| History |
Rushbrooke Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
Rushbrooke Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club is steeped in the best traditions of not only Cork and Munster Tennis but also on a national basis.
Situated in a beautiful sylvan setting overlooking the scenic Cork Harbour, the club records indicate that a croquet club was started in Rushbrooke about the middle of the 19th Century. Tennis was not played there until the early 1880’s and the first records of the club , as it is known today, appeared in 1884.
Many prominent Cork families have been associated with the club throughout it’s distinguished history. Families like Beamish, the well known brewers, Dwyer, Haughton, Mc Carthy-Morrough, Crosbie, Goodbody, Cronin and French, to mention but a few had strong links with the club. Indeed the first trustee was W.W Beamish.
The facilities originally comprised of five croquet lawns, two of which were later converted to lawn tennis courts. Tennis facilities were all grass court based up until 1924 when the first “ hard” court was laid down. Due to this fact Rushbrooke was regarded as a summer club only, with off-season activities being held in the Royal Cork Yacht Club, then based in Cobh. This tradition continued well into the late 1950’s.
 The last of the grass courts were re-surfaced to hard courts in July 1995 and Rushbrooke now boasts nine Omni championship standard courts available throughout the year.
Rushbrooke has a proud tradition on the court. The club were winners of the Munster Cup ( Grade 1) in it’s inaugural year, 1907 and since then have captured this prestigious prize on no less than 21 occasions. To date, a total of fifteen club members have represented their country at varying levels namely:
Josephine “ Binky” Harmon ;Alan Haughton
Mary Mc Namara ; Charles Scroope
Mickey O’Donoughue ( nee O’Keeffe); G.D Fitzpatrick
Diana Harrington ;Freedie South
June Anne Fitzpatrick ;Harry Cronin
Anthea Goodbody ; Ben Haughton
June Barry ; Frank Mc Donnell
Liam O’Brien
The club has played host to a number of international tennis matches, namely the Davis Cup against Turkey in 1972 and a Federation Cup match against Mexico in August 1973. The Irish Junior Close Championships are run annually since their inception in 1932 when the first winners were as follows;
Junior Girls Singles ( U-14) Josephine “ Binky” Harmon
Under 15 Girls Singles Zelie Godfrey
Junior Boys Singles (U-14) D.E Harmon
Under 15 Boys Singles R.G Brown.
To date (May 2003), nine members have had the distinction of holding the position of President. Their names and tenure are listed below
1923-1952; Colonel P. Rushbrooke
1952-1979; Mrs Hilda Rushbrooke
1979-1986; Major William Sugrue
1986-1994; Mrs Jack Ronan
1994-1996; Mr Cyril Hall
1996-1998; Mrs Jennifer Crosbie
1998-2000; Mr Michael Rushbrooke
2000-2002; Lt/Cdr P.J Whitty
2002-2003; Mr Kevin O'Donovan
Rushbrooke is the third oldest Tennis club in Munster behind Limerick County (1875) and Argideen Vale formed in 1878. Its strengths lie in its strong tradition for tennis and this is where the main emphasis still lies today.
For more information please contact:
The Secretary,
Rushbrooke Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club
Rushbrooke,
Cobh,
Co. Cork