Joey Carbery's rural Irish grassroots club is facing closure

The grassroots club that nurtured the talents of Ireland and Munster out-half Joey Carbery is facing closure from next week after failing to secure public liability insurance to keep its facilities open. 

Co Kildare club Athy was where the Kiwi-born out-half developed as a teenager following his family’s move from New Zealand to Ireland.

He went on to move through the ranks with Blackrock College and Clontarf before making the grade at Leinster and debuting for Ireland in their first-ever win over the All Blacks, the November 2016 triumph in Chicago. He has since gone on to join Munster and he also played at the recent World Cup in Japan. 

Another professional rugby graduate from Athy is Carbery’s Munster colleague Jeremy Loughman, but that breeding ground is now under threat following the midweek circulation of a letter to club members by Brendan Conroy, Athy’s honorary secretary. 

“Athy RFC is experiencing grave difficulty in securing public liability insurance due to an historic claim and a currently pending claim against the club,” he explained. 

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“We are working with multiple brokers who have trawled the market on our behalf but so far all insurers have declined to quote for a public liability policy for the club.

“The executive committee will continue to work tirelessly to try and secure insurance for the coming year. However, as we might not get any quote, or any financially viable quote, we feel that we must notify the members of the possible closure of the club and grounds effective from midnight on Monday, December 9.”

The state of #insurance in Ireland. This needs to be fixed @Shane_RossTD before we have no more activities left in this country. Book of claim & claim culture must be changed now! @TheLooseH @OffTheBallRugby @threeredkings @Murray_Kinsella @RTE_PrimeTime @IvanYatesNT @BreakfastNT pic.twitter.com/eHc6tU9xoX

— Karl Cleere 🇮🇪🇺🇦 (@karlcleere) December 4, 2019

Having promoted rugby in its community since 1880, Athy club officials have been in contact with politicians, Leinster Rugby and the IRFU in the hope that the matter can somehow be resolved.

The leisure insurance industry in Ireland have been undergoing huge strain in 2019 with a number of adventure businesses closing due to excessive premium quotes or not getting a quote at all for public liability.  

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