The idea for An Ghaeltacht Rugbaí was sown one September day in 2005 in the front garden of the de Buitléar family home in the Gaelic football and Irish language stronghold of An Cheathrú Rua.

With winter approaching and the GAA season finishing until the following April, Bairbre de Buitléar observed her eldest son, seven-year-old Colm, outside knocking about with an oval ball, a gift from his grandfather.

“Isn’t it a terrible shame he’ll never play rugby?” she asked, almost rhetorically, to her husband Cian.

It was, he thought. And then Cian de Buitléar – who had played schoolboys rugby for Leinster in his day – decided to do something about it.

He approached another local man, Micheál Ó Domhnaill, a former boarder in Ballinasloe, who had won a couple of Schools Senior Cup medals with Garbally College.

“Would there be any interest in rugby around here?” he asked. “Sure, we’ll give it a try,” replied Micheál, whose son Aonghus was a friend of Colm’s.

So they put up posters in the Gaeltacht village in South Conamara advertising training would take place that weekend.

And they got permission off Cóilín Ó Domhnaill, principal of Scoil Náisiúnta An Cheathrú Rua, to use a field behind the school known as Garraí na nÚlla that used to be an orchard with apple trees.

“Cóilín had a lease on it from the Diocese, which said it could only be used for Gaelic Games. I just explained to him that rugby was invented by a Welshman and Welshmen were Irishmen who couldn’t swim. He said that was good enough for him! He allowed us to have it and that’s where we started,” recalled Cian.

On their first Saturday at 10am, they expected maybe half a dozen children, but 42 showed up.

It has gone from strength to strength since. Nowadays, it fields underage teams from U8 to U12 with about 70 children attending training weekly, where Irish is the spoken language.

The club pulls players from all over Conamara, from Bearna to Oileáin Árann, and has a connection with Corinthians RFC in Galway City.

That was started by the late Tom Forde, father of Connacht player Cathal. He bussed kids from An Cheathrú Rua every Wednesday, picking up along the way, in Indreabhán, An Spidéal and Bearna, to train with its Youth Academy.

When it was established, the club’s ethos was inclusive, which was alien to many players used to tribalism of parish boundaries.

“GAA thrives on parish rivalry, but we didn’t want that rivalry, we wanted to be inclusive. There are five parishes involved. The first game we played, we borrowed a set of jerseys from the national school in An Cheathrú Rua.

“Some of the Leitir Mór lads, because the jerseys were red and black – the Carraroe colours – they didn’t take too kindly to wearing them!

“So we had to design a jersey, with colours of An Cheathrú Rua, Leitir Mór, Micheál Breathnach (Indreabhán), Ros Muc, Aran Islands and An Spidéal,” explained Cian.

A black jersey with flecks of blue, yellow, green and red, also includes a crest – a mule kicking a rugby ball – designed by Finian Ó Fátharta.

The club hosts the Conamara Cup every Easter, when clubs from all over Ireland visit the Conamara Gaeltacht and stay in the homes of Mná Tí like students of Coláistí Samhraidh.

An Ghaeltacht Rugbaí also participates in St Patrick’s Day parades, triathlons and Christmas parties.

Colm de Buitléar was the first player from An Ghaeltacht to be capped for Connacht in 2018.

He has since moved on, and is playing club rugby in Dublin, but his younger brother Eoin followed in his footsteps and made a big impression at the Sportsground as hooker.

Like GAA and other organisations in rural Galway, emigration of young families poses problems fielding teams at different age groups.

But the club has a strong committee of nine members plus around 15 coaches over five teams.

An Ghaeltacht now plays at pitches at Scoil Chuimsitheach Chiaráin, with the permission of principal Seán MacDonncha, after it won money to purchase unique goalposts that can be used for rugby and GAA.

In this its 20th anniversary year, An Ghaeltacht Rugbaí now also have an adult team. It includes some youngsters but is mostly local lads who previously played underage with An Ghaeltacht or Corinthians, who are eager to be part of a sports team for the social aspect.

It’s likely they will play J2 Rugby (like the old Junior football in GAA) and compete in the Ard na Cregg Cup this March.

“We didn’t ever think we’d have enough numbers for an adult team, but it looks like we will have one. We’ve up to 50 lads registered at adult level,” added Cian.

An Ghaeltacht Rugbaí’s unique selling point is its location in the heart of the Conamara Gaeltacht, and that the Irish language is central to its ethos.

This is most obvious in its ‘Haka as Gaeilge’. This is an Irish language pre-match ritual based on the New Zealand All Blacks Haka but adapted by the children.

Loosely translated as ‘An Ghaeltacht to victory, we run strong and hit hard, up An Ghaeltacht’, the kids perform the Haka in their native tongue, and chant: “An Ghaeltacht, An Ghaeltacht, An Ghaeltacht Abú, ritheann muid laidir, buaileann muid crua, An Gaeltacht, An Ghaeltacht, An Ghaeltacht Abú!”

Pictured: Young players from An Gaeltacht Rugbaí, an Cheathrú Rua, doing their version of the Haka before a Connacht/Munster clash at the Sportsground. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.