Ballyclare
High School Canadian Tour Squad 2003
The appointment that year of a new member of staff, Mr W G Montgomery, heralded a long term partnership with the then headmaster, Mr R E Russell, who both developed and encouraged rugby throughout the school. The school entered teams in both the Senior Schools’ Cup and the Junior Medallion Shield competitions.
Ballyclare High School had a total of 180 pupils at that time.The school has very close links with Ballyclare Rugby Football Club.
The first meeting to discuss the formation of a town rugby club was held on 20 May 1949 in Ballyclare High School.
Much of the success of the town Rugby Club is due to support from Ballyclare High School and many of the schools’senior boys go on to continue their rugby careers at Ballyclare Rugby Club.
The partnership of Mr Russell and Mr Montgomery continued to develop rugby within the school until 1964. At that time, Mr Russell became ill and was no longer able to assist with rugby. His role was taken over by another member of staff, Mr S Bell and he was eventually joined in 1965 by Mr D Armstrong. The arrival of Mr Armstrong heralded a more innovative and modern approach to rugby coaching in the school and his contribution to school rugby had a major impact on the progress of all the school teams. The school still had considerable problems with insufficient and unsuitable playing fields but this was eventually overcome in 1968. At the beginning of the new term that year, the new playing fields, adjacent to the school, were officially opened by Mr RE Russell.
Winning the Senior Schools’Cup and the Junior Medallion Shield competitions had always eluded Ballyclare High School. However, on St Patrick’s Day 1973, Ballyclare High gained the ultimate prize in school’s rugby, winning the Schools’Cup at Ravenhill against Royal Belfast Academical Institution. The Medallion XV also achieved success in 1990, again at Ravenhill by winning the Medallion Shield Final against Coleraine Academical Institution.
A number of pupils have over the years been selected to represent Ulster Schools’ teams in Inter- Provincial matches. The first school player to be selected for Ulster Schools’ was C Bunce in 1962-1963, followed by T McKinstry in 1966-1967. Two of the school’s most notable successes were the selection of M McKinstry (nephew of T McKinstry) in 1982 to play for the Irish Under 16 Schools’ team in a 7-a-side tournament and J Lowe who was the first pupil to be selected for the Irish Schools’ XV, playing in all three international games of the 1993 season. Lewis Stevenson, 1st XV captain in 2001 was selected for Irish Schools and played in all International matches. In the same year former captain Andrew Lowe was selected for the Irish U19 World Cup in Italy. In 2003, Jamie McGrugan became the third High School player to gain Irish School selection, winning caps against England and France.
