Galwegians 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 its m ...

club in

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

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 ...

. The Galwegians senior side plays in Division 2B of the All-Ireland League, the Irish domestic club competition. Galwegians field over 16 teams including Senior, Junior (Seconds), Thirds and Women's XV, and underage sides at all levels from U20 to U7. The Connacht Rugby squad features a number of players who played for Galwegians. The Connacht Women's representative side is constituted predominantly from Galwegians.

History

Founded in 1922, Galwegians has a long and distinguished history at the forefront of

Connacht Rugby Connacht Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Connachta) is one of the four professional provincial rugby teams from the island of Ireland. Connacht competes in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Con ...

. Jimmy Joyce was the club's first international in wartime 1943. The tradition continued into the 1950s with Dicky Roche, Brendan Guerin, Charlie Lydon, Tony O’Sullivan and Johnny Dooley each gaining caps. More recently,

Eric Elwood Eric Elwood is a former Irish rugby union player from Galway. He played as a fly-half. He played for Ireland internationally, and provincially for Connacht. He split his club career between hometown club Galwegians and Lansdowne in Dublin, star ...

, Gavin Duffy and John Muldoon have played regularly for Ireland. The golden age of Galwegians rugby was the five-in-a-row Connacht League and Cup double in 1955-1960, an unprecedented feat in Irish rugby, when Wegians were arguably the best team in the country, regularly beating the other senior clubs in Ireland. Of current Connacht "Senior Clubs" Galwegians have the record of winning the most Connacht Senior Cup with 33 wins to date, although UCG have won 34 but became a "Junior Club" in 1996. Since 2000 Galwegians have 8 Connacht Senior Cup and 10 Connacht Senior League titles including Cup and League doubles in the 2000–01, 2001–02 then three in a row in the 2011–12, 2012–13 and 2013–14 seasons. Galwegians Junior team broke a 34-year wait for Connacht Cup glory by beating Monivea in the final to become Heineken Connacht Junior Cup Champions in 2008, and repeated that feat in 2012 and 2014. In 2011 the Galwegians U17 team were All Ireland U17 champions and they were runners up in 2014. In 2012, 2014 and 2016 the Galwegians Women's team were All Ireland Women's Cup winners.

Honours

* Connacht Senior Cup - 17 wins * Connacht Senior League - 24 wins *Connacht Junior Cup - 8 Wins
''Last Updated: 28-07-2014''

Notable players

Ireland

(''Player capped while playing with Galwegians RFC'') MEN * 1944 - Jimmy Joyce * 1955 - Dick Roche * 1956 - Brendan Guerin * 1956 - Charlie Lydon * 1957 - Tony O’Sullivan * 1959 - Johnny Dooley * 1997 -

* 1998 - Pat Duignan * 1999 - Matt Mostyn * 2007 - Gavin Duffy * 2009 - John Muldoon * 2012 - Ronan Loughney * 2016 -

Niyi Adeolokun Niyi Adeolokun (born 3 November 1990) is an Irish rugby union player. He primarily plays as a winger. Currently unattached he most recently played for Bristol Bears & previously for Connacht. Adeolokun joined Connacht in 2014 from Trinity Col ...

* 2017 - Bundee Aki WOMEN * 1997 - Stephanie Dowling Folan * 1998 - Sue Ramsbottom * 2003 - Nuala Ni Chadhain * 2008 - Carol Staunton * 2012 - Ruth O'Reilly * 2014 - Sene Naoupu * 2015 - Mairead Coyne * 2015 - Mary Healy * 2016 - Nicole Fowley * 2016 - Ciara O'Connor * 2018 - Laura Feely * 2018 - Edel McMahon

Barbarians

Several Galwegians players, have represented the famous invitational side

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...

, the most recent to play while in Galwegians colours is

in a match 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 ...

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium () in Twickenham, south-west London, England, is a rugby union stadium owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), English rugby union governing body, which has its headquarters there. The England national rugby union team play ...

won 45-63 by the Baa-Baa's.

Representatives

* 1993 -

* 1998 - Jimmy Duffy * 1998 - Willie Ruane * 2016 -

British & Irish Lions

*2021 to SA- Bundee Aki (6 Apps, 3 Tests)

IRFU Presidents

Galwegians surely hold the distinction of having provided more

IRFU The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) ( ga, Cumann Rugbaí na hÉireann) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ...

Presidents than any other club. The incumbents have been: * 1945-46 - Henry Anderson - L.D.S.I., * 1958-59 - Johnny Glynn * 1968-69 - Chris P Crowley * 1981-82 - John Moore - B.Sc. * 1996-97 - Bobby Deacy - F.C.A. * 2002-03 - Don Crowley - B.E.,Eur. Ing., C.Eng., M.I.E.I. * 2012-13 - William B. (Billy) GlynnBilly Glynn Elected President Of The Irish Rugby Football Union - http://www.irishrugby.ie/ireland/26846.php

References

External links

Official website

Connacht Rugby - branch clubs directory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Galwegians Rfc Irish rugby union teams Rugby union clubs in County Galway Senior Irish rugby clubs (Connacht)