Ruth Chambers carrying on a family tradition

There can be few people out there who will reflect back on 2020 with much fondness, warmth or nostalgia.

After all it was the year of the great plague; the ultimate annus horribilis, the year from hell.

Over the festive season there were those who were determined to stay up for midnight on New Year's Eve just to ensure they were there to say "good riddance" to the old year as it went out the door and "a hundred thousand welcomes" to the new one as it came in.

Yet, for Walterstown woman Ruth Chambers, or Ruth O'Brien as some local people still refer to her, the year contained at least one moment she will never forget, perhaps even cherish - and with good reason.

Shortly before Christmas she made history by becoming the first woman to be elected chairperson of Walterstown GAA Club.

There were a number of other subplots surrounding her election that also made it highly significant. For starters the club AGM was held through Microsoft Teams - the first time that had happened - and for a finish by getting elected Ruth followed in the footsteps of other members of her family who have held the position; she sustained a rich family tradition.

"My grandfather Christopher O'Brien, or Kit as we all knew him as, first took over as chairman of Walterstown in the early 1960s. He was always heavily involved and he was later elected President of the club," she explains. Later, Ruth's father Aidan O'Brien was to also fill the position for a year as did an uncle, Sean O'Brien.

"I just figured now might be the time to go for it, I was heavily involved, I would like to think I would get along with everybody and have the respect of the members so I said yeah, why not? There's never a good time or a bad time to do something like this."

She takes over a club with a rich tradition. Its origins go back, after all, to 1902 and for a time in the late 1970s and '80s Walterstown was not only one of the top clubs in Meath but among the elite in the country. They reached two All-Ireland club finals, in 1981 and '83, the fact that they lost both - to Cork sides St Finbarr's and Nemo Rangers - hardly matters in this context.

The important point to note is that they got there; they were contenders.

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Ruth, 38, is married to Galway man Mike Chambers, who works in Intel. She is also a mother of two, Aidan (7) and Sarah (6) and she now belongs to what is still, even in 2021, an exclusive group indeed - young mothers under 40 who are chairpersons of their local GAA clubs. Maybe she's the only member of that particular select group in the country?

While there are an increasing number of women who are members of club committees and executives, relatively few have taken that extra step and occupied the top job - and she knows what she wants to achieve as she sets out on a journey into the unknown.

"Going forward for the chair didn't really have anything to do with family history, it's just something I wanted to do and I have a vision. It's a vision held by so many others in the club and it's to provide football for as many people as we can in Johnstown and Walterstown.

“To have as many kids come through the gates as we can and make sure they enjoy themselves no matter what their ability is. “That's what it's all about, the club is there for the community. We are there, not just for the elite of the community, we are there for everybody."

Ruth O'Brien grew up close to Lismullin school where she also attended before going on to St Michael's, Loreto in Navan. For as long as she can remember sport played a huge part in her life.

She became well aware as a youngster the very significant role family members had played in helping to turn Walterstown from a small rural club into one of the powerhouses of the club game in the 1970s and '80s; an era when the Blacks were regularly in contention for the Keegan Cup and went close to the pinnacle - an All-Ireland title.

Her uncle, Mick O'Brien guided the fortunes of both Walterstown and Meath and was seen as an innovative, imaginative coach. Other members of the O'Brien clan helped the Blacks win crucial games on the field of play including Oliver, Eamonn (who also became a Meath selector and manager), Aidan (who sadly passed away in 2010) and Dermot.

"All my uncles would have played and served at some committee level," adds Ruth whose mother, Kay, also came from a family with a fine tradition in the game.

"Her mother’s brother Larry Drumm played for Meath. Larry was a great Walterstown player as well, so there was football on both sides.”

SPORT

There was another reason that ensured as a youngster Ruth O'Brien was very familiar with what was going on, not only in GAA but in the world of sport.

"I was an only child and my father took me to just about everything when it came to sport, international soccer, Gaelic games, boxing, athletics, League of Ireland football, everything."

She tells the story of how father and daughter joined the hordes of Irish supporters who travelled to the 1994 World Cup in America. They shared experiences that are now treasured memories of days full of fun and adventure.

"We went to Orlando to see the Republic against Mexico, the day Jack Charlton and John Aldridge became involved in an incident with an official along the sideline.

"It was so hot the suncream I had put on myself melted and ran into my eyes. I couldn't see a thing, my eyes were stinging and burning. I nudged my father and I said: 'Dad I have to go under the stand I can't handle this heat, I can't see anything.' He was engrossed in the game, but I went under the stand and after the game he realised I was missing. I ended up in a room, I think it was a doctor's room, with first aid responders. I'm not sure how he found me, but he eventually did, it was funny the way it all worked out."

It was on another trip with her father, this time to the 1997 World Youth Championships in Malaysia to see how Brian Kerr's young side performed, that Ruth came to realise what she wanted to do in life.

"I was only a youngster and there was a journalist there from The Sun I think and I said: 'Dad what's he doing?' He explained what his job was and I realised you could make a living from watching sport. I worked for years as a sports journalist and I enjoyed every minute of it.”

Ruth trained to be a journalist and worked in the Athlone Topic and the Offaly Independent and later the Leinster Leader where she spent over 10 years as deputy sports editor based in Naas.

In time she met and married Mike Chambers and they and their children lived in Newbridge for a time before moving back to Meath over two year ago.

"It just felt like the right time to move with Aidan due to start school, I wanted him to go to Lismullin. I wanted to be close to my mam as well. I'm so glad we did move back, the community in Johnstown and Walterstown is brilliant, it's a great area to live, we love it."

Not content in just returning back to her native parish, Ruth was eager to play a role prompting her to step out and become chairperson of Walterstown GFC.

She also fills in as club PRO, a position she also holds for the Meath Minor Board.

Mother, chairperson, PRO, it all ensures a busy time for Ruth Chambers, but she's up for it.

"You can spend hours alone on social media, your Facebook page, your Twitter account, your Instagram. We recently redesigned our website, it all takes time, but I'm willing to put in the hours to do that, and be chair as well. When the kids are at school I can do a lot of that kind of work. I'm also a night owl so I'll be working at it at night, but there plenty of people in Walterstown willing to roll up their sleeves, it's not just me."

Maybe not, but she has stepped forward to take the club into 2021 - and perhaps a new golden era.