Dublin University Association Football Club is an Irish association football club based at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

. Founded in

1883 Events January–March * January 4 – ''Life'' magazine is founded in Los Angeles, California, United States. * January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people. * Ja ...

, Dublin University A.F.C. is the oldest surviving association football club in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. Their senior men's team currently competes in the Leinster Senior League. They have previously played in both the

League of Ireland B Division The League of Ireland B Division is a former league within the Republic of Ireland football league system. Its debut season was 1964–65. It was originally a second level league. However following the emergence of the League of Ireland First Di ...

and the

League of Ireland U21 Division The League of Ireland U19 Division is the under-19 division of the League of Ireland. The current division is the successor of earlier U21 and U20 divisions. Like the Premier Division and First Division, the U19 Division is currently sponsored ...

. The club also enters teams in the College & Universities Football League, the Women's Soccer Colleges Association of Ireland League, the

Collingwood Cup The Collingwood Cup is an association football cup competition featuring university teams from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is organised by the Irish Universities Football Union, and is the oldest surviving all Ireland associ ...

and the

FAI Intermediate Cup The FAI Intermediate Cup ( ga, Corn Comortais Peile na hÉireann), also known as the FAI Umbro Intermediate Cup and the Pat O'Brien Intermediate Challenge Cup, is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for intermediate ...

. The club has previously entered teams in both the

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

and the

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

History

Early years

a group of former

students formed Dublin Association F.C., following a meeting in Tyrone Place, later to become Cathedral Street. Shortly after, the current students at TCD formed Dublin University A.F.C. and on 7 November 1883 the two clubs met in one of the earliest organised

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

games played in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. Dublin Association won the game 4–0. By 1890 Dublin Association was disbanded, leaving Dublin University A.F.C. as the oldest surviving association football club in the

. On 30 November 1883 at College Park, Dublin University A.F.C. also played in the first ever game between a

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

and Dublin team, losing 6–0 to Belfast Athletic. In 1883–84, together with Dublin Association, they became one of the first two Dublin clubs to compete in the

. They continued to compete in the Irish Cup between 1883–84 and 1888–89, again from 1893–94 to 1899–1900 and then sporadically until 1912–13. Their best season came in 1885–86 when they reached the semi-final after scoring 18 goals without reply in the first four rounds.

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 ...

international, William Eames, captained the team from half-back. On 19 December 1885, Eames scored a goal in the 7–0 defeat of Clifton Park in the third round, adding three further goals in the 6–0 defeat of Banbridge in the next round. However in the semi-final on 13 February 1886 they lost 4–0 to

Distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...

. On 27 October 1892 Dublin University A.F.C. became founder members of the

Leinster Football Association The Leinster Football Association (LFA) is the governing body for association football in the Irish province of Leinster. It is responsible for organizing the Leinster Senior Cup and the Leinster Senior League as well as numerous other leagues ...

. The LFA soon organized their own cup competition, the Leinster Senior Cup which was first played for in 1892–93. The inaugural final saw Leinster Nomads defeat Dublin University 2–1. Dublin University also played in the 1893–94 and 1894–95 finals, losing both to

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Beer * National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst * Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...

after replays. Dublin University also became founder members of the Leinster Senior League.

Intervarsity

Dublin University A.F.C. is affiliated to the

Irish Universities Football Union The Irish Universities Football Union is the governing body for university association football in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is responsible for organizing the Collingwood Cup, the major cup competition for Irish universitie ...

and regularly competes in annual intervarsity competitions such as the

, the

Farquhar Cup The Collingwood Cup is an association football cup competition featuring university teams from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is organised by the Irish Universities Football Union, and is the oldest surviving all Ireland associ ...

, the

Crowley Cup The Irish Universities Football Union is the governing body for university association football in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is responsible for organizing the Collingwood Cup, the major cup competition for Irish universiti ...

and the

Harding Cup The Irish Universities Football Union is the governing body for university association football in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is responsible for organizing the Collingwood Cup, the major cup competition for Irish universiti ...

. In 1914, together with

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

and

University College Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...

, Dublin University entered the inaugural Collingwood Cup tournament. However during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...

era, the club ceased to exist and despite several attempts at a relaunch, it was not until 1939 that the club was reformed. In 1947 and 1949 Dublin University shared the Collingwood Cup with QUB and UCD respectively. However the club would have to wait until 1967 before it won the Collingwood Cup outright for the first time. In the final at College Park they defeated QUB 1–0 with a penalty scored five minutes from the end. In 1979 with a team featuring Hugo MacNeill and coached by Liam Tuohy, Dublin University won the Collingwood Cup outright for a second time. MacNeill scored twice in the final as Dublin University defeated

Maynooth University The National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ga, Ollscoil na hÉireann Mhá Nuad), commonly known as Maynooth University (MU), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. It ...

2–0.

National level

In the late 1960s Dublin University rejoined the Leinster Senior League and in 1975 they were elected to the

. In 2005 when the B Division was reformed as the

, they remained in the new division. However the U21 Division operated as a summer league and Dublin University struggled to field teams during the summer months when the university was closed. After three years of summer football, Dublin University's senior team re-joined the Leinster Senior League in 2008–09.

Grounds

Dublin University play their home matches at

College Park, Dublin College Park is a cricket ground in the grounds of Trinity College Dublin in Ireland and is the home ground of Dublin University Cricket Club. A cricket match at Trinity College was mentioned in a poem 1820s between a team from Ballinasloe play ...

. They also play at their grounds in

Santry Santry () is a suburb on the northside of Dublin, Ireland, bordering Coolock, Glasnevin, Kilmore and Ballymun. It straddles the boundary of Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council jurisdictions. The character of the area has changed ...

. Throughout their history, the club has also played at grounds in Clontarf and

Grangegorman Grangegorman () is an inner suburb on the northside of Dublin city, Ireland. The area is administered by Dublin City Council. It was best known for decades as the location of St Brendan's Hospital, which was the main psychiatric hospital ser ...

. They have also ground shared with both Jacobs Football Club and

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origin ...

Notable former coaches

Notable former players

; Ireland (IFA) internationals

Frederick Moorhead Frederick William Moorhead KC (1863 – 27 November 1902) was an Australian barrister, politician, and judge. He was born in Ireland and emigrated to Western Australia in 1889. Moorhead was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Austr ...

and William Eames were the first two Dublin University players to represent

when they played against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on 28 February,

1885 Events January–March * January 3– 4 – Sino-French War – Battle of Núi Bop: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam. * January 4 – ...

. They were also the first two

-based players to be selected for Ireland. Between 1885 and

1895 Events January–March * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. * January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Histor ...

nine Dublin University players were capped by Ireland in the

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

. These include

Willoughby Hamilton Willoughby Hamilton (born as James Willoughby Hamilton; 9 December 1864 – 27 September 1943) was a co-world No. 1 Irish male tennis player, a footballer and international badminton player. Tennis career Hamilton played his first tournament ...

who was a Dublin Association player when capped. Lewis Scott was the last Dublin University player to represent Ireland at senior international level when he played against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

on 30 March 1895. ; Ireland Amateurs (IFA) internationals * H.E. Rutherford * P.A. Meldon ; Ireland rugby union international * Hugo MacNeill ; Ireland women's rugby union international *

Hannah Tyrrell Hannah Tyrrell is an Ireland women's rugby union international. Tyrrell represented Ireland at the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup. She was also a member of the Ireland team that won the 2015 Women's Six Nations Championship. Tyrrell is also an I ...

Club presidents

* Sean Barrett

Honours

* Leinster Senior Cup ** ''Runners-up:'' 1892–93, 1893–94, 1894–95: 3 *

** ''Winners:'' 1947, 1949, 1967, 1979: 4 ** ''Runners-up:'' 1941, 1970, 1990, 1996, 2002, 2015: 6 *

** ''Winners:'' 1983, 1992, 1997, 2018: 4

References

External links

Dublin University A.F.C. on Facebook
{{University of Dublin, Trinity College 1883 establishments in Ireland Association football clubs established in 1883 Association football clubs in Dublin (city) League of Ireland B Division clubs Leinster Senior League (association football) clubs

Association Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

University and college association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland