Ballynahinch Rabbitohs are an Irish semi-professional rugby league team based in Ballynahinch,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. They play in the Ulster Conference of the

Irish Elite League The RLI Premiership is the top tier of domestic rugby league in Ireland founded in 1997. The competition was founded as the "All-Ireland Challenge Cup", and has undergone many name changed in history having also been named the "All-Ireland Leag ...

. They play their matches at Ballymacaren Park.

History

In their first two years of existence, the club were known as the Ballynahinch Bulls. There were no fixtures played in 2008 with a number of teams not fulfilling fixtures. In 2009, the team competed in the

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 of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

9's and won the first ever Ulster Conference league against the Belfast Bulldogs but weren't invited to compete for the All Ireland title. 2010 saw the emergence of the Rabbitohs branding with the full support from the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

. The season kicked off with victory at the Ulster 9's which was followed with a second league title after a victory over Fermanagh Redskins. There was no Ulster participation again at All Ireland level but the first representative players were honoured with Richard Reaney playing for Ireland A Wolfhounds and Graeme Taylor playing for the Irish Students in the Student 4 Nations. 2011 saw the continuation of Rabbitohs domination in Ulster with the 9's again won and old rivals the Bulldogs defeated in the final. The club weren't able to raise a strong team for the All Ireland semi final and were beaten by the Carlow Crusaders at Armagh RFC. In this season,

Graeme Taylor Graeme Taylor (born 2 February 1954 in Stockwell, South-West London) is a British guitarist. Taylor played lead guitar with 1970s medieval/rock band Gryphon, then played with The Albion Band from 1976 until 1987, and forming folk-rock group ...

, Willy Stewart and Stephen Corr were selected for Ireland A Wolfhounds while Jonny Cullen was drafted into the full Irish side for the autumn internationals. While he didn't get onto the field of play vs

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

he was due to play against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

the following week at the Gnoll but injury robbed him of the opportunity. The club made it 4 in a row in 2012 with victory in the Grand Final vs the Fermanagh Redskins, although they did lose their Ulster 9's crown to the same opponents. The club inflicted a heavy defeat on Leinster champions, the Athboy Longhorns, to reach their first All Ireland final. The game could have gone either way and the Rabbitohs thought they won it with a late score that was ruled out and the Country Cowboys held out for a 2-point victory. Representative players this season were Robbie Stewart for the Irish Students and James McBriar, Robbie Stewart, Paddy James, Kenny Calladine and Graeme Taylor all were selected for Ireland A Wolfhounds at various times.

Honours

* Ulster League Champions 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 * All Ireland Semi Finalist 2011 * All Ireland Finalist 2012 * Ulster 9's Winners 2010, 2011

References

External links

* *http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/BallynahinchRabbitohs *https://web.archive.org/web/20120717084600/http://www.rli.ie/ireland/ulster.html {{Rugby League in Ireland Sports clubs and teams in Northern Ireland Rugby league teams in Ireland 2008 establishments in Ireland Rugby clubs established in 2008 Diaspora sports clubs Australian diaspora in Europe

History

Honours

See also

References

External links