Fermoy Rowing Club’s 125th anniversary

This is an excerpt from Fermoy Rowing Club’s 125th anniversary book containing the history of the club from 1884-2009. This piece was written by the late John O’Keefe.

A HISTORY

‘When a club has survived for nearly a century, it is time to sit back and think of all those men who have long since racked their oars and passed on to their eternal reward. It was these men, with the help of local business firms, public bodies and the Fermoy people, who by their interest and generosity ensured that the Fermoy Rowing Club is still a very live sporting organisation.

Prior to 1884, the rowing men of Fermoy were all pleasure boat (fixed seat) oarsmen. The annual races for fixed seat boats (pairs and fours) were always a feature on the river Blackwater at Barnane Walk. Most of these contests were thought up in Dick O’Connor’s pub on the quay, at the corner of Abbey Street and Ashe Quay, next door to “Fermoy Burkes”. Over the proverbial “Half-Car” the wagers were laid and the crews of the various boat-owners - George Byrnes - Dick “Merrygo” Lombard, Josie Donovan etc - pulled with might and main in those clinker boats with heavy unwieldy oars, making sounds that betokened honest, if not always highly skilled, oarsmanship. The boats had to turn around a buoy in the centre of the river at the top of the island and it was here that the manoeuvrings for position caused much trouble with the clashing of oars and the curses of the oarsmen, while the coxes were busily trying to get the advantage at the turn. The race then continued to the boat-slip near the bridge. The pros and cons of the various races and the abilities of the crew members were hotly discussed across the road at Dick O’Connor’s pub, over “refreshments”. A neighbouring pub further up in Abbey Street, the ‘Hole in the Wall’ also had its selection of boating enthusiasts.

Prior to 1884, a few Oxford oarsmen, (who came to Fermoy on being commissioned in the British Army) brought their racing outrigged boat with sliding seats and started rowing on the Blackwater. Their boat was based in the local carriage yard of the Royal Hotel (that used to be the ‘Gentleman’s

Club’ which is now part of The Grand Hotel).

In 1884, a few business people and the local boating public erected a boathouse at the end of Ashe Quay at the entrance to Barnane Walk.

From these small beginnings the club progressed and during the years, good and bad, the boats were launched on the Blackwater. The annual regatta was started and eventually the course was fixed from the rock in the river near Gardiners Island to the slip at the boathouse - approx 1 1/8 miles (900m).

To facilitate the passing of boats, alongside each other on the acute bend, the strand in O’Keeffe’s Inch, opposite the Echo Wall, had to be dredged for regatta day.

The club eventually achieved the reward for years of effort, when in 1906 at Cork Regatta, the Junior Four won the Marino Cup. The crew were: Jas Barry (Bow); Ed Barry 2: W Hogan 3; T. Walsh stk; E. Purcell (Cox).

The Fermoy Rowing Club did not figure in the winners’ lists for the early years of the 20th century and the club never closed until the “Troubled Times” when all Irishmen turned to more serious matters affecting Irish freedom. In 1923 when the country had settled down after the civil war, the old members came together and the vandalized boathouse was repaired, a small clubhouse built and the landing stage area enclosed. The older members will remember the little club and dressingroom with the big iron stool, where the card playing went on after the training stints. The arguments around that stool were mainly on the merits of this or that rowing personality.

In 1928 the club was reorganized and the committee elected for the year - Geo Power, Pres; Wm Hurley, Vice Pres; P Murray, Hon Sec; T Slattery (Jnr), Hon Treasurer; Committee; Ed Hogan, T Slattery (Sen), Ml Aherne, Tom Rice, Jack Heffernan and John Donovan.

In 1929 a number of boats and oars were purchased from Bandon Boat Club. New oars were purchased from Messrs M Tozen of Putney.

In the 1930s we started to travel to the southern regattas without much success. In 1932, the club purchased its first new racing craft - a clinker four from Messrs,

Geo Sims of Putney. In 1937 we again appeared in the winning lists, winning the ‘Poulmounty Cup’ for Maiden Eights at New Ross Regatta.

Fermoy rowing was kept afloat with the help of the Fermoy people and the members who down the years have passed the membership on to sons and grandsons. We have third generation Hogans, Heffernans, Clearys, Slatterys, Tobins, Spillers, etc, who with the new members and those who have done so much on the administrative side, have brought the club to the great success it is today. One’s admiration for the work of the committee and members is for the indomitable spirit which has resulted in the continuity of rowing for 100 years - spanning the lean and fruitful years and it is this spirit that will keep the green and white flying in Fermoy.

Fermoy oarsmen and committee men have pulled their weight in bringing the club’s position to among the best in Irish rowing.

The new clubhouse in Barnane is now completed and is surely the best equipped in the country. This is due to the very hard work and the constant endeavours of our energetic committee over the past few years. It is like a phoenix rising from the ashes of the old boathouse, which ended its long and useful life during the last few months.

Today our committee fosters rowing for the youth of Fermoy whose good sportsmanship is the reason for the club’s success. The future of the club lies with the youngsters - those are the men and women of the coming generation. Rowing does not let you go easily - it tests your determination - it pulls out the best in you - it demands rigorous self-discipline and yet it holds your interest.

Barnane and the Blackwater - home of the Fermoy Rowing Club - are names remembered whenever Fermoy men gather. Memories of the sun spangled river and the rowing gigs are conjured up when the absent one thinks of his home in Fermoy. Barnane, the Island, the Strand, Gardiners, Castlehyde - all are memories that never die in the mind of a Fermoy man.

With the proud background and the high standard of sportsmanship, which is synonymous with the name Fermoy, I am happy to extend my best wishes for the future and may your happy past glide gracefully on feathered oars into the new century.’