Having just touched down in North Carolina, the beginning of this journey in September last year seems but a distant memory. Having previously played one game of rugby in my life I found myself volunteering to be President of the MBA Smurfit Rugby Football Club with the aim of getting a team to Duke University, North Carolina to defend our status as MBA Rugby World Cup Champions…and so the journey began.
Having signed up one of the largest membership numbers to date we commenced training in November with a small group that was to become the core of this years club. Enthuasiastically we set out to bring both mens and womens teams to the tournament- perhaps doing so with a bit of naïvety towards the mammoth task that lay ahead. Having spent the Christmas holidays drafting letters to potential sponsors it gradually dawned on me exactly how difficult raising the required funds was going to be to make this trip a reality. However, as a committee and through a lot of dedication, hard work and ingenuity over the next three months we managed to make what at often times had seemed impossible, a reality. Yes, our studies may have suffered as a result but the MBA is about more than what we are taught in class and organising this club is proof of just that. This trip was made possible in no small way by our most generous of sponsors and the tireless efforts of both teams in their fundraising efforts so here’s hoping everyone gets their just rewards when we bring back two World Championship trophies to Smurfit after the weekend!
– Conor Price, Full-time MBA 2011/12