Trevor Ringland to open Scariff Festival

Trevor Ringland, former Ireland and British and Ireland Lions rugby player and director of Co-operation Ireland, will officially open the 10th Waterways Ireland Scariff Harbour Festival on Friday, August 3. He will also introduce A Game of Three Halves to East Clare, an initiative, which has been developed in Northern Ireland to bring together young people from different communities through sport, combining rugby, hurling and soccer.

Trevor will be joined by Clare senior hurler Brendan Bugler and by a representative of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) in Clare, who will lead local players from all three disciplines, along with people from St John’s Athletic Club, Belfast, in the first ever Game of Three Halves in the county. The cross-community venture was the brainchild of Paul Brown of Belfast’s Knock Presbyterian Church and developed by PeacePlayers International, Ulster Rugby, Ulster GAA and the Irish Football Association (IFA). It has been running in Northern Ireland since 2010 and has received widespread support, bringing benefits to all sectors of the community.

According to Trevor Ringland, who is also chair and co-founder of  One Small Step Campaign in Northern Ireland, it is wonderful to have the opportunity to bring this initiative to Scariff, reflecting the power of sport in building a greater understanding between young people. ‘I am delighted to accept the Harbour Festival’s invitation to come to Scariff to offically open the festival,’ he said, ‘and to celebrate a shared objective of developing closer links with Northern Ireland on social, political, cultural and community levels. It is equally exciting to be able to bring the Game of Three Halves concept to County Clare,’ he said.

As an international rugby player, Trevor made 31 competitive appearances for the Irish rugby team, winning the Triple Crown in 1982 and 1985. He was selected for the British Lions Tour of New Zealand in 1983 and was a key member of the Ireland team, which played in the inaugural Rugby World Cup in 1987. In 1996, he organised a special peace international match in Dublin between Ireland and the Barbarians. It is his vision since then to move Northern Ireland forward, which has prompted his involvement and commitment to so many political and community organisations.

He is a member of the British Irish Association, a forum where people from all parts of Ireland and Britain meet to examine the legacy of conflict, identify emerging issues and support positive change between the governments of both jurisdictions. He has served on the Northern Ireland Policing Board, is a trustee of the RUC George Cross Foundation and is on the Northern Board of the British Council. He has also served on the Sports Council of Northern Ireland, the Broadcasting Council of the BBC and is a board member of Ireland Funds.

Michael Rodgers, chairman of the Waterways Ireland Scariff Harbour Festival committee, said the town was honoured to have such a sporting legend and peace builder come to mark the 10th anniversary of the festival. “Trevor Ringland was a household name in the 1980s as a rugby international but his passionate belief in peace and the political process has marked him apart through the later troubled decades of Northern Ireland life and right up to today,” he said.

Politically, Trevor was a founder member of the pro-Union Group Re-union, which promoted a positive vision of Unionism. He was also a former member of the East Belfast Ulster Unionist Association and was the Ulster Conservatives and Unionist candidate for East Belfast in the General Election of 2010. He is currently a member of the Northern Ireland Conservatives and is their spokesperson on sport. He is a Partner in the firm of Macauley & Ritchie Solicitors in Belfast and was awarded an MBE in 2009 for his role in ensuring a peaceful Northern Ireland.

Waterways Ireland Scariff Harbour Festival runs from Thursday, August 2 to Sunday, August 5. Its musical highlights include the revered folk singer Sean Keane, rock artist Jack L, The Walls, Birdthistle, Thrillogy and the Taylor’s Cross Céilí Band. The highly successful Family Fun Day goes ahead on Saturday, while a young anglers’ competition, boat tours, guided walks, circus acts, creative workshops, riverside activities and the street arts and craft fair will entertain young and older from near and far.