Belfast Harlequins Ladies Rugby is a

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 ...

team based in

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 ...

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. The team is part of the multi-sport organization,

Belfast Harlequins Belfast Harlequins is a multi-sports club located off the Malone Road in south Belfast, Northern Ireland. The club name provides the overall umbrella for rugby union, men's and ladies' field hockey, hockey, and Squash (sport), squash. The club i ...

History

In 2008,

RFC opened its doors to developing a ladies team within the

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

section. They approached ex-ulster ladies coach, Nathan Moore, in 2008, to coach the squad, and had an open day in May 2008 which attracted over 20 adult ladies. In the initial ladies development plan, the first year of the club was to develop the players skills and seek occasional friendly games. However, with the influx of players into the club it was decided to go straight into All Ireland Division 2 North.

Inaugural season: 2008/2009

The first season (2008/2009) was a hard fought one, with the Harlequins Ladies only winning 2 out of their season fixtures.

Inaugural season, 2009/2010

In their second season (2009/2010) the adult squad grew to approximately 30 players and made a good account for themselves finishing mid table in A.I.L Division 2 North and competing in the Carrick 10's in May and entering a

Tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establis ...

into the

IRFU IRFU or Irfu may refer to: * Irish Rugby Football Union, The Irish rugby football union (IRFU), is the national rugby association of Ireland *Interprovincial Rugby Football Union, a four-team league that merged with the Westerm Interprovincial Rugb ...

Tag leagues during the summer months. In their third season (2010/2011) the recruitment drive in the Tag leagues and by the dedicated recruitment team saw the adult playing numbers rise to over 40+ and for the first time in

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 ...

rugby history the club was able to field two competitive teams, one in AIL Division 2 North and the Ulster Development League. Both teams entered the Ulster Provincial Cup, and the 1st XV entered the AIL cup. Again, both of the teams entered the Carrick 10’s tournament and both reached finals in the competition, the 2nd XV (named the Quins Barbarians) reached the bowl final, and the 1st XV reached the cup final and were winners of the Plate. At the end of the season the ladies qualified to the first All-Ireland 7s finals and came away winners of the Plate against a number of AIL 1 team. During the season the club also started development on a youth structure and have formed links with a number of schools in the Belfast area. In 2009/10 there were 6 youth players and in 2010/2011 this number grew to having 16 youth players between the ages of 12-17 years of age.

Honours

* Ulster Junior shield
2022
2023

7's Tournament

The club hosts a 7's tournament every August inviting teams from around the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to take part in a day-long competition. In its first year, eight teams took part with a Canadian touring side entering along with teams from

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. St. Mary's was the first-ever winners of the tournament in 2010.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.belfastharlequinsrfc.com/l/default.html Belfast Harlequins Women's rugby union teams Women's sports clubs and teams in Northern Ireland 2008 establishments in Northern Ireland Women's rugby union in Ireland