North of Ireland Football Club is a former Irish rugby union club that was based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was the first rugby club formed in what is now Northern Ireland and only two other clubs - Dublin University and Wanderers - were formed earlier anywhere else in all Ireland.www.irishrugby.ie The Ireland Rugby Miscellany (2007): Ciaran Cronin It was founded in 1868 by members of North of Ireland Cricket Club. NIFC also played in the first recorded rugby game in Ulster when they played a 20-a-side match against Queen's University RFC.

Throughout its history, NIFC was one of the most successful clubs in Ulster rugby, winning eighteen Ulster Senior League titles and eighteen Ulster Senior Cup titles. They also played several seasons in the AIB League before merging with Collegians in 1999 to form Belfast Harlequins.

The club left its historic home on the Ormeau Road (one of the earliest international rugby venues in IrelandSee references to Ireland's matches against Scotland from 1877 to 1889: Ireland v Scotland - Head to Head Statistics ) after a series of sectarian arson attacks, including the burning of its pavilion. The club, with a mainly Protestant membership, was perceived as being "isolated in a zone of working-class nationalism".D. Sharrock, ‘Goodbye to all that, as the Belfast sporting club where W.G. Grace swung his bat uproots for Protestant sanctuary’, The Guardian, 13 August 1997, p. 6.

Notable players

See also

Ireland The following NIFC players represented Ireland at full international level.

Stephen Blake-Knox Robert Alexander Norman Brand Ian Davidson Thomas Gisborne Gordon, the only one handed player in international rugby. Gordon Hamilton David Hewitt Des Scott Jack Kyle Mike Gibson Arthur Norman McClinton Henry Neill Albert Stewart Dolway Walkington Hugh Kelly (captain)

British and Irish Lions The following NIFC players also represented the British and Irish Lions.

Tom McGown: 1899 Ian Davidson: 1903 Arthur Norman McClinton: 1910 Norman Brand: 1924 Robert Alexander: 1938 Jack Kyle: 1950 David Hewitt: 1959, 1962 Mike Gibson: 1966, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1977

Ireland cricket team The following NIFC players also represented Ireland at cricket.

Robert Alexander Neil Doak

Honours

All-Ireland Cup: 1 1934-35 Ulster Senior Cup: 18 1884–85, 1892–93, 1893–94, 1894–95, 1895–96, 1896–97, 1897–98, 1898–99, 1900–01, 1901–02, 1907–08, 1919–20, 1929–30, 1934–35, 1938–39, 1954–55, 1968–69, 1972–73 Ulster Senior League: 18 (1 shared) 1891–92, 1892–93, 1893–94, 1894–95, 1895–96, 1896–97, 1897–98, 1898–99, 1900–01, 1901–02, 1908–09, 1920–21, 1926-27 (shared), 1945–46, 1954–55, 1958–59, 1965–66, 1991–92 Ulster Junior Cup: 9 †1894-95, †1906-07, †1907-08, †1908-09, †1935-36, †1953-54, †1956-57, †1962-63, †1984-85

† Won by 2nd XV

References