- North of Ireland F.C.
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North of Ireland FC Full name North of Ireland Football Club Union IRFU
UlsterFounded 1868 Ground(s) Ormeau Road
BelfastLeague(s) Ulster Senior League
AIB LeagueNorth of Ireland Football Club is a former Irish rugby union club that was based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was the first rugby club formed in what is now Northern Ireland and only two other clubs - Dublin University and Wanderers - were formed earlier anywhere else in all Ireland [1][2]. It was founded in 1868 by members of North of Ireland Cricket Club [3]. NIFC also played in the first recorded rugby game in Ulster when they played a 20-a-side match against Queen's University RFC.
Throughout its history, NIFC was one of the most successful clubs in Ulster rugby, winning eighteen Ulster Senior League titles and eighteen Ulster Senior Cup titles. They also played several seasons in the AIB League before merging with Collegians in 1999 to form Belfast Harlequins [4].
The club left its historic home on the Ormeau Road (one of the earliest international rugby venues in Ireland[5]) after a series of sectarian arson attacks, including the burning of its pavilion. The club, with a mainly Protestant membership, was perceived as being "isolated in a zone of working-class nationalism".[6]
Contents
Notable players
See also Category:North of Ireland F.C. players
Ireland
The following NIFC players represented Ireland at full international level.
- Stephen Blake-Knox
- Robert Alexander
- Norman Brann
- Ian Davidson
- Thomas Gisborne Gordon, the only one handed player in international rugby.[7]
- Gordon Hamilton [8]
- David Hewitt
- Jack Kyle
- Mike Gibson
- A.N. McClinton
- Harry Neill [9]
- Dolway Walkington
British and Irish Lions
The following NIFC players also represented the British and Irish Lions [10].
- Tom McGown: 1899
- Ian Davidson: 1903
- A.N. McClinton: 1910
- Norman Brann: 1924
Ireland cricket team
The following NIFC players also represented Ireland at cricket.
- Robert Alexander
- Neil Doak
Honours
- AIB Division Three
- Winners: 1994-95: 1
- Ulster Senior League
- Winners: 1892, 1893, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1901, 1902, 1909, 1921, 1927, 1946, 1955, 1959, 1966, 1992: 18
- Ulster Senior Cup
- Winners: 1885, 1893, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1901, 1902, 1908, 1920, 1930, 1935, 1939, 1955, 1969, 1973: 18
- Runners Up : 1887, 1903, 1906, 1909, 1911, 1921, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1971, 1977, 1979, 1984, 1992: 14
- Ulster Junior Cup
- Winners: 1895, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1936, 1954, 1957, 1963, 1985: 9
- Runners Up : 1896, 1899, 1902, 1924, 1927, 1952, 1962, 1976 : 8
References
- ^ www.irishrugby.ie
- ^ The Ireland Rugby Miscellany (2007): Ciaran Cronin
- ^ www.la84foundation.org pg 6
- ^ www.irishrugby.ie
- ^ See references to Ireland's matches against Scotland from 1877 to 1889: Ireland v Scotland - Head to Head Statistics
- ^ D. Sharrock, ‘Goodbye to all that, as the Belfast sporting club where W.G. Grace swung his bat uproots for Protestant sanctuary’, The Guardian, 13 August 1997, p. 6. Cited in Cronin, M. (2000), "Catholics and Sport in Northern Ireland: Exclusiveness or Inclusiveness?", International Sports Studies, Volume 22, Number 1, 2000. Available at http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/ISS/ISS2201/ISS2201d.pdf
- ^ John O'Sullivan (03/05/2010). "Planet rugby". Irish Times. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2010/0503/1224269590998.html.
- ^ www.rte.ie
- ^ www.ulsterbiography.co.uk
- ^ The Ireland Rugby Miscellany (2007): Ciaran Cronin
Founding Clubs of the IRFU Irish Rugby Football Union - 1879 Irish Football Union (and associated members) · Northern Football Union of Ireland (and associated members)Irish Football Union - 1874 Dublin University Football Club · Lansdowne Football Club · Wanderers Football Club · Dungannon RFC · Engineers · Portora · Bray · MonaghanNorthern Football Union of Ireland - 1875 Categories:- Sports clubs established in 1868
- Irish rugby union teams
- Rugby union clubs in Northern Ireland
- Belfast Harlequins
- Rugby union clubs in County Antrim
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