Portadown RFC is an Irish

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

Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...

. They play in the Kukri Ulster Championship 1, the top level of Junior rugby in Ulster. The club colours are blue and white.

History

Origins

In February 1879, the

Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) () is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium, where a ...

was formed, and listed Portadown as an affiliated club, with Thomas John (TJ) Collen as the honorary secretary. Collen played for the first County Armagh side against Ulster on 27 November 1880. The first recorded captain was Arthur Farrell, who was the son of the proprietor of the '' Portadown News''. The first recorded Portadown match took place at Ormeau on 11 December 1879 against Ulster F.C.; the result favoured the home side with three tries to nil. The team lined out as follows: Back – Patrick, Half back – Wheeler and Whiteside Quarter back – Waddell and Harrison Forwards – Donaldson, Davidson, Lindsay, Harpur, Collen, Shillington, O’Hanlon, Bright, Stanley and Farrel (Captain) The next game was played on 22 January 1880 against Armagh F.C. and resulted in a win for Portadown by 1 goal and three tries to nil.

Post-war

The late 1940s to early 1950s was a period of slow rehabilitation after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Although Jimmy Chambers played occasionally until 1948, the dominant personality in the club was Thomas Charles Wells, who joined in 1948 and remained until his death in 1976. On Wednesday, 4 September 1963, several hundred spectators turned up to see the local side take on Ulster in the first match on Chambers Park, the town's new playing fields on the Lurgan Road. 1979 saw the club celebrate its centenary year, and saw the election of international player, Charlie Murtagh as club captain. As of the 2010/11 Season the first team played in Kukri Qualifying League 1, having been relegated from AIB League Division Three after a playoff defeat to the City of Derry Rugby Club. The club colours are blue and white.

Honours

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 ...

: 2 ** 1956-57, 1958-59

References

External links

Portadown RFC
Extracts taken from "Rugby Football in Portadown" by D.J Gilpin {{DEFAULTSORT:Portadown Rfc Rugby union teams in Ireland Rugby clubs established in 1879 Rugby union clubs in County Armagh Rugby union clubs in Northern Ireland Sport in Portadown