Ballynahinch Rabbitohs are an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

semi-professional rugby league team based in

Ballynahinch Ballynahinch may refer to: Northern Ireland * Ballynahinch, County Armagh, a townland *Ballynahinch, County Down, a town Republic of Ireland *Ballynahinch (barony), in County Galway *Ballynahinch, County Galway, a townland in County Galway * Bally ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. They play in the Ulster Conference of the

Irish Elite League The All-Ireland Rugby League Championship (now the McGettigans All-Ireland League for sponsorship reasons) was first played for in 1997 under the title All-Ireland Challenge Cup. Since then it has also been known as the All-Ireland League, Elite L ...

. They play their matches at Ballymacaren Park.

History

In their first two years of existence, the club were known as the Ballynahinch Bulls. There were no fixtures played in 2008 with a number of teams not fulfilling fixtures. In 2009, the team competed in the

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

9's and won the first ever Ulster Conference league against the Belfast Bulldogs but weren't invited to compete for the All Ireland title. 2010 saw the emergence of the Rabbitohs branding with the full support from the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen pla ...

. The season kicked off with victory at the Ulster 9's which was followed with a second league title after a victory over Fermanagh Redskins. There was no Ulster participation again at All Ireland level but the first representative players were honoured with Richard Reaney playing for Ireland A Wolfhounds and Graeme Taylor playing for the Irish Students in the Student 4 Nations. 2011 saw the continuation of Rabbitohs domination in Ulster with the 9's again won and old rivals the Bulldogs defeated in the final. The club weren't able to raise a strong team for the All Ireland semi final and were beaten by the Carlow Crusaders at Armagh RFC. In this season,

Graeme Taylor Graeme Taylor (born 2 February 1954 in Stockwell, South-West London) is a British guitarist. Taylor played lead guitar with 1970s medieval/rock band Gryphon, and leading folk rock bands including the Albion Band and Home Service. With Gryphon ...

, Willy Stewart and Stephen Corr were selected for Ireland A Wolfhounds while Jonny Cullen was drafted into the full Irish side for the autumn internationals. While he didn't get onto the field of play vs

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he was due to play against

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the following week at the Gnoll but injury robbed him of the opportunity. The club made it 4 in a row in 2012 with victory in the Grand Final vs the Fermanagh Redskins, although they did lose their Ulster 9's crown to the same opponents. The club inflicted a heavy defeat on Leinster champions, the Athboy Longhorns, to reach their first All Ireland final. The game could have gone either way and the Rabbitohs thought they won it with a late score that was ruled out and the Country Cowboys held out for a 2-point victory. Representative players this season were Robbie Stewart for the Irish Students and James McBriar, Robbie Stewart, Paddy James, Kenny Calladine and Graeme Taylor all were selected for Ireland A Wolfhounds at various times.

Honours

* Ulster League Champions 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 * All Ireland Semi Finalist 2011 * All Ireland Finalist 2012 * Ulster 9's Winners 2010, 2011

References

External links

* *http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/BallynahinchRabbitohs *https://web.archive.org/web/20120717084600/http://www.rli.ie/ireland/ulster.html {{British and Irish Rugby League links Sports teams in Northern Ireland Irish rugby league teams 2008 establishments in Ireland Rugby clubs established in 2008 Diaspora sports clubs Australian diaspora in Europe

History

Honours

See also

References

External links