This Limerick Life..with Gillian Bourke, Irish rugby International
I only started playing rugby in college. In sixth year in secondary school I'd gotten a notion that it was something I'd like to try but I couldn't because of the Leaving Cert.
Then on the first night UL were training I met one of my friends who was going to the session and I said I'd go with her.
I love throwing myself into something, I suppose I'd be a Kamikaze kind of person that way. I loved rugby from the very first session and I was eager to learn everything there was to know. When I started, I didn't have much of a clue about how to scrummage but now it's one of the things that I think I'm quite good at.
The very first contested scrum I took part in was against one of the best props in the country who was also vice-captain of the Irish team. I went to train with Connacht having never taken part in a proper scrum because they're uncontested in college. I told them that I'd done it before and they threw me right in at the deep end by playing me prop against Leinster in my first game. The other prop didn't hold back.
I do something rugby-related every day of the week. At the moment I coach the UL college team on a Monday and then we've got training with UL after that and training again on Wednesdays. We do weights sessions with the Irish team on a Tuesday and Thursday and will either train and have a match on Friday. I'd often have a game with UL/Bohs on a Saturday or Sunday as well. I also travel to Galway three daysa a week to work as a Youth Development Officer.
People don't realise the commitment that's women put in to play with their national team. I'm alright because my work can be reasonably flexible but there's girls there who have less suitable jobs. There are a few teachers on the team who have to go to their headmaster asking for about 15 days off when that mightn't be possible.
I got three concussions between December and January. I don't remember how the first one happened, funnily enough. The second one happened when I got popped a ball that I wasn't expecting and one of the bigger girls tackled me from the side and got me in the head. The third time I was making a tackle and got an elbow into the eye. I also tore ligaments in my ankle recently, but it's all part of the game.
I'd be devastated if I had to give up rugby. I did think about giving up in January because I'd gotten so many concussions so close to one another. I'd to go and see a neurologist about it and it turned out I was alright. Not having rugby would leave a very big gap in my life, it's a huge part of my life and I wouldn't know what to do with myself otherwise.
A lot of the time, you'd see someone being asked to train a girls' rugby team for a bit of money but they wouldn't show a huge amount of commitment. That's the reason I was so happy to be asked to coach the UL team because I knew almost all the girls involved and it's nice that they didn't have to go outside their circle of friends to find someone to coach them.
I travel to primary and secondary schools around Galway teaching kids, mostly girls, how to play rugby. I just teach them tag rugby as opposed to full contact. It's a pity in a way because most female Irish rugby players, including myself, first play contact rugby when they get to college. It would be so beneficial to them to know how to tackle and be tackled when they are still young.
I don't understand why some people just don't want to get involved in any kind of physical activity. All the primary school kids are mad to play but some of the girls in the secondary schools just dig their heels in and make life difficult for themselves and all those around them. Having said that, even the stubborn ones can enjoy it if they give it a try and get into playing the game.
Interview John Hogan
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Weather for Limerick
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South east
