About Malone Tornadoes
Malone Tornadoes, evolved from Newforge Taggers. The Newforge Taggers Tag Rugby Football Club was established in September 2006 for people with learning disabilities (age 6 years and over) and it was the first club of its type in Ireland. A mixed gender club with the focus on fun and inclusion, the ‘Taggers’ are the Junior section of the Police Service of Northern Ireland RFC and take the name Newforge from the home of the PSNI sport. When many of the players reached adulthood, they were keen to keep developing their skills especially in contact rugby. With no facilities for these young men to explore their dreams in an appropriate environment, Sam McBurney and Tim Craig pulled together a number of ex-players and coaches to set up the first Mixed Ability Rugby team in Ulster in 2018.
Training on a Monday night, numbers started to grow and each week a different member of the Senior Ulster Squad was there to build on the enthusiasm and add wise words to the keen learners. Darren Cave, Ulster Rugby’s formerly joint top capped player, became the Patron. This was also an opportunity for retired/ injured players to get back involved in the game and thus enhancing the clear distinction that the Tornadoes are a Mixed Ability Team not being classed as a Disability Team were everyone is welcome and everyone plays on an even footing.
The club went from strength to strength playing a range of teams across Ulster who bought into the concept and played competitive yet supportive rugby to enhance the Tornadoes’ players’ experiences. The Tornadoes have gone on the road to grow the game by taking exhibition friendlies in clubs across Ulster, with no links to this form of rugby. In doing so, the Tornadoes aim is to also provide a platform for referees to have the opportunity to gain an understanding of the game and develop their knowledge and expertise, so that they too can enhance the game. The Tornadoes quickly built up a wealth of knowledge and expertise in Mixed Ability Rugby and provided huge support and experience in helping the formation of Banbridge Barbarians MAR. This close friendship has grown from strength to strength with regular games and sharing of ideas and also during IMART 22 when injuries took their toll, Malone Tornadoes provided players to boost the Barbarians squad in their time of need.
In another opportunity to share the development and understanding of the Mixed Ability game, Tornadoes played Banbridge during the halftime interval of the Ulster v Toulouse European Cup match at The Kingspan stadium. In front of a crowd of 18,000 which is the biggest watched, live game in Mixed Ability history, the wider family and community dimension was strengthened in that there were seven different father-son combinations on the pitch including the referee which was truly a wonderful, unique experience.
Numbers swelled and with the postponed IMART World Cup 2020 in Cork revived for 2022, work began to ensure the Tornadoes were ready for the competition. Amongst our ranks we are blessed to have so many talented individuals who all bring something unique to the team. We are particularly delighted to have inspiration in the form of a few players who have created their own bit of history when donning the Red Hand of Ulster. The Tornadoes are also delighted that current Ulster player Harry Sheridan comes regularly to training to lend his support and encouragement whilst picking up many important rugby skills.
Our renowned coach, Stewart Porter, represented Scotland and Ulster. Stewart and Sam McBurney have continued to deliver their wisdom and knowledge about players with disability and how the importance and impact that Malone Tornadoes has had on our players, their families and the wider community. They initially worked closely with IMAS Ireland and spent time in Bradford with IMAS to gain further insight in the structure that would be required to lead the way in the being the first club in Ulster Rugby to have Mixed Ability provision at Malone Tornadoes.