Ballynahinch Rugby Club is an Irish

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club based in the

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

town of Ballynahinch. Founded in 1954, the club is affiliated to the Ulster Branch of the

Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) () 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 ground at Aviva Stadium, where a ...

. The first team plays Senior

in the All-Ireland League, Division 1A and the club also fields six Junior standard adult teams. Youth teams (male and female) compete at under-16, under-14, under-12 and the mini-rugby levels.

History

At a meeting in the local Royal British Legion Hall in April 1954, a dozen people attended and agreed that a club should be formed. An application was made to enter the Junior League for the 1954–55 season. The application was accepted by the Ulster Branch. Membership for the club grew quickly with players coming from all over

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

and the Mournes region. It was at this point that the Club started to gather pace and a pitch was required due to the growing player base. A pitch was rented from a local farmer at Ballykine. Even though the grounds had no changing rooms or showers it did the job of providing Ballynahinch club with a home. In 1964 the club enjoyed success with the winning of the

Ulster Towns Cup The Ulster Towns Cup is a rugby union competition organized by the Ulster Rugby, Ulster branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union. It is confined to teams outside of Belfast. Since the resumption of play after World War II, where a town is represen ...

. The

Ulster Junior Cup The Ulster Junior Cup is a rugby union competition for clubs in the Irish province of Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties ...

was won consecutively in 1966 and 1967. An increasing player and fan base meant that proper grounds were required. In August 1970, at the cost of £6,500, the current playing facilities at Ballymacarn Park were purchased. The site soon had its own clubhouse in front of the 1st XV pitch. It was from this point that the club grew to field 7 teams. The 1st XV went on to be one of the top teams in Ulster Junior League rugby for the next 10 years.

Senior status

In the early 1990s, Irish rugby underwent changes with the introduction of professionalism. Ballynahinch for many years had campaigned for senior status. An open promotion-and-relegation system was introduced and in 1995 Ballynahinch achieved their goal. As a senior club, they won promotion from All Ireland League Division 4 to Division 3 in 1996–97 season. The following season a further promotion was gained to All Ireland Division 2. The 1998–99 season saw the successful run come to an end when they got relegated back to Division 3, only to go back up again after the 2000–01 season. Mid-table finishes were achieved in Division 2 until the 2005–06 when the club was once again relegated to Division 3. Ballynahinch played Division 2 rugby again in the 2007–08 season, with another mid-table finish after winning promotion in the 2006–07 campaign. In 2008–09 the club had its most successful season, winning the AIB All-Ireland Cup by beating Division 1 team Cork Constitution in the final, Ulster Senior League, Ulster Senior Cup and promotion to Division 1 of the

AIB League The All-Ireland League (AIL), known for sponsorship reasons as the Energia All-Ireland League, is the national league system for the 50 senior rugby union clubs in Ireland, covering both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The league w ...

Honours

All-Ireland Cup The All-Ireland Cup, also known as the Bateman Cup, is a knock-out competition for the winners of the four provincial rugby union cups in Ireland. History The Bateman Cup ran from 1922 to 1939 as a competition for the four provincial cup-winners, ...

**2008–09 *

Ulster Senior Cup The Ulster Senior Cup is a knock-out competition for senior rugby union teams in the province of Ulster. It is administered by Ulster Rugby. The most successful club is Queen's University RFC, Queen's University with 24 wins. The current holder ...

: 6 ** 2008–09, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2022-23, 2024-25 * Ulster Senior League: 8 ** 2008–09, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2018-19, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24 *

: 5 ** 1963–64, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1994–95, †2014-2015, †2016–17, ∆†2019-2020 *

: 8 ** 1965–66, 1966–67, 1987–88, 1991–92, 1994–95, †2010–11, †2013–14, †2016–17, †2017–18 † Won by 2nd XV ∆ Shared due to COVID-19 Pandemic

References

Material obtained from Ulster Rugby Archive.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ballynahinch Rfc Rugby union clubs in Northern Ireland Rugby union teams in Ireland Rugby clubs established in 1954 Rugby union clubs in County Down 1954 establishments in Northern Ireland All-Ireland League rugby union clubs Ulster Senior League (rugby union) teams