De La Salle Palmerston FC would like to announce, that following their Annual General Meeting and with immediate effect, the club grounds are to be renamed “Kirwan Park”…
This is in recognition of the contribution to the club by the late Jack Kirwan (who passed away in February of this year) and also the contribution of the Kirwan family to Palmerston, De La Salle Palmerston FC, Leinster Rugby, the IRFU and the International Rugby Board.
With the merged club about to enter its 25th Anniversary season in Kilternan, it is very fitting that the grounds are being renamed after a family who had such an impact in shaping the clubs history over the last nine decades.
Jack Kirwan was one of the key people involved in negotiating the merger of De La Salle RFC and Palmerston FC – a feat he was very proud of, in what at the time was a ground breaking achievement in Irish rugby.
In particular he cherished the new friends he made through the merger of both clubs.
He was a trustee of the new club and also became president in the 1986-87 season.
For 19 seasons he held the position of club representative to the Leinster Branch and in the 1989-90 season he was President of the Leinster Branch.
His contribution to the branch was duly noted, when he later became a recipient of both the Leinster Branch and De La Salle Palmerston FC Hall of Fame Awards.
For over nine decades there has been a Kirwan involved in the club, with his two uncles being Club Captain, Sam in 1922-23 and Cecil in 1931-32, along with his father Eddie in 1924-25 season (all three later becoming club presidents).
Jack’s father Eddie went onto serve the IRFU Committee for a 25 year period from 1948 to 1973, including being President in the 1952-53 season.
He also had the distinction of being Secretary of the International Rugby Board during this period from 1956 to 1973.
With the proud history of the Kirwan family, we feel the renaming of our club grounds to Kirwan Park, is a fitting Thank You to their contribution.
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