UCD Fencing Club

Foundation

University College Dublin Fencing Club was founded in 1954 and it would seem that the only other clubs in existence in UCD at the time were the Big Four: UCD GAA the Gaelic games club, UCD AFC the Soccer club, Rugby and Athletics. Whatever the actual details, UCD Fencing Club is one the oldest clubs in UCD and has compiled a rich history in its more than fifty years of operation. The first club president was Rev. Fr. O'Doherty who, together with former Olympic fencer Patrick Duffy, coached the fledgling club to become contenders in the Irish fencing world. In the early years the college competed well for such a new club, but the more established clubs of Trinity College and the Royal College of Surgeons usually shared the honours between them.

The first club captain/president was the author and broadcaster Brian Talbot Cleeve, in the season 1955/56. Records from this time are incomplete at best but it appears the club was forced into hiatus for a number of years until the season 1961/62 when Joe Long and then Michael Ryan began to revitalise the club. Michael Ryan's first task as captain was to claim the back-payments of funding to the club which hadn't been collected in a number of years and which when collected gave the club a healthy jump-start on the way to recovery. In an interview with the UCD Observer newspaper in November 2004 Michael recalled that "It was quickly clear that the club had not claimed its annual grant for either of the previous two years. The person who doled out these grants was the Deputy Bursar, Mr. Brian Farrell, of TV fame afterwards, so I went to see him, seeking payment for the previous two years plus the first moiety of the current year. At £40 per year this came to £100, a substantial sum at that time (multiply by about 25 for today's money).”

In 1966, with Michael at its head, UCD became the National Team Epee champions, which entitled the team to compete in the European Cup in Heidenheim, Germany; an invitation tournament for all the champion epee teams in Europe. After Michael’s return from the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, the club presented him with gold cufflinks that he still keeps today as a reminder of the links between UCD and his training under Prof. Duffy that helped him reach the Olympics.

Intervarsity success

UCD first secured the All-Ireland Intervarsity Championship (the Frank Russel trophy) in 1966 under the captaincy of Alan Dukes, former Fine Gael leader and Irish finance minister.

UCD were not to see success in the tournament again until 1972. This run of championship victories, which broke the dominance of Trinity Fencing Club, in the championship continued until 1978. This run of seven consecutive victories has been the longest run of success for UCD so far.

The 1990s onwards have seen UCD rise to dominance in the Intervarsity competition. Since 1992 UCD has won the tournament 12 times. In February 2007 the club secured its 20th intervarsity title and sixth consecutive title.

Currently, nine different third-level institutes take part in the Irish Intervarsity Championships: University College Dublin, Dublin University, National University of Ireland Maynooth, University College Cork, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Dublin City University, Royal College of Surgeons, Queens University Belfast and University of Ulster at Coleraine.

Competitions

The flagship event in the UCD Fencing Club calendar is the hosting of the annual "East of Ireland Fencing Competition", which is usually held in mid-February. It attacts fencers from all over the island of Ireland as well as international fencers from England, Scotland, Holland, France, Switzerland, Germany and the United States.

In rotation with other clubs in the country, UCD Fencing club has hosted the 'Vinnie Duffy' Sabre competition, the Intermediates, the Junior Nationals and the Dublin Epee competition.

The Colours
This annual inter-collegiate fencing competition takes place in Spring/Summer solely between UCD and Trinity College (Dublin University). The historical rivalry and competitiveness between the two universities is similar to that of the Cambridge and Oxford rivalry. All six weapons are fenced—Men's Foil, Epee and Sabre; Women's Foil Epee and Sabre.

The Colours in fencing have been dominated by UCD, who have beaten their rivals on every meeting. 2007 saw UCD fencing club win its tenth (10th) successive Colours match defeating Trinity by 5 weapon victories to 1.

Club structure
The club is administered through an elected committee and raises finance through college grants and competition entry fees received. Major expenditures include equipment, coaching, and subsidising travel to competitions.

UCD Fencing legends
Michael Ryan (Men's Epee). Olympian

Fionbar Farrell (Men's Epee). Olympian

Michael O'Brien (Men's Epee). Olympian

Phillip Lee (Men's Foil). Reached World Top 100. National Captain

Annalise Mion (Ladies Epee). Reached World Top 200. National Epee Captain

Owen McNamee (Men's Sabre). Reached World Top 150. National Sabre Captain

Benedict Chambers (Men's Epee). Reached World Top 200

Conor Nagle (Men's Epee). Reached World Junior Top 200. National Epee Captain

Aoife Lennon (Ladies Foil). National Foil Captain

Siobhan Silke (Ladies Epee). National Epee Captain

Sarah Drumm (Ladies Sabre). National B team Captain

UCD Fencing coaches
2007/2008 Richard Noonan

2006/2007 Marcos Simpson, Richard Noonan, Doru Caldea

2005/2006 Marcos Simpson, Annalise Mion, Doru Caldea

2004/2005 Paul Bouchier-Hayes, Marcos Simpson

2001-2004 Tony Quinn, Marc Connolly

1995-1999 Shirley Duffy

1994-1995 Laurence Howard, Matthieu Pibarot

UCD Fencers involved in National Governing Body
As well as being arguably the most successful Irish fencing club in recent history, it has also provided a number of the Irish Amateur Fencing Federation administrators, including:

2002-present Philip Lee - Schools Development
1998-present Michael Ryan - Coaching development
2005-present Sarah Drumm
2006-present Eimear Kennedy
1998-2003 Annalise-Mion - Treasurer
1999-present Julian Smith - Strategy
2003 Marc Connolly - Policy

Further information
Current membership of the club stands in excess of 160 members.

For more history of the club and current news and events visit http://www.ucd.ie/fencing

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