Over €70,000 raised by UCD Rugby Football Club for Irish Cancer Society

9 April 2026

^{Emmet MacMahon, UCD Director of Rugby; John Hammond, UCD RFC; Nikki Gallagher, CEO of Irish Cancer Society; Ciara O’Connor, UCD RFC Club Manager; Willie Byrnes, UCD RFC President Credit: Henry Simpson}

UCD Rugby Football Club has raised €70,177.79 for the Irish Cancer Society during its 2026 Daffodil Day campaign.

The amount adds to the total the club has raised for the charity in recent years, which now exceeds €250,000.

This year’s Daffodil Day campaign was launched at an event in the UCD Bowl on 25 February, with Irish and Leinster Rugby players including Hugo Keenan, James Ryan and Josh van der Flier in attendance.

The official UCD RFC Daffodil Day took place on 5 March, and was supported by a series of on-campus and online events.

These included a pub quiz and a darts tournament in the UCD Clubhouse. Volunteers were also positioned across campus to take donations from passers-by.

Further fundraising events took place in the weeks that followed, including the Daffodil Day Ladies’ Luncheon at UCD’s Astra Hall, which contributed half of the total money raised.

In addition, the club held an online raffle, which students could enter to win signed rugby jerseys from the British & Irish Lions and South Africa teams.

Proceeds from a UCD vs. Clontarf Rugby match also contributed to the fundraiser.

Led by UCD Rugby, the on-campus Daffodil Day fundraiser is organised each year by second-year students from the BSc Sport & Exercise Management programme.

The club showed their gratitude via social media to those who took part, saying: “A huge thank you to everyone who donated, volunteered, and supported us along the way – your kindness and generosity will make a real difference.”

“Like most families, my own has been affected by cancer. In the last two years, I’ve unfortunately lost two sisters to cancer,” said UCD Rugby’s John Hammond, who founded the on-campus Daffodil Day initiative. 

“When we started Daffodil Day on campus just over ten years ago, we never thought we’d raise this much money. Being impacted so directly and so recently by cancer certainly makes raising the funds all the more important.”

By: Rebecca Hastings, Digital Journalist, UCD University Relations

To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie