Rugby & charity in memory of Shane Duggan

Welcome to the fundraiser page for our rugby team, the Duggan Sevens and our selected charity, the Beaumont Hospital Foundation. Thank you for taking the time to join us here.

We have formed this team in celebration of the life and memory of our former friend and team mate: the late great Shane Duggan. Shane was half of a pair of legendary twins that played for us at the Abu Dhabi Harlequins from Under 5s to Under 16s. It’s fair to say that the Duggan twins were instrumental in the successes we enjoyed in the UAE junior rugby leagues and tournaments, and we were incredibly lucky to have them for as long as we did.

When the twins returned to their native Dublin we stayed in touch, and they continued to be a star feature of our touring sides whenever we went to Europe. But it was while our team were on tour in Kenya in 2018 that we received the devastating news that Shane had been taken from us in a road accident. In response to this our team pulled together and we went to play a memorial tournament at Shane’s Castleknock school in Dublin. Afterwards we decided to try to keep our team together, and continue to play in celebration of Shane’s remarkable rugby talent as adults at the Dubai 7s, the premier rugby tournament in the country where Shane had spent so much of his life.

2022 marks the first of hopefully many outings for the Duggan Sevens. We are proud that this ambition, first formulated in despair in a bar in Nairobi, will be joyfully realized for Shane’s old Abu Dhabi friends, team mates, coaches and comrades.

Of course it’s not cheap for us to do this, and the inescapable fact is that most of us are currently penniless students, largely dependent on minimum wage jobs and the kindness of strangers. So yes, if you can donate something, however small, we shall be eternally grateful. We also pledge that half of any money raised will be donated to the Beaumont Hospital Foundation who cared for Shane.

Whether you can contribute or not, we would be proud to see you at the tournament in Dubai on December 1-3; and for those of you who do, you will be rewarded by seeing Shane’s amazing and talented twin, Conor, in action.