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.
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.
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.
Major Robert Johnston, VC, 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.
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.
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 1879, making it the third oldest rugby union in the world after the RFU (England) and the SRU (Scotland).
Lansdowne Football Club, also sometimes referred to as Lansdowne Rugby Football Club, is a rugby union team based in Dublin, Ireland. 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.
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.
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 played hooker for Ireland. He was captain of the British and Irish Lions rugby union team on their 1959 tour to Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Noel Mary Joseph Purcell was a water polo player who represented both Great Britain and Ireland at the 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics respectively. He was also an Ireland rugby union international and rugby union referee. He was the first Olympic athlete to represent two different nations. He is also the only Ireland rugby union international to ever win an Olympic Gold medal. In 2012 his collection of medals and international caps were donated to Belvedere College by his daughter Rosemary and son Noel.
University College Dublin Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Dublin, Ireland, and plays in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. They play their home games at UCD Bowl.
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.
