew Walker, Rob McCollum, Alex O’Regan, Ben Walker and Peter Lynch represented Rovers as part of the Irish Under 18s side that took part in the recent Six Nations tournament in Nottingham.

Harry Lynch was the sole playing representative for Rovers in the Under 16s squad, in the Six Nations tournament which also took place in Nottingham. Niall was coach of the Under 16s who, along with the Under 18s, put in some immense performances against the likes of the Dutch and English respectively.

Rockets getting ready for Euros Take Off!!

Our rockets are in their final prep before their European trip to Amsterdam where they are representing Ireland! If anyone can help at training over the next few weeks please contact Siobhan Madeley.

Code of Ethics

There will be a Code of Ethics Course held at the club on the 9th of August from 6.30pm to 9.30pm in preparation for the new season, the cost is €15. If you can let Chris know at youths@threerockrovershc.com. There are only a few places left!!

Golf Outing 2017

The Golf outing, aka the new Irish Open, this year was won by our President Pauline Corrigan. Many thanks to Tilman Brewin Dolphin for sponsoring the event and David Haughton for organising it.

The members are hereby notified of a Special General Meeting to take place on June 19th 7.30pm. The agenda will discuss the following:

It is proposed that the existing rule (Rule 2):
‘The colours of the mens section of the Club shall be light Blue and Brown. In all mens Club matches members shall wear light blue and brown halved shirts with alternate sleeves, navy shorts and navy socks and light blue tops. The colours of the womens section of the Club shall be light blue and navy. In all womens Club matches members shall wear light blue and navy shirts, navy skirts and navy socks with light blue tops. An alternative shirt may be worn by all members of a team playing indoor hockey or on other occasions with the approval of the Committee’

Should be replaced by the following:
‘The colours of the mens section of the Club shall be light Blue and Brown. In all mens Club matches members shall wear light blue and brown halved shirts with alternate sleeves, navy shorts and navy socks.The colours of the womens section of the Club shall be light blue and brown. In all womens Club matches members shall wear light blue and brown shirts, navy skirts and navy socks. An alternative shirt may be worn by all members of a team playing indoor hockey or on other occasions with the approval of the Committee’.

Huge congratulations to our newest internationals Luke Madeley and Daragh Walsh! The guys made their debuts for the Irish Senior team in this weekends series win over Pakistan. Luke’s debut came on the 3rd of June, while Daraghs came a day after on the 4th of June, both in 3-2 wins!

This comes on the back of a number of months in the senior training squad for both players, and brings our international debut numbers to 3 already for the year!

Best of luck to both for the rest of the summer, and to our other players also involved in the squad, Jamie Carr and Ben Walker.

This years annual Tilman Brewin Dolphin Golf Outing takes place in Greystones Golf Club on Friday the 30th of June. Timesheets run from 1.50pm to 3.10pm in a Fourball format, followed by dinner. All information regarding prices and booking details can be found in the attached document at the end of this page.
Please contact David Haughton asap to book a place

Congrats to Scott Crombie and the Irish over 40s on their recent Home Nations win. Wins over Scotland and Wales saw them over the line to clinch the title!

Best of luck to our vets teams this weekend as they host their Annual Vets Fest. It is always a bumper weekend in the club with plenty of craic. Thanks to the organising committee of Natalie, Trevor, Mandy and Mel, and to all our bar staff for the weekend. We wish you lots of sunshine!

If looking for your hockey fix, the Irish mens team continue their World League preparation next weekend as they play a series v Pakistan in Lisnagarvey. The men play on Thursday the 1st of June, Saturday the 3rd of June and Sunday the 4th of June with times to be confirmed.

Nine years since we last entered the highest level of European Club Hockey, TRRHC is in for a triumphant return next Easter! Its all thanks to the memorable win by the mens 1st XI in the EYHL Champions Trophy Finals weekend in HQ.

The men entered the competition on the back of 11 straight wins, but brought their semi final game right down to the wire needing a shoot-out to overcome last years winners Lisnagarvey. After that it was a case of gather and regroup as they faced local rivals Monkstown. The lads were due a win against the Town in this competition having been beaten twice in the last three years in semi-finals by the same team. This year however was to be different. Kev Mullins opened the scoring in the first quarter to set up a tight game. A solo dash from the halfway line by Mitch Darling was finished beautifully to bring it to 2-0 in the final quarter. However Monkstown scored with 7 minutes to go, setting up a nerve-wrecking ending as they piled on the pressure looking for an equalizer. Thankfully it wasn’t to be and the lads held out to win the competition!

The win is even more significant when we consider that only 4 of the squad of 18 are over 23, while 14 of the squad have made their way up through the ranks of our junior section proving that the future is bright for this young side. At the other end of the squad demographic was Gary Ringwood who celebrated his self-called final game for the 1st XI with another medal to add to the collection. In his 20 years and an incredible 508 games of 1st XI hockey Gary has now won all trophies available within Ireland, with this medal being his first for the EYHL in its current format. Congratulations also to Mitch Darling for winning the overall player of the weekend Jimmy O’Connor cup!

The win puts TRRHC as the top seeded side in the country for next years European rankings. Put simply this means that in Easter of next year the lads will make their way over to the second round of the EYHL where they will compete alongside 15 of Europes best sides. The venue will be confirmed asap but for now keep Easter weekend 2018 free in the diaries as rovers head on tour!!

The trip will mark one of three European competitions for the club this year. The first comes in August as our Rockets become the first Irish Parahockey team to compete in the European Parahockey Championships. If you would like to support them, please copy and paste the following link to your browser. Next up will be the indoor European trip in February, with a venue for that also to be confirmed.

Finally, the win this weekend couldn’t have happened without the support and behind the scenes efforts of so many. Huge congratulations and thanks to coach Niall Denham for his work throughout the season alongside Andrew (Chuck) Walker as manager, and Emer Keogh as video operator. Thanks to David McCrea for acting as physiotherapist for the weekend and Ali Keogh for her work during the training sessions throughout the season.

Last but not least, to all the volunteers not only this weekend, but last. Giving up your free time on weekends, especially bank holidays is most appreciated particularly when you have to stand in the rain to do it! There are thankfully too many to mention, but we cannot host events like this without your effort and dedication. It was particularly sweet to win in front of a home crowd, something we could not do without your support as many people stepped up to pitch in beyond their aligned slots to make sure we had cover. Thanks too to Loreto Hockey Club and Sally-Ann Fanagan for their help in filling slots for us and for managing our volunteer list.

From us all in the club, we cant think of a better way to sign off on the season! We hope you enjoy the break and come back next year refreshed and ready to take on Europe!

Congratulations to our TRR senior men – EYHL Trophy Champions 2017! An excellent finish to an outstanding season!
Many thanks to all the supporters who showed up to urge them on, this weekend and throughout the season.
A very special thanks to our Club Manager and the volunteers who made these tournaments possible.
I heard so many expressions of praise for the Club and our facilities over the weekend, the warm welcome to our visitors and the efficient and friendly approach of the members who worked as volunteers throughout the playoffs and the final tournament.
Every club is dependent on having members who will give a few hours of their time to make these events work smoothly, so many thanks to those of you who signed up, and to those of you who weren’t available this time, there will be plenty of opportunities next season!
A special thanks to Sally Ann Fanagan who did such a great job as volunteer coordinator – her unflagging good humour and friendliness put a smile on many faces.

Leinster inter-pros
Congratulations to al put players in the Leinster Masters in the last few weeks. Scott Crombie and Jonny Sleeman helped the over 40s win the interpros, while Trevor Gillis, Rob Carter and Glenn Webb lined up for the over 45s. Stuart Switzer competed in the Irish Masters over 65s Celtic Cup last weekend, while Robert Haughton has been elected as President of the Irish Grand Masters Association! Congrats to all

AGM
Following the AGM on the 22nd of April, we would like to take this opportunity to welcome our newly elected officers of the club. Pauline Corrigan has been elected as President. Derek Squire enters as mens club captain, while Emer Keogh was elected Ladies club captain. Emer has become our youngest club captain to date at 23, beating her sisters record by four months! We wish them all luck over the coming season which is already promising to be a busy one!!

Special thanks to our out-going officers . In particular John Findlater for his endless work over the past two years, and to Andrew Walker for fulfilling the role of mens captain for three years. Thanks to Aisling Hogan for her work on social committee for the season, and to Ali Keogh for her second term as club captain. Special mention also goes to Grace O’Malley stepping away from committee after 5 years of hard work including the social committee, and also to Orla McKeown. Orla was our legal advisor on council, whos work often goes unnoticed but without whom we would have known all about it! Her work cannot be underestimated and we thank her for all her efforts in the last five years also.

League winners
The u16 boys were the last team to compete this season as they entered the pitch following the mens 1st XI win on Sunday. They took to the field to close off their League season in a Leinster League play off against Kilkenny. After going 1-0 down early on, they fought back to win 4-2 and claim the Leinster Under 16A League title. They left the pitch to cheers from their parents and the mens 1st XI.

Rovers abroad
Congratulations to former rover Tom Samuel as his side Seven Oaks were promoted to the English Premier League two weeks ago! Congrats also to Stephen West for being named as part of England Hockeys West Conference all star team this season. The Dutch league meanwhile is still going, with both Andy McConnell and Freddie Morris recently making the highlights reel of the competitions for their goals for Hurley and Almere respectively!

Code of ethics
South Dublin Sports Partnerships are running Code of Ethics courses next week and in June for anyone interested.
There is a limited number of places left on the Code of Ethics Basic Awareness Course on Wednesday, 10th May from 6.30pm to 9.30pm in Clondalkin Leisure Centre.Code of Ethics Basic Awareness Course on Monday, 12th June in Tallaght Leisure Centre. Followed by our Safeguarding 3 – Designated Liaison Person Workshop on Wednesday, 14th June from 6.30pm to 9.30pm in Tallaght Leisure Centre.
The cost of each course is €15 per participant and booking is essential.To book a place on this course please email traceykelly@sdublincoco.ie for a registration form or call 01 4149270.