Born: August 1st, 1933.
Died: August 16th, 2022.
Don Crowley was President of the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) in 2002 when it made the decision to disband professional rugby in Connacht. As a Galwegian, loyal to Connacht, he managed not to take this personally, though it did make his life stressful. However, his considerable diplomatic skills became evident as he quietly encouraged protest groups such as the 2,000 “Friends of Connacht” who organised a protest march on Landsdowne Road; the Irish Rugby Union Players Association; the grassroots rugby people of the west, and the many clubs around the country who threatened to vote against the decision.
In what The Irish Times at the time described as “The most significant climbdown in the 129 history of the IRFU”, the pressure told and the decision was reversed. Cowley and his allies set about harvesting the enthusiasm and goodwill generated by the campaign. There followed a major increase in the number of clubs and schools playing the game in the province, something of which he was very proud.
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A rugby man all of his life, Cowley was educated by the Patrician Brothers in the Monastery School and St. Joseph’s College in Galway. He won a Connacht senior cup medal with his school, captained a Connacht School’s XV, won a Connacht Senior Cup with UCG and went on to play wing forward for Galwegians RFC. His work brought him abroad for a number of years and on his return he started coaching with ‘Wegians. Having enjoyed his playing career, he was happy to serve the game in whatever capacity.
A born administrator, he became president of the club, later secretary and president of the Connacht branch before being elected to the IRFU committee. His personality made him an ideal liaison man for teams visiting this country such as the All Blacks, the Pumas, The Springboks, Australia, the Barbarians, Fiji and Italy.
He was born in Queen Street in Galway in 1933, one of five children born to his father Patrick and his mother May (nee Connolly). His siblings were Sarah who later became Sister Sarah, Desmond, Kevin and Martin. Having finished school, he went to University College Galway and graduated with a degree in civil engineering.
He began his working life in Kensington, London, then returned to Ireland to work with Galway County Council before joining Watlings of Glasgow, an engineering firm that sent him to Fifeshire for a number of months. It eventually invited him to join its overseas section and so he found himself in Beida working on the new Federal Capital of Libya building. At one stage, he was forced to shelter with a number of other people from a sandstorm, among whom was Victoria Xuereb from Malta, an artist who was there doing design work. It was a very romantic first meeting and shortly afterwards they became man and wife.
Crowley’s next career move was to Malta, where he worked on a major airport extension, then it was on to Gibraltar where he was involved in tunnelling on the rock and on building a hospital. Next he moved to Sierra Leone. He was employed in the building of infrastructure there such as roads, which meant clearing the jungle as they progressed. He often had to find and develop quarries to source the stone needed. There were two coup d’etats while they were there. Their home was taken over by armed soldiers more than once. Don was then invited by a German engineering company to help build roads and bridges in Cameroon.
Young family
By 1970, now with a young family, the Crowleys decided it was time to move back to Ireland and have their children grow up and be educated here. Don joined a Galway firm, Rooney, McLoughlin & Company, and worked on major projects such as the new arts block in UCG, Castlebar Hospital and the Corrib Great Southern Hotel in Galway. In 1990 he set up his own company, DM Crowley Associates, and worked there until he retired.
He is survived by his wife Vicki, his children Mark, Deborah, Dominique, Adrian, Quentin and Amanda, and his beloved grandchildren