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CLUB HISTORY |
| Since it's foundation, Rockwell Rovers G.A.A. club has served the parish of New Inn and
Knockgraffon. For a club of it's size it's list of achievements over that time has
been substantial, and it has fielded teams in hurling and football in all grades, Juvenile and Senior. New Inn’s first association with the G.A.A. was in 1886 when the curate, Rev. P.W. Ryan, became actively involved. The following people from the New Inn area also joined the same year – John Cooney, Tom Dee and Pat Dalton. In 1887 one hundred and thirty clubs from Tipperary registered with the G.A.A. thus making it the strongest G.A.A. county in Ireland. The Rockwell branch of the G.A.A. was founded on the 20th October 1887 and the scroll prescribing this is displayed to this day in Rockwell College. Early details of hurling and football in the parish are sketchy, but of the 1000 clubs affiliated to congress in 1887 included were New Inn (Rockwell), Racecourse, Lagganstown, Poulmucka and the following year Knockgraffon was established. Success on the hurling field came early in 1888. Knockgraffon caused a major upset in the Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship when firstly they defeated a Clonmel selection and in the next round, after a rousing game defeated the famed Moycarkey in Cashel. click here to read a report of the match from the "CASHEL SENTINEL" In the 1895
county championships Tubberadora beat Rockwell Rovers but Knockgraffon went on to contest the later stages and defeated Cashel only to be beaten themselves by Suir View in the semi-final. Hurling in Rockwell College had a vigorous awakening in 1923. The trophies they won were the Dr. Harty Cup and the Colleges Championship of Ireland. They repeated the performance again in 1924. Some years were to follow on the playing field until 1939 when the first West Tipperary junior hurling championship was won in glorious fashion. This feat was again repeated in 1950 and 1960. A West junior football championship, the first of many, was won in 1947. The first County Junior Football Championship was not won until 1963. Of course, one cannot forget the great juvenile teams of the 1950s in New Inn. In 1955 they were one of the only teams ever to win the county football and hurling titles in the same year. 1987 saw the other dual county win by Rockwell Rovers with victories in the County Intermediate Football and Under 21 B Football championships. The Minor Football C County Title was won in 1999. FIELD DEVELOPMENT The
development was initiated by the club committee at the end of 1988 with
the purchase of 11.5 acres near the village of New Inn.
A very foreseeing decision was then made by the committee with the
help of Tipperary G.A.A. officials to swap the original site for another
more suitable one. This was done with the generous agreement of the owner of the
alternative site on the main Cork-Dublin road, Eamon Barron.
The new site had been previously used by Rockwell Rovers Club for
many years with the kind permission of the then owner Edmond Barron (RIP),
who worked tirelessly for the club for many years.
Rockwell College also supplied our team with pitches over the years
and deserve great acclaim for all the work they have done for our club, as
did many other landowners. The present development now possesses a large natural bank
for up to 8,000 spectators giving an excellent view of the pitch.
The field complex also has the advantage of being beside the
national school where we are grateful to our teachers and coaches who use
it regularly. A
confined draw in 1988, organised by the committee under the chairmanship
of Walter O’ Donnell, began the fundraising which was then followed by a
house-to-house collection. True
to form the people of New Inn and Knockgraffon came up trumps and the
development was well and truly on its way.
A further four extremely well organised 300 draws held in
1991’92, ’93 and ’94, plus five successful yearly festivals in
co-operation with the New Inn Community Council helped to break the back
of the debt. We wish to
acknowledge the help of New Inn Community Centre in fundraising.
Members of the finance committee who helped raise the finance were
Andy Moloney, Martin Peters, Willie Flynn, Tom Shine, Ger O’Connor, Tom
O’Gorman, Kevin Barron, Secretary, Walter O’Donnell, Eamon Barron,
Treasurer and Tom Buckley. Recognition is of course due to all the
promoters who helped and put in a lot of work. Development
of the pitch and the fencing of surrounds, together with the building of
the dressing rooms and stand and its ideal location have ensured that the
New Inn venue is now in a position to hold many important matches in the
future. It
is difficult to pick out any individual to attribute the success of the
development to, as it was a true community effort with the people from all
walks of life rowing in to ensure success despite difficulty at times.
However, special mention should be made of Fr. Meehan (R.I.P.) who
throughout his life in New Inn and other places, gave unsparingly of his
time, effort and fundraising ability to help make the venture a success. 2004 saw the completion of the latest stage in the development of the grounds when another two dressing rooms were added and the stand was enlarged. The car park was also further extended. |