If youve ever played or watched a game at Barban Hill, the home of Dromore Rugby Club, you likely found yourself at one time or another seeking some shelter.
he ground where Irelands newest international Mike Lowry played his early rugby is, to put it mildly, exposed to the elements.
But in a generation or two, that may no longer be the case thanks to a tree planting initiative that has taken place at the club this season. Rather than lessening exposure to the harsh winds that whip around the pitch though, these new saplings have been planted with a view to offsetting the carbon footprint of the sides first XV on their travels.
Playing in Kukri Championship One, the County Down side rack up their fair share of miles with trips to the likes of Enniskillen and Clogher Valley on the fixture list and it was such lengthy journeys that got clubman Peter Dickson thinking about the sides impact on the environment.
I work for Bridgestone, who have a good relationship with rugby through their advertising at Ravenhill and things like that, he says. And theyve been involved with Dromore for quite a while too.
At Bridgestone, were a company that is very into sustainability and we invest heavily in that. Working in the corporate world really gave me an insight into how important it is for companies to take their responsibilities seriously and the idea that every organisation has to do its part.
So I was sitting in a Starbucks one day thinking about how Dromore Rugby Club could do its own part and develop a sustainability programme. What would be realistic for us to do? And thinking about it, as a club where we generate most of our carbon footprint is from our travel.
I got Google Maps out, clocked up all our miles, looked at things like the average Co2 emission per vehicle, the number of people we take to games and things like that.
And it worked out that we had a total of 548 miles in the league, which meant that it seemed to be that throughout the season wed have emissions of about six tonnes. It takes six trees to offset one tonne so we were looking at 36 trees to come out neutral and we rounded that up to 50.
I went to Bridgestone who gave us a bit of money, and the Old Mill Nursery in Dromore gave us the trees, and from there this idea born in a coffee shop got to where we are now.
We put some of the trees in our grounds, because it all starts at the club, but whether it was farmers, guys who were building houses, whatever, it was so, so easy to get rid of the rest.
Youd dont struggle to give things away in Dromore, thats something learned.
While theyll look to repeat the initiative year after year to offset each seasons travel, this is only a small part of the clubs plans.
They have already installed LED floodlights with a view to cutting down on their electricity usage, a move which has cost-saving benefits as well as environmental ones, and their next project later this year will look at the carbon footprint of their clubhouse with the possibility of new heating systems being explored.
If you were building a clubhouse 10 years ago, sustainability wasnt something that you would have considered, adds Dickson. But today, if youre not considering sustainability youre not being responsible.
As the club sees it, that responsibility extends not just to crunching the numbers, but in educating their members too.
The mini-rugby club has got involved and theyve embraced it, Dickson says. Its been great to get them out with a shovel planting trees.
It shows them what they need to do. When theyre grown up, in 15 years, theyll have a responsibility too to look after the next generation.
Theres kids in the community that look to Dromore Rugby Club and see us as leaders and its important for us to take on that responsibility and show the way.
Were an amateur sports club, and obviously we want to go out and win on a Saturday, but theres nothing more important to a club like ourselves than the people and the community.
Projects like these are a big part of that.