Wanderers F.C. (rugby union)

Last updated • 2 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Wanderers FC
Full nameWanderers Football Club
Union IRFU
Leinster
Nickname(s)The Chaps;
Founded1870;154 years ago (1870)
Region County Dublin
Ground(s) Lansdowne Road
Ballsbridge
Dublin 4

Merrion Road
Ballsbridge
Dublin 4
PresidentNeil Metchette
League(s)AIL Div 2B
Kit left arm wanderersrfc.png
Kit left arm.svg
Kit body wanderersrfc.png
Kit body.svg
Kit right arm wanderersrfc.png
Kit right arm.svg
Kit shorts.svg
Kit socks hoops white.png
Kit socks long.svg
Team kit
Clubhouse Wanderers-Clubhouse.jpg
Clubhouse

Wanderers Football Club is a senior rugby union club based in Dublin, Ireland, playing in Division 2B of the All-Ireland League. [1] It is one of the oldest rugby clubs in Ireland, [2] [3] however its exact date of foundation is open to question. In 1860 a team by the name of Wanderers played against Dublin University. However the current team gives its foundation date as 1870. While the link between the two teams is unclear, they both seem to have been founded by former Dublin University players. [4] [5] In 1879 Wanderers were among the founding members of the Irish Rugby Football Union. They have also regularly provided international players for Ireland, including five captains. In 1959, Ronnie Dawson also went on to captain the British and Irish Lions. They have also provided one captain each for both England and Australia.

Contents

Since 1880 Wanderers have shared Lansdowne Road with Lansdowne Football Club, with each club having their own clubhouse at opposite ends of the ground. However, since 1974 the ground itself has been owned by the IRFU. [6]

Notable players

[7]

Ireland

At least 87 Wanderers players have represented Ireland. These include the following:

British and Irish Lions

As well as representing Ireland, several Wanderers players have also represented the British and Irish Lions. [3] These include:

Other internationals

Ireland coaches

Victoria Cross

Three former Wanderers players and Ireland internationals have also been awarded the Victoria Cross. Crean and Johnston served with the British Army during the Second Boer War while Harvey served with the Canadian Army during the First World War. [8]

Honours

[9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irish Rugby Football Union</span> Governing body for rugby union on the island of Ireland

The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland. The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium, where adult men's Irish rugby union international matches are played. In addition, the Union also owns the Ravenhill Stadium in Belfast, Thomond Park in Limerick and a number of grounds in provincial areas that have been rented to clubs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ireland national rugby union team</span> Ireland mens international rugby union team

The Ireland national rugby union team is the men's representative national team for the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland competes in the annual Six Nations Championship and in the Rugby World Cup. Ireland is one of the four unions that make up the British & Irish Lions – players eligible to play for Ireland are also eligible for the Lions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leinster Rugby</span> Rugby union team in Ireland

Leinster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial club rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Crean</span> Irish rugby union player and recipient of the Victoria Cross

Major Dr. Thomas Joseph Crean was an Irish rugby union player, British Army soldier and doctor. During the Second Boer War, while serving with the Imperial Light Horse, he was awarded the Victoria Cross. In 1902, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. During the First World War he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Johnston (VC recipient)</span> Irish rugby union player and recipient of the Victoria Cross

Major Robert Johnston was an Irish rugby union player and soldier. During the Second Boer War, Johnston was awarded the Victoria Cross while serving with the Imperial Light Horse. He played rugby for both Ireland and the British Lions. He is one of three Ireland rugby union internationals to have been awarded the Victoria Cross. The other two are Thomas Crean, who also served with the Imperial Light Horse in the Second Boer War, and Frederick Harvey who served in the First World War. Johnston, Crean and Harvey all played club rugby for Wanderers. In 1896 Johnston and Crean were also members of the same British Lions squad that toured South Africa . Johnston was also one of three alumni of King William's College to have been awarded the VC. The other two were George Stuart White and Robert Henry Cain. White served in the Second Anglo-Afghan War and Cain served in the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Maurice Watson Harvey</span> Irish-born Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross

Brigadier Frederick Maurice Watson Harvey, VC, MC was an Irish-born Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, Canadian soldier and rugby union player. During the First World War, while serving in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the Military Cross and the French Croix de Guerre.

The Leinster Senior Cup is a major rugby competition in Ireland, involving all senior rugby clubs in Leinster, i.e., clubs from Leinster competing in the All-Ireland League. From 2006 until 2016 it was known as the Leinster Senior League Cup during the period when the Leinster Senior League had been discontinued, but reverted to its traditional name for the 2016–17 season upon the revival of the Senior League. From 2011 to 2016 only the top senior teams competed and those in the lower divisions of the All-Ireland League competed for the Leinster Senior League Shield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rugby union in Ireland</span>

Rugby union is a popular team sport on the island of Ireland, organised on an all-Ireland basis, including players and teams from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Its governing body, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), was founded in 1875, making it the third oldest rugby union in the world after the RFU (England) and the SRU (Scotland), which were both founded in 1871.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lansdowne Football Club</span> Irish rugby union club, based in Dublin

Lansdowne Football Club, is a rugby union team based in Dublin, Ireland. Called Football Club instead of Rugby Football Club due to being founded before the formation of the IRFU. It was founded in 1872 by Henry Dunlop as the Irish Champion Athletic Club. Its senior team currently plays in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. The club's playing colours are black, red and yellow hoops, with navy shorts.

Old Belvedere R.F.C. is a senior Irish rugby union club based on Anglesea Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin, Ireland. Old Belvedere was originally founded in 1918–19 by former pupils of Belvedere College. Old Belvedere enters senior men's teams in the All-Ireland League, the Leinster Senior League and the Leinster Senior Cup. In 2010–11 they were All-Ireland League champions. Between 1940 and 1946 the club won the Leinster Senior Cup seven times in a row. This remains a competition record. Old Belvedere also enters men's and women's teams in various senior, junior and youth leagues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clontarf F.C.</span> Irish rugby union football club

Clontarf Football Club is an Irish Rugby union club based in Clontarf, Dublin. The club play in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League.

The Leinster Senior League, inaugurated in 1971–72, is a rugby union competition for senior clubs in the Irish province of Leinster. It has traditionally been ranked second in importance to the Leinster Senior Cup. It declined in importance due to the formation of the All-Ireland League and growth in importance of the Heineken Cup and was eventually merged with the Senior Cup, sometime before 2006, before being revived in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leinster Cricket Club</span> Cricket team

Leinster Cricket Club is an Irish cricket club which was founded in Rathgar in 1852. The Dublin sports club now hosts tennis, squash, table tennis, bowls and cricket. The Leinster Sports Club complex is situated in the Observatory Lane ground, in the heart of Rathmines. The cricket section currently has eight men's teams, three women's sides and fifteen youth sides.

Dublin University Football Club (DUFC) is the rugby union club of Trinity College, in Dublin, Ireland, which plays in Division 1B of the All-Ireland League.

Alfred Ronald Dawson was a rugby union player who was a hooker for Ireland. He was captain of the British Lions rugby union team on their 1959 tour to Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Colours Match</span> Annual rugby union fixture

The Colours Match is an annual rugby union fixture between Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin. Rugby matches between UCD RFC and DUFC predate the inauguration of "The Colours Match". Their first meeting took place at Terenure on 18 October 1919, won by Trinity.

St Andrew's College Dublin is a co-educational, inter-denominational, international Private day school, founded in 1894 by members of the Presbyterian community, and now located in Booterstown, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland. The school colours are blue and white.

Henry Wallace Doveton Dunlop was a sports promoter, civil servant, engineer and, a former leader of Irish Rugby, founder of Lansdowne Football Club and figure behind the construction of the former Lansdowne Road stadium.

The Dublin Hospitals Rugby Cup is a rugby union competition contested by the teaching hospitals in Dublin since 1881. The competition has a claim to the oldest rugby union competition in the world. The United Hospitals Cup in London was started 6 years earlier, but 12 years were not played during the periods of World War I and World War II.

William Arthur O'Neill was an Irish international rugby union player.

References

  1. "Wanderers back in big time thanks to flawless campaign". independent.
  2. "www.irishrugby.ie". Archived from the original on 12 December 2013.
  3. 1 2 The Ireland Rugby Miscellany (2007): Ciaran Cronin
  4. "DUFC | Trinity Rugby". DUFC | Trinity Rugby. Archived from the original on 25 December 2008.
  5. "www.wanderers.ie". Archived from the original on 11 January 2009.
  6. "Theatre of Green: Gaelic games end a century of separatism". The Independent. 22 October 2011.
  7. "www.wanderers.ie". Archived from the original on 12 January 2009.
  8. "The Times & The Sunday Times". www.thetimes.co.uk.
  9. "www.wanderers.ie". Archived from the original on 12 January 2009.