Portadown Panthers rugby team wins Disability Northern Ireland award

Portadown Panthers is a team for young children and adults with special needs and has gone from strength to strength with parents, coaches and volunteers building the skills of the game to the young people through fun and friendship.

The Panthers have become like one large rugby family in Portadown Rugby Club and are an integral part of the overall drive making Portadown a more inclusive club. They played against other teams in Northern Ireland , England and Southern Ireland in tag blitz tournaments for learning disabled. The Panthers ran their own successful learning disabled nlitz tournaments and invited teams from north and south as part of the greater IRFU organisation.

It was their work making Portadown Panthers an inclusive and diverse club welcoming all in a friendly, fun, i

The award that they won was for being an inclusive club. It was awarded it on the evening of Tuesday, September 30 at the Disability Northern Ireland annual general meeting.

Portadown Panthers won the award for being inclusive with the rugby festival they run having been for disability teams from both the north and south of Ireland.

The teams comprised of the Portadown Panthers, visitors and Portadown U16s, men’s and ladies all competing together. On the Saturday mornings the Panther teams also train at the same time as the Portadown club’s minis rugby making our learning disabled group feel part of the whole club. This award is great recognition of the work of the Panthers committee, coaches , volunteers, parents and all the young players. It is also great recognition for the whole Portadown club and for the foresight of the late Willie Gribben.

The Panthers are now under the stewardship of Willie’s daughter Karen Flack and her husband Ian, who is the lead coach of the team.On the evening of the award ceremony Karen received the award along with Eilidh Gilmore, secretary for the Panthers

Portadown 1st xv had a free week due to teams playing in the All-Ireland Junior Cup. The Portadown 2nds match was postponed due to the heavy wind and rain. So the only fixture still on saw Portadown 3s travelled up the M1 to face Instonians 4s in a friendly game hoping to follow up on their great performance the previous week.

Things didn’t start well, losing three players in the warm up to injury. At a very windy Shaw’s Bridge, Portadown started brightly with a great break from Jack Graham to get deep in the home sides 22, but unfortunately a missed pass let Instonians clear the ball from theirline, taking advantage of the strong wind. This put the blues on the back foot and the home side capitalised with two quick scores.

Portadown got their act together with a great break by Max Boyce resulted in handling that finished with young prop Sam Ward getting over for a score. Instonians again reacted to score leaving Portadown 15 - 5 down at halftime.

A scrappy second half ensued, which was not helped by the blustery conditions. Portadown’s uncharacteristic handling errors allowed Instonians in for their fourth try of the afternoon. The one flowing move from Portadown ended with prop Jonathan Reid finding himself out on the wing with a 20 metre run in.

The defence tried to close him down, but the big man got over in the corner, and Adam Speers knocked over a glorious conversion. Unfortunately another mistake from the kick off allowed Instonians in for a soft score leaving the final score 27 - 12.

Portadown Mini Rugby has returned with renewed energy this season, rebranding its thriving youth section as the Portadown Pumas and continuing to provide an exciting introduction to rugby for children across the community.

The mini rugby programme, which caters for both boys and girls of primary school age, has established itself as one of the most vibrant youth sporting hubs in the area. Young players take part in regular Saturday morning training sessions from 9am to 10.30am at the club’s grounds, where the emphasis is on developing rugby skills in a fun, inclusive and supportive environment. In addition to training, the minis enjoy a busy calendar of friendly fixtures and regional festivals throughout the season.

This season marks an exciting new chapter with the introduction of a fresh identity a new club mascot, the Portadown Pumas. Coaches and parents alike have welcomed the rebrand, which they say captures the pride and spirit of the young players.

Portadown RFC’s Mini Rugby combines skill development with teamwork, sportsmanship and lasting friendships. With the roar of the Pumas behind them, the future looks bright for rugby in Portadown.