Daffodil Day 2021 – An Outstanding Success

The Club are delighted to announce our annual UCD Rugby Daffodil event for 2021, in aid of the Irish Cancer Society, was a tremendous success and the Club raised over €9,500.

Every year the Club sets out to raise vital funds for the Irish Cancer Society and we are grateful that the students, staff, and wider community of the University never fail to show their support. This year was unique for obvious reasons in that our Daffodil Day was held entirely online but the response was just as exceptional. The extraordinary work behind the scenes carried out the previous few months came to fruition at the beginning of March when the drive to raise funds began in an entirely virtual setting.

The event was organised by the 2^nd Year students of the BSc Sport & Exercise Management degree programme, led by Lecturer Amy Bermingham from the Centre for Sport Studies, while Club Administrator Hannah Hanlon and Tadhg O’Leary were also influential in aiding the students to promote and fundraise for the event through our social media channels. The Club wishes to thank them all for their involvement.

Irish Cancer Society Daffodil Day Community Champion

A special mention must be made to an outstanding individual who first instigated the UCD Rugby Club Daffodil Day over 6 years now. The Club wishes to express their thanks to John Hammond, who retired from his Club Administrator role last Summer, but continued to be involved in this year’s Daffodil Day and still has a prominent place within UCD Rugby Club. We are delighted to announce that John has received special recognition from Acting CEO Conor King of the Irish Cancer Society and has been awarded the first ever Irish Cancer Society Daffodil Day Community Champion award for the selfless work he has done the last number of years.

This new award acknowledges the extraordinary commitment that goes into organising and supporting Daffodil Day initiatives. John has expressed his thanks and was quick to highlight the efforts of those who have assisted him:

“This award is also for everyone who has helped with Daffodil Day within UCD Rugby Club and those of the UCD wider community, especially the UCD students, who have contributed generously both in terms of their time and of their money over the past six years. Their support is incalculable … and we will continue next year and beyond!!”

UCD RFC President David Carrigy had these words to say regarding Daffodil Day:

“On behalf of all at UCD RFC I want to thank all who contributed so generously to the Daffodil Day collection this year to support the outstanding and critical work of the Irish Cancer Society. I would also like to thank the Irish Cancer Society for its recognition of John Hammond for his dedication to this great event. He richly deserves his award and I thank him on behalf of the Club for his ongoing work and support for this project.”

The Club would like to reiterate its sincere thanks to all those who supported this year’s Daffodil Day and we hope to see you on campus again for next year’s event.