The Dublin University Football Club was not only the first Rugby club in Ireland, but probably the first senior Rugby club founded anywhere. The early members were under the disadvantage of having no-one to play against, except other members of their own club. The game was introduced into Trinity College by students from Rugby and Cheltenham schools, and the Dublin University Football Club which was formed in 1854 included nine men from Rugby, a dozen from Cheltenham, and about a dozen from Irish schools.
Source: Kenneth C. Bailey 'A History of Trinity College Dublin 1892-1945, Dublin University Press (1947)
Archival History ↴
The collection has been acquired through a number of accessions primarily from Professor T Trevor West, notably TCD MUN/CLUB/RUGBY F/1-45 which were compiled by Dr EJM Watson and deposited by Dr T T West in July 1981. The sequence of photographs TCD MUN/CLUB/RUGBY F/47/1-67 (excluding TCD MUN/CLUB/RUGBY F/47/20a and TCD MUN/CLUB/RUGBY F/47/26a) were recovered from a bookshop in Santry in November 1980 additional photographs were received from Dr Michael Solomons in 1983 (ref. MUN/CLUB/RUGBY F/47/20a), Eric Chapman in 2001 (ref. MUN/CLUB/RUGBY F/47/72) and image ref. MUN/CLUB/RUGBY F/47/26a was purchased from Stephen Gregory in 1974.
Immediate Source Acquisition ↴
Purchase/Donation
Content & Structure
Scope & Content: DU Football Club ↴
Records of the DU Rugby Football Club, largely comprising of team photographs (1866- 1973, incomplete, some with Oxford and Cambridge University teams and South Africans) and notebooks and records compiled and collected by Dr EJM Watson. This material includes volumes of newspaper reports on rugby football (1855-1932); lists of members (1848-1943); teams and club officers (1856-1933); lists of members for Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital teams (1882-1935); details of matches (1867-1945); details of teams (1870-1898); correspondence of EJM Watson regarding the early years of the club (1927-1930) and various other items such as dinner menus from events, fixture cards and miscellaneous documentation regarding the club. Material relating to the publication of ‘Dublin University Football Club 1854-2004; 150 Years of Trinity Rugby’ ed. Trevor West (Dublin 2003) is a later acquisition to the collection.
Appraisal Destruction ↴
Permanent Retention
Arrangement ↴
The collection is arranged in the order in which it was received.
Conditions of Access & Use
Access Conditions
Please contact mscripts@tcd.ie in advance of your visit
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Please contact mscripts@tcd.ie for guidance
Creation Dates
1848-2004
Extent Medium
70 Volumes
Material Language Script
English
Finding Aids
A full descriptive list can be consulted in the Manuscripts and Archives Research Library, Trinity College Dublin.
Archive Web Link →
Allied Materials
Related Material
Further related material is held in Manuscripts and Archives Research Library, Trinity College Dublin: TCD MUN/CLUB/DUCAC contains a minute book (1975-1984) and scorebook (1989) and TCD MUN/CLUB/CRICKET/19 containing in part DUFC 2nd and 3rd XV marches 1911-1920.
Publication Note
‘Dublin University Football Club 1854-2004; 150 Years of Trinity Rugby’ ed. Trevor West (Dublin 2003)
Mark Sugden, ‘A century of rugby football’, trinity no. 5 (1953) pp22-27
‘Dublin University Football Club 1854-1954 (published 1954 on behalf of committee of DUFC by Montford Publications Dublin)
Descriptive Control Area
Archivist Note
Natalie Milne, February 2014
Rules/Conventions
ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description. 2nd ed. Ottowa: International Council on Archives, 2000. National Council on Archives: Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names. Chippenham: National Council on Archives, 1997.
