Banbridge RFC (Banbridge Rugby Football Club) is a
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
club based in
Banbridge
Banbridge ( , ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Bann and the A1 road and is named after a bridge built over the River Bann in 1712. It is situated in the civil parish of Seapatrick and the historic barony of Iv ...
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 ...
, in the province of
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 Kin ...
. It currently plays in Division 1B of the Energia All-Ireland League after gaining promotion in 2017 and Division 1 of the SONI Premiership. In addition to the senior team, the club fields another 5 adult junior-standard teams, and youth U18, U16 and U14 teams, as well as a large mini & Maxi rugby section, Mixed Ability Rugby Team named The Barbarians, a Girls/ Ladies Section.
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
Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Armagh, Armagh and County Down, Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011.
Newry ...
. The date of that historic first game was 2 January 1926. One of the players in that first game was
F. E. McWilliam
Frederick Edward McWilliam (30 April 1909 – 13 May 1992), was a Northern Irish surrealist sculptor. He worked chiefly in stone, wood and bronze.
Biography
McWilliam was born in Banbridge, County Down, Ireland, the son of Dr William McWilliam ...
; later the well known Irish surrealist sculptor.
Banbridge spent the next 72 years in the ranks of Ulster junior rugby, with mixed fortunes.
Ulster Towns Cup
The Ulster Towns Cup is a rugby union competition organized by the Ulster branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union.
It is confined to teams outside of Belfast. Since the resumption of play after World War II, where a town is represented by a seni ...
: 3
** 1932–33, 1988–89, 1992–93
*
Ulster Junior Cup
The Ulster Junior Cup is a rugby union competition for clubs in the Irish province of Ulster that are not considered strong enough to play in the Ulster Senior Cup. It also includes the second teams of the senior clubs. The perpetual trophy that ...
: 1
** 1989-90
Senior status
At the end of the 1997–98 season, Banbridge won the round-robin play-offs against the other provincial qualifying champions
Naas
Naas ( ; ga, Nás na Ríogh or ) is the county town of County Kildare in Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 21,393, making it the second largest town in County Kildare after Newbridge.
History
The name of Naas has been recorded in th ...
,
Monivea
Monivea () is a village in County Galway, Ireland. It is located approximately 30 km from Galway City and 9 km from Athenry.
It was formerly part of the kingdom of the Soghain of Connacht. Monivea is known for its forest, Monivea Cas ...
and
Midleton
Midleton (; , meaning "monastery at the weir") is a town in south-eastern County Cork, Ireland. It lies approximately 16 km east of Cork City on the Owenacurra River and the N25 road, which connects Cork to the port of Rosslare. A satellit ...
. 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. In the 2016–2017 season Banbridge gained promotion to AIL 1B.
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, Leeds, Cardiff, Aylesbury, Bristol, Newcastle, Galway, Carlise and Spain since 1997. In 2020 the tour to Edinburgh was postponed to 2021 due to the Corona Virus Pandemic.
Rob Lyttle
Rob Lyttle (born 28 January 1997) is an Irish rugby union player who plays wing for Ulster.
Born in Donaghcloney, County Down, he played mini rugby at Dromore RFC as a child. He attended Royal Belfast Academical Institution, where he appeared i ...
Nick Timoney
Nick Timoney (born 1 August 1995) is an Irish rugby union player, who plays in the back row for Ulster and Ireland. He is regarded as a "hybrid" player, an athletic forward with the pace of a back.Ulster rugby union team
*
Luke Marshall
Luke Marshall (born 3 March 1991) is an Irish rugby union player, who plays centre for Ulster, and has 11 caps for Ireland, the last coming in 2017.
While in the Ulster academy, he played in an exhibition match between an Ulster-Leinster team ag ...
Tyrone Howe
Tyrone Gyle Howe (born 2 April 1971, Newtownards, Northern Ireland) formerly played in rugby union on the wing for University of St Andrews RFC, Ulster, Ireland and the British & Irish Lions.
Howe was brought up in Dromore and attended Banbr ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
and
British and Irish Lions
The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
*
Rory Best
Rory David Best (born 15 August 1982) is an Irish former rugby union player from Northern Ireland and was the captain of the Ireland national team from 2016 to 2019. He played hooker for Ulster and was registered for Banbridge RFC, having pr ...
British and Irish Lions
The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...