Written by Nicole Bermingham

Every Tuesday night, as the streets of Dublin quiet down, a lively scene unfolds within the walls of the Santry Soccer Dome. It’s a gathering like no other, where the love for soccer intertwines with the spirit of camaraderie. Since joining in October 2023, my time at Ball Busters Social Soccer has been nothing short of magical, a weekly highlight that I eagerly anticipate.

Nestled within the heart of our community, the astro pitch transforms into a sanctuary where women of all backgrounds and skill levels come together to celebrate their love for the beautiful game. From the moment I stepped onto the pitch for the first time, I was greeted with smiles and encouragement, instantly feeling a sense of belonging among my fellow players.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Ball Busters Women’s Soccer is the camaraderie that permeates every match. It’s not just about winning or losing; it’s about supporting and uplifting one another, both on and off the field. Whether we’re sharing tips on technique or cheering each other on during a particularly challenging game, there’s a palpable sense of sisterhood that unites us all.

What truly sets Ball Busters apart is its commitment to inclusivity and empowerment. Regardless of our skill level or experience, each of us is valued and respected for the unique strengths we bring to the game. There’s no judgment or competition—just a shared passion for soccer and a determination to have fun while playing.

As the clock strikes 8 p.m. every Tuesday night, I feel a surge of excitement knowing that I’m about to embark on another unforgettable soccer journey. From the exhilarating rush of scoring a goal to the laughter that fills the air during post-match banter, each game is a testament to the resilience and spirit of the women who grace the field.

Beyond the physical benefits of playing soccer, Ball Busters Women’s Social Soccer provides a platform for personal growth and empowerment.

It’s a space where we can challenge ourselves, push our boundaries, and emerge stronger and more confident than ever before. Through the highs and lows of the game, we learn invaluable lessons about teamwork, perseverance, and resilience—lessons that extend far beyond the soccer field and into our everyday lives.

In a world where women’s voices are often silenced or overlooked, Ball Busters Women’s Social Soccer stands as a beacon of empowerment and solidarity. It’s a reminder that when women come together, there’s no limit to what we can achieve. And for that, I am eternally grateful to be a part of this incredible community.

By Matthew Semple

Growing up in a small village in rural north Somerset in the 1980s was definitely not a multi-cultural experience. There was a boy at school in the year below me whose father was from Pakistan and he was probably the only non-white child at the school. But when I was 11 years old my parents bought me a cassette of Paul Simon’s Graceland album for Christmas and that soon became my favourite tape. If you haven’t heard of it, look it up because it is worth a listen. There aren’t many albums that combine the unusual and exotic rhythms of South Africa with a middle-aged man singing cheerfully about going to parties in Manhattan, filing for divorce and negotiating a relationship with his young son.

No-one was expecting much of this album, especially as the singer’s previous two albums had flopped and he hadn’t had a hit for over ten years. But to everyone’s surprise it was a massive hit and sold 16 million copies – proving that success comes from unexpected places and that you can learn a lot from collaborating with people from other cultures.

And so it was that I was asked to compere the Multi-Culture Day at St Catherine’s National School on 24th May 2024 – or rather my wife said to me, “somebody ought to introduce the performers”. It is difficult to describe the atmosphere in the room when hundreds of people are sampling the images, artefacts and, importantly, the food from over a dozen countris representing their countries and cultures – but believe me, it was something very special and rare.

There were varied displays from, in no particular order, Poland, Thailand, Australia, Malaysia, India, Croatia, Latvia, Nigeria, Great Britain, Congo-Kinshasa, the Central African Repulic, Brazil and Ireland.
The school hall at St Catherine’s was almost definitely the only place in Fingal that day where you could sample spring rolls and plum sauce from Thailand, Brazilian brigadeiros, Indian bites and Australian fairy bread. The queue at the Nigeria buffet was particularly large as was the range of dishes they had on offer.
For further international flavour, attendees could purchase a cupcake with a flag and simultaneously enter a raffle. The winner was the holder of the flag pulled out of the hat towards the end of the event. The lucky flag was Canada and the winner, Leslie-Ann, went home with the Hamper of International Treats.
The sampling of international cuisine was punctuated by music and dance from children at St Catherine’s School followed by performances from the wider community, including some former pupils. We started with a gentle dip of the toe in not-so-exotic waters with traditional songs from England, Scarborough Fair and further back in time, Greensleeves.

Local councillor Brian Doherty and his daughter, Tess, stepped up with songs by Irish bands including U2 and took us on a trip across to Galway with the Saw Doctor’s N17. And after the musical ice was broken, members of the community volunteered impromptu performances taking on us on a whirlwind world tour of songs from Brazil, Slovakia and renditions of ‘How Great Thou Art’ in both French and Sango, an indigenous language of the Central African Republic. Keeping up the pace between the impromptu performances, various current and former pupils of the school treated the quite considerable audience to a dollop of Americana with songs from The White Stripes, Nirvana, and Metallica.

Whilst we are unfortunately used to hearing from detractors of multi-culturalism, often on social media, Friday’s event proved there is much joy in meeting and sampling other cultures, particularly when the food and music is so good. The Multi-Cultural Day, here in Rush, was proof indeed that we are stronger together and just like that Paul Simon album that has a depiction of St George on the cover – the patron saint of both England and Ethiopia - we have much more in common than we, at first, would realise until we get to know each other.

Rush Senior Citizens have ‘A Grand Day Out’ planned for mid-July (awaiting confirmation from Tour company).

The itinerary includes leaving Rush at approximately 9.30am, traveling to Bettystown for scones and tea, then heading North to Carlingford Lough for a gentle cruise. Following this, the journey moves further north to the stunning Mourne Mountains, driving through some of Ireland’s most beautiful scenery. The day continues with a stop in Newry for some free time. The return trip circles back to Bettystown for a 4-course evening meal before returning to Rush.

This event has now been opened up as a community event, welcoming all interested individuals. The cost is expected to be around €75, potentially decreasing based on the number of attendees. For those interested, please contact or message 089-2711406 promptly to provide numbers to the travel company

If you felt a disturbance in the force on Saturday May the Fourth 2024, this may have been caused by the large number of Jedis and Siths who gathered at St Catherine’s National School in Rush to celebrate Star Wars Day in what is thought to be the first such event in Fingal County Council.

Over seventy attendees, both young and old, were treated to a Jedi Master Class, lightsabre training and the opportunity to destroy the Death Star and attack an AT-AT Walker. During the party, children and adults alike were treated to a surprise, if maybe unwelcome, appearance by Darth Vader. After a tense stand-off, several of the brave Jedi apprentices engaged in a lightsabre fight with Lord Vader who then retreated to search for the plans to rebuild the Death Star. Master Yoda was also on hand to provide wise words to the young apprentices and Jedi moves were demonstrated by Rey Skywalker, who Star Wars fans will know from the 2015 movie The Force Awakens and 2017’s The Last Jedi.

After the Jedi master class and lightsabre training, the apprentices travelled in the Millennium Falcon to an intergalactic disco featuring a Jedi versus Sith dance-off and partied with members of the Rebel Alliance and The Empire’s Sith Lords.

The force was strong at St Catherine’s on May 4th and after the party, one parent said: “My daughter loved it. Especially loved the lightsabres. Having never watched Star Wars, she’s now a fan!”

Residents in Rush will be happy to learn that the town has been chosen as the next participant in the Town Centre First scheme that will see the approval of funding to develop its Town Centre First plan.
Rush has been included in the project as one of 68 other towns across the country that will receive the Government funding of €10,000, which is primarily aimed at Addressing issues like vacancy and dereliction.

The funding may be used to support the establishment and/or development of town teams where they are not already well established, and to better understand the unique features of towns. The projects will be managed by the DRCD-funded Town Regeneration Officers across the country.

Speaking at the launch announcement of the new plan, Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphries said, “I’m delighted today to announce the first ever dedicated investment in our Town Teams. This is all about tackling vacancy, combatting dereliction and breathe new life into our town centres. Through this initiative, we are recognising the importance of having vibrant towns, which are places to live in, work in, visit, and raise a family in.”

Town Teams consist of local residents, businesspeople, community representatives and other stakeholders who come together to make their area a better place to live, work, visit and invest. They represent diverse sectors and backgrounds.

Local Cllr Rob O’Donoghue warmly welcomed the announcement and commented that, “the town centre first plan offers a unique and timely opportunity to take stock of the current condition and future potential of Rush and to plan in a holistic manner for the future based on the needs of the community.”

Rush Tidy Towns were delighted to attend the 2024 Mayor’s Awards in May where all Tidy Towns groups in Fingal County Council were honoured. Congratulations to all the groups in attendance and thank you to Mayor Councillor Adrian Henchy for hosting such a great night. As part of the awards Fingal visited each town and made a video. To view the Rush Tidy Town video please go to the group’s Facebook page to view it.

St. Catherine - Congratulations to everybody involved in getting the St. Catherine’s Estate Community Garden up and running. This project epitomises perseverance and community spirit in working through a long process with Fingal County Council and with the support of our local Councillors to get it launched yesterday. We look forward to seeing the fruits of your labour in the coming months. Well done all!
Fairy Trail Upgrade - Thanks to our local magical fairy house builder Frank for the latest instalment of houses for our Fairy Trail in St. Catherines Woods. Your skills never fail to astound us. These will now be painted by the kids in our National schools.

Ball Busters women’s football club was formed by Amanda Bracken and Tanya Christie, two friends from Lusk with a passion to play competitive football without the restrictions of playing on an actual team. Two mammies that still wanted the buzz of winning a game but having the craic at the same time. One afternoon after chatting through one of their many notions they decided to start up Ball Busters, a social indoor soccer group, and so it began, February 2023, the beginning of something special. On night one, we thought we would have loads of girls but 6 turned up, we thought all we had to do was organise it and people would show but that was not the case. Through hours of hard work and dedication, we have built a WhatsApp group of over 80 ladies, we rent 3 out of the 5 astros in the Soccer Dome in Santry, with upwards of 40 ladies coming each week. We organise outings, have nights away, we have been to Wexford to play Courtown Hibs and have just come back from Bangor where we played 2 teams and won both matches, we have also done a bungee fitness class, we are very much a social group. We have built something that the ladies look forward to each week and keep coming back. For women in sports week, we will have 60+ ladies in the Dome, who all came together for the same reason, play ball, and have fun. We have built a very supportive environment for everyone, all levels are welcome, if you miss a goal no one is going to shout at you. We are so lucky with the mixture of girls we have, they are such a lovely bunch, there is never a cross word between any of us. It has given us all an outlet, something we can do for ourselves. So why not come and join us. Fancy getting fit, having fun, getting back into football, or trying something new? Then Ball Busters is right up your street. We play every Tuesday in the Soccer Dome in Santry 8-9pm. We have now also added an outdoor session every Monday night 8-9pm in the hope that we will get some fine evenings to enjoy having a kick about outside but hey this is Ireland!

Thank you, Rush - over €20,000 raised so far for the Irish Cancer Society, with the Ladies Lunch happening at the end of May we are confident that we will Rush can donate €30,000.00 this year. The Swimmers on Christmas day raised over €3000 and with the Daff Day total of over €17,000, this has given us a figure so far of €20,000 a huge testament to the generosity of the people of Rush. Huge thanks to everyone who came out to volunteer and to donate on Daff Day, we had a lovely sunny day, and the streets of Rush were turned yellow. Street sales, coffee morning, raffle, merchandise, and Michelle’s fun run to finish off the day’s activities. Thanks to all our wonderful cake bakers, local businesses who supported the Coffee morning, people who donated prizes and to everyone who helped on the day. We had a huge turnout at the swim on Saturday morning and thanks to everyone who braved the cold to raise awareness and funds for ICS. St Joseph’s Secondary School Transition year students were fantastic, their enthusiasm and sense of community was evident during the day. They collected outside local shops, ran the coffee morning, sold merchandise, and helped Maise with her raffle. Well done to each one of them for their help. Rush Daff Day Committee are working with Fingal Co Co to have a ‘Yellow Bench’ along the seafront at the South Beach. This bench will have a QR code on it, people can use this code to get support and advise directly from the Irish Cancer Society website. Anyone with new ideas as to now we can raise money on the day, get in contact through our Facebook page Rush Daffodil Fundraising Committee, we would be delighted to hear from you.

Visitors to Rush Community Centre on April 2nd would have been forgiven for thinking they had been temporarily transported to the island of Sodor in the Irish Sea, the fictional home of ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ and friends, as the Centre was host to an incredible exhibition of railway tracks and toys. The event was the idea of Rush ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ enthusiast and expert Barry Moore. Barry approached the Community Council with the idea of building a huge interconnecting display of his formidable collection of Thomas toys as an exhibition for the people of Rush and also to raise awareness of National Autism Day. As Rush Community Council Chairperson Brian Doherty explained, “When Barry came to us and suggested that he do something for the community and also raise awareness of National Autism Day, we were only too happy to help. It’s been wonderful to host Barry’s exhibition on ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ and hear all about Thomas’ history and the different types of track and train which Barry told visitors to the exhibition. It’s inspiring that someone of Barry’s age is so passionate about something, is so knowledgeable and wants to give something back to the community of Rush.” Barry’s mum Leanne Moore, said “It was such a great day. I couldn’t believe the turn out as it was packed the whole time.” To thank Barry for his efforts, Barry was presented with a new track to add to his collection.

Rush Tourism in partnership with Rush Community Council have managed to collect many copies of Rush Community news. The paper was started in 1975 and is now a printed history of events and people in Rush over the last 40 years. Did you win the Swimming Gala in 1983???? Did you score a goal for Rush Athletic in 1990??? Did your granny attend the Seniors Christmas party??? All these amazing memories are within the pages of Rush Community News. We are planning to bind the copies together and put them into Rush Library, Rush Community Council and Fingal Archives for future generations. We are missing some copies and need your help to complete the collection.

Do you have copies from any of these years: 1976, 1977, 1978, – 1991, 1993, 1994, -1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004.