Royal Dublin Society

The Royal Dublin Society
Abbreviation RDS
Motto Nostri plena laboris (Latin Our work bears fruit)[Note 1]
Founded 1731 (The Dublin Society)
1820 (The Royal Dublin Society)
Location
Origins The Dublin Society
Area served
 Ireland
Key people
 President: Mr Matthew Dempsey
Website rds.ie
Formerly called
 The Dublin Society

The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) is the name given in 1820 to an organisation which was commonly known as the 'Dublin Society' and which was founded on 25 June 1731 "to promote and develop agriculture, arts, industry, and science in Ireland".[1] The RDS is synonymous with its main premises in Ballsbridge in Dublin, Ireland. These premises include the "RDS Arena", "RDS Simmonscourt", "RDS Main Hall" and other venues which are used regularly for exhibitions, concerts and sporting events, including regular use by the Leinster Rugby team.[2]

Name and history

Front entrance

The society was originally founded by members of the Dublin Philosophical Society, chiefly Thomas Prior and Samuel Madden, as the 'Dublin Society for improving Husbandry, Manufactures and other Useful Arts'. On 8 July 1731 – a couple of weeks after initial foundation – the designation 'and Sciences' was added to the end of its name.[3]

The stated aim of the "Dublin Society" was therefore to promote the development of arts, agriculture, industry and science in Ireland and in 1792 the Society purchased the Leskean Cabinet to further this ambition. The "Royal" prefix was adopted in 1820 when George IV became Society patron.[4]

Premises

Entrance arch to Leinster House, home of the RDS. Circa 1863–1880.

The society purchased Leinster House, home of the Duke of Leinster, in 1815 and founded a natural history museum there.[5] The society acquired its current premises at Ballsbridge in 1879, and has since increased from the original fifteen to forty acres (60,000 to 160,000 m²). The premises consist of a number of exhibition halls (at the "RDS Main Hall"), a stadium (the "RDS Arena"), meeting rooms, bars, restaurants, and a multi purpose venue named "RDS Simmonscourt Pavilion".

The RDS Main Hall is a major centre for exhibitions, concerts and other cultural events in Dublin. It hosts, for example, the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition each January.

The Simmonscourt Pavilion has a capacity of approximately 7,000, and hosted the Meteor Music Awards in February 2008, as well as a number of concerts including The Smashing Pumpkins and My Chemical Romance, and two Eurovision Song Contests, in 1981 and in 1988. Simmonscourt is where the show jumping horses are stabled during Dublin Horse Show week.

RDS Arena

Main article: RDS Arena

The RDS Arena (more commonly known simply as the RDS) was developed to host equestrian events, including the annual Dublin Horse Show. It is often used for other sporting events however – primarily football and rugby. Between September 1990 and April 1996 it was used for home games of Shamrock Rovers football club, on 19 February 1992 it played host to a home game between the Republic of Ireland national football team and Wales, and hosted the 2007 and 2008 FAI Cup finals.

In 2007 and 2008 the arena's capacity was expanded to 18,250 (with additional seated stands being built), and the venue is now used by the Leinster Rugby team for home games. The club also moved their Leinster Rugby Store to the RDS (between the two parade rings), and it is open on match days.

The covered Anglesea Stand is the oldest stand in the ground below which there is a small amount of terracing. Opposite the Anglesea Stand is the Grandstand which contains the TV gantry and was covered with a roof in 2008. Beind the goals are the uncovered North and South stands which are removed for showjumping events to allow for extra space.

The DART runs close to the RDS premises with Lansdowne and Sandymount being the closest stops. The RDS is served by bus route numbers 4, 7, 8, 18 and 27X, which stop outside the Main Hall Entrance to the RDS on Merrion Road.

Events

Dublin Horse Show

Main arena
Anglesea stand

The first solely Society-run Horse Show was held in 1868 and was one of the earliest "leaping" competitions ever held. Over time it has become a high profile International show jumping competition, national showing competition and major entertainment event in Ireland. In 1982 the RDS hosted the Show Jumping World Championships and incorporated it into the Dublin Horse Show of that year.

Concerts

In recent years, the venue has been used as a music venue, for many rock, heavy metal and pop artists.

Bruce Springsteen has played there eleven times since 1988, during The Tunnel of Love Express Tour in 1988, The Other Band Tour 1993, The Reunion Tour in 1999, "The Rising Tour" in 2003, during the "Magic Tour" in 2008[6] and during the "Working on a Dream Tour" x3 shows in 2009.[7] He played to 40,000 people during The Rising Tour in May 2003, returned to play to 115,500 people at the arena, during his Magic Tour in May 2008 and returned in July 2009, during his Working on a Dream Tour to an audience of 80,000+. and The Wrecking Ball Tour in 2012 x2 shows.

In June 2008, American band Paramore played their debut Irish concert in the RDS Arena.

Other notable performers who have played in the main arena include: Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson, Radiohead, Shania Twain, The Cure and Metallica among others. U2 played 2 dates of their "Zooropa" tour on the 27 and 28 August 1993 in the main Arena.

On 30 April 1988, the Eurovision Song Contest took place in the Simmonscourt Pavilion and was won by Celine Dion. Seven Years Earlier, on 4 April 1981, the Eurovision Song Contest was held there, was won by Bucks Fizz.

Professional wrestling

In 2005, the RDS hosted a WWE SmackDown event as part of the WWE Summerbash tour of Europe. The event featured wrestlers such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, John Cena, Kurt Angle, and Rey Mysterio.[8]

Rugby Union

The RDS is the home of Leinster Rugby. The RDS hosts Leinster's home matches in the Magners League and the Heineken Cup as well as some pre-season games. In March 2008, the final of the Leinster Schools Senior Cup was played in the RDS due to the redevelopment of Lansdowne Road, its traditional venue. An autumn international between Ireland and Fiji was played 21 November 2009.[9]

Association Football

Shamrock Rovers F.C. played their home matches at the RDS stadium between 1990 and 1996, including against Górnik Zabrze in the 1994–95 UEFA Cup. The stadium hosted an international between the Republic of Ireland and Wales in February 1992; the 1994 UEFA Under-16 Championships; the FAI Cup Final in 2007 and 2008; and the 2008–09 UEFA Cup match between St Patrick's Athletic and Hertha Berlin.[10] St. Pat's also played Steaua Bucureşti in the Arena on 27 August 2009 in the Play-off round of the opening season of the Europa League. The Republic of Ireland played two international friendly fixtures on 25 and 28 May 2010 against Paraguay and Algeria.

Other

In 1983, the Ireland team played in the World Group of the Davis Cup for the only time. The match against a United States team including John McEnroe was played in the RDS rather than the usual venue, Fitzwilliam, to accommodate crowds of 6,000 each day.[11]

Exams

The RDS hosts the University College Dublin exams before Christmas and in May/June, and Trinity College Dublin exams in April, among others.

Awards

RDS Irish Times Boyle Medal for Scientific Excellence

The Boyle Medal (named after Robert Boyle (1627–1691), was inaugurated in 1899 and is awarded jointly by the RDS and the Irish Times for scientific research of exceptional merit in Ireland. By 2013 the medal had been awarded to 38 scientists.

Past recipients of the Boyle Medal:[12]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Nostri plena laboris (Latin from Virgil’s Aeneid is often translated as Our work bears fruit, but the Latin labor (genitive singular labōris) can mean both "work" and "suffering"/"illness" so a literal translation would be "full of our work." This is an allusion to Virgil's Aeneid I:459-460: "Constitit et lacrimans, 'Quis iam locus' inquit 'Achate, quae regio in terris nostri non plena laboris?"" (Aeneas halted, and said with tears, "What place is there, Achates, what region of earth is not full of our suffering?")

References

  1. ↑ "Foundation: Advancing Agriculture, Arts, Industry and Science". Royal Dublin Society. Retrieved 2 November 2008.
  2. ↑ "RDS in multi-million deal to host Leinster matches". Sunday Business Post. 10 December 2006. Retrieved 2 November 2008.
  3. ↑ The Royal Dublin Society. Ireland: Iona Print Ltd. 1978.
  4. ↑ Royal Dublin Society, The; James Meenan; Desmond Clarke (1981). RDS, The Royal Dublin Society, 1731–1981. Ireland: Gill and Macmillan. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-7171-1125-1.
  5. ↑ John James M'Gregor, Picture of Dublin, C.P. Archer, Dublin, 1821. p. 41
  6. ↑ "Bruce Springsteen rocks the RDS…". Hot Press. 23 May 2008. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
  7. ↑ x2 shows 9 "Bruce Springsteen Working on a Dream Tour Dates 2009" Check |url= value (help). Pop Crunch magazine website. 27 January 2009. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
  8. ↑ "You are Here: Home > WWE SmackDown! House Show - June 18th, 2005WWE SmackDown! House Show - June 18th, 2005". Aaron Mykyta. 18 June 2005. Retrieved 24 April 2015.
  9. ↑ Watterson, Johnny (16 May 2009). "RDS to host Fiji for debut on international rugby stage". The Irish Times. Retrieved 16 May 2009.
  10. ↑ StPatsFC.com – Match Report
  11. ↑ "1980's – Matt Doyle and Sean Sorenson". Tennis Ireland. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
  12. ↑ "Boyles Medal Laureates". Royal Dublin Society. Retrieved 10 February 2013.

External links

Coordinates: 53°19′36″N 6°13′43″W / 53.32667°N 6.22861°W / 53.32667; -6.22861

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