The Club is delighted to announce that Graham Cloke has been appointed as Head Coach of Donaghadee RFC.
Graham played senior rugby with Academy RFC in the 1980s and NICFC (now part of Harlequins RFC) in the early 1990s. After finishing his competitive playing career he went on to play vets rugby and also turned out for Perennials RFC before starting to coach at his local club, Larne RFC, in 2001 where the club were successful in winning Gordon West Cup and Kukri Qualifying Three in 2005.
Graham obtained the necessary coaching accreditations in the years following and between 2005 and 2008 coached the Ulster Womens’ team and Ulster Youth Regional Development Squads. In 2009 CIYMS offered Graham the position of Head Coach and in his five seasons at Belmont their 1st XV were promoted from Qualifying Two to Qualifying One in his second season in charge and went on to qualify for the prestigious All Ireland Junior Cup by finishing in the Top Four in Qualifying One in two of the following three seasons.
In March to June of 2014 Graham took a sabbatical to coach a club he had played for in Australia – Geelong RFC and, on returning to these shores, was offered the Head Coach role at Dromore RFC where, in an exceptionally competitive Qualifying One league campaign, a Top Four finish was secured by the Club for the first time in seven seasons.
Graham is married with three children and, in whatever is left of his spare time, enjoys looking after the family menagerie of a dog, two cats and a horse.
Commenting on the appointment Donaghadee RFC Director of Rugby Chris Good said “We are extremely pleased that Graham has decided to take up our offer to become Head Coach at Donaghadee. The standard of applications for the post was particularly high but we felt that Graham was the stand-out candidate in terms of experience and past success and, indeed, in his vision of how he will approach the job in the Dee. Having had first-hand experience of playing against clubs in both Qualifying One and Two that Graham has coached we are confident that his undoubted expertise will assist us in our stated aim of returning to Qualifying One at the earliest opportunity whilst continuing our recent success in both the Junior & Towns Cup competitions. Graham will head up an extensive coaching team at the Dee this incoming season, including Assistant Coach John West and S&C Coach Paddy McGrattan, and we know they will be challenging, not only the 1st XV, but also the resurgent 2nd and 3rd XVs to move forward into an exciting new era for rugby in Donaghadee”.
Graham starts out is his role at the Club immediately but players, members, officials and alickadoos will have the opportunity to meet him at the upcoming Annual Dinner & Awards Night to be held at Donaldson Park on Friday 5th June 2015. In the meantime all at the Club would wish Graham both every success in his new post and, of course, a huge Dee welcome!
