Lansdowne Rugby Football Club appointed Woodlawn native Sean McCarthy as the new head coach of their 1st team. Sean was one of the founding members of Lansdowne back in 1993 and helped Lansdowne RFC rise to Division I. He then went on to help start Manhattan College’s rugby program, and soon after became heavily involved with Fordham University’s rugby program. Eventually, Fordham University asked Sean to become their full-time head coach where he led them to Division I status as well.
Lansdowne Rugby, based in Yonkers, NY, was founded in 1993 in The Bronx. The O’Brien brothers, who founded the club, named both the organization, and their new bar “The Lansdowne” after their favorite rugby club in the All-Ireland League (AIL), Lansdowne FC, who are based on Lansdowne Road in Dublin. Since then, Lansdowne has become the home of immigrants (both Irish, but also many other countries with a rugby culture) who moved to NY and wanted a rugby club to play with. Over time, the club moved their operations to Yonkers, NY, a suburb of NYC, but keeps their footprint in NYC, with training at Randall’s Island to accommodate the population of Irish and non-Irish players living in Queens and Brooklyn but playing their home games at Tibbetts Brook Park in Yonkers. In recent years, Lansdowne won the 2019 Empire GU Division III championship, won the 2021 Big Apple Spring Tournament, and had 2 consecutive runners up campaigns in the Empire GU Premier Division, before falling near bottom of the table in 2023.
When Lansdowne Rugby celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2023, McCarthy was honored as one of the “Lansdowne Legends,” the club’s hall of fame back in November. In his acceptance speech, he emphasized the need for spreading the word on recruitment and promoting the camaraderie and friendship the club is most famous for. This immediately resonated with players and the board of directors who saw McCarthy’s potential as a future coach.
When outgoing coach Dillon Casey (of Dublin, Ireland) announced his plans to move out of NYC for work, the hunt for a new coach began again, and McCarthy was immediately touted as the 1st choice. “We feel his experience and history with the club will help bring us back to greatness,” said Mark Giordano, the club’s chairman since 2021.
“I’m one of the founding members of Lansdowne (back in 1993), and I’m glad the spirit is still about keeping the good times rolling. Now my 2 sons play here. I had to ask them if it was okay to coach them because I can be a little tough. I’ve had the great privilege of coaching at Fordham University for many years. It’s a real honor to coach The Lansdowne. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun recruiting and bringing Lansdowne back to Rugby prominence in the New York Rugby Scene,” said Sean McCarthy. “The long term goal, and the short term goal are the same: We’re gonna win the next game.”
Lansdowne has a Spring season full of friendlies, but return to the regular season in the Fall, most likely competing in the 3rd division again to rebuild. The most notable match coming up is the New York Irish Rugby Invitational, featuring NYPD Rugby and Morris Rugby (of Morris County, NJ). In select years, sides from Ireland and other countries come to compete in this cup, but this year it’s all regional Irish American rugby sides. It’ll take place on April 13th at Tibbetts Brook Park Grass Field 2, kicking off at 11 AM, with pipe bands, a national anthem singer, a DJ, and plenty of fun, as all 3 clubs are raising money for the widows’ and children of fallen NYPD officers and FDNY firefighters, a charity known as “Answer the Call.” All attendees are encouraged to donate to Answer the Call, and the matches will be livestreamed on New Logical Sports on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch.
Lansdowne Rugby is always recruiting new players. All levels of experience are welcome. Training sessions take place at Randall’s Island Park Fields 74 & 75 on Tuesdays and Thursday at 7 PM.
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