Banbridge RFC
Banbridge RFC
| Full name |
Banbridge Rugby Football Club |
| Union |
IRFU
Ulster |
| Nickname(s) |
Bann |
| Founded |
1926 |
| Ground(s) |
Rifle Park, Banbridge |
| President |
John Ewart |
| Coach(es) |
Daniel Soper |
Banbridge RFC (Banbridge Rugby Football Club) is a rugby union club based in Banbridge, County Down, in the province of Ulster. It currently plays in Division 2B of the Ulster Bank All Ireland League. In addition to the senior team, the club fields another four adult junior-standard teams, and youth U19, U17, U15 and U13 teams, as well as a large mini rugby section. This season the 3rds team won their league and are promoted to Junior League 1 and they also won the Harding cup, last won by Heslips Heros 20 years ago.
Formation
Late in 1925, a group of former Banbridge Academy pupils interested in the game of rugby, got together to form a team to play Newry. The date of that historic first game was 2 January 1926. One of the players in that first game was F. E. McWilliam; later the well known Irish surrealist sculptor.
Banbridge spent the next 72 years in the ranks of Ulster junior rugby, with mixed fortunes.
Senior status
At the end of the 1997-98 season, Banbridge won the round-robin play-offs against the other provincial qualifying champions Naas, Monivea and Midleton. Their victory secured promotion to Division Four of the All Ireland League for the 1998-99 season. They have remained as an AIL senior club since then.
Touring Team
- The Club also have a touring team called the Bluesox that have travelled to Oldham, Newcastle, Cardiff, Edinburgh, The Netherlands, Isle of Man, Czech Republic, Uxbridge, Estonia, Blackpool. Germany, Devon, Germany, Portugal, Irvine & Italy since 1997. In 2012 the team are going to Leeds.
Notable Current players
Notable Past players
Sources
External links
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