Freebooters F.C was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club from

Sandymount Sandymount () is a coastal suburb in the Dublin 4 district on the Southside, Dublin, Southside of Dublin in Ireland. Etymology An early name for the area was Scal'd Hill or Scald Hill.

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

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 ...

History

The club was founded in 1898 and was made up of a number of players who had been to public school in England, such families as the O'Reilly's, McCanns, and Meldons; several had gone to

Beaumont College Beaumont College was between 1861 and 1967 a Public school (UK), public school in Old Windsor, Old Windsor in Berkshire. Founded and run by the Society of Jesus, it offered a Roman Catholic public school education in rural surroundings, while l ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

, including an Irish international player, Henry O'Reilly. The club was an amateur club, using the Corinthian F.C. as a model. The club lost 1–0 in the 1900 Leinster Senior Cup final to local rivals Shelbourne in a tight game. Its highest achievement was reaching the 1901

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

final at Grosvenor Park 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 ...

, but lost 1–0 to

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of Margate in the Thanet District, Thanet district of Kent, England. It includes the Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay estate, built in the 1930s with wide avenues and detached and semi-detached houses with driveways, gar ...

, the Whites handicapped by playing much of the match with 10 men after an early injury to full-back Ryan. Freebooters had beaten

Linfield F.C. Linfield Football Club is a Northern Ireland, Northern Irish professional Association football, football club, based in south Belfast, which plays in the NIFL Premiership – the highest level of the Northern Ireland Football League. The four ...

2–1 in the semi-final at the Jones Road venue. By 1906 however the club was struggling; it had to cede one Leinster Senior League match to Tritonville when only seven players turned up. At the end of the season the club resigned from the competition and seems to have dissolved.

Colours

The club played in white.

Ground

The club played at Sandymount, between the Star of the Sea Church and

Ringsend Ringsend () is a Southside (Dublin), southside inner suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the south bank of the River Liffey and east of the River Dodder, about two kilometres east of the city centre. It is the sou ...

. It was previously leased by the

Catholic University Medical School The Catholic University of Ireland (CUI; ) was a private Catholic university in Dublin, Ireland. It was founded in 1851 following the Synod of Thurles in 1850, and in response to the Queen's University of Ireland and its associated colleges w ...

and the club hosted a women's international between Irish and Scottish XIs in 1903. In 1906

Shelbourne F.C. Shelbourne Football Club is an List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish professional Association football, football club based in Drumcondra, Dublin, currently playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division. They ...

began playing their home games on this ground as Freebooters went into decline.

Honours

runners-up: 1 :: 1901 * Leinster Senior Cup runners-up: 1 :: 1900

International Players

Freebooters players represented

at international level in the

British Home Championship The British Home Championship (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Championship) was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams: England, Scotlan ...

. *Harry O'Reilly *James V. Nolan-Whelan BL *J. Mansfield

Other clubs named Freebooters

Other soccer clubs have adopted the name ''Freebooters'', in

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

and in

Kilkenny Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...

. Freebooters (Cork) came runners-up in the

FAI Intermediate Cup The FAI Intermediate Cup (), also known as the FAI Umbro Intermediate Cup and the Pat O'Brien Intermediate Challenge Cup, is a cup competition organized by the Football Association of Ireland for intermediate association football clubs from the ...

in 1949FAI Intermediate Cup - 1948-1949 St.Patrick's v Freebooters(Cork)
/ref> played in the Cork Business and Shipping League, Freebooters(Kilkenny) was formed in 1950 by workers from the Post Office, one of the players had moved from Freebooters in Cork and so they chose the name.

References

{{Reflist Association football clubs disestablished in 1906 Association football clubs in Dublin (city) Defunct association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland 1906 disestablishments in Ireland Association football clubs established in 1898