Dungannon RFC (Dungannon Football Club) 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 ...

club from

Dungannon Dungannon (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 16,282 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2021 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Counci ...

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 ...

, playing in Division 2B of the All-Ireland League.

History

The 5th Earl of Ranfurly, who was President of Dungannon Football Club for 24 years and Patron for a further 37 years, was Governor of New Zealand from 1897 to 1904. He brought his love of rugby to New Zealand and gave his name to the most prestigious rugby trophy in the Southern Hemisphere, The Ranfurly Shield. The Club played junior rugby for most of the first half of the 20th century before returning to the senior ranks in 1954 under the captaincy of Roy Saunders the Club's first Honorary Life Member. As a result of winning the AIB All Ireland League playoffs in 2000–2001 Dungannon has now won every available domestic competition. The AIB League, The All Ireland Floodlit Cup, The Stevenson Shield (Ulster Senior League), The Ulster Senior Cup (a record five times in the 1990s), 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 ...

( a record eighteen times), The Ulster Junior Cup and The Forster Cup. In 1995 the Club took a bold step in appointing Willie Anderson as its Director of Rugby. It was one of the first Clubs in Ireland to make such a move in a desire to further develop and promote rugby football in the area. The Club has supported the All Ireland League since its inception, although they had to fight their way into it by way of the playoffs after year one. Since then Dungannon have always played in either division One or Division Two. After demotion in 1998 the Club immediately regrouped and bounced back to Division One as winners of Division Two in 1999. Dungannon Rugby Club achieved its most historic victory in May 2001 by winning the AIB All Ireland League Final. Stevenson Park was purchased in 1969 and has been gradually improved into one of the finest arenas for playing and viewing rugby in Ireland. In 1999/2000 the Club completed the first phase of the development of its facilities by totally renovating and extending the changing facilities. Incorporating new administration offices, new heating and building a new car park. The new development which cost £500,000 was funded by a National Lottery Grant and by the generous donation of members.

Honours

* All-Ireland League: 1 ** 2000-01 * Ulster Senior Cup: 10 ** 1963–64, 1967–68, 1975–76, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2006–07, 2010-11 * Ulster Senior League: 5 (1 shared) ** 1960–61, 1964–65, 1967–68, 1990–91, 2005–06 (shared) *

: 20 (1 shared) ** 1883–84, 1885–86 (shared), 1893–94, 1894–95, 1895–96, 1898–99, 1901–02, 1902–03, 1904–05, 1906–07, 1911–12, 1947–48, 1948–49, 1949–50, †1959-60, †1960-61, †1964-65, †1965-66, †1995-96, †1998-99 * Ulster Junior Cup: 9 ** 1895–96, †1896-97, 1898–99, †1899-1900, 1911–12, †1995-96, †1996-97, †1998-99, †2002-03 † Won by 2nd XV

Notable players

;

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

; ;

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 ...

;

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

* Peter Nelson ;

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

* Angus Ta'avao

References

External links

Dungannon RFC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dungannon Rfc Rugby union clubs in Northern Ireland Rugby union teams in Ireland Rugby union clubs in County Tyrone All-Ireland League rugby union clubs Ulster Senior League (rugby union) teams 1873 establishments in Ireland Rugby clubs established in 1873