Instonians is a sports club 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 ...

, Northern Ireland, that incorporates

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 ...

, men's and ladies'

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

sections. There is also a golf society that plays under the Instonians name. Instonians Rugby Football, Cricket and Athletic Clubs merged on 1 April 1962, the combined sections being known as 'Instonians', and then on 31 May 1979 the title of the club was changed to Instonians Rugby Football and Cricket Club. Finally on 1 April 1988, the Instonians Men's Hockey Club joined the association when the title reverted to Instonians.

Membership

The club was closed to former pupils or staff of

Royal Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today ...

, which regards itself as one of the leading schools in Belfast. Instonians was the last 'old boys' club in Ireland to finally open its membership to all in 1990.

Grounds

The club for many years used the

grounds at Bladon Drive, Osborne Park and Orangefield, before moving to its own grounds at Shane Park in 1965. Shane Park was sold for redevelopment in 1999 and the club now groundshares at the Shaw's Bridge Sports Complex with Cooke.

Rugby

Instonians Rugby Club started as a section within the Belfast Old Instonians Association. The original part of the modern-day club, it started play in the Ulster Junior League in season 1919–20, and produced play of sufficient quality to merit immediate election to the Ulster Senior League for the following season. As of 2024 the 1st XV currently plays in the All Ireland League, Division 2A. Instonians have won the Ulster Senior Cup twenty times, the Ulster Junior Cup four times and the Ulster Senior League seven times (with five shared titles). 31 Instonians rugby players have been capped by

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 ...

at full International level and the club has produced two

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 ...

captains.

Honours

* All-Ireland Cup: 1 **1926–27 * Ulster Senior Cup: 20 ** 1921–22, 1922–23, 1926–27, 1927–28, 1928–29, 1930–31, 1933–34, 1937–38, 1945–46, 1947–48, 1948–49, 1949–50, 1953–54, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1964–65, 1978–79, 1998–99, 2023-24 * Ulster Senior League: 12 (5 shared) ** 1924–25, 1925–26, 1926–27 (shared), 1927–28, 1950–51 (shared), 1952–53 (shared), 1953–54 (shared), 1956–57 (shared), 1957–58, 1959–60, 1984–85, 1986–87 * Ulster Junior Cup: 5 ** †1936–37, †1959–60, †1973–74, †1993–94, 2014–15 † Won by 2nd XV

Ladies' Hockey

Instonians Ladies' Hockey is somewhat unusual in that the club is associated with a boys' school. However, the ladies' hockey section was the second part of the club to be formed in 1921. Membership was initially made up from wives, sisters, daughters and girlfriends of ''Inst'' old boys and staff. The ladies' hockey club was one of the most successful club sides 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 ...

over a period from 1930 until the mid-1960s. They were winners of the Ulster Shield on ten occasions and won the Irish Senior Cup in 1955. The dawning of the 1970s saw a gradual decline in playing standards, and eventually Senior League status was lost. They took up a nomadic existence moving from ground to ground over the past twenty years. However 2006 saw Instonians Ladies' Hockey Club renew its connection with the parent club with the opening of a new water-based artificial turf pitch at the Shaw's Bridge Sports Complex. Instonians Ladies currently play in Section Four of the Senior League (following the restructuring of the ladies leagues in 2007 removing Qualifying and Intermediate Sections) of the Ulster Women's Hockey Union.

Cricket Club

Instonians Cricket Club was founded in 1932. The first team currently plays in the Premier League of the

NCU Senior League The Northern Cricket Union (NCU) Senior League is the provincial cricket league within the Northern Cricket Union of Ireland, NCU jurisdiction in Ireland, which covers counties County Antrim, Antrim, County Armagh, Armagh, County Down, Down and so ...

Honours

: 5 (2 shared) **1962, 2009 (shared), 2013 (shared), 2014, 2016, 2023 * NCU Challenge Cup: 3 **1964, 2009, 2012 *

Ulster Cup The Ulster Cup was an annual football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football' ...

: 4 **1999, 2007, 2010, 2011 * NCU Junior Cup: 4 **†1967, †1970, †2001, †2017 † Won by 2nd XI

Men's Hockey Club

Instonians Men's Hockey Club was formed in 1959. The first team is one of the top teams in Ireland, winning the Irish Senior Cup on four occasions with their initial success coming in 1995. Four Irish Club Championships have also been won. In association with

the club have just completed the purchase and laying of a water-based artificial turf playing surface at the Shaws Bridge Sports Complex.

Notable former players

Rugby union

;

Cricket

; men's internationals * Herbie Martin; played rugby union for Instonians. * Regan West

Field hockey

; men's internationals * Paul Gleghorne * Mark Gleghorne * Michael Watt ; men's internationals * Mark Gleghorne ; men's internationals * Mark Gleghorne ; women's internationals * Maeve Kyle

Olympians

;

* Paul Gleghorne; field hockey –

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

* Maeve Kyle; athletics –

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

* Michael Watt; field hockey –

;

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

* Mark Gleghorne; field hockey –

External links

Instonians Club

References

{{All-Ireland League (rugby union) Sports clubs and teams in Belfast Cricket in Belfast Rugby union clubs in Northern Ireland Rugby union teams in Ireland Rugby union clubs in County Antrim NCU Senior League members Cricket clubs in County Antrim Field hockey clubs in Northern Ireland Men's Irish Hockey League teams 1919 establishments in Ireland All-Ireland League rugby union clubs Ulster Senior League (rugby union) teams