The Club’s recent successes have been greatly assisted by recruitment of key players from overseas. Players like Tony Betts, Jim Meates, Matt Smith, Damien O’Brien, Martin Leslie, later to play for Scotland, and most notably Gary Teichman who subsequently captained and led South Africa to World Cup victory, have made major contributions to lifting the quality of rugby played by Clontarf. Another major contributor to the recent successes was the Club’s former coach Brent Pope formerly of Otago University, All Black trialist and Barbarian.
Brent has now moved on to further his career in coaching and TV commentary and Clontarf were successful in securing the coaching skills of the legendary Alex “Grizz” Wiley for the next two years( 1999-2001). Alex was technical advisor to the 1999 Argentine World Cup Squad and prior to that was coach to western Province in South Africa and the New Zealand All Blacks. He took up his appointment with Clontarf in late October when his World Cup duties had been completed.
Clontarf struggled to survive in Division 1 during Wylie’s first season finishing third from bottom with the resultant home and away relegation play off against UCD being narrowly won courtesy of 21 points from the educated left boot of out-half Richie Murphy whose excellent place kicking was a feature of our games during his 4 years at the Club.
The second of Wylie’s two seasons was somewhat more successful as Clontarf finished mid-table, having beaten both finalists Cork Con and the eventual winners, Dungannon. Ben Gissing from Auckland was our nominated player.
Mention must be made of our Junior 5 XV captained by Jamie McAuliffe which won the O’Connor Cup in 2001 for the 3rd time, the first Junior Branch trophy to come to the Club for many years – congratulations are due to the evergreen John Teeling – his reward for persistent effort over a long period. Also during this season our 2nd XV contested (but lost) the Metro Cup final to Blackrock a cup last won by Clontarf in 1973.
The 2008-09 Season ended with in Thomond Park with Clontarf facing Shannon in the AIL Final having seen off Cork Con at their home ground. After extra time the game was tied 19 – 19. Shannon were awarded the Cup on the basis of the ‘first try scored’ rule (which has since been revised – in future a replay will be held). Our thanks to last season’s head coach Andy Wood. With Bernard Jackman taking up the role of Director if Rugby & the new Division 1A structure in place, we look forward to season 2009-10 with great interest.
We wish Jim McIlvenna (President) the best for the 2009-10 season, and would like to congratulate John Dinan, last years President on a job well done.
Clontarf Football Club was founded in 1876. Its original ground was on Vernon Avenue, rented for £3 per annum from a Monsieur George, who was a horse buyer for the French Army. Since its foundation the Club Colours have been Blue and Red, probably derived from the colours of the local Boat Club. Between 1876 and 1896 the Club transferred grounds several times in the Clontarf area from Vernon Avenue, firstly to a ground beside the Boat Club, then to the Howth Road and ultimately to Castle Avenue – our home since 1896.
The minutes of early club meetings show that the members used the Boat Club premises as changing rooms and that goal posts were erected each Saturday morning and taken down after the match. The Club was also approached by a local group who wished to play Gaelic Football on Sundays and it was agreed to make the pitch available provided the Gaelic players dismantled the goalposts after their matches. Gaelic Football is still with us – the local club is granted facilities to train under our floodlights.
In 1902-03 Clontarf was admitted to Senior Ranks – Leinster League – and in the following year reached the final of the Leinster Senior Cup but were beaten by Landsdowne one goal (5 points) to one try (3 points).
Since 1896 the grounds at Castle Avenue have been jointly occupied by the Clontarf Cricket Club and Football Club. Until 1947 both games were played on the same ground, the wicket was fenced off in the winter. In 1982 following a disastrous fire which destroyed the bar and lounge an agreement was reached between both clubs to go their separate ways, each club was provided with separate premises and the use of a common main bar and hall for each clubs season.
Many people ask why the official Club title is Clontraf Football Club rather than Clontarf Rugby Football Club. The explanation is simple – we were formed before Irish Rugby Union was formed.
The Club’s connections with teams and players from the southern hemisphere also goes a long way back. One of our finest hours was the defeat of Athletic Rugby Football Club from New Zealand in 1966. It was the only defeat during their world tour. Among the teams played were Blackheath from England and Cardiff of Wales. Athletic was captained by I.N. McEwan. This win is still regarded as one of Clontarf’s greatest rugby feats.
Other highlights of the Club’s history include the winning of the Leinster Senior (Provincial) Cup in 1936 a feat which was to elude Clontarf teams for another 63 years until the much sought after cup was returned to Castle Avenue in April 1999. However, the intervening years were not without success as various teams representing the Club won leagues and cups in the 1940′s, 1950′s, 1960′s and 1970′s. But it has been the last two decades of the Millennium that have witnessed some of Clontarf’s proudest moments with the winning of the Leinster Floodlight Competition in 1989, 1990,1997 and 1998, the All Ireland Floodlight Competition in 1990 and the All Ireland League Division II in 1996/97. Since attaining Division 1status in 1997, Clontarf has maintained its position as one of the top twelve Clubs in Ireland. These achievements plus the winning of the Leinster Cup in 1999 have finally laid to rest the jibe that “Clontarf’s only cups are those in the kitchen”.
A Club with a proud history like Clontarf must look to the future, the Golden Oldies will never again play on the 1st Team but sons and grandsons just might. ” Mini” and Youth Rugby is the future and Clontarf has invested a lot of time and energy in this section. The club has swept the boards of Mini Rugby over recent seasons in home and international competitions.
The club has had a close association with the local St. Paul’s and Mount Temple Colleges for many years and in 1995 St. Paul’s became part of rugby history when it toured South Africa with Grosvenor Grammar School from Belfast. This was a unique occasion, a mix of North and South from Ireland playing mixed race teams from South Africa.
Clontarf is not just about playing rugby, we have an active social committee, annual swimming competition, golf outings, race nights etc. We have always been regarded as one of the premier social clubs off the field and hard to beat on the field.
