Leinster Nomads was an

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 ...

club based in Dublin, Ireland, which was formed in 1890 by former members of Dublin Association F.C. Dublin Association had folded that same year after a dispute with the

Irish Football Association The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for association football in Northern Ireland. It organised the Ireland national football team from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became the Northern Ireland national football team. ...

surrounding an Irish Cup semi-final tie with

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...

in which it was alleged that match officials were connected to Cliftonville. After the IFA to replay or terminate the tie, Association pulled out of the competition and folded as a club. On 27 October 1892, Nomads were one of five football clubs present at the foundation 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 league ...

(LFA), at a meeting in the Wicklow Hotel on Exchequer Street, Dublin. Shortly after, the LFA became affiliated to the

and the LFA soon organized their own cup competition, the Leinster Senior Cup, which was first played for in 1892–93. The inaugural final saw Nomads defeat

Dublin University 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 Dubl ...

2–1. After the inaugural win by Nomads, Bohemians and Shelbourne monopolised the cup for the next twenty-four years. Within a few seasons the Leinster Senior League was also established. Ciarán Priestley highlights a printed notice in the 4 September 1894 edition of ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

''. Under the headline "Leinster Football League" there is a report of "a general meeting of the league... held the other evening at 27

D'Olier Street D'Olier Street ( ) is a street in the southern city-centre of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. It and Westmoreland Street are two broad streets whose northern ends meet at the southern end of O'Connell Bridge over the River Liffey. Its southern ...

". Priestley also lists Nomads, alongside Bohemians, Britannia, Dublin University, Phoenix and Montpelier as participants in the first season. However other sources suggest the league started a little later and was first played for in 1896–97 and that an unidentified

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

regimental team were the inaugural winners while Shelbourne were runners up.

International and Inter-provincial representation

Unlike its predecessor club, Dublin Association, the Nomads never had players represented on the

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 ...

team. The club itself saw this as a political move by the

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 Kingdom ...

-based

, claiming that the IFA's selection committee of five men in Belfast were preventing anyone outside of that city to represent Ireland. The team did have representation in select teams representing the Leinster FA and Dublin. On 9 December 1893, in Belfast, two Nomads members were part of a Leinster team that faced Ulster, Ciarán Priestley: ''The Bohemian Football Club: The Enduring Legacy of an Idle Youth''
including R.H. Harrison, who captained the side. ;

(LFA) interprovincials 1893-1895 * R.H. Harrison * D.J. Morrogh * Bennett * Gillespie * Keogh ;

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 c ...

inter-county representatives 1893-1895 * D. Morrogh * Gillespie * Keogh

Honours

* Leinster Senior Cup ** ''Winners:'' 1892–93: 1

References

{{Reflist Association football clubs in Dublin (city) Association football clubs established in 1890 1890 establishments in Ireland Association football clubs in Ireland Former Leinster Senior League clubs