Dublin University Football Club (DUFC) is the

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 of the

University of Dublin The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dub ...

and

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

, in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

, which plays in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League.

History

The first known record of the Club appears under the heading 'Trinity College' in the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

'' of 1 December 1855 and is taken to show that it had then been in existence for at least a year: The club had thus been founded by about 1854, and it has a well-documented, continuous history since then, which gives it a strong claim to be considered the world's oldest extant football club of any code. Although

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. ...

FC, had been founded in London in 1843, so had existed before DUFC, it later folded up for some years during the nineteenth century. Football in Trinity pre-dates the foundation of the Club itself. A poem by Edward Lysaght shows that it was being played in the College Park in the 1780s.History
at dufc.ie Being the oldest rugby club in Ireland, DUFC has won its fair share of trophies over the years. Its most notable achievement in recent years was the winning of the All-Ireland League Division 2 in the 2003-04 season, which also gained the club promotion to Division 1. This level of competition was short-lived, however, with the club returning to Division 2 after two seasons.

Present status

The DUFC 1st XV currently plays in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. The club also fields three Junior teams who compete in the Leinster J1, J3 and J4 Metro Leagues, and two U20 teams who play in the JP Fanagan Premier and Pennant leagues respectively. They are the current Frazer McMullen All Ireland Champions, beating Clontarf U20 in the 2018 final. at sportsmanager.ie The 1stXV plays against

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 member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

in the annual Colours Match which has been ongoing since its inception in 1952. Trinity has won on 24 occasions, the latest being the 2017/18 match. The club also has a Women's XV, which has played in AIL division 3. In October 2020, the club had three players, Liam Turner,

Michael Silvester Michael Silvester (born 4 June 1998) is an Irish rugby union player, currently playing for Pro14 and European Rugby Champions Cup side Leinster. He also won the PwC Cup of Nations on June 25, 2023 with the PwC Irish national team, being voted m ...

and Jack Dunne, play in

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of ...

's Pro14 win over

Zebre Zebre Parma (, meaning "Zebras") are an Italian professional rugby union team competing in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR competitions from the 2012–13 season. They are based in Parma (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. They are operated by the ...

Grounds

The club's main playing field is College Park,
at maps.google.com which is within the grounds of Trinity in the Dublin city centre. It also has two other football fields used mainly by the Junior teams on Santry Avenue in the Dublin suburb of Santry.Club Info
at dufc.ie
at maps.google.com

Notable players

Ireland

Dublin University Football Club has a long tradition of its players gaining the highest international honours, with over 160 past players being capped for Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland since 1875. Some of the most famous and presently memorable are listed below.

British & Irish Lions

DUFC also has a long history of providing British & Irish Lions tourists, with the most recent contribution being Jamie Heaslip in 2013.

Ireland coaches

Dublin University past players Roly Meates and Gerry Murphy both went on to coach Ireland at different times. Meates is also an honorary life member of DUFC, having coached the club for 28 years.

Honours

* All-Ireland Cup (1): 1925-26 * Leinster Senior Cup (19): 1883, 1884, 1886, 1887, 1890, 1893, 1895, 1897, 1898, 1900, 1905, 1907, 1908, 1912, 1920, 1921, 1926, 1960, 1976

References

External links

Official Twitter
{{Authority control Rugby clubs established in 1854

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 ...

Irish rugby union teams Rugby union clubs in Dublin (city) University and college rugby union clubs in Ireland 1854 establishments in Ireland Senior Irish rugby clubs (Leinster)