A leading Irish women’s provincial rugby team are “disappointed and upset” at having to “change beside the dump” before and after a national championship match.
An apology has been issued after Connacht’s players – in Dublin to play Ulster last Saturday (Sunday NZ time) – were forced to change in temporary facilities on a derelict site at Energia Park ground in Donnybrook.
The Irish Times reported that a Connacht player had posted an online video of the facilities, saying: “Wow, great job getting changed beside the dump. Don’t mind the rats.”
The Connacht squad later issued a statement to Irish media, saying they were “very disappointed and upset by the facilities that were provided for us to change both pre and post-match and for our post-match meal. The location was not suitable for the purpose.”
“We acknowledge the apology issued by the IRFU and Leinster Rugby earlier this week. We sincerely hope that something like this will never happen again, for any team.
“We would request that a review of the decision-making process which led to these circumstances be conducted and our hope is that more thought will go into decisions like this for the women’s game in the future.”
Connacht are the Irish equivalent of a New Zealand Farah Palmer Cup team, playing in their nation’s elite women’s domestic tournament.
Garry Ringrose, Ireland’s male player of the year, saw the video on Instagram and said the situation was “obviously pretty ridiculous”.
