Monkstown Celebrates 125 Years Of Rugby
Monkstown Football Club celebrates its 125th anniversary this year. The club, founded in 1883 just three years after the IRFU, is one of the oldest in Ireland.
Originally based in the Monkstown/Dun Laoghaire area, the club moved in 1901 to new grounds in Ballsbridge, leased from the Earl of Pembroke, and has been playing rugby at Sydney Parade for more than 100 years.
Since its foundation, Monkstown has always been an open rugby club.
It welcomes rugby players not only from all four provinces of Ireland, but also players from most other Unions across the world, who have come to Ireland and have enjoyed their rugby in the royal blue and gold jersey of Monkstown.
The club started its celebrations this year with a pre-season trip to Trinidad & Tobago, coming back unbeaten, including a victory over the national team!
The season kicked off with a trip to Derry where the Lord Mayor hosted a civic reception for the team and club officials.
The following day the first team took on City of Derry in their first game of the new season.
The club has planned several events over the season to celebrate the anniversary – first up was a Tag & Open Day on September 20.
Following on from last year, the day was hugely popular with all members and gave an opportunity for new members and the local community to come down and make use of the club’s wonderful facilities, get to know the members and enjoy themselves.
Bouncy castles, slides and face-painting ensured a fun-packed day for the youngsters, while over 200 players came down to play in the Tag tournament. Warm sunshine, live music and a BBQ finished off a great day for the club.
The club will host a gala black tie dinner in November, club presidents and friends from all over the country will be in attendance along with Monkstown’s membership.
A great chance to see old friends again and relive the old days.
Later in the year, the club plans to revive old fixtures against Shannon, Cork Constitution and Young Munster.
Above all, the club has always been known as a welcoming and hospitable club to all rugby people, players, supporters and visitors based on the traditions of ‘play hard, play fair, enjoy your rugby’ and the camaraderie in the clubhouse afterwards.
For more information on upcoming events, news and features, check out Monkstown’s new website on www.monkstownfc.ie.