"Then you look at Rathdowney’s hall and it’s just embarrassing"- Ross King on the lack of a sports hall in St Fergal's

St. Fergal’s College located in Rathdowney has long been waiting for a new PE hall in the school. The plan to build a new hall was approved in 2010, however funding from the Government has yet to bear fruits so the school has had to modernise around the hall with no breakthrough in their efforts so far.

Rathdowney- Errill and Laois Senior hurler Ross King has gotten involved in the local campaign which aims to push the Government into releasing the funds for the construction to begin. Ross spoke to the Leinster Express/ LaoisLive to give his thoughts on what it would mean to the school and the community itself if the funding was given the go-ahead.

“First of all, the hall itself could be there 40 odd years. It’s just old, old-fashioned, old-schooled. It’s not fit for purpose really. It has very small dressing rooms and there’s no showers. For the teams who would come to play against St Fergal’s, they’d always be told to come togged out because we have no facilities to cater for them so that was always a bug bearer. It’s actually being used as a canteen at lunchtime now, it’s not really a PE hall, it’s just a general purpose area that’s used for many different things. I’d say it was never actually a PE hall. 

Ross has no recollection of why it’s taking so long to get the funding as the plan was approved back in 2010, 13 years ago.

“I’ve no idea as to why the plans never went through, there seems to be a funding issue at Government level, that was always the fall back. As you know, it’s planning approved, they call it a ‘shovel ready’ project so it’s ready to go, it just needs the funding to be approved and I don’t know what or why the hold-up is. It is badly needed here, it’s like there’s an open goal and the ball is just not being pucked into the back of the net. We’re hoping the Ministers who attended the meeting a month ago can give a strong enough argument to get the funding approved and let the project start.

Physical Education itself was never a strong subject in the school. The campaign to get the funding also includes teachers in St. Fergal’s, who gave their opinions at the meeting last month.

“The teachers Pat Rowe and Alan Fogarty voiced their frustrations at the meeting, basically saying that they could never teach the subject correctly because they didn’t have the facilities. I remember when I was there, a lot of the girls didn’t bother doing PE because we didn’t have the facilities and some lads did the same. It was just the outgoing fellas that nearly always did PE. Half the group wouldn’t do it, I think that’s crazy in today’s society with mental health and stuff. 

Ross also believes that students who have a keen interest in sport will overlook the school as a whole due to the lack of sporting facilities on offer.

“From my own experience, when I was in sixth class, sports was everything, half of my class was pure sports, the first thing you’d do was look at the PE hall and the pitches. A couple of my friends went to Cistercian College in Roscrea, one or two went to Heywood as well and it was definitely due to facilities, not just the PE hall. At the time, the school itself mightn’t have been up to scratch fully.

St. Fergal’s haven’t let the lack of funding for the hall deter their ambitions to grow the school. 

“They've done an awful lot of work in the last decade with all the facilities in the school. It’s like a completely different school, it’s a more modern type of school. They’re continuing to expand with new classrooms going in over the next few years. They have loads of work done and the last thing to do is the PE hall and I definitely think it’s taking away from the school.

The hall is not only for the use of the school, Ross feels that the local sports clubs could benefit greatly from a new modern hall for when the pitches aren’t fit to play on.

“I’m thinking to myself of how much the community would benefit from the new hall, not just in Rathdowney, the likes of Errill, Clough-Ballacolla and Borris-Kilcotton. The hall can be used in the winter for the GAA clubs when the pitches aren’t playable. Laois Sports Partnership and local clubs could use the hall, it’s a massive benefit for the long Irish winters we have. Everywhere else has one, I’ve been around schools in Laois doing work for Laois Sports Partnership and the PE halls are so modern and so safe, then you look at Rathdowney’s hall and it’s just embarrassing. It’s four square walls with a concrete floor and it’s about the size of a tennis court.”

It remains to be seen what the outcome will be from the campaign, but after hearing from Ross, you can tell how much the local community and the school itself are in dire need.

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